NCL Baltic

[hototo]

Will be on the July 9th Norweigian Jewell. Anyone familiar with NCL's procedure to get non ship tours off in St. Pete's?

[hototo]

Anybody out there?

[sarahemarie]

Hi, I just got off the NCL Jewel on May 22. Honestly, disembarking in St. Petersburg was kind of a mess for our cruise, at least on the first day. We had a tour booked with Alla that started at 8:30. A few days before, NCL sent out a bulletin saying that non ncl tours had to wait to disembark until 9:30, or whenever all ncl tours had left. I chose to ignore this, and did not suffer any consequences. I got in line at 8:00 AM to disembark with the ncl tours, acted like I was part of one, and no one said anything. I was off the ship by 8:30ish. (the line for immigration is pretty long - they only had 4 people working passport control, but that is not an ncl issue.)

 

Back on the ship that night, we heard both types of stories. Many non ncl tourists were like us, and had no issues whatsoever. However, others had multiple problems - ncl workers not letting them off the ship, and making them get out of line, or having the ncl tours budge in front of them. Some were over an hour late for their non ncl tours, and were NOT happy. It seemed like one big mess, but by playing dumb, and probably by a stroke of luck, it wasn't a problem for us. I don't feel like they were very strictly enforcing this policy, at least not at our particular gangway, and once you were off the ship, no one cared what kind of tour you were on, as long as you had the paperwork.

 

The next day, in my opinion, went fine. I suspect, however, that NCL did receive a lot of complaints about the previous day's procedure, because that night they sent out a letter detailing their reasons for making non ncl tour people wait - you might not have the correct paperwork, and you might make the immigration process not run as smoothly - that is what it boiled down to. (A little insulting, if you'd done your tour research at all, but whatever.)

 

Bottom line - be prepared to possibly argue and play dumb. I don't want to discourage you from taking a non ncl tour, because I did it, and it was absolutely fabulous. I couldn't have asked for anything more. When I asked Alla what would happen if we encountered problems and were late, she assured me that they would wait, which was comforting. I think that is a pretty universal policy, though you should check with your tour operator. I wouldn't anticipate problems however - I think it is those who look nervous and out of place that catch their attention. If you look like you know what you're doing, (or maybe if you just look argumentative:D), the workers don't mess with you. If you look panicked or unsure, or if you go around asking questions about when you can get off, you'll probably run into trouble. Unless of course they've changed their procedure since my experience, in which case, I am not particularly helpful...

 

Are you thinking of taking a private tour, or one of the small group ones? We had a group of 14 in a van, and again, it was excellent.

 

Enjoy your cruise, and please ask if you have any more questions. It was a wonderful itinerary, and a wonderful cruise with fun entertainment and lots to do. St. Pete procedures aside, I thought NCL overall was great.

 

Sarah

[Almagetty]

Sarahemarie:

 

Do you remember where the gangways were located for exit from the ship in St. Petersburg?

 

Thanks!

[sarahemarie]

Yikes...not sure where exactly. We exited on level 4 - there were 2 ways off - I think it was midship and forward, but could be mistaken. From those 2 exits, we formed 2 separate lines, one from each exit, from the ship to the immigration counters in a building probably 100ish feet away. Sorry I'm not more specific, I can't remember for sure.

 

Sarah

[Almagetty]

Actually, your answer helped quite a lot! Thanks for the information. :)