More on St. Petersberg Excursions

[indigosails]

The thread (now locked) below has got us interested in taking a private excursion in St. P as opposed to a ship's excursion. But doesn't the cost of a visa outweigh the savings?

 

I understand that I don't need a visa for St. P if I travel with my ship, but I do if I travel independently.

 

Thanks very much. Y'all are great.

[LHT28]

The thread (now locked) below has got us interested in taking a private excursion in St. P as opposed to a ship's excursion. But doesn't the cost of a visa outweigh the savings?

 

I understand that I don't need a visa for St. P if I travel with my ship, but I do if I travel independently.

 

Thanks very much. Y'all are great.

 

If you go with a licensed tour guide EG: Red October, Alla etc

you do not need a Visa but you cannot wander off on your own

If you want to go off on your own then you need a VISA

[Peregrina651]

One of the biggest topics in this forums is private tours in St. Petersburg. Any question you might ask, any worry you might have has been discussed--unfortunately, it just isn't organized. Still, there is a lot to learn and it is really helpful to read as much as you can.

 

One of the biggest points of confusion is the visas. There are three ways to tour St.P.

• ship's excursion (either bus or private car/van) -- visa is included in the package and you cannot leave the group
  
  
• private arrangements with a guide -- authorized companies/guides include the visa in the package otherwise you must supply your own.
  
  
• on your own--you must get your own visa from your local consul--and you must figure out how to get in and out of the commercial port unless you are on one of the very small cruise ships that is able to dock along the Neva River right in the downtown area
  

Note that you must have a visa to leave the ship. You cannot even get into the gift shop on the dock if you don't have the proper documentation.

Hope this helps to get your started.

[frenchyutd]

hi. where thinking og going on carnival liberty in early july. ref visits to st petersburg . if u go on private tour do u still need a visa, and how do u find out about this alla women thxs martin

[Peregrina651]

hi. where thinking og going on carnival liberty in early july. ref visits to st petersburg . if u go on private tour do u still need a visa, and how do u find out about this alla women thxs martin

 

Yes, you need a visa to enter the country--either stamped in your passport or in the form of a tour voucher.

 

Most of the guides mentioned here on Cruise Critic are authorized guides who are permitted to provide you with a special blanket visa that will permit you to enter the country and tour with that company. You will be required to stay with your guide while in the country. Stick with the authorized guides because they can provide visas and are properly insured. Your tour company will tell you if a visa is included in your tour package or if you have to get your own.

 

The shore excursions also provide you with a blanket visa valid only when you are on the tour.

 

If you wish to tour on your own, you must get a visa from your local Russian consulate before you leave on your vacation.

 

To find out what has been written about any of the guides that have been mentioned on Cruise Critic, just go to this page http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192 and click on Search This Forum, which is on the right side of the page towards the top.

 

If you search for Alla, you will find 250 threads that mention Alla Tours.

 

A lot has been written about tours in St. Petersburg and you should read some of it before you decide which company to choose and what sights you want to see.

 

[kruzin']

:) just back from st.p and it was great...did an Alla tour and cant say enough about them..thanks again to Elena...After doing the 2days I would ...never...do st.p. on my own even with my own Visa..It is like no other city and with so much to see in the short time you are there you must go with a private tour company or the ships excursion...I cannot imagine with your own Visa and trying to do it on your own what you could possibly get to in only 2days..

[Albert Ross]

hi. where thinking og going on carnival liberty in early july. ref visits to st petersburg . if u go on private tour do u still need a visa, and how do u find out about this alla women thxs martin

You find 'this alla woman' at http://alla-tour.com/ (and please could you write in proper English and not in txt-spk so that we can understand you?)

[Lair Bear]

Note that you must have a visa to leave the ship. You cannot even get into the gift shop on the dock if you don't have the proper documentation.

 

Sorry, but that is not completely true. Perhaps it depends on where your ship docks.

We did the Alla tour for three days and put the little slip provided to us by Alla (via email back home) with our passport the first day. When we went out for the ballet in the evening the passport control person just looked at our passport, did not bother with the Alla slip and we were free to go.

 

To go on your own may not be advisable, but possible.

[RetiredFL]

We went with Red October and while we were usually with our guide she seemed to be quite relaxed about it.

