St Peterburg - CLOSED?

[VicKen]

There are unconfirmed rumors that St. Peterburg will be closed for the G8 summit - some say July 13-18 others July 15-17. Anybody know anything? I have asked my agent to contact Celebrity and have emailed DenRus but no response!!!:eek:

[Artemis]

You can see the dates at the official website http://en.g8russia.ru/ Go to the Working Meetings section. July 15-17 are the actual summit dates; July 7-18 is the junior summit out at Pushkin, where Catherine's Summer Palace is located. I would anticipate the palace will be utilized for special events in connection with the summit. Ditto Peterhof. (For others reading this thread, there are also dates of related meetings in other months.)

 

I doubt that any tourism vendor knows for sure at this moment what security precautions and restrictions will be put into place during the summit. However, we were very satisfied with Denrus' communications, knowledge and "savvy" about things when we toured with them last year, so I think they will be your best bet for getting reliable information once it is known to them. I, personally, would not give much weight to cruise line or TA information unless the cruise line issues an official statement on the issue, which may not even occur until you are on board.

 

On the one hand, St. Petersbur is Putin's beloved home city, and he knows how important seasonal cruise visitor revenues are to SPb. That should be strong motivation for ongoing discussions re: how to accommodate both tourists and world leaders. On the other hand, considering the state of world affairs, I am sure Putin as host will take extreme measures to create as secure an enivronment for incoming world leaders as possible, even at the expense of tourism dollars for those brief periods.

 

Good luck! I hope everything works out for you.

[Artemis]

It also occurred to me while thinking about this potential scheduling snafu that the cruise line could alter your itinerary so you could still reach SPb and all other featured ports, just in a different order. That can occur on any cruise due to weather and other complications, so it is always important to clearly understand your rescheduling/cancellation options with any independent tour operators in the event of an unexpected, last minute change or, worse, missed port. Third party insurance is a desirable backup for lost deposits in the unlikely event a vendor is unwilling to work out a satisfactory resolution.

 

(Please note, I don't mean to sound like an obnoxious know-it-all. You may be a very experienced cruiser/traveler and way ahead of me on all of this, but others following your thread may not have had the same level of experience, and I always try to post with that in mind. I have certainly learned so much invaluable information from these boards. Kudos to you for bringing up this topic, as it is a significant contingency for everyone cruising the Baltics during G8-affected time periods to consider.)

[VicKen]

DenRus confirmed to me that the rumor is true. I suspect a lot of cruise lines are scrambling to re-direct itineraries but I will not be surprized if there will be at least one cruise scheduled this summer that does not stop at St. Petersburg. We are on the Century July 9-July 21 and I can see no way Celebrity can rearrange things to make all ports within the time frame they have and we are just days away from final pay:eek:

[Artemis]

I'm so sorry for you & all affected cruisers. I think a lot of travelers feel SPb is the jewel of that itinerary--I sure would be distressed about missing that port.

 

I hope there is a chance you can rearrange things to take your trip at a different time this summer. Or maybe do a different cruise at the same time and save Baltics for another year?

 

Good luck coming up with a happy Plan B!

[Juliadlf]

Sorry to hear that you may have some issues with St.P.

Did you call the cruiseline and inquire as to what the status of the situation is?

 

Julia

[Pugdog007]

Are we going to be ok with our stops scheduled Jul 20-21? I chose this itinerary solely for St. Petersburg. I will reschedule if I know ahead of time that we cannot stop there :( What a bummer and stressful for all of us booked around that time.

[CamelliaCity]

How do we find out if they will close to tourism during these times?

Russia is only reason we booked this cruise. Our air is already paid for, h'mmm. Does anyone know anything?

 

 

I went snooping and found this for the weekend that we are to visit SPR.

 

 

 

SEPTEMBER2006

 

date

event

place

September 15-17G8 Parliament Speakers’ MeetingSt. Petersburg

 

 

 

 

In accordance with the decision of the G8 summit in Kananaskis in 2002, Russia will take the rotating chair of the group on January 1, 2006.

 

 

G8 holds an average of 60 to 80 functions annually.

The G8 Group is an unofficial forum of the heads of the leading industrialized democracies (Russia, the U.S., Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Canada and Italy), where the European Union has a limited status. This forum was designed to harmonize attitudes to acute international problems. The member states account for 49% of global exports, 51% of industrial output, and 49% of assets in the International Monetary Fund.

