Russian Visa advice please.

[Sundowners]

Hello,

I'm not actually a new cruiser, BUT....I feel a little out of my comfort zone with this upcoming P&O Arcadia cruise my wife and I are planning.

We live in Australia, and the cruise will be through the Baltic including a stop at St. Petersburg, Russia. I have heard that there are some pre-visit steps you must take in order to get a Russian Visa. A letter of invitation was one of them and only 2 places in the UK (Edinburg & London) where you can get them processed. We will be in the UK for about 5 weeks prior to the cruise leaving Southampton. Will this be enough time or do I need to post Passports etc to the UK.

Alternatively the Australian Russian Embassy is in Canberra, just a 2.5 hours drive away....would they be able to process it all for us?

As you can tell....any advice would be most welcome.

Thanks & Cheers,

Rob

[Essiesmom]

If you book a tour through the ship, they include the visa, so no problem. If you book a tour through one of the many online agencies they take care of the visa. The only time you need to get your own visa is if you plan to go out on your own. This is not recommended, as there are no hawkers at the pier offering tours; I don't believe there are taxis waiting, few speak Englsih and the signs are all in Russian. SPB is just not tourist friendly to the independent traveler unless you speak Russian. You can gets lots more information here on the Ports of Call board for Northern Europe, and an the ROLL CALL for your cruise. EM

[LHT28]

What are your plans for SPB?

SPB is a large city & the sites are spread out

 

I would book with one of the Licensed Russian tour companies they will handle the Visa for you & you will have a great tour

Check out SPB-Tours, Alla tours & others are mentioned on the Baltic forum

[Sundowners]

"Thank You" EM,

Very much appreciated,

 

LHT28, Thank you too,

 

Rob

Edited December 17, 2016 by Sundowners

[John Bull]

Just confirming the advice on the other posts. :)

 

Very few cruisers visiting St Pete's go down the visa route. Expensive for Americans, complicated for Brits, mebbe worse for Aussies.

Provided that you're in port for no more than 72 hours (I suspect Arcadia will be in for 2 days), that you overnite on the ship, and you go ashore on a pre-booked tour with an authorised agency, your visit is visa-free.

 

Be wary of P&O's crafty phraseology - like other cruise lines they give the impression that ship's tours are visa-free but independents have to get a visa. True, if you want to explore St Pete's unaccompanied you need a visa. But they forget :rolleyes: to tell you that independently-booked tours are visa-free too.

 

Most folk on Cruise Critic use one of a number of excellent local operators like Alla Tours, TJ Travel, SPB Tours, Best Guides, DenRus. Google them, and check out the Baltic ports-of-call forum here on Cruise Critic.

For most operators you can book just for yourselves, to share a 16-seater van (minibus) with others on your cruise.

You do have to book in advance, the tour tickets e-mailed to you gets you through immigration without a visa. But you don't have to pay, or even quote a card number with your booking - they trust you, you pay during the course of your tour. Card or cash USD or roubles, probably euros, I don't know about other currencies.

 

Plenty of folk use ship's tours, they use authorised local operators so their tours are visa-free too. They're usually in full-size coaches, so not as personal or flexible as van tours, and lots of lost time in traffic, loading & unloading etc.

I think P&O are unique in that they also offer minibus tours similar to those of the local operators, though doubtless more expensive.

 

Your tour tickets will only get you through immigration to join that tour. So for instance you can't book a one-day tour & use that ticket to get you through immigration on the other day.

 

Finally, if you or any of your party need a Schengen visa (Aus citizens don't) for places like Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, etc they will need a multiple-entry visa. A single-entry Schengen visa allows you to move between Schengen countries, but your visit to St Pete's will be between Schengen countries - for instance Finland to Russia to Estonia - so a multiple-entry visa is needed.

 

Great part of the world for cruising - and don't forget, on Arcadia no restriction on taking aboard such alcohol as you want - wines, beers, spirits - to consume in your cabin. :)

 

JB :)

[BritinSoCal]

OP - jump over to the Northern Europe & Baltics Ports of Call forum. Lots of advice there about St. Petersburg.