We told her we wanted to walk the Nevski Prospect a little and use the internet. Two of our party just wanted to sit on a bench and relax.

She pointed us towards an internet cafe about two blocks down the Prospect and she and our friends waited while we walked down, used the internet and walked back.

We also went to several souvenir shops located in the same block and we wandered from one to the other while she visited with a sales person.

Don't know how "legal" it was but no one seemed concerned.

We also found the customs at the dock very lacks-a-daisical about checking papers.

Next time, who knows.

[frenchyutd]

ref these ? on tours im acctually trying to find out how much with any of the 3 it will cost roughly for 4 adults.

[frenchyutd]

thank you very much peregrina 651 very helpful

[Peregrina651]

ref these ? on tours im acctually trying to find out how much with any of the 3 it will cost roughly for 4 adults.

 

Your best bet is to contact the tour companies and ask them.

 

Prices depend on how many days, what you want to see and how many people in your group. The bigger your group, the cheaper per person.

 

Alla and Denrus (and maybe others) also offer "value tours" which are basically small bus tours. It is a set itinerary and a flat per person rate no matter how many people on the tour.

 

We booked with Alla and had a great time; it was an unforgettable experience.

[Peregrina651]

:) just back from st.p and it was great...did an Alla tour and cant say enough about them..thanks again to Elena...After doing the 2days I would ...never...do st.p. on my own even with my own Visa..It is like no other city and with so much to see in the short time you are there you must go with a private tour company or the ships excursion...I cannot imagine with your own Visa and trying to do it on your own what you could possibly get to in only 2days..

 

kruzin' -- I couldn't agree with you more. We thought about doing St.P on our own and then decided that we just did not want to waste time trying to figure out how to get from place to place' date=' not with just two days and so many places that we wanted to see. It was the first time we had ever booked a private tour and it was the best thing we ever did.

 

Also agreed that Elena is a fantastic guide![/color']

[suzyluvs2cruise]

We just got back from the Jewel of the Seas. We did a private tour with Alla tours on Sept 3rd and 4th. Our guide was Angie and she was terrific. We had a group of 12........from our roll call. We opted for the strenuous tour with the hydrofoil ride from Peterhof back to the city and a ride on the Russian subway. Kudos to Alla Tours for providing an easy to arrange and, most importantly, unforgettable visit to St Petersburg. :)

[CruiSong]

We were two of a group of ten who did an incredible 2-day private tour with Viktoria Rother of SPB Tours (www.spb-tours.com, mail@spb-tours.com). Viktoria worked for many years for one of the "Big 3" (Denrus, Alla, Red October) and, along with her husband who covers Berlin (the "B" in SPB), went out on her own several years ago. We can't say enough about her expertise, warmth, flexibility, and everything else that makes for a memorable, educational experience. She is a licensed operator, and so takes care of the visa issues for you. The driver was also excellent and the van comfortable even with a group of our size. Since there were 10 of us, the cost for the two days was $300 per person and included all admissions; everything but lunch (she took us to wonderful but inexpensive local cafes). It would of course be more for fewer individuals. That may have included tips to her and the driver; I'm not certain.

[PLG3]

We toured St. Petersburg in September 2007 and used Alla Tours for a two day excursion. 10 people total. Viktoria was our guide. Great time! Alla handled all the "visa paperwork" for us and as many have already indicated, all we needed to show were our passports and tour tickets as we passed through immegrations/customs at dock side.

 

We did take a side track for the evening we were in port in St Petersburg. We had no particular desire to see the folk show or ballet and chose to eat dinner out on the economy. I had arranged to do this with Alla before we left for our cruise but we did not choose the actual restaurant until we met the first day in St. Petersburg. Viktoria had a great recommendation - Idiot, named after novel by Dostoevsky. Viktoria went into the restaurant with us and introduced us to the manager (he spoke very little English and we spoke absolutely no Russian). The manager even sent over a couple of shots of Russian vodka for us as we were looking over the menu (fortunately in Russian and English!) We had a marvellous seafood dinner and wine. Our driver, "Eugene", picked us up a little while later and deposited us back at the ship. No problems with immegrations/customs when we returned to the ship. For us, it was a wonderful experience.