[CamelliaCity]

DenRus confirmed to me that the rumor is true. I suspect a lot of cruise lines are scrambling to re-direct itineraries but I will not be surprized if there will be at least one cruise scheduled this summer that does not stop at St. Petersburg. We are on the Century July 9-July 21 and I can see no way Celebrity can rearrange things to make all ports within the time frame they have and we are just days away from final pay:eek:

 

 

Thank you for discovering this. Do you know where the G8 Parliament Speakers’ Meeting would be held?

 

I know it says St.Petersburg but surely the palaces would still be open to tourism.:confused:

 

Since Russia has not played Host before, I wonder if the cruise lines thought about this.

 

I guess I'll contact Princess and see if there is anything to worry about.

[dpro]

Thank you for discovering this. Do you know where the G8 Parliament Speakers’ Meeting would be held?

 

I know it says St.Petersburg but surely the palaces would still be open to tourism.:confused:

 

Since Russia has not played Host before, I wonder if the cruise lines thought about this.

 

I guess I'll contact Princess and see if there is anything to worry about.

 

I've sent an email to RO about our dates for Sept 16 - 17 to see what they say and will post when I get a reply.

 

RonC

[BLS]

We are a group of 14, doing St Petrsburg with R/O Sept 16/17.

We would be very unhappy if we cannot tour this beautiful City.

[BLS]

We are a group of 14, doing St Petrsburg with R/O Sept 16/17.

We would be very unhappy if we cannot tour this beautiful City.

[CamelliaCity]

We are a group of 14, doing St Petrsburg with R/O Sept 16/17.

We would be very unhappy if we cannot tour this beautiful City.

 

We are all on your cruise too.

 

I talked to Princess this morning and got a standard reply:

"we have had no notification that we cannot port in St.P

so as of now there are no changes to our schedule."

 

She said she was sure that they would let us know

if there were changes:eek:

 

I asked her if notification would come before the night before we were to tour St.P and she replied, "I would think so."

 

I'm hoping ours will be fine because it is only a Parliament meeting.

The July cruise is probably the only one that can't tour.

I bet you we will get notification from RO, Alla, and DR and hear about it on these boards long before we hear from Princess:)

[dpro]

I found this interesting tidbit under the media link on the G8 site, where it seems that the meetings would be held here, however, this is just speculation on my part. The Palace of Congresses is 15 km outside of SP.

 

"The Government’s Palace of Congresses is located on the Gulf of Finland some 15 kilometers away from St. Petersburg. It combines the functions of a modern business center, a historic and cultural monument and a state residence. The Constantine Palace and park in Strelnya, a famous monument of architecture, was restored from ruins for the celebrations of St. Petersburg’s 300th anniversary. Laying the first stone into the foundation of the Palace, Peter the Great planned to turn it into Russia’s main maritime residence. He wanted the Palace to become a “diplomatic window” to Europe, a Russian Versailles, a symbol of Russia’s power and prosperity. But three long centuries had to pass before this idea was translated into reality…

 

 

The Palace of Congresses and adjacent lands occupy 180 hectares and include: the Constantine Palace that plays host to international meetings and major events; a regular park; the Baltic Star, a four-star hotel with 106 rooms; a 20-cottage Consular Village, and a pavilion for summit negotiations. A press center with an 800-meter moorage is located on the Gulf of Finland.

All modern communications are available to guests."

 

 

RonC :confused:

[CamelliaCity]

I don't think there will be more restrictions now during this coming G-8 summit than there were during the 300-anniversary celebrations in 2003. After all there were even more heads of states then in St. Petersburg than there are going to be now. All the major meetings will indeed be held outside the city in Konstantine palace in Strelna. I suppose, the palace in Peterhof as well as Catherine's palace in Pushkin and the Hermitage will be closed for an extra day or two, there will be some traffic restrictions, but otherwise everything shouldn't be much different. All this concerns only a few days in July, the rest of the summer won't be affected.

 

 

Thank you so much! What a wonderful Board:)

 

It is awesome to think that I can sit in LoUiSiAna and worry about little things and someone in Russia can come on a message board and put my mind to rest.

 

Where do you live in Russia? Is there anything you would like to share with us about St.Petersburg. I have tons of books checked out from local library and have been doing some great reading.

 

Thanks

[Cazz]

I posted a question on the TripAdvisor forum for St Petersburg asking about the dates I'm due to be there - 14-15 July, and got this reply from a resident in St Petersburg :

 

"Restrictions will be closed ports, airports and resticted train access from the 13th to 17th July. The closures of some palaces and museums will occur but they will not be announced in advance as per requirements of the US Secret Service which also required the airports and 4 ports to be closed 24 large cruise ships just found out they can not come during those days that had pier assigments over a year ago. 35,000 or more refunds will be needed if other ports can not change there long held assigments in time. Needless to say the hotels and services that have bookings and being left out in the dark on this one are not happy. If I could leave town those days I would for rest from the problems created by the very short notice of this disruption. "

I will be getting my travel agent to contact my cruise company Orient Lines tomorrow before my final payment is due at the end of this week. I am feeling very disappointed at the moment.

