Visiting St. Petersburg

I enjoyed reading UUNet Bill's description of visiting the Baltic ports. I have a question about taking private tours. Will the tour provider get a visa for you or do you recommend getting a visa ahead of your cruise. Did you need a visa to take the train to Moscow? Have booked this cruise for August. Thanks for any recommendations.

If you book a Regent excursion or book one through an authorized tour company (which is what we did) you do not have to get a visa. You are also not permitted to roam around on your own. The same rules apply to taking a train to Moscow - cannot do it on your own without a visa.

What TC said. The Russian government grants a sort of 72-hour visa for cruise passengers, with the caveat that you need to be either on a ship’s tour or with an authorized tour company. There’s no ‘running free’ without a separate visa, but since the time is so short there and there are so many good included tours, we didn’t see the need to go through the hassle and expense of procuring our own visas.

That said, though, we were allowed free time (a few hours) in both StP and Moscow for shopping and wandering around. This caught us by surprise as that was a big no-no the last time we were there. Things appeared to have loosened up a little.

So for the train to Moscow, if you go with Regent or an approved tour company you don’t need a visa - you’re covered under the blanket visa. But if you wanted to just take the train on your own you’d need the separate tourist visa.

Thanks for your replies, applying for a visa looked like a real hassle. I was curious about how well it worked going with a private tour, I guess that depends on the tour company.

Thanks for your replies, applying for a visa looked like a real hassle. I was curious about how well it worked going with a private tour, I guess that depends on the tour company.

We were in St. Peterburg in July on Royal Caribbean. We booked a private, 2 day tour (there were 10 of us). The tour was FANTASTIC! They supplied the visas. We were able to adjust what we saw easily prior to the tour. It was much, MUCH better than I expected. Since tours are included with Regents, I'd go that way if they are seeing the places you want to see. Otherwise, check some of the tour companies and see what they offer. We used TJ Travel, but there are many other companies recommended also.

Thanks for your replies, applying for a visa looked like a real hassle. I was curious about how well it worked going with a private tour, I guess that depends on the tour company.

I believe it is the same with most of the tour companies that we discuss on CC (Alla - the one we used - Red October and a few others. They likely have a visa that covers multiple people that take their tour and will be under their supervision. Had no problem whatsoever. We were able to print a voucher which you need to get off of the ship without a visa. You don't pay anything until you do the excursion. Very safe and the guides speak English quite well.

There is a lot of information on Cruise Critic on the Ports of Call board. Here is a link https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search.php?searchid=118528661 (if it doesn't work, go to Ports of Call - Europe - Baltics and do a search for "St. Petersburg".

Not sure which trip you're on, but remember you need to have three days in StP for them to offer the Moscow train trip. Looks like the three that I looked at on Regent's website all have that middle day so you should be good to go.

Bear in mind, too, that there is a LOT to see in StP. The first time we were there we spent the entire time in StP and didn't go to Moscow. We did the Moscow trip last time and loved it. But...it makes for a LONG day. We did the Evening with the Czars the first night (late return to the ship) and had to get up early on day 2 for Moscow. Got back late from that trip and had two excursions booked the last day. Everyone else but me cancelled the early excursion on that day, and it was rough, I'll tell you that.

A lot depends on what you want to see - Moscow was way cool, but honestly there's enough to see in StP that you can easily spend three days there. Can't go wrong either way.

Thanks for all who posted on this thread - we are in the midst of booking our excursions for our Baltic Cruise on the Explorer in July. We may do some free excursions and some choice excursions as well, but wonder if we'll truly enjoy the "Evening with the Czars" excursion....we're not exactly late owls and prefer to turn in early, but would do the Czars evening if it's truly special. Any thoughts?

Thanks for all who posted on this thread - we are in the midst of booking our excursions for our Baltic Cruise on the Explorer in July. We may do some free excursions and some choice excursions as well, but wonder if we'll truly enjoy the "Evening with the Czars" excursion....we're not exactly late owls and prefer to turn in early, but would do the Czars evening if it's truly special. Any thoughts?

We’re usually early to bed as well but we’ve done that excursion twice.

Thanks for all who posted on this thread - we are in the midst of booking our excursions for our Baltic Cruise on the Explorer in July. We may do some free excursions and some choice excursions as well, but wonder if we'll truly enjoy the "Evening with the Czars" excursion....we're not exactly late owls and prefer to turn in early, but would do the Czars evening if it's truly special. Any thoughts?

We did that excursion this year in September. We thought it was very special and worth every penny.

Instead of thousands of people touring Catherine's Palace as occurs during the day, there were only about 125 Regent passengers spread throughout the palace. We could take photos in the Amber Room which normally is not allowed. The other events in the excursion added to the worth of the excursion. I would not hesitate to repeat the excursion.

We were on a Baltic cruise in late June with Oceania. Were in St. Petersburg for 3 days and used private tour company SPB-Tours. They took care of the visas. Our guide was great (a university professor, leading tours during the summer) - her English excellent. She got us in places before they were open to the public, or we went in thru a side door, avoiding the huge lines out front! Strongly recommend a private small group tour (15 of us on a van). And you do need 3 days there -- a lot to see!

For those of you concerned about staying out late - because of the very few hours of darkness up there in July, it never really feels late. It throws off your mental clock in a weird way, but you probably won't be sleepy at the usual hour.

As I said earlier, we were in St. Petersburg in July on RCCL. We were in for 2 days. We had a very intense 2 day tour. We opted out of a night event as the next day was going to be early, and the many days before St. Petersburg were intense also. HOWEVER, reading DaveFr's review of the night tour, I would most definitely "gut it out" and go. Catherine's Palace is beyond spectacular. To see it at night with only a handful of people would, for me, be a "must do" event.

We were on a Baltic cruise in late June with Oceania. Were in St. Petersburg for 3 days and used private tour company SPB-Tours. They took care of the visas. Our guide was great (a university professor, leading tours during the summer) - her English excellent. She got us in places before they were open to the public, or we went in thru a side door, avoiding the huge lines out front! Strongly recommend a private small group tour (15 of us on a van). And you do need 3 days there -- a lot to see!

We toured St. Petersburg with SPG 10 years ago. You are correct. We loved it. At that time, the owner, Victoria acted as guide. We will never forget her and her dedication to us.

Sheila

Just to whet your appetite a bit:

When have you ever seen the Amber Room this empty? Wife and me, first trip to Russia.

Wife & FIL, last trip to Russia.

Mugging with the palace guards in a virtually empty palace.

The “Royal Couple” making their entrance in the Grand Ballroom.

Yeah, I’d recommend the Evening With the Czars.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great pictures!

gnomie :)

Great pictures!

 

gnomie :)

Thanks! Great excursion!! :cool:

Thank you all so much for the recommendations, loved the photos. I am definitely going to book the Evening with the Czars. I had looked at Alla on trip Advisor, but it's always great to hear about experiences from someone that you "feel you know", thanks Jackie. Also, think UUNetBill's right about having to do the cruise more than once. :D

Wonderful photos - thanks for posting!!! In this case, a picture is worth a thousand words....we'll book the excursion as well!

Beautiful pictures! Thank you for sharing!