Quest Docking in St. Petersburg

Where does the Quest or that size ship tend to dock? And, if it is in the city, is there any significant difference than the port further away?

Thinking about booking that instead of Crystal, which has been my line of choice.

Thanks!

We docked right in town on Sojourn at Lt Schmidt, so I imagine quest would have the same dock. We could clearly see the Hermitage from our suite. No 1.5 hours commute in heavy traffic:D

We were also on Sojourn and docked right across the river from MrsWaldo, at the 'English Embankment' right on the Neva River Embankment.

Easily walkable to Hermitage, Winter Palace etc, same side of the river. We had the bridge to the right of the ship and it was nice to see it illuminated in the evening, and to the ships line up to enter when it opened.

The main cruise terminal is about 5 miles from town, I believe.

Edited to add - my husband says I don't know what I'm talking about, the larger cruise ships dock at the Cargo port which is about 8 miles from town.

It's up to you to decide which one of us you believe is correct :D

Where does the Quest or that size ship tend to dock? And, if it is in the city, is there any significant difference than the port further away?

 

Thinking about booking that instead of Crystal, which has been my line of choice.

 

Thanks!

Seabourn docks at the English embankment. Other lines are generally outside of town. In good traffic the other lines are 45 minutes from city center. In bad traffic they're a few hours out of the city center. If you view my Pride photos from St. Petersburg you can see a few zoomed photos of some of the other lines. These were taken over an hour outside of the English embankment. I would not visit St. Petersburg on a ship that didn't use the English embankment and further wasn't there for at least 3 days (tho IMO Id like at least 5).

I've just looked at Mr Chilla's photos again, and yes we were on the same side of the river, same position,as he was.

Thanks for posting those, brought back some great memories. I don't think we actually saw Saint Petersburg in the dark like you did, it still seemed to be twilight every night when we went to sleep around 2am.

Also, your second tour guide is the same young lady we had for the Peterhof tour.

Wonderful memories, thank you.

GREAT pictures, Baychilla. As much as we love Crystal, that may be the tipping point. We remember how great it was to be able to dock IN Shanghai on the Symphony, when other ships (including the Serenity) would have to dock way outside town. The jewel of this trip is clearly St. Petersburg.

Do you recall if any people on your ship got their own visas so they could walk around on their own? When you're docked that close it would appear to be tempting. I do note that on the Seabourn site it does say "VX VISA REQUIRED," which may be the difference between ships that dock at the far port and in town.

Thanks!!!

 

Do you recall if any people on your ship got their own visas so they could walk around on their own? When you're docked that close it would appear to be tempting. I do note that on the Seabourn site it does say "VX VISA REQUIRED," which may be the difference between ships that dock at the far port and in town.

 

Thanks!!!

I know your question is aimed at Baychilla, but just to share our experience. There were a few people that we spoke to on our cruise who had arranged their own visas, but they were repeat visitors.

We were first timers to Russia, who booked the cruise at short notice, so we had no time to arrange our own visa or tours anyway.

If we did a similar cruise in future we would definitely try to arrange our own visa just so we could walk around on our own. It felt strange being docked right on a street that we weren't free to walk down.

I know your question is aimed at Baychilla, but just to share our experience. There were a few people that we spoke to on our cruise who had arranged their own visas, but they were repeat visitors.

We were first timers to Russia, who booked the cruise at short notice, so we had no time to arrange our own visa or tours anyway.

If we did a similar cruise in future we would definitely try to arrange our own visa just so we could walk around on our own. It felt strange being docked right on a street that we weren't free to walk down.

To add to this people I met who had visas obtained them from their private tour guide and those were limited to being with the guide. I didn't need a visa as I was covered by the ships tours - however I was locked to those tours. I couldn't come and go as I pleased.

When we were there with Seabourn a bus was used for a trip into the centre of the city (dropped and picked up at a shop, of course) but you were then free for an hour or two to walk round on your own. I do not know if this is usual or not. It was not a shuttle, just in once and back again a couple of hours later, one afternoon.

We were at that dock on Seabourn last summer. Fantastic location!

Every one had me doubting so I went back and checked my Heralds...

definitely LT Schmidt for us, Star Flyer was at English Embankment

in terms of location for those , 6 of 1 half dozen of the other, different sides of the river

I had done independent Visas for Russia (covered Moscow segment) and TBH applying for the Visa wasn't worth the hassle, Doing the private tour and having them organise a Visa was much easier, not too mention fast tracking entry EVERYWHERE

No tout ticket, no Visa no exit from the immi gates

Every one had me doubting so I went back and checked my Heralds...

