Question for those who booked private tours in St Petersburg

[Topaz27]

In some cases, port authorities require that the ship present the passports of all passengers during clearance, even though the passengers themselves do not need to appear. In those cases, the ship will often collect all passports at embarkation and return them later. This is less common in the Baltics, since most of the Schengen ports do not request them.

 

Immigration and port authority procedures do vary with time and circumstances, so what holds true in one case may not hold true in others. In cases where the ship does collect and hold all of the passports, it is possible to get your passport back from the purser's desk under certain circumstances, but from my experience, it can require a fair amount of patience (and you will need to return it for any further group-clearance operations).

 

Edited to add: While I have not experienced this in the Baltics, I have had it happen in other places. I can't recall all of them, but it certainly happened in East Asia, where our passports came back with immigration stamps for Vietnam (and maybe a few other countries) and an Arctic trip where we were stamped for entry at a very remote town in Greenland.

 

Passports of passengers who require a Schengen visa are usually collected by the ship . That is what happened on our Mediterranean cruise in May. We were also asked to collect it before going ashore in Venice ( since that was an overnight stop ) and return it to the ship on leaving Venice.

[ciocco]

I booked a 2 day STANDARD private group tour with TJ Travel in June for our August 2018 cruise. The booking process was extremely efficient and we did not have to pay a penny in advance. The disembarkation instruction was very detailed and clear. On our 1st day in St. Petersburg, we weren't sure how long it will take to go through the immigration control so we allotted 30 min. to do so, fortunately, there weren't many passengers to go through immigration at that time (7:45) so we breezed through immigration in 10 min. TJ representative was outside the immigration control area with a sign so it's very easy to find it. We were a bit earlier than the meeting time so we walked around the souvenir shops till our meeting time at 8:30. All passengers from different ships had no problem getting through the immigration so we were on time with our tour. There were 9 passengers in a 14 seaters Mercedes van. The seat was a bit small so if we had all 14 passengers, it would have been a very tight sitting. Our tour guide, Lisa, speaks perfect English and processes a broad knowledge of Russian history, our driver, knows his way around town so we always just a step away from our van. We were so fortunate to have both of them as our guides, Lisa also is a certified guide for the Hermitage museum so she showed us most of the "must see" in 2 1/2 hrs. time slot, it was nice to have had an opportunity to visit this museum briefly, we sure will come back to visit this museum in the future. We opted for this tour without lunch so that we could order what we like and I was so pleased with the restaurant choice that Lisa picked. We visited all the places listed on the itinerary, not exactly in the same order but it's totally fine by us. On the 2nd day of our tour, most of us needed to aboard our ship by 4 or 4:30, our last attraction was a visit at Catherine Palace with Amber Room, it was jammed-packed with group tours, the pace was extremely slow, we weren't sure if we could make it back in time, Lisa was able to negotiate with the big group in front of us to by pass them so we could cover all the rooms and still able to make it back in time. We were so happy with TJ Travel and I highly recommend cruise ship passenger to book this private tour, it's way cheaper than the one offered by the cruise ship and it's basically the same itinerary!

 

 

I have been looking at the 2 day Standard Tour so I'm curious if you think you missed out on anything that the more expensive All Highlights tour gives? I see the Standard does not include lunch but the price difference seems a lot just for lunch.

[ebslcc]

On 10/8/2018 at 5:42 PM, ciocco said:

 

 

I have been looking at the 2 day Standard Tour so I'm curious if you think you missed out on anything that the more expensive All Highlights tour gives? I see the Standard does not include lunch but the price difference seems a lot just for lunch.

There may be a lot more difference than just lunch.  For example some tours DO NOT have early entry or private entrance privileges you end up wasting a lot of time waiting in line!  Worst yet: for some tours if an attraction is over crowded they will skip the attraction.  We heard of 2 occurences of this with SPB tour.  Another consideration is the more expensive tours will have hydrofoil to Peterhof.  You will be more assure of getting to the sight in time to see the fountain getting turned on.  To me you are paying a lot to see St. Petersburg. You will have a much more efficient tour and see a lot more for the small incremental price.  I see that you have narrowed down to Alla and TJ.  Both are top choices to select from.  You may also want to see what other additions the tour companies offer which you may be interested in.  e.g. discounted excursions in other ports.  We did other ports on our own however we heard good reviews for these excursions from other fellow passengers. For these large companies there is no hurry deciding. They have plenty of capacity.  I would book no later than 2 months ahead.  The companies recommend booking at least a month ahead for visa processing. TJ had 90 excursions going on the day that we were in St. Peterburg. 

