Baltic Cruise on Voyager

Looking for input on best and worst for a 12-day cruise through the Baltic on RSS Voyager on August 29th. Is it worth taking the high speed train to Moscow for the day or is it better to spend two days in St.Petersburgh? Looking for any good cruise tips. Cheers.

If this is your first time in St. Petersburg spend the entire time there as even that will not be nearly enough to see everything. Personally, I'd take out travel insurance as it's impossible to know what will happen in Russia between now and then.

Totally agree - we were on a Baltic cruise on Voyager many moons ago. We had 3 nights in St Petersburg. We hired a local guide and driver and saw many amazing things. I would not have missed this for the world. (Note that we were on this cruise before Regent went "all-inclusive" so we did not pay for Regent excursions and then not take them. But if I were to do it again I would certainly hire Galina as my guide and let everyone else take the included excursions...)

Moscow to me is fascinating. But St Petersburg is magic. Stay in St P on your cruise. And the fly from the UK to Moscow some other time and see Moscow...

I have done this cruise twice in the last three years - my suggestions:

1) skip Moscow - while it is doable, it is not practical. People who took this side trip were exhausted - you leave the ship at about 5:00am to catch the train and people complained that although interesting, they tried to cram so much into such a short period of time that in the end, it was all a blur. St. Pete is such an amazing place, esp if you enjoy history. Believe me, you will have problems picking excursions because there are so many good ones to chose from.

2) Do take the one day trip to Berlin - this is not a free excursion but well worth the money

3) this was one cruise with many great free excursions to chose from - be sure to book the day the opportunity becomes available - DO NOT miss the Hermitage

4) If you are planning to have your own excursions, be sure to check out whether you need to get a VISA - if you are only planning to use the excursions offered on the ship, you will travel under the visa of the ship.

gnomie :)

We have also done the Baltics twice - the last time was in 2014. Agree that St. Petersburg has a lot to offer and wouldn't venture out to Moscow on my first visit to the area. The major tour companies in St. Petersburg do private and small group tours -- they are wonderful and worth every penny (you do not need a visa when you use these tour companies). Here is a link to the "Ports" section of Cruise Critic http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192

If problems arise in the area between now and your cruise, it is unlikely that Regent would cancel the cruise. They would probably change ports which could make the trip less desirable so insurance is something you may want to look into.

You should have a wonderful time on Baltic cruise.

We have also done the Baltics twice - the last time was in 2014. Agree that St. Petersburg has a lot to offer and wouldn't venture out to Moscow on my first visit to the area. The major tour companies in St. Petersburg do private and small group tours -- they are wonderful and worth every penny (you do not need a visa when you use these tour companies). Here is a link to the "Ports" section of Cruise Critic http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192

 

If problems arise in the area between now and your cruise, it is unlikely that Regent would cancel the cruise. They would probably change ports which could make the trip less desirable so insurance is something you may want to look into.

 

You should have a wonderful time on Baltic cruise.

BE WARNED - THIS IS NOT TRUE!!!!!!

There were people on our cruise who were told the same thing and were unable to leave the port. They had made there own excursions without getting a proper visa. In fact, Regent sent us information warning us of this, but some people either did not read or chose to ignore.

Unless you are on a Regent excursion with a Regent ticket, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PASS THROUGH IMMIGRATION AND LEAVE THE PORT.

In the port, on the other side of immigration are vendors and we had purchased some hats for the boys - when we got back to the cabin we noticed that one was defective and tried to just go back and exchange it and were not allowed to do so - there are no exceptions.

gnomie :)

We used Anastasia tour company in st. Petersburg for 3 days. We did NOT have to get a separate visa. But we stayed with her the whole time. We couldn't go wandering about on our own.

Gnomie, how can you state that this is not true when so many of us have used these services? There are companies mentioned on Cruise Critic (Ports section) that have been used for years (at least 9 years) and no one needed a visa. I suppose that someone could find some out of the way company that is not recommended by the government that would be a problem but this would be extremely unusual.

