Baltic Cruise - Visa Query

Hi, I am going on a Celebrity Baltic Cruise this summer (2014) and would like to use a Russian Tour Operator "Alla Tours" whilst in St Petersburg. The Celebrity documents suggest that if we don't book a Tour with the Cruise Line we will have to get a Russian Visa, whereas Alla Tours maintain that as a registered Russian Tour Operator this is not necessary. Has anyone had any recent experience of using Alla Tours in St Petersburg whilst on a Celebrity Cruise or could otherwise provide confirmation either way ? Thanks !

Hi, I am going on a Celebrity Baltic Cruise this summer (2014) and would like to use a Russian Tour Operator "Alla Tours" whilst in St Petersburg. The Celebrity documents suggest that if we don't book a Tour with the Cruise Line we will have to get a Russian Visa, whereas Alla Tours maintain that as a registered Russian Tour Operator this is not necessary. Has anyone had any recent experience of using Alla Tours in St Petersburg whilst on a Celebrity Cruise or could otherwise provide confirmation either way ? Thanks !

You can use private operaters in St Petersburg without a problem....the main companys provide the entry visa for you "free".

Alla is highly rated as well as many other companys.....we used Spb tours and they were very good too.

Some cruise lines use scare tactics to get you to book with them.....you must have a tour pre arranged before arrival though to get the free visa.

We had a great experience with Alla two years ago. All the necessary paperwork was provided by email. Take the visa and passport and have a great time. We were some of the first ones off the ship well before the ships tours trekked from the theatre to the atrium. Celebrity (Connie) did not push at all for us to take the ship's tour and provided instructions for those of us on private tours.

Hi, We used Alla Tours 2 years ago as well. They were fantastic! You do not have to get your own visa as they are provided by Alla Tours. Any questions you can email them direct and they will put your mind at rest. We had a great time in St Petersburg and I wouldn't hesitate to use them again if we ever return. The Baltic is a wonderful cruise, so many beautiful cities. Enjoy

We used SPB Tours last summer. The tour package included all necessary visas. Great 3-day tour. (Our tour guide, Anna, was wonderful!)

Although, having the visas with the tour company or with a cruiseline excursion only allows you to get off the ship with a representative of that tour company/cruiseline. You can't go walking around in St Petersburg on your own.

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Here's a link to a thread under the Northern Europe/Baltics section under the Ports of Call heading discussing visas and private tour companies in St. Petersburg.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2030027

Last time we were in St. Petersburg I booked through Celebrity because it sounded like the only way you could get off the ship was on one of their excursions. This time I'm using TJ Travel for our July trip at a fraction of the cost of the ship's excursions. I've been very pleased with their quick response to all queries and I've already received my tour tickets that include the visa for my 3 days in St. Petersburg. The private tour companies provide you with very thorough directions about the paperwork they send you and how to use the tickets to get off the ship.

Hi, I am going on a Celebrity Baltic Cruise this summer (2014) and would like to use a Russian Tour Operator "Alla Tours" whilst in St Petersburg. The Celebrity documents suggest that if we don't book a Tour with the Cruise Line we will have to get a Russian Visa, whereas Alla Tours maintain that as a registered Russian Tour Operator this is not necessary. Has anyone had any recent experience of using Alla Tours in St Petersburg whilst on a Celebrity Cruise or could otherwise provide confirmation either way ? Thanks !

We also had a good experience using Alla Tours this past August for both our tours of St. Petersburg and Berlin. All visas were provided and any questions we had were quickly answered by email. Another feature we liked was that Alla organized our tour groups for us. No pressure to find other folks to share.

Have a great trip!!!

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain saying you must book Celebrity excursions. Why would you? 40+ people vs. 8 or so--no contest.

All the private tour companies will provide you with a visa. True, this is a group visa and you can not go wandering off by yourself, but if you have booked a group tour why would you want to? You will get an e-mail with the documentation needed to get you through surly Russian immigration.

We used Alla and were very pleased. She also obtained ballet tickets for us and arranged transport to and from the ballet for us.

Alla Tours are great and they handled all our visas. The only thing is, you will not be able to set foot off the ship on your own without an individual visa. So, say, for example, you want to leave the ship to go into town for dinner, you won't be able to do that without a visa that you purchase.

Agree with all of the above posts. Go ahead and book the private tour. We were able to get in so much more and it was much more individualized. Not to worry about the visas.

We used SPB tours and had one of the best tours ever! We had the tour company arrange a dinner in the apartment of a Russian family. It was a highlight of our cruise to visit with them and learn First-hand what living in St Petersburg is like. We also took the subway which was fascinating. If I recall correctly, it is one of the deepest in the world. I highly recommend trying to incorporate something other than the usual sites. Of course, we were there overnight on our cruise which was a bonus. We limited our small group to 7 or 8 so it made the sightseeing more efficient.