 

Laurence 

[Lagerta]

On 12/1/2018 at 10:39 PM, ebslcc said:

There may be a lot more difference than just lunch.  For example some tours DO NOT have early entry or private entrance privileges you end up wasting a lot of time waiting in line!  Worst yet: for some tours if an attraction is over crowded they will skip the attraction.  We heard of 2 occurences of this with SPB tour.  Another consideration is the more expensive tours will have hydrofoil to Peterhof.  You will be more assure of getting to the sight in time to see the fountain getting turned on.  To me you are paying a lot to see St. Petersburg. You will have a much more efficient tour and see a lot more for the small incremental price.  I see that you have narrowed down to Alla and TJ.  Both are top choices to select from.  You may also want to see what other additions the tour companies offer which you may be interested in.  e.g. discounted excursions in other ports.  We did other ports on our own however we heard good reviews for these excursions from other fellow passengers. For these large companies there is no hurry deciding. They have plenty of capacity.  I would book no later than 2 months ahead.  The companies recommend booking at least a month ahead for visa processing. TJ had 90 excursions going on the day that we were in St. Peterburg. 

 

Laurence 

It is always better to check beforehand what is included in the price and what is not, to know exactly what you are paying for. I am actually surprized to read that some tour companies can skip a venue just because it is overcrowded! The company I dealt with was super careful about their reputation and went above and beyond to give you all they promised, even if it was not easy to do.
Regarding the difference between standard and intensive tours, you need to judge by your energy. If you feel you can survive two days of a very tight schedule with lots of places to visit and heaps of info to digest, you may go for a more intense and expensive tour. If you prefer seeing things in a more relaxed way, stick to the standard.
Lastly, of course there is no rush to book the tour now, but you might want to check out Christmas discounts, which are offered by some companies. Good luck with planning!

[snowgreg]

On 8/11/2018 at 11:26 AM, stpie said:

We just returned from our Baltic Cruise, on Silversea Spirit.

 

Re: Private tours, we used Tzarina Tours, a smaller company, for our private tours, and we highly recommend. We submitted our passport info and within 1-2 days received our tour tickets via email, which we printed to show immigration at SPB.

 

Re: Taking of passports. Our ship did take our passports when we boarded, as there was a group clearance for our first port, Helsinki. It felt odd, but seemd to be the way of the ship, so we did as told. We were told to retrieve our passports the day before our arrival at SPB. Then, we kept our passports for the rest of the cruise.

 

Similar story with Tzarina Tours, we sent our passport infomation and they quickly sent back tickets to present at customs, although the person at customs mainly just stamped our passport when we left the first day and stamped it again when we returned the first day, didn't ask to see my tour ticket.  The 2nd day off the ship was even easier, they just looked at my passport and waived me through.

 

Here is a review of my tour with Tzarina, spoiler alert...they are wonderful people:

 

[searaider]

We just returned from our Baltic cruise on Brilliance of the Sea.  We used TJ tours for Tallinn, St. Petersburg (2 day tour), and Helsinki and found that they are great to work with.  For St. Petersburg, we had to submit passport info when booked and that allow TJ Travel to add the visa to the tickets for the tour.  As stated in a previous post, the tickets you receive must be printed copies not electronic to give to customs in St. Petersburg.  TJ Travel does not require payment in advance but you have an option to pay in advance if you want, otherwise you pay in St. Petersburg using rubles or by credit card.  We paid by credit card and it took only a couple of minutes and they were very though in explaining the charge would be in rubles from their side, though the cost is quoted in US dollars.  They also provided the Canadian dollar amount which as Canadians was good. Our tour guide, Maria was one of the best we have ever had in all the private tours we have taken over the years, and the van was newer and very comfortable.

 

The customs in St. Petersburg was lengthy on the first of two days, as the agents are extremely serious and wanted to see passport and compared face to passport, sea pass card for ship, and tour ticket before sending you through. They do not talk to you at all and no smiles.  They will want to see passports on the way back to the ship as well.  Day two was quick through customs.

 

 

Edited June 6, 2019 by searaider

[RubyP1981]

Our experience with Alla was similar to the other members.  Princess did not take our passports though and we had to show both the tour ticket, passport and sail and sign/medallion to passport control

[ciocco]

Searaider,

Thanks for your post.  I will also be doing a tour with TJ in St. Petersburg and wondering about lunches?  Were you on your own and if so did they direct you to where to go?

