Private excursion in St Petersburg - non NCL?

[stitchcreek]

Can anyone confirm if NCL will allow us to use a private tour company for a 2 day shore excursion?

This tour company have said ‘This tour is Visa-free for cruise ship passengers docking in St. Petersburg for less than 72 hours who arrive and depart from a cruise ship. SPB-Tours is a licensed Tour Operator in the Russian federation and has the legal right to offer Visa-free excursions to cruise ship passengers.’

 

Don’t want to book then find we have problems getting off the ship!

 

 

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[dogs4fun]

Yes, you will be allowed to use SPB - you won't have any problems getting off the ship (note that ship sponsored tours are allowed to disembark first in SPB).

Most of us on this forum have used independent companies in St. Petersburg rather than the ship's excursions. As long as the tour company is licensed by the Russian Federation, which SPB is, you will be fine.

Edited February 15, 2019 by dogs4fun

[stitchcreek]

Yes, you will be allowed to use SPB - you won't have any problems getting off the ship (note that ship sponsored tours are allowed to disembark first in SPB).

Great, thank you for confirming.
So NCL excursions get priority disembarking, then everyone else?


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[dogs4fun]

1 minute ago, stitchcreek said:

Great, thank you for confirming.
So NCL excursions get priority disembarking, then everyone else?


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Yes - this is true for all ships docking in St. Petersburg, not just NCL.

[stitchcreek]

Yes - this is true for all ships docking in St. Petersburg, not just NCL.

I guess the private tour companies are well aware of this so give you grace in time getting off the ship?


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[dogs4fun]

1 minute ago, stitchcreek said:

I guess the private tour companies are well aware of this so give you grace in time getting off the ship?

Yes, the private companies are well aware & have structured their tours accordingly.

Edited February 15, 2019 by dogs4fun

[ropomo]

Restrictions of pax leaving ship on private tours after ship tours only pertains to some of the cruise lines.  Viking as an example does not do this.  Check with your cruise line or on the forum for your specific line.

[GlennaRoseGoes]

Restrictions forcing independently booked passengers to disembark after the ship’s own organized tours seems to only pertain if 5 or more ships are in port. https://guidetopetersburg.com/new-disembarkation-rules-st-petersburg-cruise-port-for-2018-navigation/

[John Bull]

13 hours ago, stitchcreek said:

I guess the private tour companies are well aware of this so give you grace in time getting off the ship?


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Yes, no worries.

The "ship-sponsored excursionists disembark first" arrangement started last season (money talks ) so the authorised local tour agents just put back their day-1 tours by an hour - starting an hour later, finishing an hour later. Day 2 (and evenings, and day 3 if applicable) not affected cos the paperwork is done on first disembarkation so after that the lines move quickly.

There are a dozen or so authorised local agents, all very good and far better tours than the big ship-sponsored buses.

But you do have to prebook, print-off the tour ticket that they e-mail to you and that gets you thro immigration without a visa.

 

JB 

[Toofarfromthesea]

On 2/15/2019 at 8:43 PM, GlennaRoseGoes said:

Restrictions forcing independently booked passengers to disembark after the ship’s own organized tours seems to only pertain if 5 or more ships are in port. https://guidetopetersburg.com/new-disembarkation-rules-st-petersburg-cruise-port-for-2018-navigation/

I was concerned about this, but I just checked and on May 1, 2019 the only ships in SPB are us (MSC Meraviglia) and the Viking Sky.  Between that and the fact that we are sailing in the Yacht Club encourage me that we will get off quickly for our private tour.  Since we only have one day in SPB time is important.

Thanks for posting that link.

[Lagerta]

On 2/16/2019 at 6:43 AM, GlennaRoseGoes said:

Restrictions forcing independently booked passengers to disembark after the ship’s own organized tours seems to only pertain if 5 or more ships are in port. https://guidetopetersburg.com/new-disembarkation-rules-st-petersburg-cruise-port-for-2018-navigation/

As far as I know, this year there will be such restrictions regardless of number of ships in the port. I feel sorry for those who stop in St Petersburg for just one day.
To be more exact, that's mostly about the vehicles that are allowed in the port. They say that the cruise tour buses should have priority and come first, and only 1,5 hours later they allow the private vehicles on the territory.

