Help with tours in St. Petersburg

I was looking at the Visa portion. We are traveling under American passports and must have some form of visa. I know when we inquired through NCL they insisted we must book through the boat and be covered under their visa. I thought I read on TJ's website that you can be under their visa. Do you know if that applies to US citizens?

 

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Russia has allowed certain registered tour companies (including the ones used by cruise lines and other private companies like TJ, Alla, SPB, etc.) to support your visit visa-free to St. Petersburg for up to 72 hours when arriving via cruise ship. You must generally stay with a tour guide or driver during your time ashore. Plenty of threads on this topic here if you do a quick search.

In other words, you do not need a visa if you are going on a tour with TJ, etc. Norwegian is incorrect and should not be stating this information to its passengers.

TJ Tours!!!! I can't say enough positive about this company. I contacted all the major tour companies. All of them were very rigid in their schedules and the number of people - unless you wanted to pay for a private tour. TJ not only agreed to cap the number at 8 people, they were flexible in our schedule adding on the water cruise - and for the same money as the rest - actually they offered a discount,,,,then the others offered the same discount in price, but not number of people. The two days were excellent! Well organized, very knowledgeable, learned and experienced so much. It was a highlight and we thoroughly enjoyed! I put together the tour here on CC via roll call - they were very easy to work with and very professional. You won't be disappointed.

No accent? so she sounded like the Queen speaking English? or like a Canadian? :D

As we are Australian will she sound like she has an accent to us?;)

I recently had a NY lady tell me how much she loved my accent, I told her thanks and that I too loved her accent - her face fell into confusion and then asked her husband "but we don't have accents?!" haha. Maybe she thought she spoke American as opposed to English??

Hi! It’s funny but our guide in St. Petersburg sometimes really sounded like the Queen! She was fantastic, really excellent and her English was superb. I have to say that her English was better than mine. She obviously spoke “British English” and sometimes really sounded like the Queen. Sometimes her English made me smile I mean you can’t expect such English from a tour guide. She said she graduated from St. Petersburg University and used to spend hours working at her pronunciation in a special lab (!). I never did it that’s why my pronunciation is not so good :D:D:D

Jess :)

Just to clarify, those of you who used the tour company blanket visa, had USA passports?

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I was looking at the Visa portion. We are traveling under American passports and must have some form of visa. I know when we inquired through NCL they insisted we must book through the boat and be covered under their visa. I thought I read on TJ's website that you can be under their visa. Do you know if that applies to US citizens?

Please pat yourself on the back for discovering Cruise Critic. The experienced posters here will save you from the outright lies being told be various cruise lines.

Since you are US citizens making a port call in SPB on an ocean cruise, you do not need to apply to a Russian consulate for a visa as long as you are willing to work with a licensed tour company like TJ and remain with your tour guide with some limited flexibility to that statement. (Your guide will not sit next to you at the ballet, for example, if that's what you choose to do one night.)

Your cruise line, NCL, will work very hard to make you anxious about your upcoming port call and visas. They are trying to book passengers on their ship-sponsored excursions. Nothing more. Any time you get a stress-producing mailing or email from NCL, just ask your questions here.

It's quite calming to hear the truth from people who have successfully been there/done that!!!

My cousin and her family were concerned about their passport details being sent in an email. So, I sent all our passport information in an attached file which was “locked”, and the key\password to open it was sent in a separate mail. Worked fine

My husband and I had an similar reaction to sending our passport information via email. When I offered to send it via snail mail, our tour company, White Nights, offered to phone us even though we were booking far in advance. And that's what happened.

We agreed on a time when we'd be available to receive the phone call and everything went well. Phone call took place. Necessary tickets were sent as attachments. No issues going through passport control either day of the port call.

We also had US passports and blanket visas (or tour tickets) provided by a local company. We’ve been to St. Petersburg twice. We didn’t have any problems. Both times we booked with Best Guides but I’m sure all licensed tour companies can provide blanket visas and it will work!

Good luck! Jess :)

To anyone looking for tour in St Petersburg, TJ Travel can't be beaten, they arranged everything, Visas, Met us after immigration, took us as a small party [8] on a comfortable minibus with a good driver who knew how to avoid traffic by taking shortcuts & a lovely knowledgeable guide with good english around every 'must see' sight. Excellent value for money [didn't have to pay till end of trip] far cheaper & better than cruise line's excursion.

