Has Anyone Flown In To Russia A Day Or Two Early Before Your River Cruise...???

[Suesan Jean]

I am planning a Russian River Cruise and I am thinking of flying in a day or two early.

 

I want to "acclimate" to the time change BEFORE the cruise. I DON'T want to be really sleepy the first few days....... ;)

 

Has anyone done that?

 

Or, is flying in the day of the cruise OK? The time change is no big deal.

 

I just think an eight hour time change WILL be a bit tricky, am I wrong?

 

Depending on which date I pick, we will be either flying into Moscow or Saint Petersburg.

 

What hotels would you reccomend?

 

Is it hard to get a taxi from the hotel to where the ship is docked?

 

How expensive would a taxi be?

 

Also, how would I go about hiring a tour guide/driver for a few hours for whichever city we fly into?

 

Would I ask the hotel about that?

 

I would appreciate GREATLY any and all opinions and thoughts about flying in a day or two early, hotels, cabs, etc........

 

Thank You......!!!:D

[Mickie]

I am planning a Russian River Cruise and I am thinking of flying in a day or two early.

 

I want to "acclimate" to the time change BEFORE the cruise. I DON'T want to be really sleepy the first few days....... ;)

 

Has anyone done that?

 

Or, is flying in the day of the cruise OK? The time change is no big deal.

 

I just think an eight hour time change WILL be a bit tricky, am I wrong?

 

Depending on which date I pick, we will be either flying into Moscow or Saint Petersburg.

 

What hotels would you reccomend?

 

Is it hard to get a taxi from the hotel to where the ship is docked?

 

How expensive would a taxi be?

 

Also, how would I go about hiring a tour guide/driver for a few hours for whichever city we fly into?

 

Would I ask the hotel about that?

 

I would appreciate GREATLY any and all opinions and thoughts about flying in a day or two early, hotels, cabs, etc........

 

Thank You......!!!:D

 

Assuming you can do it financially, definitely go earlier and stay later. We are going to Moscow a day earlier and staying in St. Petersburg 3 extra days as an addition to our Viking tour this June.

 

I think if you do a search on Cruise Critic, particularly in the port section for Northern Europe, you will find MANY discussions on costs of taxis and the names of MANY tour operators who will take you on a private tour. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU GET THERE. Pre-planning will result in a more extensive and less expensive tour. Really analyze the included tours on whatever ship you decide upon and see what is not included or if you are given just an hour or so (the Hermitage comes to mind, specifically).

 

Unless you are going on other than Viking, I assume you are planning ahead for 2011 since most every Viking sailing is sold out for this season.

[Shorex]

We ALWAYS fly in for every cruise at least one day early, even if the flight is just a quick 2 hour nonstop. For cruises that start in another continent, we will fly in 2-4 days early. In addition to acclimating to the time change and sightseeing it allows for missed connections, irregular flight operations and delayed luggage. Over the course of almost 50 cruises we have experienced all of the above. The cruise air board is replete with sad stories of missed cruises because of flying in the day of.

 

As mentioned you will find specifics on the ports of call board. Remember to verify that your Russian visa requirements will be met if you fly in early.

[eldercruser]

Flying in early is a good idea for all the reasons already listed. However, the very first thing you need to is to make sure your Russian visa covers the extra days.

 

Next you need to make sure you know how you will get about. If you are not fluent in Russian, you will find very challenging trying to travel on your own. Make sure you have printed directions to wherever it is you want to go since most, if not all, taxi drivers are not conversant in English.

 

I would recommend hiring a reputable tour agency to meet you at the airport. They can get you to the hotel and then arrange whatever sightseeing you want to do and escort you along the way.

[HDS]

We stayed 3 days in Moscow before our cruise and 3 days after in St Petersburg. We still barely scratched the surface of these fascinating cities but we saw a great deal more than the Viking tours showed us.

 

Our travel agent booked our transfers from airport to hotel, hotel to cruise boat and vice versa through BAO (VAO) Intourist. Cruisers who relied on picking up a taxi on arrival paid a great deal more.

 

Our Moscow hotel, Hotel Budapest, was comfortable and centrally located. Our St Petersburg hotel was neither of these. Both were rather expensive.

