Status of Russia port of call

Was in St Petersburg at the beginning of this month and had no issues on our 2 day tour with TJ Travel. They looked after us very well and we had a very comprehensive and enjoyable tour

what time did you meet up with TJ Travel on your first morning please KatieLouAustralia? many thanks

TJ Travel picked us up at 8.30am on the first day and we returned to the ship approximately 6.30pm. On the second day we were picked up at 7.30am and returned at 5pm. Two very full days but totally worth it

TJ Travel picked us up at 8.30am on the first day and we returned to the ship approximately 6.30pm. On the second day we were picked up at 7.30am and returned at 5pm. Two very full days but totally worth it

thank you :)

The pick-up and drop-off would be the same for all the other SPB Tour companies. The top 3 or 4 are excellent!

TJ Travel picked us up at 8.30am on the first day and we returned to the ship approximately 6.30pm. On the second day we were picked up at 7.30am and returned at 5pm. Two very full days but totally worth it

Katie, I've seen reports of the lengthy delays to clear immigration, 1 to 2 hours. Did you have to do this prior to your 8.30am collection and did you feel confident of doing so before you were due to depart on the excursion? Did you have to go through the immigration process on both days?

Everyone must go through immigration in SPB. The first day, the wait is very long and you should give yourself about 2 hours to get through the immigration line. Last year someone was late and her tour left without her. The second day, the lines will move much more quickly.

Everyone must go through immigration in SPB. The first day, the wait is very long and you should give yourself about 2 hours to get through the immigration line. Last year someone was late and her tour left without her. The second day, the lines will move much more quickly.

Once you have the stamp in your passport after clearing the first time it’s a very quick process of waving you through after verifying it.

In addition to the closer proximity to town when docking this was another reason we chose a line with small ships for this itinerary. The entire ship was cleared in just shy of a half hour and once that happened there never was a line at immigration again.

Everyone must go through immigration in SPB. The first day, the wait is very long and you should give yourself about 2 hours to get through the immigration line. Last year someone was late and her tour left without her. The second day, the lines will move much more quickly.

Many thanks.

Going to even more of an early start than I'd envisaged then, ouch :o

How many ships in port on your arrival?

Everyone must go through immigration in SPB. The first day, the wait is very long and you should give yourself about 2 hours to get through the immigration line. Last year someone was late and her tour left without her. The second day, the lines will move much more quickly.

Sent from my SM-A320Y using Tapatalk

Everyone must go through immigration in SPB. The first day, the wait is very long and you should give yourself about 2 hours to get through the immigration line. Last year someone was late and her tour left without her. The second day, the lines will move much more quickly.

I'm not sure where you are getting your information (were you in SPG recently ) but on a similar thread of cruisers who have been there this year are saying about 45 minutes to go through immigration first day and much less on following days.It also depends on how many ships are in port and their capacities.

I'm not sure where you are getting your information (were you in SPG recently ) but on a similar thread of cruisers who have been there this year are saying about 45 minutes to go through immigration first day and much less on following days.It also depends on how many ships are in port and their capacities.

As you can see, I was on the Getaway, last July. The immigration lines at SPB were very, very long and the grim inspectors were taking their good old time, putting stamps in our passports. I heard about a fellow passenger, stuck, on a slow moving immigration line, missing her tour. Last year we were informed our wait would be 60-90 minutes. Allowing for more ships in port and other circumstances, I am recommending getting on line at least one & half hours to two hours for immigration. Things may have improved since I was on line, last July.

I'd rather be early, than miss the tour.

As you can see, I was on the Getaway, last July. The immigration lines at SPB were very, very long and the grim inspectors were taking their good old time, putting stamps in our passports. I heard about a fellow passenger, stuck, on a slow moving immigration line, missing her tour. Last year we were informed our wait would be 60-90 minutes. Allowing for more ships in port and other circumstances, I am recommending getting on line at least one & half hours to two hours for immigration. Things may have improved since I was on line, last July.

I'd rather be early, than miss the tour.

The new disembarkation process, introduced this season, changes all that.

Previous advice was to be at the gangplank ready to disembark as soon as it was open, and while ships' tour groups were still assembling in various venues on the ship.

That's what we did - yes, immigration officers have a lot of paperwork to do on the first day so lines move slowly, but we were ahead of the herd and got through in just a few minutes.

This season, ships' tours have priority, much like tendering - very probably palms were greased by cruise lines.:rolleyes: There was a great deal of concern because, as you say, those immigration lines move slowly on Day One.

