Onshore excursion in St Petersburg. Do we have to book with Celebrity

[Amandakiwi]

We are about to do our first cruise from SouthHampton to St Petersberg. We would like to book a 2 day excursion in St Petersberg with Viator but my travel agent is telling me I have to book through Celebrity or we may not receive valid visas.. Any advice please??

[RickT]

Absolutely incorrect (although Celebrity would like you think so). There are many independant tour companies in St. Petersburg that will take care of all the paperwork/visas necessary to legally enter Russia. I do believe that you have to be met at the ship by the tour company.

 

You'll find more information in the Norther Europe & Baltics discussion board includig comments/recommendations on the various tour companies.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192

 

You may also want to join your roll call and see what group tours are already booked. As far as Viatour, Just check with them that they provide Visa's as part of their tour package (I didn't realize they did St. Petersburg tours).

 

Good luck.

Edited May 16, 2016 by RickT

[cookiersmom]

When we went last year, there were a number of tour companies that people on our Roll Call used. They have the same permissions as the cruise lines and are generally much cheaper.

 

We used ALLA. Others used SPB. Both seemed good. Check out the Northern Europe and Baltics threads.

[Montana]

We used Red October in St. Petersburg while on a Celebrity cruise. Awesome 2 day experience but expensive. Private driver plus awesome tour guide. We did and saw everything and waited in no lines! The absolute highlight of our trip at any cost. They arranged for our visas.

[bengaltiger1]

We are in St Petersburg at the beginning of July. We have booked a three day tour with a Russian company. They arrange a visa. You cannot leave the tour during your visit as you are tied in with them due to the visa. Please join your roll call. There will be lots of people who are going on private trips. Check out Tripadvisor for companies. We are using SPB. Others are using ALLA and I think TJ Tours.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Jerzy Traveler]

As stated by others, you can book with licensed tour guides in St. Petersburg. Smaller groups and lower prices. From what I read, the tours are better than those offered onboard with less time in souvenir stores. Check SPB, Alla or TJ, all highly rated. Viator is a consolidator or third party and not the tour company.

[vickykay]

You will see twice as much at half the cost with a private company. We also used Red October and were a group of ten from our roll calls. They took care of everything and were terrific.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I would find a new travel agent. Yours is remarkably misinformed. Or is getting a kickback from Celebrity.

 

By all means use one of the Russian companies. You can decide what size group you want and what you want to see. Far superior to a big group with Celebrity. We watched the Celebrity group lining up to get into the Hermitage as we sailed on by them, guided by our private guide.

 

[pjs678]

We are about to do our first cruise from SouthHampton to St Petersberg. We would like to book a 2 day excursion in St Petersberg with Viator but my travel agent is telling me I have to book through Celebrity or we may not receive valid visas.. Any advice please??

 

Sounds like a lazy travel agent. It doesn't even sound like OP is getting this from Celebrity. We are sailing in June on the Silhouette in the Baltics and have heard not one word from our TA or Celebrity that anyone HAS to book tours through Celebrity in St. Petersburg.

[mandream]

We used Anastasia - highly recommended.

 

All the legitimate independent tour operators will arrange your visas for you. No problem whatsoever.

 

Shocking advice from a TA.

 

Mike

[Mr. Click]

It does sound like your TA is getting a kick back. If you go with a ship's tour you will get off faster but the smaller groups arranged by the authorized local companies are much more enjoyable. We used TJ Travel, they are great. Others we know used Alla and SPB and were very happy too. All of these companies rely heavily on cruise ship tourist and they know we all share info here so they all work hard to make everyone happy.

[lisalovlee33]

Celebrity Russian tour - big bus with A LOT more people, long lines for everything (museums, sites, etc), more $$$

Private Russian tour - small personable group, often cut the lines, and cheaper!

And of course, its not true. There are some agencies you can use. RedOctober is a good one that we took a few years ago.

