LOCAL ST PETERSBURG TOUR COMPANY vs, OCEANIA EXCURSIONS

[LHT28]

We realize that there may be some guests who may wish to make their own tour arrangements directly with other Russian tour operators. However, as we are sure you can appreciate, Oceania Cruises has no way of knowing in advance who those guests may be, what plans they have made, or if their arrangements have been made with a tour operator duly licensed by Russian authorities in accordance with Russian law. Therefore, as we are not in a position to vouch for the credentials of any independent tour operator, other than the operator representing Oceania Cruises, we, like other cruise lines visiting Russia, must be prudent in requiring that all guests wishing to visit Russia independent of the ship's organized tours be in possession of a valid Russian tourist visa."

 

 

It is funny how ALL the cruise lines tell the same story.

 

"You need to do ship's tour or get a visa"

 

When in fact if you do a private tour with a licensed guide you also get a the blanket/group visa same as the ship does.

 

So many passengers have proven that you CAN do a private tour without any problem.

 

That said

You do need to have 1 of the 3 options to get off the ship

1) ships tour

2) private tour ticket (provided by the tour operator)

3) Russian tourist Visa

 

We will be doing a private tour on our Oceania cruise.

 

The one big problem we have always had since our frist O cruise in 2004 was Destination service...that is the weak link.

 

If we have a problem with staff/service on the ship we do not wait to address the problem till we get home we talk to the person that can correct the problem while we are there.

 

Lyn

[veezee]

Have used both Red October and DenRus in St. Petersburg. Both were outstanding. Both were better than the larger group ship tours and cost less. Both were arranged via groups who banded together on these boards.

 

We had no problem getting off ship (altho we were not on Oceania).... this despite multiple announcements that those on non-ship tours would have less priority. We just walked off after docking.

 

Red October had a tour that included the main sights but in a much smaller group of 10 vs 15+ with ship tours.

 

Our DenRus tour was tailored to things a group of 6 of us wanted to do at night in keeping with our wish to see St. Pete in the hours of the midnight sun (we were there in June). Our DenRus guide took us to a coffee house where we listened to some jazz and then by subway to a large square teeming with people (a wedding party and revelers included) and then on to the river to see the parade of lighted boats at midnight. Unforgettable.

 

You won't go astray with either of these companies.

[ottawacruzr]

We used Red October in 2006 on Regatta and had an excellent tour guide and got an opportunity to see the city through the eyes of someone who loved the good things about her country and was eager to share them with us. The one thing to note was that our group had met through this site and the leader had booked through the St. Petersburg office. I understand that there is a US office as well. There was another group who had used the US office, and had a few minor glitches on arrival times etc. however I think they blew them out of proportion. There are some people who need to appreciate that when they are outside of North America the customs, employment practises, everything are different. That should be part of the reason why they are visiting - a new viewpoint on the world. Remember the cruiseline is there to make money - which may be at odds with your desire for a new experience.

[Lair Bear]

This is what they wrote back to me , is this accurate? Thank you for your reply!

 

If you choose to book your tours through a local St. Petersburg tour company they will have to send you an invitation which you will then have to take, along with your passport, to a Russian consulate or embassy in your state and wait for the visa the visa to be processed.

 

This is absolute bull!!!! I am surprised that anyone at Oceania had the gall to write you this.

 

Any one of the tour companies you have read about on this CC forum will take care of the "visas". YOU DON'T NEED TO GO TO THE RUSSIAN CONSULATE OR SEND YOUR PASSPORT.

 

The tour company sends you some tickets and you simply present these with your passport (and a copy of the first page) to the passpost control emplyee. No hassle, some delay because of the long line of Oceania passengers, but NO VISA REQUIRED.

 

I wonder if Oceania personnel who read this will respond and clarify what they really meant to tell you.

[SteveS]

We used Red October on a Celebrity and a on HAL cruise. We got off the ship immediately, showed the officials our passports and the papers RO e-mailed us and were in the van in no time.

