I'm not sure if this the proper forum, but I want to give a heads up to any passengers who may be docking in St. Petersburg with NCL.
NCL will not allow you to disembark on time in St. Petersburg if you booked a private tour (SPB, TJ, Alla, etc). NCL gives priority to passengers who booked an excursion with them and allows these passengers off the ship first. Anyone who booked a private tour is placed at the end of the line. My party of 8 was ready to get off the ship at 7am when the boat docked but we were physically turned away by the assistant cruise director Jojo when we tried to disembark. He told us to wait in a separate area until all the NCL excursion passengers had finished disembarking. As a result we didn't leave the boat until 750 and didn't get through customs until 850, and there were still hundreds of passengers behind us waiting to clear customs.
I don't think what NCL did was right, but I don't have much cruise experience so we just followed the rules. Looking back, I think I should have been more forceful to see if he would have actually tackled me to prevent me from getting off the boat instead of just pushing me away. Anyway, our tour started late and we couldn't see everything because of our late start.
This is just a heads up to anyone who docking in SPB with NCL. Hopefully this issue will be rectified by the time you sail.
Disembarking in St. Petersburg - NCL Getaway
in Northern Europe & Baltic Sea
Posted
HI,
I'm not sure if this the proper forum, but I want to give a heads up to any passengers who may be docking in St. Petersburg with NCL.
NCL will not allow you to disembark on time in St. Petersburg if you booked a private tour (SPB, TJ, Alla, etc). NCL gives priority to passengers who booked an excursion with them and allows these passengers off the ship first. Anyone who booked a private tour is placed at the end of the line. My party of 8 was ready to get off the ship at 7am when the boat docked but we were physically turned away by the assistant cruise director Jojo when we tried to disembark. He told us to wait in a separate area until all the NCL excursion passengers had finished disembarking. As a result we didn't leave the boat until 750 and didn't get through customs until 850, and there were still hundreds of passengers behind us waiting to clear customs.
I don't think what NCL did was right, but I don't have much cruise experience so we just followed the rules. Looking back, I think I should have been more forceful to see if he would have actually tackled me to prevent me from getting off the boat instead of just pushing me away. Anyway, our tour started late and we couldn't see everything because of our late start.
This is just a heads up to anyone who docking in SPB with NCL. Hopefully this issue will be rectified by the time you sail.