[dogs4fun]

2 hours ago, Lagerta said:

As far as I know, this year there will be such restrictions regardless of number of ships in the port. I feel sorry for those who stop in St Petersburg for just one day.
To be more exact, that's mostly about the vehicles that are allowed in the port. They say that the cruise tour buses should have priority and come first, and only 1,5 hours later they allow the private vehicles on the territory.

This is exactly the same information that I have received. This year, independent tour operators will not be allowed to enter the port until 90 minutes after the ship docks - regardless of the number of ships in port.

If in doubt, contact your tour company - they will have the most up to date, reliable information.

Edited February 18, 2019 by dogs4fun

[northernrose]

Great information as we are on a private tour for St Petersburg.

[GlennaRoseGoes]

13 hours ago, Lagerta said:

As far as I know, this year there will be such restrictions regardless of number of ships in the port. 

Well that explains why the custom itinerary quotes I received have such late start times! (Only 3 ships in port when we arrive)

[Brantjudith]

No one can prohibit you to use an independent tour company. Agree with one of the above comments, most of us here have used local tour operators and did not take ship’s tours, and everyone (or almost everyone) seems to be happy. There are several companies operating in St Petersburg, for instance, we used Anastasia Travel in 2016, and this was the most fantastic tour we could possibly imagine. We did not experience any troubles getting off the ship, the papers they sent us were just fine. Just look through different reviews in the threads here and choose someone to show you around St Petersburg. Do NOT book the ship’s tour if you don’t want to waste your time in a crowd of some 50 people in a bus!

 

Edited February 19, 2019 by Brantjudith
The link is not required

[anita71]

Hello,

 

We used TJ Travels 2 years ago when docking is ST-P with NCL.  Very easy to work with and they send you a VISA to print and bring with you when you go through customs.  The only down side is the wait at customs... took +/- 1 hours to go through it on the first day.  All in all, very easy and smooth experience, exept for the wait.

Enjoy!  It is a fabulous city!

[stitchcreek]

Thank you all for the advice!

[gnome12]

35 minutes ago, cansas.piligrim said:

It is a very helpful article. It concerns the questions about St. Petersburg port and visa free tours.
Like in most cruise ports across the world, in St. Petersburg cruise visitors can book shore excursions with:
— their cruise line which hires a local partner and provides the so-called «ship-sponsored tours»;
— local travel agencies (so called «independent operators») directly.

 

Yes, but note that the information from post #11 is for 2018. The understanding on this board is that they have extended these restrictions to all ships.

[northernrose]

Great  article 

[Wellou2]

We used SPB in 2018 and were very happy with them.  If you are not on a NCL tour you sign up in different groups to get off the ship.  We were in Group B and were allocated a time to get off the ship.  On day one SPB than fill up each vehicle as people arrive so they can leave as quickly as possible.  There was no problems on day 2 as the immigration is much quicker.  We had full days and even though you are off after the NCL tours you are in a smaller group and you will enjoy this much more.

[Kate P.C]

On 2/19/2019 at 4:49 PM, Brantjudith said:

No one can prohibit you to use an independent tour company. Agree with one of the above comments, most of us here have used local tour operators and did not take ship’s tours, and everyone (or almost everyone) seems to be happy. There are several companies operating in St Petersburg, for instance, we used Anastasia Travel in 2016, and this was the most fantastic tour we could possibly imagine. We did not experience any troubles getting off the ship, the papers they sent us were just fine. Just look through different reviews in the threads here and choose someone to show you around St Petersburg. Do NOT book the ship’s tour if you don’t want to waste your time in a crowd of some 50 people in a bus!

 

We also had Anastasia Travel deal with the visa processing. As soon as we got off the ship, the guide was there next to the passport control and we had absolutely no issues concerning visas. We were so relieved! I also suggest you forget about the ship's tours, not only for St. Petersburg but for other ports too, especially the Baltic ports. Best of luck!