Black Watch Baltic 28 August

[cyclist]

Is anyone else taking this cruise? I'm looking to put together a group to do a private tour with Denrus in St. Petersburg. Please post if you are interested - tour contents can be tweaked if there's something you particularly want to see.

[Guest Anorak33]

I'm not on that cruise but I would advise anyone visiting any Russian ports to go online and get themselves a visa, if possible a multi entry. Its a modest cost and easy to obtain quickly and then you have the opportunity to get off the ship on your own when you want rather than on a hurried and organised tour.

I recently visited St Petersburg on Braemar and wished someone had given me that advice.

[cyclist]

Hi Anorak

 

I've been studying and reading about options in St Petersburg. There's a lot of information in the forums about ports. As we don't speak Russian, getting around on our own would be difficult and we would not have guides. The realistic choices are ships tours or tours with one of the independent operators, Red October, Denrus or Alla. No visas are needed to take these tours. The advantage of the independent tours is much smaller groups, see more in the same time, choose our own itinerary, and if there are enough people it will also be cheaper than ships tours. So that's what we intend to do.

[Guest Anorak33]

One advantage of the visa is that you can do the tour, leave the bus in the city and then come back on your own later on without any problem, thus gaining valuable shopping or other sightseeing time which you probably won't get otherwise.

Our guide on one tour said we could do that anyway but they are not all so compliant.

If your ship ties up at the Lieutenant Schmidt Pier in St Pete you will find that the immigration control is a rather nicely adapted floating barge which the ship ties up against. Gangways go from the ship to the barge, and from the barge to the pier. At some time in the evening they pull up the gangway and you can't get back on the ship after that. Ask when!

Every time you want to get off, even to go to the good value souvenir stalls 100 yards from the ship you must go through immigration on the barge. And if you are not on the way to an imminently departing official tour then you can't go ashore without the visa. You cannot set foot on Russian soil without that visa. They have security all over the place on the pier. Grim ladies. You'd better believe it. You are a prisoner on that ship without a visa.

The Lieutenant Schmidt pier is very near to the city, easy walking distance for most people.

Taxis are not a problem, just show your ships card and the taxi driver will take you back to the ship.

I found English widely and well spoken. They get millions of tourists there , thats why.

The socalled fleamarket in St Pete near the Cathedral of the Spilt Blood is a tourist trap, bit like Covent Garden market in London. Load of souvenirs, mostly priced in US Dollars or Euros, you don't need roubles really, they will also take sterling, its about 50 roubles to a quid.

There is some good stuff there but also some Chinese replica tat. The good stuff ain't cheap but can you tell the difference?

I found the vendors easy to deal with and seemed pretty honest, I still probably paid too much though. They like to bargain a bit but not too much. You are not in an Arab Souk.

A 20 doll Matrioshka handpainted top quality doll by a known artist will cost £65 or so, a cheaper 10 piece one only about £10 - £15. A bit of tat one about £3 - £5.

Just remember St Pete is one of the 10 most expensive cities in the world and the Russians have more dosh than us.

Its a great place and I wish I was on that cruise, if it gets to be a lastminute bargain I might go.

[cyclist]

Thanks for the advice. I'll look into how hard getting a visa is. I'm still going to take a tour with one of the private operators though.

 

There might be some bargains going - Fred Olsen offered me a suite upgrade at a fraction of the normal extra cost. Didn't take it though because I've got one of the few permanently non-smoking suites, and the upgrades weren't.

[cyclist]

I've looked into the Russian visa. Seems it would be £55 each. That really is too much for two days, so I will put up with being stuck on board when not on a tour. Shopping, particularly the sort of souvenirs you list, is not my thing so I doubt I'll miss out on things I wanted. The tour is going to be sight-see till we drop anyway!