St Petersburg excursion celebrity Reflection advice please!

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, Simbamax said:

 I was searching on ALLA tours and SPB tours... comparing them. That’s all 👍🏽👍🏽

 

There is actually a relationship between the two. As I previously wrote we used Alla. Our Alla  tour guide informed us that she had gone through all the bureaucratic hoops to start her own company the next year. That company is SPB. This was back in 2007.

 

And back then Princess did definitely try to tell us that you could only get off the ship with their tours or a Russian visa.

[dogs4fun]

14 hours ago, ontheweb said:

And back then Princess did definitely try to tell us that you could only get off the ship with their tours or a Russian visa.

Same on our NCL cruise - it was an outright lie. Our Oceania cruise sent an email containing misleading information that suggested you needed to book with Oceania or obtain a visa - they framed this as a binary choice. What Oceania failed to mention is that you only need a visa if you intended to get off the ship without the benefit of a ship's excursion or any tour operator licensed by the Russian Federation. 

I recall receiving several frantic emails from those in our group - they were concerned that they would be unable to get off the ship.

The visa free rules for cruise ship passengers were available to read on the Russian Consulate's website - I simply sent our group the link and assured them they would be fine. 

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

Same on our NCL cruise - it was an outright lie. Our Oceania cruise sent an email containing misleading information that suggested you needed to book with Oceania or obtain a visa - they framed this as a binary choice. What Oceania failed to mention is that you only need a visa if you intended to get off the ship without the benefit of a ship's excursion or any tour operator licensed by the Russian Federation. 

I recall receiving several frantic emails from those in our group - they were concerned that they would be unable to get off the ship.

The visa free rules for cruise ship passengers were available to read on the Russian Consulate's website - I simply sent our group the link and assured them they would be fine. 

Yes, the visa free rule applies to St. Petersburg only. It applies to both ship tours and private tours by licensed agencies when the ship is in St. Petersberg for 72 hours or less.

[John Bull]

I've just snuck over to the OP's RollCall.

Has managed to book 2-day Grand Tour with Alla.

 

So we can all relax 

 

JB 

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, John Bull said:

I've just snuck over to the OP's RollCall.

Has managed to book 2-day Grand Tour with Alla.

 

So we can all relax 

 

JB 

Good for him. It's nice that several of us were able to give him good advice, and he was able to follow through on it.

 

LOL, is "snuck over" the official term for going to a roll call on a ship you are not cruising on?

[John Bull]

6 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Good for him. It's nice that several of us were able to give him good advice, and he was able to follow through on it.

 

LOL, is "snuck over" the official term for going to a roll call on a ship you are not cruising on?

 

According to Google-translate, "snuck is "սահել" in American.

 

JB 

[John Bull]

8 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

According to Google-translate, "snuck is "սահել" in American.

 

JB 

 

Dammit.

Sorry, wasn't wearing my glasses.

That's actually in Armenian.

You'll have to figure it from there.

 

JB 

Edited June 20, 2019 by John Bull

[dogs4fun]

14 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

Dammit.

Sorry, wasn't wearing my glasses.

That's actually in Armenian.

You'll have to figure it from there.

 

JB 

hah - my first thought was that you had lost your mind. 😎