To visa or not to visa st. Petersburg

We have been told by our TA that we will require a visa to visit st. Petersburg if we plan to tour alone ?? Help please

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We have been told by our TA that we will require a visa to visit st. Petersburg if we plan to tour alone ?? Help please

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That’s correct. But If you book through a local tour company it’s visa free (recommended) or a ships tour also. Try Tripadvisor for the Top main local tour companies. You will pay way less and see much more.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Interesting, I think the TA might be right, but why not call RC, the ships blanket visa might work. IMHO i would certainly do a paid tour, private or ships tour, St Petersburg is a special place and not easily managed on your own

We have been told by our TA that we will require a visa to visit st. Petersburg if we plan to tour alone ?? Help please

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes you will have to obtain your own visa prior to the cruise if you plan to explore on your own.

If you book an excursion through the cruise line the visa will be included for that tour but you will not be allowed to leave the excursion, explore on your own and return to the ship on your own.

If you pre-book an excursions from a source other than the cruise line it's advisable to book only an excursion that a visa will be included otherwise you will have had to obtained a visa prior to the cruise.

You will not be allowed off the ship if you do not have a visa or an excursion ticket that includes a visa.

As nice as St. Petersburg is it's also not advisable to explore on your own due to the high crime rate. This is generally also mentioned in the on-board port & excursions talk.

That was the case when we went but it was quite a few years ago. We just did an excursion thru the ship. We went to the Hermitage, some sightseeing and some shopping.

We have been told by our TA that we will require a visa to visit st. Petersburg if we plan to tour alone ?? Help please

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would personally do a tour with a private tour company who will organise your visa. We used TJ Tours but there are many.

Its not a place to try and organise on your own with just a day or two days in port. I would also avoid the ships tours, when we were on Adventure three years ago there were all sorts of problems reported.

Its a fabulous place though, we have been lucky to have seen a bit of the world but nothing has come close to our whirlwind two day tour of St Petersburg.

If you go on a ship excursion, you are covered by the Ship's VISA. If you go on a pre-booked shore excursion with the travel companies that are "VISA" approved, then you are covered by that travel companies VISA. If you want to just get off the ship and grab a taxi or use an independent tour guide, then you need to get the VISA before you depart.

We used the top-rated company on Tripadvisor for our 2 day tour in St. Petersburg. They were cheaper than the ship's, extremely friendly, and we liked that we were going around in a mercedes van with 10 people rather than a bus of 40. The communication from them on what to do through immigration was easy to understand and they were just outside the exit doors once we were through.

What Mikegrip said is very accurate. You will need a visa to get off the ship in St Petersburg. You will also need to stand on line and go face to face with a Russian officer and present your passport and visa or tour ticket. Even if you are on a ship's tour you still need to do the face to face thing. We did a private tour with TJ Travel when we were there and it was a great two days. Being in a group of just 11 people let us move around much more quickly at the various places we visited. We never waited more than five minutes for our guide to get our tickets. SPB Tours, Denrus and Alla Tours are all very highly rated too.

We have been told by our TA that we will require a visa to visit st. Petersburg if we plan to tour alone ?? Help please

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We used Alla-tours and had a fantastic 2 day tour. 8 of us in a mini van and we were covered under their visa.

What Mikegrip said is very accurate. You will need a visa to get off the ship in St Petersburg. You will also need to stand on line and go face to face with a Russian officer and present your passport and visa or tour ticket. Even if you are on a ship's tour you still need to do the face to face thing. We did a private tour with TJ Travel when we were there and it was a great two days. Being in a group of just 11 people let us move around much more quickly at the various places we visited. We never waited more than five minutes for our guide to get our tickets. SPB Tours, Denrus and Alla Tours are all very highly rated too.

I would also recommend TJ Travel..We actually did a private tour just my DH and myself with a driver and guide..amazing VIP experience for our two days there...lot's of flexibility since it was just the two of us we were able to even add a few things that we wanted to see and do even on the spur of the moment.