 

You can find a few pictures of our St. Petersburg tour to include Alla, Viktoria, "Eugene" (our van driver), and Idiot restaurant here:

 

 

Regards,

 

Paul in NoVA

[goldenprincess53]

We just got back from the Jewel of the Seas. We did a private tour with Alla tours on Sept 3rd and 4th. Our guide was Angie and she was terrific. We had a group of 12........from our roll call. We opted for the strenuous tour with the hydrofoil ride from Peterhof back to the city and a ride on the Russian subway. Kudos to Alla Tours for providing an easy to arrange and, most importantly, unforgettable visit to St Petersburg. :)

 

Ditto your comments. We were on Jewel of Seas as well and had Alla (Katya). We were 10 in our group and we followed the same itinerary. I too was surprised at the customs officers - no problem experienced at all. Just showed our little "Alla confirmation slip", they gave us a red card.

[nolaAlive]

Another vote for Alla.

 

A couple of stoners aat the dinner table had gotten Visas and just wanted to hang out in Nevski Prospekt area. From the port entrance I think they hitched a ride back to the ship on a forklift.

 

Some pictures from Alla

 

St P Day 1 - 1

 

 

St P Day 1 - 2

 

St P Day 1 - 3

 

St P Day 2 - 1

 

 

St P Day 2 - 2

 

 

St P Day 2 - 3

 

 

Russian Shopping

[California Native]

We used Red October on the 3 Baltic cruises we took...

The 1st 2 cruises were groups of 10 from our roll call and the last cruise was just my DH and myself.

We were EXTREMELY please with all of interactions with Red October. While we our VERY budget minded, we felt

that having a private tour was best way to have the experience we wanted to have...and have never looked back on regret

regarding the cost...and yes your visa is covered by Red October, DenRus, Alla to name the biggies

If you would like to see our photos and tour itinerary, you can go to our personal travel website, the link is below...and go into the Photo area,

if you check out the where we've been area there is further information about our last Baltic cruise...tips, sights to see list for ports etc.

Feel free to check out the rest of website, it's a labor of love...never any advertising and NO political commentary...just travel! :)

[MercedMike]

Well, Alla and Red October have been mentioned. The third major company usually recommended on these boards is DenRus. We toured with them and were extremely happy!

 

Check out our review and pics at http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/baltic.html

 

As many have said, there is NO problem about the visa as long as you use the licensed tour companies. Their little slip with your name and passport number on it is all the inspectors look at.

 

The ship will try to scare you. Right up to the day we arrived in St. Petersburg Princess was using scare tactics and telling us we had to buy their tours unless we had a Russian Tourist Visa. THEY ARE LYING TO YOU!!! DO NOT LET THEM SCARE YOU!!! The independent tours are great and absolutely no problem with visas.

[linda emerson]

We also used SPB tours with Viktoria and I only have wonderful things to say about our experience. Everyone that went on private tours seemed to get more out of St Petersburg than those that used the ship's tours.

[RobertEF]

I'd like to say that my group also used SPB-Tours and we had a wonderful experience. I can't say enough nice things about it.

 

Definitely do not let the ship scare you off from a private tour, we got so much more out of it than anyone we spoke to.

[pattyj 1204]

We used Alla tours in Aug for St.P. Our group was about 16 people and we were very happy with our guide and all the places we saw on the tour. We were on the Value tour. According to our tablemates we saw more than they did with the Ship tours mostly because their tours were much larger than ours. It took time to load/unload/rest stops/shopping due to the size of the groups. The money we spent on the tour was money well-spent and I would do it again. Have a wonderful trip. St.P. is an amazing city with lots of history.

[RETIREDHAPPY]

My wife and I along with another couple used SPB Tours in St Petersburg for a 3 day tour in July 08 and could not have been more pleased. Her wealth of knowledge and her super personality were just great. Since it was just the four of us, we felt we got a lot more personal attention than with a larger group. We also had the flexability to change what and where to go with Viktoria's guidance. She has since keep in touch with us as we felt we got to know her and her family as personal friends. Her husband, Steffan, runs the tours in Germany and we also used that tour for Berlin. It was my wifes birthday on that day and they went out of their way to make sure she had a special day which included floweres for her delivered by Steffan. I would not hesitate to recommend her and SPB tours. You can contact her at spb-tours.com. She was always very prompt in answering any questions we had.