 

definitely LT Schmidt for us, Star Flyer was at English Embankment

 

in terms of location for those , 6 of 1 half dozen of the other, different sides of the river

 

I had done independent Visas for Russia (covered Moscow segment) and TBH applying for the Visa wasn't worth the hassle, Doing the private tour and having them organise a Visa was much easier, not too mention fast tracking entry EVERYWHERE

 

No tout ticket, no Visa no exit from the immi gates

I wasn't doubting you Mrs W, at one stage during our stay, there was one of the Compagnie du Ponant ships docked across from us at the same place where you docked. I agree that whichever side of the river you're docked is good.

Thanks for the info about the visa. We'd love to go back and liked the idea of being able to walk around on our own, but given that it's still so much hassle to arrange one I doubt we'd bother. A private tour is definitely the way to go next time.

I also liked the arrangement that lincslady wrote about. They didn't offer that option on our cruise though.

Yes, I have a feeling it was a bit of a one-off. It seemed to be organised more by the Guide who had taken us round the day before than Seabourn, and she seemed to have a bit of influence locally, if you know what I mean. Worth asking though, either before you go on the Baltic cruise, or when on board.

I wasn't doubting you Mrs W, at one stage during our stay, there was one of the Compagnie du Ponant ships docked across from us at the same place where you docked. I agree that whichever side of the river you're docked is good.

 

Thanks for the info about the visa. We'd love to go back and liked the idea of being able to walk around on our own, but given that it's still so much hassle to arrange one I doubt we'd bother. A private tour is definitely the way to go next time.

 

I also liked the arrangement that lincslady wrote about. They didn't offer that option on our cruise though.

I wasn't suss of you guys, just whether I had the right place.....;)

The bus shuttle wouldn't have worked at our Immi gates, you needed to show your tour ticket each time.

Because wehad the Moscow Visa and it was out of date, 2x they pulled me up and said this is wrong Visa, until they saw the tour ticket.

We had a terrible experience on our Seabourn Quest cruise. The reason we booked this trip was to see St. Petersburg. The day after we left Stockholm we were advised that the itinerary had been changed and we were only going to be in St. Petersburg for one day "for the safety of our passengers." Obviously this ruined the trip for us, as the only reason we booked such an expensive cruise was to see Russia. It was a terrible experience and Seabourn never fully explained why this occurred. The $250 credit per person did not make up for this ruined trip.

I can't imagine that there wasn't a very goo reason for the change hut what ever it was it should have been fully explained.

They said the winds would be too high to dock in 5 days. I think it was more like being there was a tournament in town, they didn't plan ahead for an alternate berth. I'll never know, but our trip was ruined--along with everyone else's.

We were on the cruise this past June that missed the two night stay in St. Petersburg and we don't agree that our cruise was ruined. The reason for the change in itinerary was clearly articulated to us. There was a storm system causing high winds in the eastern Baltic. Since the ship was due to be docked on the Neva and the channel was narrow, the Russian port officials and the captain agreed that it was too risky to attempt passage. Instead we spent an overnight in Tallinn which we thoroughly enjoyed. Seabourn had to scramble to arrange for an alternate berth in St. Petersburg out at the port where other cruise ships dock. On the day we wound up there (we did spend one night) there were 6 ships. We were told by an officer that we were lucky to get a space at all. While we were disappointed that we missed the additional time in St. Petersburg (we had a private tour arranged for the three days we were to spend), we would have been much more disappointed had the ship slammed into a quay trying to dock in downtown St. Petersburg. In that case we might have missed the rest of our 21 day cruise. When one books a cruise one is always at the mercy of the weather gods.

Hi Ann. You're right, of course, about the "weather gods." However, my cruise was only for 7 nights and was solely based on being in St. Petersburg for 3 days. That's the only reason I booked the Seabourn line--they stayed in St. Petersburg the longest of any cruise. Therefore, yes, my trip was ruined because of a change of itinerary. Had I known a day earlier I would have canceled. Our stay in Tallinn was not enjoyable in the least, but that's my opinion. I will certainly chose my cruises more carefully next time. :')

If seeing a particular city is that important then it should never be done as part of a cruise itinerary. Go there on your own and spend as much time as you want. There are too many variables in cruising for any kind of certainty.

You are absolutely right. It was my mistake to do this cruise in the first place. I usually go to the Caribbean and don't even get off the ship. Had I realized what could happen, I would have booked a land tour, but being Russia I thought it was safer to do it this way. However, most of the people on the ship that I spoke to felt the same way as I did. I thought that going on a smaller ship would make it easier to get around, but it didn't turn out that way.:(

I think this is a cautionary tale and good advice: don't base a cruise on a desire to see a particular port--because it may not happen.