Best way to disembark in St.Petersburg

[Infowoman]

We too just returned on the Crown Princess on July 19. We toured with Red October and just walked off the ship about 10 minutes before our appointed time to meet our guide. We did not report to any waiting area. We simply walked to the gangway and using our cruise card disembarked. We actually walked directly into the passport control building without any waiting at all. There was a long line of Princess tour members in the Princess line. There was no one ahead of us in the independent tour line.

 

Considering the threats Princess made prior to our departure (no one without a visa would be allowed to board in CPH or disembark in SPB unless on a Princess tour), everything was painless and well worth the precruise headache.

 

I'd say don't worry. If you want to go with a Russian tour group such as Red October, Den Rus or Alla, just do it. We are sure glad we did.

[MercedMike]

The cruise lines abominable scare tactics and lies about St Petersburg are well known.

 

However, even though of course John Heald has a bone to gnaw, I don't think he would actually LIE about a specific incident.

 

I too would like to hear the actual details of what happened. Was it a case of booking with an unlicensed company instead of the three regularly recommended on this board? Was it a case of failing to print out the proper documents? We are in some serious need of truth about St Petersburg instead of more scare tactics.

[sbwmail]

...yes that's the info I would like to hear about when these people return!

[Infowoman]

We were on the Crown just before you getting back July 19. We toured SPB with Red October and did not get a gangway pass. We simply walked to the gangway exit and using our cruise card disembarked and walked to the passport control building. There was no line at the independent door so we went there. I would go anywhere there is no line. We did talk to some others on our Red October tour and they did report to get a gangway pass. It certainly doesn't seem necessary based on our experience. It will just take more time. Have fun. SPB is amazing!

[MightyQuinn]

I too would like to hear the actual details of what happened. Was it a case of booking with an unlicensed company instead of the three regularly recommended on this board? Was it a case of failing to print out the proper documents? We are in some serious need of truth about St Petersburg instead of more scare tactics.

Completely agree with you.

 

There's been some discussion about this incident on the HAL forum. The Eurodam was in STP at the same time as the Carnival Splendor but didn't report any similar issues with the Russian authorities. There are several pax posting "live" from the ship who took private tours in STP without any problems. Hopefully there will be full disclosure of the Carnival Splendor affair - exactly what went wrong & why. Folks going to STP on private tours need to be assured that they can do so with confidence.

[madra2112]

I'll be watching this one with one with interest. I'm travelling with my family on Carnival Liberty on that itinerary next year, and have been tracking Carnival Splendor's inaugural Baltic run for the past 12 days. It actually finished in Dover today, and hopefully the reviews should start coming in over the next few days.

 

Two obersvations I would make -

 

1. It was Carnival's first time ever in St Petersburg, so presumably the authorities there would have taken an extra interest for that reason. It'll be interesting to see if these delays are repeated.

 

2. I'm sure more than 80 people were booked on private tours with Alla, Denrus, Red October, SPB Tours or whoever, and can only presume that these were people who intended going totally independently, and were not ready for what was required. Again, time will tell.

 

I can understand John's recommendation to go on a Carnival tour, he works for the company, that's his job. I'm in the course of assessing all the options (although the fact that my initial roll call post got 5 views and no replies before falling into oblivion was a tad disappopinting), and look forward to seeing Carnival's prices.

 

At present, I'm humming and hawing between Alla's and Denrus's "complete tour". Denrus looks better on one level, but only includes an exterior visit to the Church on the Spilled Blood, and that could be a deal breaker. On the other hand, while Alla doesn;t include the subway and lunch, she has the hydrofoil back from Peterhof. Maybe we'll just sell one of our kidneys and book a personal tour!!!!!!

 

However, I digress.

 

I'm sure some CCers got off Splendor this morning, and I look forward to hearing what they had to say.

[amd92602]

I'll be watching this one with one with interest. I'm travelling with my family on Carnival Liberty on that itinerary next year, and have been tracking Carnival Splendor's inaugural Baltic run for the past 12 days. It actually finished in Dover today, and hopefully the reviews should start coming in over the next few days.

 

Two obersvations I would make -

 

1. It was Carnival's first time ever in St Petersburg, so presumably the authorities there would have taken an extra interest for that reason. It'll be interesting to see if these delays are repeated.

 

2. I'm sure more than 80 people were booked on private tours with Alla, Denrus, Red October, SPB Tours or whoever, and can only presume that these were people who intended going totally independently, and were not ready for what was required. Again, time will tell.

