Thetfoodie

If the cruise is for this Oct. then there is a very good possibility that due to muster station space and ship capacity that there may not be any rooms left for 4. An Oct. cruise is not that far away. There may be many rooms that hold 4 people left but they can only hold so many people at each muster station so once they get to a certain point they limit capacity in that section. All cruise lines do this.

Thanks, this makes sense.

But I just got a (very high) quote for a balcony cabin for 4 from a cruise compete agency...

Have you tried rining them ?

Yes, we tried calling them and also with our travel agent but their suggestion was always the same.

Another strange thing: just got a quote from a cruise compete agency that magically has a balcony cabin for 4 for that sailing (at a high price though) but that means that there is availability, right?

Perhaps some agencies have a few cabins on hold?

Hi,

We are planning a family cruise this fall. It would be our first MSC so I'm not sure if this is something that happens regularly when booking with them so perhaps you can help.

We are 4 adults and 2 children and were looking for 2 cabins, one for 2 adults and one for 2 adults and 2 children, Oceanview or balcony. And of course we'd love to take advantage of the kids travel free promo.

And here starts the problem... Apparently the cabins for 4 are sold out already... But when you try to book the cabin for 2 and proceed to choose it, all the available cabins have occupancy for 4... Strange, right? Their suggestion : book two cabins for 2... (obviously in this case kids pay) so we are supposed to split a family of 4 in 2 cabins even when the maps show that there are plenty of cabins for 4 still available???

Has anyone encountered this problem? If so, what did you do? We have cruised with NCL several times and finding a cabin for 4 was never an issue. Is this a tactic from MSC to make more money? Is there a chance that they will make the cabins for 4 available again when the date comes closer (October)?

Thanks for your suggestions (unless your suggestion is go back to NCL - we are already aware of that one)

Thank you all for your comments and information!

After a month of contacting the major tour companies, private guides, etc. we decided to get a visa and stay the night in SPB.

Turns out that all companies more or less could do the private customized tour that we wanted, but it also turns out that the prices were outrageous: 500-600 usd per person is really too much for us.

We found a decent hotel near the Hermitage for 100 usd and we decided to go that way, visa process doesn't seem as difficult or expensive either so we decided to give it a try, plus what we like most about a new city is to read about it before visiting and discovering it at our own pace, which is what we'll do.

We are thinking about getting a 2-day ticket for the Hermitage so we can divide our visit in 2 days.

Thanks again!

Hello,

we are a couple visiting St. Petersburg for 2 days on NCL Getaway in July 2016.

We were hoping to get a touristic visa to explore the city on our own but as it turns out, visas are single entry only for cruise passengers so we would only be able to use it for the first day (it would be void once we come back to the cruise after day 1).

We are art lovers and would love to spend a full day at the Hermitage but it seems no reasonably priced visa-free tours offer this kind of option, all are offering only 2 max 3 hours visit to the Hermitage.

Does anyone know about a tour company or private guide (with visa free requirement) that offers a full day at Hermitage?

Thanks