Thanks

[KittyloverCA]

We had a private tour with TJ. On the 1st day we went to Stolle pies, on the 2nd day we just ate in the hermitage cafe to save time, so really nothing special .

[milolii]

Thanks.  We have tours with TJ next year.  

[Kate P.C]

On 5/12/2018 at 10:26 PM, longhorn5 said:

 

When we booked our Tour with Alla Tours I had to enter all of our passport numbers and a few days later our tickets were available to print.

Same with the agency we used, Anastasia Travel. The whole procedure wen very smooth and fast.

[Neuhoftraveler]

We made our St. Petersburg port call several years ago, and so have not been following this board.  But I've noticed a few comments on cruise line boards implying that the lines are still scamming their passengers into believing they need a cumbersome-to-obtain individual visa to tour the city unless they sign up for an over-priced ship's excursion -- the "ship's visa" canard.  Can this be?  Cannot some way be found to shame the guilty cruise lines into giving up this sleazy practice?

[dogs4fun]

16 minutes ago, Neuhoftraveler said:

Cannot some way be found to shame the guilty cruise lines into giving up this sleazy practice?

Apparently not, unfortunately.

[Aus Traveller]

On 6/10/2019 at 12:15 AM, Neuhoftraveler said:

We made our St. Petersburg port call several years ago, and so have not been following this board.  But I've noticed a few comments on cruise line boards implying that the lines are still scamming their passengers into believing they need a cumbersome-to-obtain individual visa to tour the city unless they sign up for an over-priced ship's excursion -- the "ship's visa" canard.  Can this be?  Cannot some way be found to shame the guilty cruise lines into giving up this sleazy practice?

As another point to consider, I suggest that maybe the cruise lines are not deliberately scamming their passengers. They want passengers to have the best experience they can when they visit St Petersburg and don't want them caught out by not obtaining a visa if they haven't booked a tour.  If the advice from Princess was "Unless you book a tour either with us or independently, you must obtain a visa" would some passengers just hear the word "independently" and think they can go ashore independently?

 

The cruise lines take the cautious route by advising passengers to get a visa unless they know for sure that they have booked a tour. Just imagine the screaming that would ensue if passengers were not told they needed a visa. I can almost hear it - "I'm on my 'trip of a lifetime' to Russia and I couldn't even go ashore because Princess didn't tell me I needed a visa!"

 

[searaider]

On 6/6/2019 at 5:37 PM, ciocco said:

Searaider,

Thanks for your post.  I will also be doing a tour with TJ in St. Petersburg and wondering about lunches?  Were you on your own and if so did they direct you to where to go?

Thanks

Both days included lunches.  First day we ate at a restaurant in the 'Tzars Village' which was a three course meal including Russian borsht.  The second day we ate in the city at a small restaurant, again three courses-soup, main, and dessert.  Interesting that the second day, the meal included buns but not the butter (was an extra charge).  I have a special diet and our tour guide made sure that the restaurants could accommodate me. 

[KittyloverCA]

On 6/6/2019 at 5:37 PM, ciocco said:

Searaider,

Thanks for your post.  I will also be doing a tour with TJ in St. Petersburg and wondering about lunches?  Were you on your own and if so did they direct you to where to go?

Thanks

Is you tour a group one or private? Ours was private (ie just our family) and for that reason the lunch aspect was more ad hoc . The tour itself was amazing, we felt like VIPs

[fabnfortysomething]

On ‎6‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 1:14 AM, Aus Traveller said:

As another point to consider, I suggest that maybe the cruise lines are not deliberately scamming their passengers. They want passengers to have the best experience they can when they visit St Petersburg and don't want them caught out by not obtaining a visa if they haven't booked a tour.  If the advice from Princess was "Unless you book a tour either with us or independently, you must obtain a visa" would some passengers just hear the word "independently" and think they can go ashore independently?

 

The cruise lines take the cautious route by advising passengers to get a visa unless they know for sure that they have booked a tour. Just imagine the screaming that would ensue if passengers were not told they needed a visa. I can almost hear it - "I'm on my 'trip of a lifetime' to Russia and I couldn't even go ashore because Princess didn't tell me I needed a visa!"