I have no hesitation in agreeing with all the positive reviews above, they really were brilliant & secure, no problems whatsoever & all at a price within my budget. This is a company that really knows what they are doing to satisfy the customer, Thank you to Sofia, Costa & the wonderful Tatiana !!

Hi! This thread looks a little bit funny – everyone recommends a company he/she booked with. These recommendations are so strong that sometimes sound almost aggressive. Let us agree – there are plenty of local companies. I found 206 (!) in the Tripadvisor listing. If we believe Tripadvisor reviews many of them are just excellent. There are 4 or 5 main players of the market:

TJ (which was mentioned here so many times)

SPB and Alla Tours (which are discussed a lot in several other threads)

Best Guides (a company we booked with and if you ask for my opinion I will certainly recommend exactly them)

Ulko Tours (pretty big local company, we saw them in the port)

There are several young and comparatively small but very good companies. For example our neighbors on the ship booked with Mariya Wilson tours and were absolutely happy with it.

From my point of view the main suggestion for those who just choosing a company to book with – send requests to several companies and carefully check the answers. Good luck! Hope you will enjoy your cruise as much as we enjoyed it.

Jess :)

We used TJ Tours for Russia (and because of the discount) we then booked with them for Helsinki, Stockholm and Tallinn. They were awesome in every city. No group larger than 15, and each tour leader was exceptionally well versed in history. In Russia, they took care of our Vissa and our tour leader was one of the best we have ever had (and we travel a LOT!) They guarantee when one books through them, that the tour will happen, no matter how few might sign up, with no price increase. Point in case: We were met at the pier in Stockholm to discover we were the ONLY 2. Thus, we had a private tour, using a Lincoln taxi cab, and our tour leader, a lovely woman, customized it for us. I recommend them highly!

We used TJ Travel in St. Petersburg and were EXTREMELY happy. The guide was excellent, everything was professional and reliable, the group size was small and manageable, and I can recommend them without hesitation.

We used TJ Travel last June for a 2 day tour of St Petersburg. Cheaper and with a much better itinerary than ship excursion. No Visa issues, they attend to that.

Met at quayside, expert driver in Andrey and a wonderful guide in Elena Glaskova who was super efficient with an amazing depth of knowledge of her home city, particularly of the Hermitage exhibits and the other museums and churches. No hesitation in recommending T J Travel.

Hi all, thought I would add my two cents worth here for SPB. We arrived via Silversea Cruise lines to St Petersburg at 0800. Smaller ships, like the SS and others, usually dock at the English Embankment. This is very close to the Hermitage. Unfortunately we did not secure a separate visa so we were ship-bound when not with a tour guide. Note to self, the larger ships, and there were seven of them, were docked at the cruise ship terminal which is about 20-30 mins further out of town. We drove out there just to see, and there was really nothing in the surrounding area to do other than take a taxi if you have a Russian visa.

We chose TJ Tours for a 3 day travel around SPB. Of course they arranged for our organized tourists visa with them. The group tour that we arranged was for up to 10 people. We were extremely lucky that there were only 4 of us. We had use of a very nice Mercedes van all three days. The driver and the tour guide, Maria, were waiting for us immediately after we cleared customs. The tours were excellent and since it was a small group, Maria could talk to to us up close and personal as she did not need a microphone and us headsets.

As the tour was three days, we could also cater it to our liking, deciding to do one versus another because of the rain or weather, so we were not on a fixed schedule except for the tour of the Faberge Egg museum and early entrance to the Hermitage.

All I can say is simply amazing. The tour was beyond what we could have imagined. We even got to go to see the art deco in the subway and to actually ride a SPB subway during rush hour. Those escalators are amazingly steep and long, by far the longest I have ever been on. The subways were used as bomb shelters many years ago.

One of the nicest amenities of TJ Travel flexibility. We wanted to see a local market one morning. No one there spoke English but smile broke any language barriers. One of the vendors did ask our guide if we were not afraid, as Americans, to be in Russia. She told him no and he smiled and offered us a cookie. We also wanted to tour a local grocery store which TJ graciously did. We love to see how the locals really live..

SPB is a wonderful city, somewhat over the top in its opulence from former times. TJ Travel does a wonderful job on their tours and I would highly recommend them, especially Maria. Also if you are docking at the English Embankment on the river, the chances of your tour group filling up are small, as it would waste too much time driving all the way out to the cruise terminal and back, at least an hour.