 

I can understand John's recommendation to go on a Carnival tour, he works for the company, that's his job. I'm in the course of assessing all the options (although the fact that my initial roll call post got 5 views and no replies before falling into oblivion was a tad disappopinting), and look forward to seeing Carnival's prices.

 

At present, I'm humming and hawing between Alla's and Denrus's "complete tour". Denrus looks better on one level, but only includes an exterior visit to the Church on the Spilled Blood, and that could be a deal breaker. On the other hand, while Alla doesn;t include the subway and lunch, she has the hydrofoil back from Peterhof. Maybe we'll just sell one of our kidneys and book a personal tour!!!!!!

 

However, I digress.

 

I'm sure some CCers got off Splendor this morning, and I look forward to hearing what they had to say.

We were just in St. Petersburg and took the Alla 'comfort tour'. We shared a semi private tour with 7 others we met on CC. I would recommend 100% the tour with Alla. You get the early entrance to the Hermitage which was priceless (place was virtually empty). You have the hydrofoil which saves much time. You have the photo stamps and entrance to chuch on spilled blood. The guide was very accomodating. Lunch was great (Vienna restaurant and Stolle Pies)! There were no glitches and you don't pay till second day of tour! We really fely for all those poor souls on the tour buses (with 60 of their closest friends per bus). They spent considerably more and saw much less! Get a shared tour with no more than 10 people and have fun! Also, St. Petersburg is a depressing city outside the palaces. The infrastructure is crumbling, the cars all spew black smoke, the people don't smile and the streets are old and congested. That is part of the experience, the dichotomy between riches and the communist era influences!

[egit]

Hi i don't want to go off topic, but we have booked a denrus trour. Lunch is included on both days. Could anyone give me some idea of how many rubles to bring. We only need enough for drinks. Did you need rubles for shopping or do they take you to places that take euros or credit card.

[battybabe]

Hi i don't want to go off topic, but we have booked a denrus trour. Lunch is included on both days. Could anyone give me some idea of how many rubles to bring. We only need enough for drinks. Did you need rubles for shopping or do they take you to places that take euros or credit card.

Alla took us to a restaurant which accepted dollars, Euros and rubles, as well as major credit cards. Try the local beer! Quite good.

[MightyQuinn]

 

At present, I'm humming and hawing between Alla's and Denrus's "complete tour". Denrus looks better on one level, but only includes an exterior visit to the Church on the Spilled Blood, and that could be a deal breaker. On the other hand, while Alla doesn;t include the subway and lunch, she has the hydrofoil back from Peterhof.

 

We hummed & hawed for quite a while as well & ended up doing Alla's "Complete St. Petersburg". My review of sorts is at: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=804277

 

We figured that with so many attractions that we wanted to see, we really couldn't afford to take time out to "do" lunch with a Russian family, as appealing as it sounds. So that will be at the top of our list for our next trip!

 

I see you're in Ireland. Keep your eyes peeled when you're in STP & you'll notice quite a few Irish Pubs serving Guinness!:cool:

[ROCruiser]

We were on the Splendor last week. I lost sleep over St. Petersburg the night before for worrying about the disembarkation process (as I later found out some other passengers did also.) Carnival kept telling us that independent travelers get off after their groups (at around 8:30--our tour was to meet at 8). They said it's the Russian immigration that set the rules, not them. We were even told to go back to our cabin and wait when we gathered near the stairways trying to get off the ship. After we sneaked inside the elevator and got to deck 0, nobody cares. Immigration was easier than LAX. They didn't even look at the tour tickets. Don't know what actually happened to the 80 people, but heard that Carnival put them on a tour so they did not miss St. Petersburg.

[DMaugle]

To all Concerned- We too used a private tour, Alla, on the Splendor's inaugural. I put it together for our group of 16 and after the Carnival letters, J Heald's blog, their propaganda on board, the capers telling us we would be the last to leave etc. it really left a bad taste in our mouths.

You can get off when the ship clears, JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE but do not think that they won't continue to tell you otherwise. It is very difficult to disregard "orders" from the ship's crew/staff when you are in a group with 8 kids. You want to take full advantage of what you've paid for (early entrance, move sites to see) but are left to set an example for your children that wreaks of disdain for authority. My wife was not at all happy with the situation.

