Regal Princess starting in St Petersburg

Last minute cruise staring in St. Petersubrg, we'll need visa to enter Russia and are going directly to Russian consulate in San Francisco.

Should we bring just the cruise itinerary along with rest of documents, should that be considered "an invitation"?

As well, we'll like to arrive two days before, do we need and invitation letter from the hotel for the day, or is the cruise itinerary sufficient to "cover" the days before?

Any input would be greatly appreciated as I have not seen a roll call for that one yet.

Last minute cruise staring in St. Petersubrg, we'll need visa to enter Russia and are going directly to Russian consulate in San Francisco.

 

Should we bring just the cruise itinerary along with rest of documents, should that be considered "an invitation"?

 

As well, we'll like to arrive two days before, do we need and invitation letter from the hotel for the day, or is the cruise itinerary sufficient to "cover" the days before?

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated as I have not seen a roll call for that one yet.

Hi,

The cruise itinerary is not sufficient - in fact, it is totally useless when applying for your visa. You will need a letter of invitation from the hotel at which you intend to stay - contact your St. Petersburg hotel and they should provide the invitation.

Last minute cruise staring in St. Petersubrg, we'll need visa to enter Russia and are going directly to Russian consulate in San Francisco.

 

Should we bring just the cruise itinerary along with rest of documents, should that be considered "an invitation"?

 

As well, we'll like to arrive two days before, do we need and invitation letter from the hotel for the day, or is the cruise itinerary sufficient to "cover" the days before?

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated as I have not seen a roll call for that one yet.

Sorry, but the cruise documentation will not cover any nights you stay in a hotel. You'll definitely need to get, and then present, a letter of invitation from the hotel for the exact dates of your stay there. This will let you legally be on your own for the dates of you hotel stay, although you might prefer working with a guide from one of the popular companies. I'm confident of this information. However, when your cruise begins, you'll be in a different legal category and this is where I'm not confident how the visa will work.

In fact, I'm actually not certain you'll be able to get a visa for the dates covering your time staying on the ship. The ship won't write you an invitation that will let you tour independently. Most likely, you'll be like all other cruise-based visitors, and you'll have to tour with a ship's sponsored group or with one of the popular companies under the regulations concerning ocean-going cruise ships.

I'm posting this information on the basis of having taken a river cruise from Moscow to SPB. We needed a letter of invitation for our days in a hotel in Moscow and the river cruise itinerary for the time on the ship. (Since we were on a river cruise, we were always "in" Russia and the legal arrangement Russia has with ocean-going cruise ships did not apply.)

However, there may be a little loop hole: As best as I can recall, the Russian consulate workers generated a visa for a day beyond our actual time in the country using the logic that we needed to be covered legally in case something happened and our trip took longer than anticipated. If you're only going to be in port in SPB one day beyond embarkation day, perhaps your visa will cover that time and you'll be able to continue to tour legally on your own. Although, if your goal is to take a group tour, the issue of a visa becomes moot the days you're on the cruise ship.

I'm intrigued.;)

And puzzled. :confused:

This is the second time that I've seen SPB quoted in a CC thread as the turnaround port for a cruise.

I can understand the appeal to those who want to spend more than 2 or 3 days in Russia, pre or post-cruise. But there can't be too many folk who'd want to do that. Can there?

Those folk excepted, an SPB start and or finish seems nonsensical because of the whole visa situation, plus flight time & costs, and any number of other irritating complications.

So are cruise lines targeting a Russian customer base?

Will most of the other passengers be Russian?

Will the whiskeys & bourbons be swept from the shelves & replaced by nineteen brands of vodka?

Will the usual lobster-to-cheeseburger menus be replaced by potato soup, caviar, dumplings & blinis?

Will the entertainment troupe have to work on their Cossack dance routines?

And will the ship be shadowed by Tupolev Bears and nuclear submarines?

Or have I got it wrong, as usual? :rolleyes:

JB :)

Last minute cruise staring in St. Petersubrg, we'll need visa to enter Russia and are going directly to Russian consulate in San Francisco.

 

Should we bring just the cruise itinerary along with rest of documents, should that be considered "an invitation"?