[TeaBag]

We used DenRus tours, last year, for a one day tour and they were fabulous. They left us off at the ship at 5:30 PM after a wonderful day and we quickly grabbed a bite to eat, changed into more formal dress and were picked up again by Den Rus for the ballet. A simply fabulous day.

 

Yes, fire that travel agent and enjoy your time in St Petersburg.

[donaldsc]

We are about to do our first cruise from SouthHampton to St Petersberg. We would like to book a 2 day excursion in St Petersberg with Viator but my travel agent is telling me I have to book through Celebrity or we may not receive valid visas.. Any advice please??

 

Your TA is a total idiot or is getting kickbacks from Celebrity. You are stuck with him for this cruise but after this one fire him and tell him why.

 

We did a wonderful 2 day Alla tour in St. Petersberg. They took care of all the paperwork. The tour was cheaper than the Celebrity tour. The group size was smaller. The guide was wonderful. They also did some tour modifications such as a visit to the Great Synagogue which was not on the initial tour itinerary.

 

Enjoy your visit. It is a great place to see.

 

DON

[az_tchr]

We are about to do our first cruise from SouthHampton to St Petersberg. We would like to book a 2 day excursion in St Petersberg with Viator but my travel agent is telling me I have to book through Celebrity or we may not receive valid visas.. Any advice please??

 

I think you did not understand you TA (they are probably confused as well). If you go ashore ONLY on a ships tour a visa is not required as theere is a LIMITED visa waiver program in place for cruise ship passengers If you go on other tours a visa is almost always required and the visa is a pain and expensive. I have seen companies that have saod they have waivers, but make sure you have that in writing or the Russian authorities will not let you out of the docking area.

 

Private tours will not likely end up being cheaper because of the visa cost, but certainly will provide the chance to see much much more.

[bremenkat]

All the private tours will send you paperwork when you book to show the authorities at customs. They sort out the visas for you and it is included in the cost of the tour, so the only effort on your part is providing them your passport details in advance. So not a pain in any way.

 

We did a 2 day tour in St Petersburg last year for a small group arranged through our roll call. We went with TJ tours and it was quite a bit cheaper than the cost of the Celebrity tour. We also got a discount for booking through cruise critic.

 

It was definitely cheaper than arranging the visas ourselves and then doing a tour. Well worth doing. If you use one of the recommended tour companies you will be absolutely fine.

[MMastell]

I see you are from New Zealand so I would independently verify that your REGISTERED tour operator in St. Petersburg can provide the temporary tourist visa for your tour. I know that Australians can do this with no problem.

 

We did this two years ago with no issues when we were in St. Petersburg and had a private tour for the two days. You will need to send them your passport information and they MUST meet you at the pier.

 

NCL tried to pull one on people when we boarded the ship and told passengers that they would not be allowed into the country unless they booked a tour with NCL. That stretching the truth to get business.

 

No: You cannot walk off the ship and grab a cab or find a tour operator. All arrangements must be made in advance but you can, and should, book your own tour. There have been some good recommendations already mentioned and you will find you will see more and have more time at the sites than you would with a ship's tour.

 

Enjoy St. Petersburg. It's a lovely city.

 

Take care,

Mike

[Katgoesonholiday]

I see you are from New Zealand so I would independently verify that your REGISTERED tour operator in St. Petersburg can provide the temporary tourist visa for your tour. I know that Australians can do this with no problem.

 

We are Kiwis doing the Southampton to St Petersburg in July and have had no problem getting a temporary tourist visa through SPB tours.

[dadsbdaycruiser]

We used Red October a few years back, and spoke with the owners of the business at one of the lunches. At that time, they were coordinating a huge number of the Russian tours on the ground the SHIPS were running- our guide had done a large tour for Crystal Cruises a few days before- We had a wonderful private guide and van- we had a number of kids so they sent a retired school teacher who did a fantastic job. It was a wonderful 2 days in St. Petersburg- for a fraction of the cost.

