St Petersburg and passport to get off ship?

[Buddy2004]

We are on a private tour with SPB. On the info with SPB it says to bring your Passports you need them to go through immigration. But in the info from princess it says they take our passports away at the start of the cruise and we should have a photo copy. Plus they don't give it back until the end of the cruise

Please could any one who have been on this cruise in the last month or so let me know what happens.

And if the ship crew stops us getting off because we are not on a ships tour what should we do. We have never be stopped in the past for other countries.:)

[travellovers2]

We took that cruise last year and nobody took our passports away. We are American, but I didn't hear anyone else of another nationality say that their passports were taken away.

[AJs Grandpa]

We were in St Petersburg on the Emerald a couple of weeks ago. We were not asked to turn in our passports. On the contrary, we needed to show them to Russian officials each time we disembarked and embarked the ship.

 

BTW--we used SPB and had a great experience.

[Buddy2004]

We were in St Petersburg on the Emerald a couple of weeks ago. We were not asked to turn in our passports. On the contrary, we needed to show them to Russian officials each time we disembarked and embarked the ship.

 

BTW--we used SPB and had a great experience.

Thanks so much,we are touring with SPB as well. Did you pay with credit card?

And did you have any problem getting off the ship?:)

[AJs Grandpa]

No problems getting off ship. They used separate gangways for folks on ship- sponsored and other tours. They allowed 50 from each category to depart at a time. We made an effort to be among the first private groups and had no problem meeting SPB at our designated time.

 

We paid in Rubles we bought from our bank. We wouldn't do it again...just pay by credit card and incur the relatively small associated fee from most credit card companies. Our guide--relatively new--was shocked that we paid in Rubles but glad to get her tip that way. So, if I did it again, I'd pay SPB with my credit card and get cash for the guide and driver from the ATM inside the terminal.

[Buddy2004]

No problems getting off ship. They used separate gangways for folks on ship- sponsored and other tours. They allowed 50 from each category to depart at a time. We made an effort to be among the first private groups and had no problem meeting SPB at our designated time.

 

We paid in Rubles we bought from our bank. We wouldn't do it again...just pay by credit card and incur the relatively small associated fee from most credit card companies. Our guide--relatively new--was shocked that we paid in Rubles but glad to get her tip that way. So, if I did it again, I'd pay SPB with my credit card and get cash for the guide and driver from the ATM inside the terminal.

 

Thanks so much,

Just one more question. Does the ship tell you which gangway to get off for private tours? I was going to take US or euros for the tour but we are travailing to Prague before and it would be a large amount to carry around. So i will do like you say and pay for both tours at the same time. And then just get money out from the ATM for tips and other things.:)

[AJs Grandpa]

The private tour--e.g., SPB--folks met in one of the dining rooms and were given tickets just like the tender ticket system. It was handled very well and explained ad nauseum the day before on the TV and in the Patter. You would have to try hard to be in the dark! :)

[Buddy2004]

The private tour--e.g., SPB--folks met in one of the dining rooms and were given tickets just like the tender ticket system. It was handled very well and explained ad nauseum the day before on the TV and in the Patter. You would have to try hard to be in the dark! :)

 

Thanks again,

I will be looking for the info. There ia only 6 of us in our party so should not take to long to get off the ship. :cool:

[sweetsleep]

Someone posted a great post a while ago about how to handle the process. He said that you really don't need to wait to disembark behind Princess tours and if asked if you are on a tour, just to smile and say yes and keep moving. He said that often the shore excursion staff try to "delay" passengers-they have no authority to do so.

We used SPB last year on the Emerald-wonderful tour and company-you chose well!

Just bring your tour ticket that SPB emailed to you-you MUST have that along with your passport and cruise card(to get off the ship).

Lines can get long getting through the sourpuss Russian officials so just get off the ship and go to the shortest line that you see-disregard the Princess people as to which line to get in-the Russian officials don't care.

I followed this advice to the letter and got through very quickly.

Have a great time in beautiful St. Petersburg.