 

Before the trip I bought maps and guide books for both cities and learnt enough of the Cyrillic alphabet to be able to decipher place names and street signs. Understanding Cyrillic is important as there is very little signage in the Western European alphabet. We carried a hotel card with the name and address in Cyrillic as well as the name and address of venues we were visiting in Cyrillic. Trip advisor (http://www.tripadvisor.com) for both cities has some excellent advice for using the metro in both cities, recommendations for hotels and guides.

 

With the Cyrillic alphabet and maps we found it very easy to walk and use buses and metro to move around the cities. The traffic is horrendous, metro is much quicker than road transport. All the venues we visited had English language audio guides for hire.

 

Above all, beware of pickpockets whether you are on a ship's tour or on your own. They are brilliant at what they do, possibly the best in the world. Secure any valuables in inside pockets. We were jostled by three young men on St Petersburg metro, my outer pockets emptied of their contents, which was soggy tissues, festy with the ship's virus.

[EmsMom]

We have only visited St. Petersburg. Stayed at the Grand Hotel Europa which was magnificent but very expensive. They had a great breakfast that I believe was included in our room. We met some other people that were staying at the Marriott Renaissance that were very happy with it and it was a lot cheaper. We did use a taxi to get from the airport to the hotel. Since there were four of us, it wasn't too costly. We always go 2-4 days before the cruises begin as it gives us a chance to adapt to the new time zone and also be sure we don't have a problem getting to the ship...That being said, we just missed our April 19 cruise even though we left on April 15 due to the volcano flight cancellations. Who'd have thought?!?

 

The concierge at our hotel hired the guides for us. You will want to do research ahead of time to determine where you want to go. I always use Trip Advisor and it has never steered us wrong. We have also used Trip Advisor for hotel recommendations and it has worked out well. You will have to use a guide over there as it will be very confusing otherwise and some places won't let you in without a guide. I would be very clear up front exactly what you want to do. If you aren't interested in shopping, tell them in advance....otherwise they waste a lot of your touring time taking you to overpriced shops where I think they get a cut if you buy anything. There was a flea marktet near the Church on Spilt Blood where you could buy great souveniers at a fraction of the price.

 

We were also warned not to drink the water....even for tooth brushing. We were careful and had no problems.

 

As far as safety, we were four women and never had any problem there, however, I always put my passport, money and credit cards in a money belt under my clothing. If anyone did steal my purse, they would only get a lip gloss and a comb.

 

Definitely read up on St. Petersburg before you go and it will be a much better trip for you.

[shoshona2]

to HDS,

 

Thanks for all the good advice. We are planning to take a river cruise there next year and I wanted to know if your Visa covered you for the pre-cruise and the post-cruise part of your travels.

 

Sheila

[Suesan Jean]

What GREAT responses.....!!! THANK YOU ALL......!!! :D

 

I have decided to fly in probably two days earlier then the cruise starts.

 

I just CAN'T imagine flying from New York to Russia and arrive the DAY OF the cruise......!!! So MANY THINGS CAN GO WRONG......!!!

 

EVERYTHING and MORE from delayed deartures, missed connections to VOLCANO ERUPTIONS.......!!! :eek:

 

I will hire a tour company prior to the cruise for all the transfers and one sightseeing tour.

 

I will probably have us stay an extra day or two at the end of the cruise too.

 

This Russia River Cruise, will be one of those "Once-In-A-Lifetime" kind of trips, so, I want us to REALLY see as much as we can......!!! :D

 

I didn't realize that here on Cruise Critic I would find a Russia Port-Of-Call thread. I have LOTS to read over there now too......:)

[Margate Cruiser]

You need visas. They are not cheap. You have to ask your cruise line what to do in the event to travel on your own. The boats will issue blanket visa's when you are on there tours only. Unless it has changed in the past 5 years ask. Also do not do not carry a hand bag. Fanny pack under your coat.

[HDS]

to HDS,

 

Thanks for all the good advice. We are planning to take a river cruise there next year and I wanted to know if your Visa covered you for the pre-cruise and the post-cruise part of your travels.

 

Sheila

 

Sheila,

 

If you are taking a river cruise you must have a visa. In 2008 we could not get visas for a month covering the cruise dates and a few spare days. Our visas were very specifc for the dates we were to be in the country. We could not be there one minute of a day beyond the dates stated in the visa.