However, reports are that the independent tour operators have set their advertised tour times back by an hour or so (same tour length, just means getting back to the ship around 6pm instead of 5pm) and - early days yet - but that seems to be working OK.

Folk need to be advised my those who've visited this season, rather than by you or I whose experiences are now irrelevant.

BTW "grim inspectors"? :confused:

Mebbe they were trained by immigration staff at Newark, New Jersey. :D

JB :)

These queues seem very worrying. Do they get much smaller if you leave it until after 10.am (or later still) to disembark, or do they have less immigration officers on duty? Also does anyone know if people with Russian visas have to wait in the same queues the first morning?

We have recently been on a river cruise, so had to get a visa for that. Since we have done the ground work getting the required info together a second application should be quite straightforward to us and familiarity with the city will help when ashore. At £130 each the visa option seems much more attractive to us rather than have to pay quite a lot for a rigid tour route and having to go back to the ship afterwards, rather than have a relaxing meal ashore. We always make the most of being in any port overnight. SPB is easy to negotiate once you have cracked the subway, which we have.

I can see the Russian visa system is not worth negotiating for most ship's passengers, especially if they want to see a lot of places when there.

The new disembarkation process, introduced this season, changes all that.

 

Folk need to be advised my those who've visited this season, rather than by you or I whose experiences are now irrelevant.

 

BTW "grim inspectors"? :confused:

Mebbe they were trained by immigration staff at Newark, New Jersey. :D

 

JB :)

Hi JB, Good to bump into you again! I agree with what you posted and am very happy things have changed for the better. My long wait, on line, is vivid, in my memory. By all means, please listen to the new cruisers that have gone through SPB!

Happy cruising everyone! :)

TJ Travel picked us up at 8.30am on the first day and we returned to the ship approximately 6.30pm. On the second day we were picked up at 7.30am and returned at 5pm. Two very full days but totally worth it

KatielouAustralia - we have a tour booked through TJ Travel as well. Do you mind if I ask what cruise line you were on? I've heard people saying that those who book through the cruise line are given first priority in disembarking - we're on Royal Caribbean and I'm wondering if we need to accommodate for this. We'll be sure to get an early start, I'm just not sure what to expect. Thanks in advance!!!

KatielouAustralia - we have a tour booked through TJ Travel as well. Do you mind if I ask what cruise line you were on? I've heard people saying that those who book through the cruise line are given first priority in disembarking - we're on Royal Caribbean and I'm wondering if we need to accommodate for this. We'll be sure to get an early start, I'm just not sure what to expect. Thanks in advance!!!

not the person you asked but as already stated earlier in thread the port of St Petersburg has imposed new rules this year whereby ships tours[whatever line] get priority and private tour operators cannot enter port until 90 minutes after ship cleared

private tour operators like TJ[who we have also booked through] have adjusted their pick up times accordingly and shouldn't really affect length of tours due to overnight stay

But we are all looking out for reports from first Baltics sailings this season to see what true situation is

not the person you asked but as already stated earlier in thread the port of St Petersburg has imposed new rules this year whereby ships tours[whatever line] get priority and private tour operators cannot enter port until 90 minutes after ship cleared

 

private tour operators like TJ[who we have also booked through] have adjusted their pick up times accordingly and shouldn't really affect length of tours due to overnight stay

 

But we are all looking out for reports from first Baltics sailings this season to see what true situation is

Thanks very much, we'll be monitoring too.

BTW "grim inspectors"?

Mebbe they were trained by immigration staff at Newark, New Jersey.

:D

Went to Newark and didn't ring me up?

Disappointed. :(:(:(:(

Cheers

Len

I just got off of a Baltic Cruise yesterday. We were in St Petersburg on Thursday. We booked a private tour for 2 of us through Alla Tours. The meeting time was 7:30. Royal Caribbean had in the cruise compass to not get off the ship until 8:30 if you did not book through them. We left the boat at 7am anyway. Most people in the line were on cruise ship tours. We waited in line for 45 minutes. We got through easily. They did not say anything about not being on a ship tour. Our guide got there right as we came through immigration. The line to get back through immigration at the end of the day was just as bad. I think we waited about an hour because the computers in some lines went down. All lines were open both times. There were only 2 ships in port that day and I believe we arrived first. I don't know if more ships would be more of an issue with not having a cruise excursion booked or not. The agent did not flinch that our ticket was an independent tour. Great day, besides the immigration process.