 

As well, we'll like to arrive two days before, do we need and invitation letter from the hotel for the day, or is the cruise itinerary sufficient to "cover" the days before?

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated as I have not seen a roll call for that one yet.

Again, to clear-up any confusion:

You will need an invitation letter from the St. Petersburg hotel at which you intend to stay.

Apply for the 3 year, multiple entry visa (commonly issued now and same price as single or double entry visa) and you will be covered for both your pre cruise stay in Russia and your stay in Russia via cruise ship (and any subsequent visits to Russia during the 3 year validity of your visa).

I'm intrigued.;)

And puzzled. :confused:

 

This is the second time that I've seen SPB quoted in a CC thread as the turnaround port for a cruise.

I can understand the appeal to those who want to spend more than 2 or 3 days in Russia, pre or post-cruise. But there can't be too many folk who'd want to do that. Can there?

Those folk excepted, an SPB start and or finish seems nonsensical because of the whole visa situation, plus flight time & costs, and any number of other irritating complications.

 

So are cruise lines targeting a Russian customer base?

Will most of the other passengers be Russian?

Will the whiskeys & bourbons be swept from the shelves & replaced by nineteen brands of vodka?

Will the usual lobster-to-cheeseburger menus be replaced by potato soup, caviar, dumplings & blinis?

Will the entertainment troupe have to work on their Cossack dance routines?

And will the ship be shadowed by Tupolev Bears and nuclear submarines?

 

Or have I got it wrong, as usual? :rolleyes:

 

JB :)

You, wrong?? Never!

Princess does have a few cruises that begin and/or end in St. Petersburg.

Don't know the reasoning behind this itinerary, but the majority of passengers appear to be North Americans (they usually embark in one of the other Baltic ports) and I suspect that most passengers do not embark in St. Petersburg due to the visa issue that you mentioned.

So - nope to the vodka, Cossacks, nuclear subs & blinis. :)

" ... an SPB start and or finish seems nonsensical because of the whole visa situation, plus flight time & costs, and any number of other irritating complications.

I wonder what the Russian visa situation is for the person who arrives at the airport the day of the cruise intending to take a taxi directly to the ship and never stay in a hotel. Will the cruise documentation suffice to let those people enter the country? Will they have to get a visa to cover the taxi ride between the airport and the cruise port? Who will write the letter of invitation? Surely not the taxi company!?!

Arriving in Russia on embarkation day is not as far-fetched as it seems if the cruiser is already in Europe either because that's their home or because there's some pre-cruise time spent somewhere else.

If anyone reading this thread knows about visas for day-of arrivals, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks!

I wonder what the Russian visa situation is for the person who arrives at the airport the day of the cruise intending to take a taxi directly to the ship and never stay in a hotel. Will the cruise documentation suffice to let those people enter the country? Will they have to get a visa to cover the taxi ride between the airport and the cruise port? Who will write the letter of invitation? Surely not the taxi company!?!

 

Arriving in Russia on embarkation day is not as far-fetched as it seems if the cruiser is already in Europe either because that's their home or because there's some pre-cruise time spent somewhere else.

 

If anyone reading this thread knows about visas for day-of arrivals, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks!

If you are arriving in St. Petersburg via air, a visa is required (no matter that your cruise ship may be leaving the same day).

There are many registered online travel agencies where a person can purchase just the visa support (invitation) letter. (here is one such site that a simple google search revealed: http://www.russiansupportvisa.com/)

Also, you need not actually stay at the hotel that issues your visa support letter - you just need the invitation letter to obtain the visa. Once you obtain the visa, one can cancel the hotel reservation.

In my case, last year I received my visa support letter from a Moscow hotel but then, after receiving my Russian visa, I was invited to stay with a friend in Moscow so I cancelled the hotel reservation. My friend registered me at the post office in Moscow (registration is needed only if your stay in Russia exceeds 7 business days which, in my case, applied). I then went on to St. Petersburg (my visa is good for 3 years and I will be returning to Russia twice this year - once by cruise in June and once by land in September).

So, in the case of someone flying into St. Petersburg on the same day that their cruise is scheduled to begin, they would definitely be able to use the same method that I used in order to secure their invitation letter. Or, one could purchase the invitation letter. Simple. :)