 

 

I think you are being too kind to the cruise lines

over the years it has been clear that all cruiselines use the same confusing language to make it sound like your only choices are ships tour or independent visa whilst failing to mention the 3rd option of using a private tour company 

[Neuhoftraveler]

1 hour ago, fabnfortysomething said:

I think you are being too kind to the cruise lines

 

And I think fabnforty is being too kind to Aus Traveller.  It would not take a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer to find words clearly and unambiguously communicating that a properly licensed company offering private and group tours is a third option.  But we need not go that far.  As Aus Traveller actually seems to acknowledge, the cruise lines are deliberately suppressing that information.  I differ with Aus Traveller only in doubting that it's merely to protect their passengers.

 

In fact, the cruise line with which we sailed to SPB (no names, but it begins with "S"), when informed that their literature was false and deceptive, had the effrontery to insist that it was actually illegal for passengers without visas to take tours other than "ship's tours."  And no amount of argument or evidence (which included an English translation of the official Russian regulation) was enough to back them off that position.

Edited June 12, 2019 by Neuhoftraveler

[dogs4fun]

1 hour ago, fabnfortysomething said:

 

I think you are being too kind to the cruise lines

over the years it has been clear that all cruiselines use the same confusing language to make it sound like your only choices are ships tour or independent visa whilst failing to mention the 3rd option of using a private tour company 

Agree. 

[zaffyfebe]

Hi, could I ask how you paid for lunch...we are booked with TJ tours ...should we take roubles or just use credit/debit card? Is it easy to draw out cash from somewhere if needed and can you recommend anywhere for lunch...we don't want a 3 course large meal as we will have a good breakfast and don't tend to eat a large lunch at home or on holiday!

Thank you in advance

[snowgreg]

24 minutes ago, zaffyfebe said:

Hi, could I ask how you paid for lunch...we are booked with TJ tours ...should we take roubles or just use credit/debit card? Is it easy to draw out cash from somewhere if needed and can you recommend anywhere for lunch...we don't want a 3 course large meal as we will have a good breakfast and don't tend to eat a large lunch at home or on holiday!

Thank you in advance

We used a MasterCard most places no problem.  We had some rubles for local vendors, tipping, etc. but most places accepted and seemed to prefer Euros.  Some places will tell you they don't accept credit cards, but when you say that is all you have a credit card machine suddenly appears.  There is an ATM at the port that will dispense rubles, but you may want to withdraw 4995 instead of 5000 as we learned there is a 5000 ruble note that is a bit tricky to break into smaller bills.

Edited June 14, 2019 by snowgreg

[fly2themoon]

Print copies of each ticket.

[shank63]

We just returned from a Baltic cruise on the Marina and enjoyed a 3 day private group excursion through Alla.  There was absolutely no problem with visas as Alla provided those services, we only were required to show passports, the Alla daily ticket, and our Oceania card.  The immigration process was seamless, the Russians took a few more minutes on the first entry but very quick on subsequent days.  There is no reason for anyone to obtain a Russian visa unless they are planning to do their own self directed tours without using a reputable Russian guide service or the ship excursions.

[Jezabel2924]

On 6/14/2019 at 8:38 AM, zaffyfebe said:

Hi, could I ask how you paid for lunch...we are booked with TJ tours ...should we take roubles or just use credit/debit card? Is it easy to draw out cash from somewhere if needed and can you recommend anywhere for lunch...we don't want a 3 course large meal as we will have a good breakfast and don't tend to eat a large lunch at home or on holiday!

Thank you in advance

Our lunches on both days with TJ were included in the tour price.  We never needed any cash in Russia and were able to make all purchases with credit cards.

[Lagerta]

On 6/14/2019 at 6:38 PM, zaffyfebe said:

Hi, could I ask how you paid for lunch...we are booked with TJ tours ...should we take roubles or just use credit/debit card? Is it easy to draw out cash from somewhere if needed and can you recommend anywhere for lunch...we don't want a 3 course large meal as we will have a good breakfast and don't tend to eat a large lunch at home or on holiday!

Thank you in advance

Most restaurants and stores accept сredit сards and if you need cash, there are also ATMs at the port terminal. Regarding the food, as you are having a private tour, you may tell your guide your preferences and she'll take you to a local restaurant for lunch. They usually know good places. Our guide brought us to the place called Marketplace which is more like a buffet with a plenty of options for lunch. There are some of them in the downtown.

Edited June 20, 2019 by Lagerta