With all due respect, your statement "Unless you are on a Regent excursion with a Regent ticket, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PASS THROUGH IMMIGRATION AND LEAVE THE PORT." is inaccurate. This is not something that we should argue about. It would be so unfair to Regent cruisers to lead them to believe that they cannot pass through immigration or leave the port unless they are on a Regent excursion.

Hopefully it is permissible to post the following from TripAdvisor as I found it most interesting. While they mention a specific company, the same can be said for Alla Tours and several other "known" tour operators in St. Petersburg.

No question! This was the absolute highlight.”

5 of 5 stars Reviewed November 21, 2014

We booked Red October tour company via their website and had no problems whatsoever. After been given misinformation by Oceania Cruises and our travel agent at home that we needed to do the ships tours or we had to apply for tourist visas, Red October advised us this was incorrect. I was really annoyed that they were not truthful with us. As long as anyone arriving by cruise ship and doing a tour with a private company in Russia does not need to apply for a tourist visa as you are automatically given a 72 hr visa. Thankyou Red October for saving us $200+ and your honesty. We were shown around St Petersburg for 2 days with Alexi our driver and Caitia our experienced and very knowledgeable guide. Her English was perfect and she knew not only the history and facts but also how to avoid the crowds and we felt like we were VIP guests while in St Petersburg. All I can say if you haven't been to St Petersburg Russia you simply must go and without a doubt I would highly recommend Red October Tour Company. If you can do it and there are only 2 of you it is well worth the money. Once again thank you Caitia and Alexi from Red October we will never forget our time spent with you in

I would avoid Russia completely for many reasons, but that is only my personal choice. I can understand why these cruises are not selling. Also, if I wanted to go to Russia, I would book a land tour but would never go on a "cruise" to sit in one port for 3 days. That's not really cruising to me! Regent would be wise to adjust the itinerary and maybe the cruises would be more popular

I would avoid Russia completely for many reasons, but that is only my personal choice. I can understand why these cruises are not selling. Also, if I wanted to go to Russia, I would book a land tour but would never go on a "cruise" to sit in one port for 3 days. That's not really cruising to me! Regent would be wise to adjust the itinerary and maybe the cruises would be more popular

Sunprince,Regent's Baltic itinerary has been very popular for over ten years. Regent is one of the few cruise lines that allocate three days in St Petersburg; it is a fantastic itinerary.

Now, many, like you, are avoiding Russia. Me, I am glad i have spent plenty of time in both St Petersburg and Moscow since I don't think they will be as fun to go to in the future as in the past.

Marc

Sunprince,Regent's Baltic itinerary has been very popular for over ten years. Regent is one of the few cruise lines that allocate three days in St Petersburg; it is a fantastic itinerary.

 

Now, many, like you, are avoiding Russia. Me, I am glad i have spent plenty of time in both St Petersburg and Moscow since I don't think they will be as fun to go to in the future as in the past.

 

Marc

As popular as it might have been in the past, I just find it a bit odd to go a "cruise" and sit in port for 3 days. Sounds like more of a land holiday to me

I just did this cruise this past summer and witnessed quite a few people unable to meet up with their tour guides due to the immigration officials not allowing anyone to go through without a Regent ticket or a visa. I'm sure if I spent the time looking through my emails, I will find at least two emails from Regent forwarded by my TA warning all passengers that if they intend to have private guides in St Pete they MUST get a visa, even if they had not done so before. Some people did not follow this advise and we're not allowed to pass through immigration and there were some very unhappy people - it was quite different from our experience of three years ago. The tour guides were on one side of immigration yelling and flashing pieces of paper and the passengers were on the other side (could not see each other, we witnessed this as we were leaving for our excursions) but too no avail. If I remember correctly, the first night in port there was a notice put on our bed reminding passengers that without a Regent excursion ticket or a visa, one could not leave the port and that the ship was unable to assist in obtaining visas.

gnomie :)

I just did this cruise this past summer and witnessed quite a few people unable to meet up with their tour guides due to the immigration officials not allowing anyone to go through without a Regent ticket or a visa. I'm sure if I spent the time looking through my emails, I will find at least two emails from Regent forwarded by my TA warning all passengers that if they intend to have private guides in St Pete they MUST get a visa, even if they had not done so before. Some people did not follow this advise and we're not allowed to pass through immigration and there were some very unhappy people - it was quite different from our experience of three years ago. The tour guides were on one side of immigration yelling and flashing pieces of paper and the passengers were on the other side (could not see each other, we witnessed this as we were leaving for our excursions) but too no avail. If I remember correctly, the first night in port there was a notice put on our bed reminding passengers that without a Regent excursion ticket or a visa, one could not leave the port and that the ship was unable to assist in obtaining visas.