[sweetsleep]

I basically "ignored" the "ticket" to disembark. I just went. My mom was very ill that day and missed the first day in St. Pete so I just walked off when I wanted to go-with her blessing. The only time you should "obey" a ticket is to tender off the ship.

[IECalCruiser]

We were in St. Petersburg on June 9/10 this year. We followed "the rules" and had no problems. Get down to the dining room about 6:15 and wait for them to open at 6:30. We had a group of 15 on an SPb tour and through a mixup part of us were in group 2 rather than 1. Almost immediately after group 1 left, group 2 was called. Some of the people in Group 2 made it through Immigration before all of those in Group 1. The process was quick and I even thought I saw one if the Russian Immigration agents smile :)

 

Our entire group was outside by 7:15 and we were so early that SPb didn't have all of the buses there yet. The buses were there and our group was off by 7:30 as scheduled. We did the 2-day deluxe tour and our guide, Sveta (Svetlana) was great! I would highly recommend SPb.

 

One note. Each of you gets a "ticket" to print out and you need to show that both days along with you passport. You also get one sheet for your reservation and you should bring that also. I forgot my "ticket" the second day but fortunately had printed a copy that was still in my backpack. Otherwise I would have needed to go back to my cabin :o

 

There were no Princess people off the ship directing anyone in the Immigration area. I thought the process went very smoothly.

[RickEk]

And of course, just as an FYI to anyone reading this post, if you get an independent tour in St. Petersburg, you need to get your own Russian visas...

[IECalCruiser]

And of course, just as an FYI to anyone reading this post, if you get an independent tour in St. Petersburg, you need to get your own Russian visas...

Your post might confuse people. If you go with a tour operator like SPb, Alla, DenRuss, TJ or others, they get a blanket visa for the group and you do not need your own Russian visa. It is only if you want go by yourself (not something I would do) and not use one of the tour operators that you will need your own Russian Visa.

[Buddy2004]

We were in St. Petersburg on June 9/10 this year. We followed "the rules" and had no problems. Get down to the dining room about 6:15 and wait for them to open at 6:30. We had a group of 15 on an SPb tour and through a mixup part of us were in group 2 rather than 1. Almost immediately after group 1 left, group 2 was called. Some of the people in Group 2 made it through Immigration before all of those in Group 1. The process was quick and I even thought I saw one if the Russian Immigration agents smile :)

 

Our entire group was outside by 7:15 and we were so early that SPb didn't have all of the buses there yet. The buses were there and our group was off by 7:30 as scheduled. We did the 2-day deluxe tour and our guide, Sveta (Svetlana) was great! I would highly recommend SPb.

 

One note. Each of you gets a "ticket" to print out and you need to show that both days along with you passport. You also get one sheet for your reservation and you should bring that also. I forgot my "ticket" the second day but fortunately had printed a copy that was still in my backpack. Otherwise I would have needed to go back to my cabin :o

 

There were no Princess people off the ship directing anyone in the Immigration area. I thought the process went very smoothly.

 

I was not just planing on going to the dinning room. Hope that will work.

Thanks all for all your advice. If we don't get off the ship at a good time with all this good advice I just don't know. Only thing that might hold us up is one of our party just fractured his ankle but we are hoping he will be a lot better by then.:D

[caribill]

Your post might confuse people. If you go with a tour operator like SPb, Alla, DenRuss, TJ or others, they get a blanket visa for the group and you do not need your own Russian visa. It is only if you want go by yourself (not something I would do) and not use one of the tour operators that you will need your own Russian Visa.

 

100% correct.

 

But, in communications from Princess while on the ship and possibly before the sailing there will be wording that strongly suggests you need a visa if you are not on a Princess excursion. Of course that is not the case.

[kobecat]

We completed a Baltic cruise on the Celebrity Constellation in June. They were wonderful and never implied you needed to be on a ship tour to get your blanket visa.

 

They simply stressed that you could not just "walk off the ship" in St Petersburg but needed to have a pre-arranged tour with either a private company or the ship so you had the required paperwork.

 

I was very impressed with Celebrity's stance on this and we could all disembark when we were ready.

 

We did a fantastic two day tour with TJ Tours. Everyone with private tours, be it SPB, TJ or Alla, all loved their tours and guides.