Take the elevator to Deck 0 and insinuate yourselves into the masses, the Russian do not care one iota whose tour you are on. Further do not worry about the multiple Carnival vs. one private line at immigration , just go to the shortest line available. You will have a better tour privately and Carnival should know better than to treat its guests this way. DMaugle

[Wendalls]

Just got back from sailing with Celebrity - and touring with Alla. The small van was perfect for the group of 5 of us that we put together on CC - and had no problem getting off the ship -- even though we too had been gathered as a group at 7.30 in the lounge. We were escorted down quickly, and all of the lines were open to any of us. You could see the waiting vans from the ship if you were on the "docked" side. As everyone else already said, have your passport, a copy of your passport, and your room key - and you are good to go.

[sbwmail]

To all Concerned- We too used a private tour, Alla, on the Splendor's inaugural. I put it together for our group of 16 and after the Carnival letters, J Heald's blog, their propaganda on board, the capers telling us we would be the last to leave etc. it really left a bad taste in our mouths.

You can get off when the ship clears, JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE but do not think that they won't continue to tell you otherwise. It is very difficult to disregard "orders" from the ship's crew/staff when you are in a group with 8 kids. You want to take full advantage of what you've paid for (early entrance, move sites to see) but are left to set an example for your children that wreaks of disdain for authority. My wife was not at all happy with the situation.

Take the elevator to Deck 0 and insinuate yourselves into the masses, the Russian do not care one iota whose tour you are on. Further do not worry about the multiple Carnival vs. one private line at immigration , just go to the shortest line available. You will have a better tour privately and Carnival should know better than to treat its guests this way. DMaugle

 

Dave..thanks for the info, I'm going to post this on our roll call. I remember you from when we met on the Liberty two years ago at that CC roll call get-together!

[Coastaljen]

The whole disembarkation thing is amazing. I mean every day we got the papers saying private tours MUST report to the lounge and would not be allowed to disembark until they were called.

 

I lost sleep over worrying about it. Our spb group decided to meet in the International Cafe about 30 minutes prior to disembarkation beginning and walk to the exit together to wait. I was such a wienie I was glad I wasn't going alone because I had images of being denied. Nope, just like every other single port on every other single ship, they open the door, and whoever is waiting walks off.

 

It really is amazing that they try to scare people off like that. A lot of people were envious with all the private tours I did. Right away they seemed to be under the impression that I had to pay for my own visa in spb. So many of them thought that you had to do that even with a private tour.

[madra2112]

If ever there was an issue which highlights the importance of research, and posting on CC, this is it. I suspect the majority of cruisers automatically take ships tours in St Petersburg, because they just don't know about the alternatives.

 

I totally agree with Dmaugle as well, on our cruise this summer (our first), we told our two teens to treat any instruction or advice from a crew member as gospel, and if a crew member said jump, the only acceptable response was "How high?".

 

I'm really annoyed that I may have to break that rule in front of the kids next year, but if necessary, break it I will.

[new2cruizing]

We just returned from the Baltic Crown Princess cruise. We used Alla Tours for our stop in St. Petersburg and had a wonderful time. Don’t believe any of the propaganda that you will read from the cruise line. If you are booked on an official tour (of any kind – not just one operated by Princess or other cruise lines), you DO NOT need a visa for a short stay in Russia. We arranged everything with Alla in advance over the internet and the tour was exactly as promised. We ignored everything that the cruise line told us about disembarking on arrival in St. Petersburg. We DID NOT go to the Michelangelo dining room as we were told; instead, we walked straight down to the 4th floor midship gangway around 6:40 a.m. Already there was a short lining waiting for the doors to open. There were no staff members from Princess in sight, except for the guy who sells water bottles. No one asked us any questions. When the doors were opened a few minutes before 7:00, we walked right out on to the pier. There was one immigration line for “non-Princess tours” and about 8 for “Princess tours.” The people in front of us lined up at the non-Princess door, so we just walked right up to the first Princess tour door, where there were no passengers at all. The immigration officers did not even look at our tickets, stamped our passports and waved us through. The whole process took about 5 minutes from the time that the doors were opened on the ship. We waited on the dock for 5 or 10 minutes for Angie, our tour guide to arrive. By 7:15 or so, there were lines 15-20 people deep at all of the immigration windows, so I would imagine it took awhile to pass through at that point. We would definitely recommend Alla tours for sightseeing in St. Petersburg. We went in a group of 4 people for a very reasonable price. Angie spoke excellent English and knew St. Petersburg and Russian history like the back of her hand. Valery, our driver was very polite and professional. His car was clean and comfortable. Valery dropped us off right in front of each attraction and then went to park the car. There were VERY long lines at most of the tourist attractions, but we didn’t wait in any of them. Angie walked us right up to the front of every line and we went straight in the entrances. We saw more in two days on this tour than would have been possible under any other circumstances. We did the standard tour, but I believe you can do a custom tour by arranging that with Alla in advance. Also, Angie and Valery were very gracious and worked into the itinerary impromptu stops for coffee and shopping. We would use this service again and recommend it without hesitation to anyone else.