Enjoy SPB, and if on a small ship, an independent Visa is well worth it. I wish we had gotten one. https://st-petersburg-tours.ru/

Tim W

We had the most amazing two day tour with Sofia of TJTravel. This company was so easy to work with and we enjoyed traveling with just 7 people in a mercedes van - equipped with wifi!! I couldn't believe all we got to experience in two days plus TJTravel arranged a visit to a Russian family for dinner. We felt like we were long-time friends by the time we departed their small home. You can book TJTravel with confidence. Other friends who went with them the previous year had fortunately recommended them to us.

We used TJ tours in Juky and they were perfect. Professional, knowledgable, flexible. Couldn't have been more pleased.

I used TJ Travel on my cruise last summer for my twin 9 y/o girls and my husband and I. We did a small group tour which I think is a maximum of 16 but there were only 8 total on the tour (4 of which were my family and 2 other couples). It was fantastic! The tour guide was so great to include my daughters in the tours by speaking directly to them and making sure they were at the front and could see whatever we were looking at. I would definitely recommend them.

We used TJ tours as well and they did a super job.

We used TJ tours and they were fantastic.

My wife and I spent two days with TJ tours in St Petersburg in August and they did a fantastic job - highly recommended.

we went with tj tours for the 2 days in russia and everything was pre arranged, and no trouble with visas. Had a small group of 6 in a 13 passenger van with wi-fi. Went to all of the main places to see in st petersburg and had great time. One of the most spectacular sights was the subway. Would highly recommend t.j. tours.

retired in cloverdale

We went to SP in August as part of a cruise. After a lot of research I booked TJ Travel by email as I wanted to see the Faberge collection. The 2 day tour could not have been better. Only 9 of us in a minivan, 3 Americans and 6 Brits.

Passport Control was a breeze using the tour tickets TJ had emailed to me. They were waiting in the arrivals hall to direct us to the minivan. And after that it just got better and better. Both the guide and driver were wonderful. They were very patient with us and very accommodating - one of our number wanted to see something not on the schedule and it was no problem. We had an included Russian lunch the first day and asked to go somewhere for lunch on the second day. They took us to a typical Russian restaurant where nobody spoke English and it was really excellent. I hadn't changed any money into roubles but paid by credit card. The bill came to £6.72 for 2 meals and 2 bottles of beer. Very good value and an experience! St Petersburg was for us the highlight of the trip and seeing it with TJ was a good decision to make. I can highly recommend them.

We used Alla Tours on our cruise on Queen Elisabeth which visited St. Petersburg back in May 2015.

I wanted to say a big thank you to our guide Elena and the driver Nickolas who did our 2 day tour.

Elena conducted the tour really well, displaying great knowledge of all the sites we visited, and she always made sure, along with Nickolas, that waiting for the bus was kept to a minimum, which was good as it was quite cold at times.

Everything ran very smoothly, and the lunches provided were good, it was particularly interesting in the restaurant which I enjoyed very much.

So please pass on our thanks to Elena and Nickolas and the others behind the scenes who plan the tours.

I would recommend ALLA Tours to anyone visiting St. Petersburg.

Once you have booked with Alla Tour, you can print your own tour Vouchers. You just have to keep the Tour Vouchers with your passports for inspection at the Cruise Terminal. They will serve as a Visa. My group of 8 friends used Alla Tour in St. Petersberg in early June for 2 days in St. Petersburg. Alla Tour was extremely professional before, during and after our tour with them. We had a wonderful guide, Anna, who was very knowledgeable and who operated with our interest in her heart. When part of our group was split up from the main event to go to the Ballet, Anna arranged for us to have a wonderful meal at a Georgian Restaurant and she summoned another guide from her main office to take care of us. The staff spoke excellent English. They were very willing to assist us and to make sure we had a great experience. The price was very reasonable for the kind of services they offer. We hired Alla Tour because they were highly recommended to us by 2 of our friends in our area who used their services in the past.:)

We used TJ tours in august 2015. We booked a private tour because I have a special needs grandchild. We were more than pleased with them. I think our tour of St Petersburg was the highlight of our cruise. So patient with us and the kids. I highly recommend their services. You will not be disappointed.

We arrived in St Petersburg in June 2015 aboard the Regent Seven Seas Voyager. Even though tours were included in our fare we decided to take a private Two Day Grand Tour with Alla. Our daughter and family had used Alla before and were highly complementary of them. We were extremely pleased. Our tour guide Polina was very knowledgable and easy to be with. We still comment on how much Polina knew. We have taken tours in many parts of the world and this was the best we've ever done. We highly recommend Alla Tours.