[pjs678]

I think you did not understand you TA (they are probably confused as well). If you go ashore ONLY on a ships tour a visa is not required as theere is a LIMITED visa waiver program in place for cruise ship passengers If you go on other tours a visa is almost always required and the visa is a pain and expensive. I have seen companies that have saod they have waivers, but make sure you have that in writing or the Russian authorities will not let you out of the docking area.

 

Private tours will not likely end up being cheaper because of the visa cost, but certainly will provide the chance to see much much more.

 

That is false. There are many tour companies that can provide the visa-free tour. Who do you think the cruise line uses? They don't staff their own tours. They use the same companies that provide the private tours, also visa-free for up to 72 hours. It is you who is confused.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I think you did not understand you TA (they are probably confused as well). If you go ashore ONLY on a ships tour a visa is not required as theere is a LIMITED visa waiver program in place for cruise ship passengers If you go on other tours a visa is almost always required and the visa is a pain and expensive. I have seen companies that have saod they have waivers, but make sure you have that in writing or the Russian authorities will not let you out of the docking area.

 

Private tours will not likely end up being cheaper because of the visa cost, but certainly will provide the chance to see much much more.

 

I think it is you who does not understand or is confused. The type of visa you are talking about is only required if you are going off the ship independently, without a tour guide.

 

If you tour with a group, whether arranged with Celebrity or in advance with Alla, DenRus, or one of the other tour companies, the visa is included in the price of your tour and the paperwork will be given to you in advance. Absolutely no problem clearing Russian immigration (except for the grumpy folks staffing the booths).

 

Have you done this before? I suspect not. Please allow those who have done this before to give the correct information to those who are asking. There is a lot of misinformation on Cruise Critic.

 

[Jack Staff]

Have a look (on the web) at Alla Tours ; SPB and others. They all offer tours of SPB and are well recommend -better and cheaper than cruise line tours.

[Mr. Click]

What Happy Cruiser said....especially about the grumpy immigration agents. Just hand them your paperwork--your passport and your ticket from a registered tour company--and just stand there and wait while they process it. We used TJ, others we know have used SPB, Alla, DenRus etc and no one had a problem with their visas. We were all sent all of the needed paperwork months ahead of time so the tour operators could get the visas done. The one thing you cannot do is just walk off the ship with out a visa. The visas the tour operators provide are only good when you are accompanied by them. Most offer evening tours as well for overnight stops. We had one booked but by the end of the first day we were so exhausted from running and doing all day long we were happy to skip it when the operator told us she did not have enough people signed up to make it work at a reasonable price. Being is a smaller group with a great guide got us through a lot of lines very quickly at each stop.

[PROCRUISE]

All the information previously received is correct, especially about no visa needed if you're on a private tour. Although we did The Baltic Sea cruise with HAL, we booked the two of us with Red October for two days in St. Petersburg. Great itinerary, which they designed around what we wanted to see plus some great suggestions, like a short ride on the subway to see the fabulous subway stations. No problems at all although we heard that some cruise lines (Celebrity included) liked to tell passengers on private tours that they cannot disembark until Celebrity tour passengers have done so. We had no problems with HAL and were the third and fourth passengers to walk off the ship once the ship was cleared by authorities. Our driver and guide were waiting for us each day and delivered us back to the ship at dusk. Great time!! :-)

[Al54]

I'm just coming back from a Baltic cruise on Celebrity Silhouette and was never told by the cruiseline not to take a private tour, and nobody on ship tried to "threaten" passengers, or slow disembarkation for people who didn't choose a cruiseline tour, at any port of call. Individual passengers were free to disembark, as soon as the ship has been cleared, while people with Celebrity excursions were waiting in the theater : no problem at all. The tour tickets or vouchers are considered as legal visas in St Petersburg and nobody on the ship had problems with immigration, except 30mn waiting on the first day. I didn't find immigration officers "grumpy" at all, they were just concentrated on a very hard work with two enormous ships in port, and some of them were smiling and joking when I tried to say "good morning" in russian (in fact, I said "good afternoon" and they took a minute to explain my mistake) : much better than some screaming, barking, scaring immigration officers in NY Kennedy airport!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app