 

Beryl

[LeeW]

I was not just planing on going to the dinning room. Hope that will work.

Thanks all for all your advice. If we don't get off the ship at a good time with all this good advice I just don't know. Only thing that might hold us up is one of our party just fractured his ankle but we are hoping he will be a lot better by then.:D

 

Many of the sites are NOT wheelchair friendly, but we had some folks on our Princess tour where the wife had broken something onboard and the husband pushed her everywhere they could go (cobbles at cathedral were rough). She was dead set on seeing as much as possible (couldn't cancel and didn't want to) and did! Should be easier with smaller tour group, but you might want to let SPB know so they have room in the van. If at all possible he should NOT cancel - this city is amazing.

[billyg3]

We were in St. Petersburg on June 9/10 this year. We followed "the rules" and had no problems. Get down to the dining room about 6:15 and wait for them to open at 6:30. We had a group of 15 on an SPb tour and through a mixup part of us were in group 2 rather than 1. Almost immediately after group 1 left, group 2 was called. Some of the people in Group 2 made it through Immigration before all of those in Group 1. The process was quick and I even thought I saw one if the Russian Immigration agents smile :)

 

Our entire group was outside by 7:15 and we were so early that SPb didn't have all of the buses there yet. The buses were there and our group was off by 7:30 as scheduled. We did the 2-day deluxe tour and our guide, Sveta (Svetlana) was great! I would highly recommend SPb.

 

One note. Each of you gets a "ticket" to print out and you need to show that both days along with you passport. You also get one sheet for your reservation and you should bring that also. I forgot my "ticket" the second day but fortunately had printed a copy that was still in my backpack. Otherwise I would have needed to go back to my cabin :o

 

There were no Princess people off the ship directing anyone in the Immigration area. I thought the process went very smoothly.

 

We just did the same thing on July 12/13, with one exception. A part of our group thought they could leave their room at 7:15 and join the group by 7:30. We left after 8. It didn't do anything to damage our tour except to get us off to a later start. Many of the SPB buses left at least a half hour before ours.

 

We were in the first group off after waiting in line for the lounge opening for about 20 minutes. As soon as we got in they called our group. I don't see any reason to skip this step.

[starr123]

We are taking the Aug 30,2013 cruise with the Princes to St Peterburgs We booked with the Whites tour group. Has anyone heard of this group and if they do a good job

[wander]

We offered to help a basically wheelchair dependent friend (could transfer and walk a few steps) tour in St. Petersburg. Knowing what we know now we would have done it again, BUT my husband's arms were really sore the next day. The walkways, floors, streets, etc. are just not what we are used to. It was work all the way, but worth it for our friend to see things.

 

One of the more interesting aspects of the day was when we were at the Hermitage. We had to travel in the freight elevator which was far from the exhibits we were to visit. So, first we had to enter through a somewhat distant door which went into the basement. Then we walked and walked and walked through amazing area seldom seen by anyone but employees. Among other things is was huge room after huge room of excess statues, paintings, etc. stored away for "safe keeping". While we could only clearly see a few of them, the sheer volume of items was overwhelming to say the least. Then we went through the area again while leaving the building.

 

Actually in the building pushing the chair was easy. Outside is another matter - acres of cobblestones. I think our friend felt like he had gone through a blender from all the shaking he experienced. Also - at least at that time curb cuts for wheelchairs were non existant,so that was fun as well.

 

Now, all of us would have done it again had we known what we would experience, but it is good that my husband was so strong - neither the man's wife of I would have made it past the first hour.

[Buddy2004]

We just did the same thing on July 12/13, with one exception. A part of our group thought they could leave their room at 7:15 and join the group by 7:30. We left after 8. It didn't do anything to damage our tour except to get us off to a later start. Many of the SPB buses left at least a half hour before ours.

 

We were in the first group off after waiting in line for the lounge opening for about 20 minutes. As soon as we got in they called our group. I don't see any reason to skip this step.

 

Thanks,I think we will be going to the dinning room. Our tour meets at 7:00am so I think we will be out side the door by 6:00am.