 

As has been mentioned here the licensed tour companies will organise your visas for you when you sign-up for a tour. All offer 1, 2 and 3 days tours (depending how long you are in the city), all have escorted literally thousands of happy tourists at a fraction of the cost (without needing to pay in advance) and in a much smaller group than your ship's tours. We used TJ Travel last year and would both recommend and use again without hesitation.

 

Check out the reviews on Trip Advisor, check their itineraries or put together a private tour.

[easyboy]

We used SPB Tours and their emailed voucher was all we presented to the immigration officer together with our passport.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[ontheweb]

I agree with what everyone else wrote about using private tours and checking out the Baltic section of these boards.

 

I would add you should also check out the roll call for your cruise. There may very well already be someone who has booked a private tour and is looking for others on the ship to join the tour. Or, after doing your research, you could be the one looking for others to join you with whichever private company you have picked.

[Floridiana]

We used TJ for the four of us. They had a van, driver and guide. We could also have joined another group of passengers. We did the same for Gdansk with a different company, easygdansktours with Klaudia Popielska. Both tours were excellent.

In Klaipeda, we used a ship's tour. Tallinn and Stockholm we did on our own. Ship shuttle bus in Tallinn and walking. Public shuttle boat in Stockholm and walking.

[Hlitner]

Our advice to the OP is to check with the travel company with whom you booked as well as the cruise line. We would note that the OP is in Australia, and all the folks giving advice are in the USA. Whether or not the same group Visa rules apply to Australian Passports as to USA Passports is an open question. Perhaps an experienced Australian traveler will eventually add their comments.

 

Hank

[John Bull]

............ all the folks giving advice are in the USA.

 

Hank

 

Not all of 'em, Hank :p

 

Same visa-free arrangements for Brits, Canadians, Aussies, Kiwi's and probably all other nationalities though citizens of a few of Russia's neighbouring countries don't need a visa anyway.

 

JB :)

ps Did you suffer from Guinness cold turkey in St Petersburg, Hank?

Or did you smuggle ashore some of your own ? :D

Edited December 17, 2016 by John Bull

[Hlitner]

Not all of 'em, Hank :p

 

Same visa-free arrangements for Brits, Canadians, Aussies, Kiwi's and probably all other nationalities though citizens of a few of Russia's neighbouring countries don't need a visa anyway.

 

JB :)

ps Did you suffer from Guinness cold turkey in St Petersburg, Hank?

Or did you smuggle ashore some of your own ? :D

 

LOL JB.) You have spent so much time in the USA that we consider you an honorary Yank. Rumor has it that some of our highway police are looking forward to your return....and have tuned-up their radar for that purpose.

 

One of our days in St Petersburg we had lunch at a cafe near Nevsky Prospekt. Much to my delight they had Guinness (in bottles). It was nice to see that Russia has entered the real civilized world.

Hank:)

Edited December 17, 2016 by Hlitner

[SuiteTraveler]

Rob,

The only risk you take not getting a visa for Russia is if there is a medical emergency and one of you is hospitalized in Russia. The other person would have to stay with the ship because if they did not Russia would arrest the one not hospitalized and take them before a judge and fine that person and then deport them and send them home on the first possible flight. This person who was deported would never be allowed to enter Russia again. An air ambulance to extract your loved one costs over $125,000 and it might take weeks to arrange such an accommodation. This actually happened to a friend of mine and it took some 5 weeks to get her father out of Russia. IF her father and his traveling companions had had visas, they could have all stayed and might have been able to bring her father back on a commercial airliner.

[SPacificbound]

The following link is a phenomenal tour company, and they will handle that for you. Hopefully you have an overnight in SPB so you can do a two day tour.

 

 

https://www.spb-tours.com/

[Sundowners]

WOW....All these answers to my original post in just a couple of days.

Thank you all for your input...its much appreciated.

There's lots of excellent advice there and I have already started investigations, with lots more to come, no doubt.

Again, "Thank You"

Cheers,

Rob