[Drifting Happily]

Egit-

We just got back from the Constellation. We also did the Value Tour with DenRus--absolutely fantastic! I got roubles before we left, about $50 worth, and ended up not using them. The stores and street vendors all preferred US$ or Euros. They were surprised when I asked how much in roubles, and usually the price was more expensive. We tipped our driver and guide in US$, and the lunches were all-inclusive (vodka, champagne and bottled water). DenRus also provided bottled water on the tour bus both days.

 

We did have some problems getting off the ship in St. Petersburg. We were asked by Celebrity to meet at the Bar at the Edge of the Earth (as far away from the gangplank as possible). We didn't, and were in the first group to get off after the Moscow people. Celebrity personnel tried to send us away, back to the bar, but there were insistent people who'd read DenRus' instructions carefully and insisted we be let off the ship. Celebrity backed down, and we exited without further problems.

[pbr]

We just returned from the Baltic Crown Princess cruise. We used Alla Tours for our stop in St. Petersburg and had a wonderful time.reasonable price.

 

Can you explain Alla's photo pass? Is it the only tour company that has it? Part of our group includes a woman and her two adult sons. Will they get one pass forthe three of them?

 

Thank you,

 

Pat

[Kalosl]

if it's Princess: ignore everything they say about where to meet and go the the gangway to get off a little while before time to meet the Alla guide. We were there and did it and no problem whatsoever. Have a copy of your passport for the Russians. We had an Alla guide named Elena and she was excellent---if you get please tell her the family with the three grandchildren says hello and thank you! linda

[movinout]

Just off the Carnival Splendor last week and had the 2 Day Value Tour with Denrus. We had absolutely no problems leaving the ship with everyone else and in plenty of time to meet our tour. Just go to the area of the ship where the gangway is ( Deck 0 on Splendor) and wait with everyone else. The stairwells were a bit crowded, but moved quickly. No one tried to stop us. The Russian immigration officers were efficient and no problem, even when I had to return to the trailer since I somehow managed to lose my little card they give you!!! :confused: :rolleyes: She simply gave me an annoyed look and handed me a new one.

 

Let me add, the Denrus tour was excellent and we even got to take a ride on the subway which in St. Petersburg looks like a grand ballroom. Elena was our guide and did a fabulous job, how does she remember all the information she passed on to us in two days. The ship's tour didn't go to the subway from what I heard. We had about 22 in our group in a large bus and were issued earphones so we could hear her from anywhere. Great.

[jpsykes]

just got back from doing a private tour using Alla in St Pete. Like a lot of people we were concerned about getting off the boat for a 'private' tour.

 

no problem here - HAL(Rotterdam) actually said if you are on a private tour please get off the ship prior to 7:45 or wait until after 9:00 to allow their tours access. Now I'm sure we could have left during that period but the fact that they actually told use to get off early was a breath of freash air and great of them to do.

 

Our group of 8 was the first one's off -we were thru passport and on Alla's van within 10 minutes.

 

John

[pattyj 1204]

We just got off the Constellation and had the Complete SP tour with Alla. We did meet at the Bar at the Edge of the Earth when the ship announced that it was ok to leave that let about half the group go and then the second half leave. It did take a while to get down to deck 1, but we were ready to tour by 8 am, so it couldn't have taken too long. Our tour guide and driver were amazing. We had about 16 people in our group, but did wish that we had audio devices so we could hear her more easily.

[sasjaz]

We just got off the Crown on July 29th. You do NOT need a gangway pass. This is just another way for them to delay you and have you report to the Michaelangelo dining room. Our group went down together to Level 4 a little before 7 AM. There were just a few people waiting. As soon as they opened up, we just walked off with no problem and no questions!!! We got in the shortest lines and were in our van for our private Denrus tour at 7:05. It worked like a charm. Thank you to all the Cruise Critic members who gave this advice!!!!

Joan

[tiqittaq foo]

Sasjaz:

 

Do you remember whereabout the gangway at Level 4 did you used to exit ? the front, mid-ship or the aft ? Is it the one near the Medical Centre ? We will be on the Crown next week. thanks for the information