 

We had our TA, who booked the cruise and hotels, organise the visas for us. Her hotel prices were very close to trip advisor's. She had to submit documentation from hotels and cruise ship, "inviting us to stay with them", to a Russian consulate in Australia to get the visas. The Moscow hotel had to register our arrival with the police and I remember speaking quite clearly and distinctly to a manager to have our passports returned in what I considered an acceptable time. In 2008 USA visitors had exactly the same visa conditions.

 

You probably can organise "invitations" and visas independently but for us, living 300km from the nearest Russian consulate, it wasn't worth the hassle.

 

I have heard that tourists on ocean cruises spending a day or two in St Petersburg can avoid visas if they do not leave the ship except on tours organised and guarded by the tour company and do not deviate from the tour at all. Not my idea of visting a city.

 

We're not large-group tour people but there was a lot to enjoy on the cruise. The river revealed another secret to us as we rounded each bend; the guides gave excellent lectures on Russian history and current affairs; we enjoyed the company of fellow travellers; the river ports provided cherished memories.

 

Enjoy!

 

Deb.

[shoshona2]

Hi Deb,

 

Thanks for the advice regarding Visas in Russia. We have been to St. Petersburg twice -- once over 20 years ago and about six years ago. Things really changed in that amount of time -- we were so happy to see the changes from food lines to more freedom for the people. We didn't get to Moscow on either trip, so we thought we would do it via river cruise. My grandparents came from Russia over 100 years ago and I look forward to seeing the villages as well as Moscow.

 

To: Susan Jean

 

Which line are you planning to book? I notice that AMA is redoing a ship to their specifications for next year, the Amakatarina. If you go this year, would you please post on Cruise Critic when you return.

 

Sheila

[Suesan Jean]

 

To: Susan Jean

 

Which line are you planning to book? I notice that AMA is redoing a ship to their specifications for next year, the Amakatarina. If you go this year, would you please post on Cruise Critic when you return.

 

Sheila

 

I am planning this cruise for next year, May or June. It saw that on AMA about the new ship, it sounds WONDERFULL.....!!!

I can't wait to hear all about the Amakaterina when it is all finished....!!! :D

I would like to cruise on AMA, but, their price is just about double over Viking. So, unless AMA offers a "2 For 1 Cruise", I will most likely pick Viking to do our Russian River Cruise.

I am sure that we will have a WONDERFULL time no matter which cruise line we choose. :)

Which cruise line are you thinking of?

[Suesan Jean]

You need visas. They are not cheap. You have to ask your cruise line what to do in the event to travel on your own. The boats will issue blanket visa's when you are on there tours only. Unless it has changed in the past 5 years ask. Also do not do not carry a hand bag. Fanny pack under your coat.

 

Yup, I know about the Visas. And yes, they ARE expensive....!!!

It's OK, this is a Once-In-A-Lifetime trip for my DD and I......:D :D

I hear you on the safety issue. We WILL have fanny packs and NOT carry a handbag. Maybe just a small pack for water, sunscreen, aspirin, etc......

Pickpockets are EVERYWHERE.....!!! My Mom was pickpocketed twice, once in Paris and in Rome. They were VERY good, my Mom felt NOTHING.....!!!

We WILL be alert and stay with the group.

Thank you.

[shoshona2]

Hi again Suesan,

 

I looked at Viking's brochure and have been following the posts re AMA for a while. I'm sure the experience in Russia will be the same no matter which ship one books. After taking Tauck's Nile River cruise during our recent trip to Egypt/Jordan, we booked Tauck's Rhine/Moselle river cruise for July 2010. The people who did the Nile with the less expensive tour groups, had as wonderful a time as we did. River cruising is here to stay and it's wonderful to have so many lines to choose from.

 

Sheila

[franski]

You can get off a "big ship" in St. Petersberg without a visa as long as you are travelling with a recognized tour guide company. For many, it may be much easier to take the organized tours through the cruise ship. You can book your own guide, and plan your own visit - but it is pricey. There are a couple of threads elsewhere on Cruise critic that speak to this issue. You won't see any more of Russia, however, which is one thing that you will get with a river cruise.

 

We are looking at visiting Russia in 2012 with friends. I was thinking Volga River - they were thinking Baltic Sea. We are just trying to figure out which would meet our "bucket list" the best - figuring we will need to book early next year if we decide to do the Volga.

[GreekBasil]

Have you been on uniworld? or silversea? Katy