Carol.

[VicKen]

I got basically the same information from DenRus this morning (see below) and we finally got Celebrity to aknowledge they knew. Now they are telling us that they should have information in "a couple of days" - meanwhile final pay looms. BIG SIGH

 

Yes, all forms of access of the city, by water, air and rail, will be closed for a few days(13th -17th) on orders of the US Secret Service for President Bush's visit so ships are scrambling to reschedule their dates on their Baltic cruises. 24 ships are being denied entry during that time which came as a total unwelcome surprise to them just 10 days ago. The cruises will be run but the order of dates and the ports visited will likely change but all ships will certainly visit St Petersburg during the voyage. We will reschedule tours to reflect the actual port dates. We did not notify people because we have no firm dates for actual arrival dates. It was also supposed to be a secret. On the 15th-16th Marco Polo, Aurora, Amsterdam, Century, and Norwegian Dream and many smaller ships are to be rescheduled.

[CamelliaCity]

It was also supposed to be a secret.:confused:

I don't get that.....

I guess they should have learned by now that Cruise Critic Cruisers find out everything:D

[Juliadlf]

Sorry to hear about the changes. These trips require so much preplanning which I am sure is going to have a ripple effect for many cruisers for their plans in other ports.

 

Hope things work out okay for those affected.

 

Julia

[wrp96]

The last several G8 meetings have been marked by major protests and in some cases riots. I think as a tourist that, while it is very unfortunate that your much anticipated cruise will be altered, you are better off. Even if things had technically remained open, I think you would've still had problems and issues within St. Petersburg.

[LI Traveler]

We spoke to our travel agent today and he spoke to Holland America. They said that our stop at St Petersburg would not be affected by the summit. The cruise however after us would be affected. So it looks as though we are okay.

 

We are in the process of comparing Red October and Denrus and will make a decison this week as to which one to go with. They both seem pretty good.

 

We are staying at the Renaisance in Amsterdam and Scandic in Copenhagen. Anyone else staying at these hotels?

 

Hope all is well with everyone.

 

Ann

[shedevil]

Let's all think happy thoughts and keep our fingers crossed that the information is just the Secret Service being overly cautious and St. Pete's will only be on lock down during the actual summit - July 15-17.

 

We have booked on Oceania's Insignia and have reservations with Red October July 19-21, 2006. They contacted our friends that are traveling with us and told them the port would be closed July 14-20 due to the U.S. Secret Service's concerns for President Bush.

 

The 3 days in St. Pete's was the highlight of this trip - so, fingers crossed we will be able to still visit.

[VicKen]

The port of St Petersburg will be closed from 13 july - 18 july along with the airport and trains. This is official and Celebrity has already changed their itinerary on their 9 July cruise that WILL NOT stop in St. Petersburg. I don't know what the Norwegian Dream, HA Amsterdam or Marco Polo will do but they definitly will not be in port on 15 July and 16 July as originally scheduled.:(

[Dbedros]

VicKen is correct that the ports will be closed July 15-17 and it has been official for awhile. I sent a message to Alla on 4/21 asking if the Summit would affect her business. I received the following message on 4/22 from Alla confirming this.

 

"This Monday I was in the immigration office to apply the documents for the passes to the port for my May’s groups. The head of the port department told me that the city will be “closed” meaning port and most likely airports and train stations. Thus, most likely I won’t have any bookings for these days and can travel to Finland to meet my friends there!"

 

I hesitated to post because the cruise lines were not admitting to anything at the time. Another site has a post from someone in Russia that stated the closures are at the request of President Bush's security. The G8 Summits attract a large an rowdy group.

 

The cruise lines are probably changing the dates that they will call at various ports as someone suggested. Keep pushing your TA's and the cruise lines for a definite answer as the cruise lines have been aware of this for at least a month if not longer.

[sazzle99]

We are supposed to get to St P with Regent on the Navigator on the 17th - until the 19th. I have emailed and spoken to my TA. At the moment all that Regent are saying is that Head Office in Fort Lauderdale are aware of the issue and as yet have not told the UK office (or perhaps they don't know) what the situation is or will be

 

I will update if I hear anything else