[pondnana]

We just came back from a Baltic cruise and had a 3 day tour pkg with Alla and had no trouble at all. we disembarked when we needed to and went through the passport controls with our tickets, passport and a photocopy of the 1st page, which Oceania gave us by the way. The passport people kept the photocopy and all was great.

[merryecho]

We too were caught by this deception, on our first tour my son in law insisted on buying unnecessary visas for the two of them because of the misleading info from O.

If the tour Oceania provides were at least as good as what RO and Denrus provide this wouldn't make me so angry. But after passing the O tours standing in long lines while our RO guide whisked us to the front, I have to think anyone who takes an O tour is making a big mistake. The only exception would be for elderly or inexperienced travelrs, for whom the familiarity of having O in charge is comforting.

One way to compete is to have a better product. They have a nearly captive market for heaven's sake! Another way is to lie about the competition. Tours and transportation prove once again to be O's weakest link. It is so obviously bad, that if I were younger I would write offering to take it over myself.

[LHT28]

Just another example of how the head office does not have a clue on how things are in the real world or on the ship.

 

Maybe FDR should send all O's employees on a short cruise as part of their training to find out how things really operate on the ship.:cool:

[wripro]

This is not about the staff not having a clue. It is about deliberate deception in order to sell their own tours. Enough people fall for this so that it is worth it to mislead their passengers. Pretty much all cruise lines except the luxury ones do this. It's a business. It's just like politics!

[GiGiGi]

We just ended our cruise on Regatta on Aug. 27. Our time in St. Petersburg was perfect. We were booked for a private tour for 8 with Denrus. We did not have to do anything except show our tickets and passports as we disembarked. It was a breeze. I cannot find enough good things to say about Denrus and our exceptional guide, Kseniya. We had a full three day itinerary, but we managed to fit in a couple of extra things that made it even more wonderful.

Plan a private excursion. You will not regret it!

[elmac]

We have just returned from Regatta tour. We did a Denrus tour in S.P. that was so comprehensive, with a very smart tour guide Elena, very pleasant and easy to understand. There were 18 on the tour. Had 3 very interesting days did the Folkloric show one night and I would recommend that. Tickets were emailed to us and that's all we needed. They were in English so no problem printing them off.

Did take copies of passports, but Oceania did provide us with copies.

Did one shore excursion for Gdansk as we only had 1/2 day there and were concerned about getting back to ship on time. This was not good value for money, but we felt more secure doing it.

The other port that is not near the town is Bruge. However, we met up with some people on the ship who had booked a taxi for 8 and we shared with them. I would suggest going to the Tour desk that they have each morning of docking in ports. This way you can meet up with others who are doing their own thing and you could share transport costs.

The rest of the ports we did Hop on Hop of buses and found these very good.

[lovecruisingtoo]

We have just returned from Regatta tour. We did a Denrus tour in S.P. that was so comprehensive, with a very smart tour guide Elena, very pleasant and easy to understand. QUOTE]

 

 

We will be on the same cruise next year and had a couple of questions. Does O still offer the "Grand Imperial Evening of the Tsars" tour which is the night tour of Catherine Palace? If so, do you remember the cost (I have heard that it is expensive) and which night the tour was (1st or second)?

 

We are planning on using Denrus also and want to make sure that the schedule gets us back for the Catherine's Place tour.

 

Thank you.

[StanandJim]

We will be on the same cruise next year and had a couple of questions. Does O still offer the "Grand Imperial Evening of the Tsars" tour which is the night tour of Catherine Palace? If so, do you remember the cost (I have heard that it is expensive) and which night the tour was (1st or second)?

 

They offered this tour for the 2008 Season, that is, of course, no guarantee for 2009 (you'll see the ''09 excursion options about 90 days ahead of the first cruise to St. Petersburg for that year).

 

Please note that this excursion is NOT a tour of the palace, as such. It is a dinner at the palace, the entire museum is not open to the public in the evening, only a few of the major public rooms adjoining the dining hall.

 

I cannot recall, exactly, however, I believe that $125 was about what it cost.

 

It was offered for the second night of our St. Petersbur stay, and on that evening, Oceania arranged for the ship-side customs shed to be open later than usual.