I just got off of a Baltic Cruise yesterday. We were in St Petersburg on Thursday. We booked a private tour for 2 of us through Alla Tours. The meeting time was 7:30. Royal Caribbean had in the cruise compass to not get off the ship until 8:30 if you did not book through them. We left the boat at 7am anyway. Most people in the line were on cruise ship tours. We waited in line for 45 minutes. We got through easily. They did not say anything about not being on a ship tour. Our guide got there right as we came through immigration. The line to get back through immigration at the end of the day was just as bad. I think we waited about an hour because the computers in some lines went down. All lines were open both times. There were only 2 ships in port that day and I believe we arrived first. I don't know if more ships would be more of an issue with not having a cruise excursion booked or not. The agent did not flinch that our ticket was an independent tour. Great day, besides the immigration process.

Thanks for the information! I double checked our paperwork from TJ Travel and it explicitly says that the cruise line can’t hold passengers against their will. Our meeting time is 7:30 am so we’ll be getting off the ship straightaway.

Visited SPB via celebrity silhouette on june 1and 2. Tours booked through celebrity had priority to disembark, everybody else had to wait in public areas. A pre-recorded tape was periodically played informing passengers that the ship had not been cleared by authorities, while anyone who bothered looking over the railing could see groups disembarking below. They were let go from the front of the ship via the theater while it appeared that the rest of us were kept at the back. When the announcement was finally made that the ship was cleared = those of us with private tours could leave too, a large group from michael’s club was hustled to the elevator by the concierge who basically blocked anyone else from getting on as well, taking them to deck 2 to get off.

We had a private tour for 4 of us booked with TJ travel, meeting time 8:30. We hung around the public area starting at 7. There was a looong line snaking from deck 5 to where i am not sure. Celebrity folks were stationed at staircases to keep people from cutting in line. The ship was “cleared” for us shortly before 8 and the line started moving surprisingly fast and orderly. We exited the ship and there were many lines open to go through immigration = several buildings with approx 6 to 8 booths each. Celebrity people were directing pax to various lines. We had 6 people in line ahead of us and it took about 15 to 20 minutes to get through. There were no other people waiting behind us in the line = pax were distributed well across to available agents. We met our tour guide at 8:35. It was much faster than anticipated, the real wait was on the ship for the ship tour people to get off.

When we returned to the ship in the evening, there was no line, same on the second day leaving and returning. We went through in a couple of minutes.

Visited SPB via celebrity silhouette on june 1and 2. Tours booked through celebrity had priority to disembark, everybody else had to wait in public areas. A pre-recorded tape was periodically played informing passengers that the ship had not been cleared by authorities, while anyone who bothered looking over the railing could see groups disembarking below. They were let go from the front of the ship via the theater while it appeared that the rest of us were kept at the back. When the announcement was finally made that the ship was cleared = those of us with private tours could leave too, a large group from michael’s club was hustled to the elevator by the concierge who basically blocked anyone else from getting on as well, taking them to deck 2 to get off.

We had a private tour for 4 of us booked with TJ travel, meeting time 8:30. We hung around the public area starting at 7. There was a looong line snaking from deck 5 to where i am not sure. Celebrity folks were stationed at staircases to keep people from cutting in line. The ship was “cleared” for us shortly before 8 and the line started moving surprisingly fast and orderly. We exited the ship and there were many lines open to go through immigration = several buildings with approx 6 to 8 booths each. Celebrity people were directing pax to various lines. We had 6 people in line ahead of us and it took about 15 to 20 minutes to get through. There were no other people waiting behind us in the line = pax were distributed well across to available agents. We met our tour guide at 8:35. It was much faster than anticipated, the real wait was on the ship for the ship tour people to get off.

When we returned to the ship in the evening, there was no line, same on the second day leaving and returning. We went through in a couple of minutes.

Really pretty obnoxious that they let the ship tours go first....we have TJ too so good to know..

What i thought was really obnoxious were the annoncements with the status of the clearing process, i mean really, just come out and say we are debarking our tours first.

I think you will be happy with TJ. They did a good job and both driver and guide were excellent and very personable.

Really pretty obnoxious that they let the ship tours go first....we have TJ too so good to know..

yes the bully boys have managed to push private tours to back of queue

However from this recent report it seems it was pretty quick to get off ship after 8am

We are also with TJ on same cruise as you and they have suggested 9am start time first day with return to ship 19.30

I plan to have a leisurely breakfast and join line for disembarkment after rush has died down