Spending the night in a hotel in St. Pet, instead of returning to ship?

In order to maximize the time in St. P., I'm thinking of booking a room for the night in a hotel, instead of returning to the ship in the evening and going out again in the morning, saving some travel time.

Do u have to be back on the ship for the night?

Thanks

I can’t imagine why you couldn’t do this.

I can’t imagine why you couldn’t do this.

I'm hesitant for the following reason: In all our overnights before, u can go and come as u please.

BUT, in St. Pet you have to be back to the ship by 11.30PM. Could it be the authorities/country?

I'm hesitant for the following reason: In all our overnights before, u can go and come as u please.

 

BUT, in St. Pet you have to be back to the ship by 11.30PM. Could it be the authorities/country?

A little confused. Your contract states you must be back on the ship by 11:30pm, but you want to know if this is true?

A little confused. Your contract states you must be back on the ship by 11:30pm, but you want to know if this is true?

Wasn’t aware of this part - never done St. Pete, just basing on other overnights I’ve been on - I rescind my response.

Are you considering touring independently and will have your own visa?

If that were the case I could see no issue, whether I would personally have wanted to do that when we went I'm not so sure.

I can't see much benefit to be honest, after a full day touring we wouldn't have made use of the opportunity to tour at night from a hotel. It was hot when we were there in June and the pace of a full tour on day one took its toll.

Please don't let me knock your enthusiasm for this if you want to do it but St Petersburg would be incredibly difficult as well to navigate on your own at night without speaking the language if that was the purpose of the hotel.

Whatever you decide enjoy yourself, its a great city with so much to see.

We were just on the Breakaway and overnighted in St. Petersburg. People came and went as they pleased. Our private tour didn't get back to the ship until 11 pm and there were people just getting off at that time.

Oops, sorry, I am editing this. I forgot I was on the Royal Caribbean thread and not NCL. RCCI may have different policies. Sorry

A little confused. Your contract states you must be back on the ship by 11:30pm, but you want to know if this is true?

Thanks. The travel agent we're using advised that we have to be back by 11.30, when pondering whether to see a ballet performance. Since then, we decided to return to the ship after touring all morning, and playing it by the ear in the evening, meaning, whether to return to St. Pet again. Someone on this forum advised that the time travel is long, hence now the idea to spend the night in the city.

I was looking for advice from someone who has done this cruise, because one of the reasons the poster named to be back on ship is that the bridges are open and u don't have the possibility to reach the ship after the bridges are open...

I hold an Israeli passport and we don't need a visa to tour St. Pet.

Are you considering touring independently and will have your own visa?

Thanks, the only advantage to holding an Israeli passport that I can see, is that we don't need a visa for Russia....:D:D

When we did St Petersburg a few years ago one of the ship tours was a 2 day trip to Moscow so the people who did that were not back on the ship overnight but of course being an organised tour may have made a difference.

It really was not that far from the port to the centre of St Petersburg, maybe 30 minutes on the tour bus, so you would not be saving much time anyway.

As already mentioned I assume you have arranged a visa, otherwise you will not be allowed to come and go on your own anyway.

Julie

Sorry, just saw that you don't need a visa!

Julie

Thanks. The travel agent we're using advised that we have to be back by 11.30, when pondering whether to see a ballet performance. Since then, we decided to return to the ship after touring all morning, and playing it by the ear in the evening, meaning, whether to return to St. Pet again. Someone on this forum advised that the time travel is long, hence now the idea to spend the night in the city.

 

I was looking for advice from someone who has done this cruise, because one of the reasons the poster named to be back on ship is that the bridges are open and u don't have the possibility to reach the ship after the bridges are open...

 

I hold an Israeli passport and we don't need a visa to tour St. Pet.

When we were in St. Pete the traffic was the worst we have been in anywhere in the world. We booked our tours thru ship and were late getting back from day tour and had about 1/2 hour to change for ballet. They held ballet for our tour for about 45 minutes and then finally started the show without us. Was way after midnight by the time our bus returned to ship and we had not had dinner. Thought traffic was bad in LA and Mexico city but no comparison to St. Pete. Would not want to be bus driver there. Whatever you decide, enjoy.