This question is for PAST Baltics cruisers

[petesweet]

We are not taking the ship's excursions for our June 2008 cruise. We have booked with Denrus.

 

My question: Even though the ship announces that those taking the ship's excursions must be allowed to disembark first (of course:) ), Lena with Denrus assures us that we can just walk off the ship right away while those on the ship's excursions are gathering in some public place.

 

Since we don't dock until the very late hour of 10:30 a.m., we don't want to waste most of our morning sitting around waiting to disembark. As I said, Lena assures us we can just walk off. Has anyone had experience with this type of situation? (We will have the proper papers for disembarking; it's the TIME I am concerned with.) Lena says the immigration people don't care what type of tour you are on as long as you have your passport and the proper ticket for a tour. However, will the ship's disembarkation personnel hassle us?

[electricron]

There are two basic types of ports.

(1) Where the ship docks at a pier, and

(2) Where the ship anchors which requires using boats, tenders, to get passengers aboard.

 

At ports where the ship docks, they just place in a few gangplanks and passengers walk ashore. The ship can usually be emptied within 30 minutes or less.

 

At ports where the ship anchors, it can take 20 to 30 minutes to load just one boat, and just as long to get to the pier, and off-load the boat. Each boat holds 150 to 300 passengers, so it can take a few hours to get ashore.

The first tenders are usually filled by those taking the ship's sold tours, with just a few others fitted in to fill a tender. VIPs using their available concierge usually get the early tender tickets to fill out a boat. The rest of us have to stand in a line to get ours. At best, you might get in the fifth or sixth boat. After the early rush to get ashore, tender tickets aren't required. The purpose of the tender tickets is to keep everyone from rushing the boats at once.

Check your cruise itinerary in your papers, NCL usually states which ports the ship with dock or anchor at.

Hope this helps.

[Gram Cape Cod]

I booked an excursion with Alla in Sept. and we had no problem getting off the ship. As soon as everything is cleared and announcement is made just walk off with the other groups. We waited downstairs, not upstairs where the groups meet. Just make sure you have all your paperwork. Couldn't have been any easier. Have fun...

[Gram Cape Cod]

this is a duplicate

[roboref]

We also did our own excursion in St. Petersburg in Aug 2006. We had some warnings from the tour (Denrus) that some cruiselines were being obstinate about letting people on self tours off first, but that as far as the immigration people they could care less.

 

We went maybe 15 minutes before the clearance time and were first at the gangplank. NCL gave us absolutely no trouble in getting off first and our tour guide was waiting for as expected. Denrus gave an absolutely fantastic tour and experience in St. Petersburg.

 

Have a great time.

[lamwnfa]

We ate breakfast and went down to wait for the ship to be cleared and were the first ones off...no questions asked. You may see/hear things about ship excursions getting off first and it seems just to try to intimidate. Nobody said a thing other than have a nice day. We did have a letter (from Denrus) basically saying (in a nice way) let these people off the ship, you have no right to stop them once the ship has been cleared...but we didn't have to use it.

[nlt46]

We also did Denrus. We had a wonderful time. We did the economy group one that they have. There were about 14 people in our van. It was great. We just got off when the ship was cleared by customs. Be sure and carry your Denrus information, your passport, etc. I'm jealous as it was one of the best times we have had. Enjoy. Nancy

[Essiesmom]

I think they have people gather in the lounges with numbers so that they can keep track of how many there are for their tours, and see that they get off and fill up the buses in an orderly fashion. If you are on your own, they shouldn't care.