We will be using Anastasia Tours for our upcoming 2 day tour in St Petersburg off the May 24 Eclipse. I just made my final decision last night. The tour company sent me a simple form requesting my husband and my passport numbers and passport expiration date. They will return the tour tickets to us which we will print out and use, along with our immigration card which is provided by the ship, to get off the ship. The ship will give you this cRd or you can get one from guest relations. This combo of tour ticket and immigration card is the only paperwork you need if you are going on a group excursion with a travel company, whether it us the one hired by the ship to take you or the one you hire yourself. If you are being told anything else, you are being mislead by dishonest people.

Whether you are touring with the ship or with a private tour, after you get through Russian immigration, you cannot go off in St Petersburg alone. You must have a private Visa granted by the Russian government to do that. It costs quite a bit and is somewhat complex to obtain without the assistance of an agent. For 2 days, it would be hardly worth it. If you do sneak away from your group, you cannot come back through the gates to the port and on to Russian immigration before re boarding the ship, so don't deliberately get lost or feign ignorance. You can and probably will be detained.

For those interested in the Alla Tours, the only reason we booked with Anastasia Tours is that they provide a wheelchair excursion at no additional charge. We are using Alla Tours for our excursions in Sweden, Finland and Germany. They operate tours at those ports too.

I have traveled to St. Petersburg with a private tour operator, SPB, and also on a Russian Federation Visa.

If you wish to attend an evening event not included on your tour, and you have the stamina to do so after an extremely enchanting and exhausting day, ask your tour operator if they have a group doing an evening event that you can also attend. The major companies like Alla and SPB have multiple tours meeting each ship, or ships in port. I'd imagine something can be arranged.

The process for booking independent tours will be very clear to you when you submit your request. It's painless and even though the border (port) agents have been trained not to smile don't let that bother you. St. Petersburg is wonderful and will probably be the highlight of your cruise. Enjoy every moment.

I just want to add the suggestion to look at the websites of the St Petersburg tour operators you are considering to compare the descriptions of the various tours they offer.

Then find out which will be the best fit for you by contacting them directly with your questions and concerns to see which company is most responsive to your particular wants and needs.

You really can't go wrong with any of the major private tour operators that are repeatedly highly recommended, but there are some differences between them that may be important to you.

We picked SPB tours because Viktoria provided the best personal responses to accommodate our particular wishes and needs out of all the companies we contacted.

SPB turned out to be the right choice for us and we were extremely pleased with our tour in every respect.

None of us could think of any way it could have been any better.

Others feel the same way about the companies they picked.

By now, with all the reassurances you have received, I think you can feel comfortable knowing that your private tour operator will include you in their group visa and it is not necessary to obtain your own individual visa.

Just follow the instructions your tour operator sends you and everything will go very smoothly. The independent tour operators all know that their livelihood depends on taking very good care of their cruise ship customers, and they have a lot of experience doing this, cruise after cruise, year after year.

Many thanks - am now feeling more confident about choosing an independent operator.Just one further thought, is the tour booking reference that we received from Alla tours the group visa, or should there be different paperwork?

Many thanks - am now feeling more confident about choosing an independent operator.Just one further thought, is the tour booking reference that we received from Alla tours the group visa, or should there be different paperwork?

We got our tour ticket around 1 month before arrival with Spb.

The ticket (visa) will list your Ship and tour times & Dates in English and Russian.

Should be similar our Spb Tour Ticket (Visa)

Many thanks - am now feeling more confident about choosing an independent operator.Just one further thought, is the tour booking reference that we received from Alla tours the group visa, or should there be different paperwork?

- your seapass card

- your passport

- the ticket from your tour operator listing the dates and times for which it is valid (similar to the one that aussie cruzer has shown above)

- a form that they will give you on the ship to fill out and take with you,

Oh, just thought of another - money or credit card to pay your tour operator for the tour.

Many thanks - it's great to hear from people who have done the private tours and I appreciate your help.

We escorted a group of 30 folks this past summer on a Baltics sailing.

Like others on this thread, our experience using SPB Tours could not have been more positive! Their guides were not only outstanding, but the arrangements made for us ashore were equal to or superior to anything we've ever done booked through a cruise line.

If you're using a tour company such as those mentioned in this thread in St. Petersburg, you might also consider using them for many of the Baltic ports.

I was able to arrange a 5-city package that came in about $300 less than comparable ship-offered tours.

Have a wonderful cruise!!!

CM

This probably belongs on the Baltic ports page, but I have just learned from a CC Roll call that DenRus Tours, another well known tour company in St Petersburg, is offering an evening Tour of the most recently opened Faberge Museum. Very hard to get individual admission tickets so this may be the way to go.