 

gnomie :)

I am not disputing the fact that there was some unusual issue going on when you were in St. Petersburg. However, based on our July, 2014 Baltic cruise and the ones we have followed since 2006, what you experienced is not the "norm".

Here is a link to the website for Alla Tours in St. Petersburg

http://alla-tour.com/ . While I am not recommending this or any other tour company, we have used them and the information on their website includes visa information and is set up for 2015. This is a good starting place for people who are thinking about private or small group tours in St. Petersburg.

It is a shame that there were visa issues with your cruise last summer. It is also interesting to read that some people still have concerns about visiting Russia (just commenting as this was an issue last year as well).

Based on our experience, Regent onboard staff is not always up to date on the latest visa information. It is always a good idea to double check visa, safety and health issues prior to going on a cruise.

In the current situation - with sanctions and low oil prices badly affecting Russia - I would expect Russian officials to be as officious as possible towards UK & US nationals so, whatever the tour company advised, I would get a visa - belt & braces! (But TBH I wouldn't be going to Russia at all ATM ;) )

We used a private guide (Best Guides) in St. Petersburg for two days on our Regent Baltic cruise in September 2014. Our guide, Irina, was great! The tour tickets she provided (via email) were all we needed to get off the ship. She met us right on the other side of immigration outside of the building. We had jam-packed 10 hours days, and saw so much more than the people on the ship's tours. The guide and driver were incredibly fexible with what we wanted to see, and re-arranged order of sites, etc to avoid crowds and traffic. Yes, we received the warnings from Regent that non-Regent tours would require a Visa--but after hearing about others' experiences on trip advisor, we realized this was not the case. On our ship, at least, we were not aware of anyone who did not take a ship's tour but used a licensed tour guide as we did having a problem. YMMV.

We thoroughly enjoyed the entire Baltic cruise--what a great way to experience many different countries!

Double post, sorry!

Jacquie, Re your previous post that Regent would not cancel the cruise: they already have canceled the first one which was London/Copenhagen starting 6/6. I know because we were on it and were very disappointed.

They may not cancel any others because of logistics but one never knows.

I have done the Baltics three times (none on Regent) and have always used private tour companies. NEVER have I gad a problem with using the visas provided by the tour companies. You DO NOT NEED a Regent or Russian visa. All these tour companies like Red October, Denrus and Alla among others would immediately go out of business if they could not provide entry to Russia without a Russian visa.

Jacquie, Re your previous post that Regent would not cancel the cruise: they already have canceled the first one which was London/Copenhagen starting 6/6. I know because we were on it and were very disappointed.

They may not cancel any others because of logistics but one never knows.

Yes -- you are right. I was looking at it as a change of itinerary rather than a cancelled cruise -- guess it could be taken either way.

I am currently on Voyager in St. Petersburg. This is what the daily Passages says about the Visas, "Unless you hold tickets for an organized ship's tour or a prearranged tour with a licensed Russian tour company, you will only be permitted to go ashore if you hold a valid Russian visa." When we went through immigration they wanted to see our passport and tour ticket. I hope this helps for next years Baltic cruises.

We also used Anastasia tours without any problems. It was wonderful! We weren't on RSSC and personally I wouldn't cruise RSSC to the Baltics. We aren't fans of group excursions anyway, but did do our own private tours customized for us and they were well worth the money. It was just us and our guide and she quickly cut us to the front of every line and ran us around crowds. We really felt like we saw almost everything. And we didn't waste time with any stops that were not of interest to us and added a few off beat ones that were.