Unless you can read the cyrillic alphabet and know a little basic Russian, I wouldn't suggest you go out on your own. The city is huge and while I think it's not difficult to navigate with a good map, getting from the ship to the city is not as easy. It's so much better to do the private tours, which IMHO, are the only way to go. Even if you know your way around, they are the experts and can by-pass the long lines at many of the main attractions.

We have been told by our TA that we will require a visa to visit st. Petersburg if we plan to tour alone ?? Help please

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I do believe that your TA is correct. One cannot go off on their own without a visa. However, you can still book an independent tour in advance and they handle the visa requirement for you.

Check on the European destination boards for reviews.

We used SPB tours and had a great experience.

We toured St Peters burg in June with SPB and also highly recommend them. The advantage with a private tour is the lower price and also the size, you will be in a group of no more than 16 and a small van. The ships tours are 35 or 40 people. If you check out tripadvisor you find all the private tour operators have excellent reviews.

From my own experience..and have taken Baltic Cruise 3 times.in Russia I would only take ship tours...if you do so you are under a "Blanket Visa' from the cruise line. Russia is not easy to navigate on your own, and I would be leary of private tours...however, I have never taken one...this is my own view.

My ship tour, got us into the Hermitage before the masses of public tours...and was excellent...i have done this two times...and my third time was to the gold / amber museum...loved it all.

I have also done ship tours to a castle, and to private areas...

I hope it helps.

As said before by others you do not need a pre issued visa in case you

- book a ship´s tour (then your tour ticket covers the visa)

- book a independent tour with a certified tour operater (then you need to provide your passport data to the tour operater and you receive an email tour ticket which is good)

You need a visa - meaning you have to file the paperwork, pay a lot of money and send in your passport to the Russian embassy - in case you want to tour St. Petersburg on your own.

I do not recommend applying for an individual visa. First you definitely need an "invitation" which can be issued by the cruise line. Second you have to provide a lot of personal data. I had to do it once for a river cruise in Russia. They even wanted a proof of my income and my email / phone number at my job and much more.

The other thing is the port is pretty far outside the city center. You first have to take a public bus at the cruise terminial which gets you to the Metro station. Then you can take the Metro into downtown.

The hassle with an individual visa is not worth it for a one or two day stop. Last year I had a two day stop but due to weather one day had to be cancelled (and the other day wasn´t even much better - weatherwise). I paid almost 100 Euro for the visa for my river cruise. You can easily spend this money on a private tour.

steamboats

Not sure if this is the same for other posters on the thread who booked their own tour.

When we were on our Baltic cruise on Adventure in 2014 it was untrue of Royal to constantly promote that only cruise line tour passengers were allowed by customs to depart first of the ship.

The reason they say this is the first morning immigration is a nightmare, unless you were one of the first off it took hours to get through the process. Some of the ships tours were 3 - 4 hours delayed the first morning. We met some very unhappy passengers at dinner that evening. We were warned about this by our private tour company and were waiting to get off as soon as it docked.

It may be different now and if your on a two day stop the second morning you just walk off, but the first morning not good.

If you plan to tour St Petersburg by yourselves you will not be allowed to leave the ship without having a visa. In June 2017 my family was on Holland America’s Zuiderdam twelve day Baltic cruise from Copenhagen, Denmark. My wife reserved a two day tour with TJ Tours. We were a group of twelve passengers that went to see all the major tourist sites in St Petersburg. The tour company provides you with the visa needed to see the city. As for seeing the sites on your own, I’m a retired Municipal Police Lieutenant and personally in a city that large I won’t sightsee there on my own. Our tour guide advised us numerous times during our tour that some popular tourist sites are full of pickpockets and that we should be very careful with our personal property, especially valuables. At one of the last stops on the second day of the tour at The Church Of The Spilled Blood she advised the women to leave there pocketbooks on the tour bus and the men to leave wallets there also. The tour was well worth the price and I personally recommend that company for any tours in St Petersburg.

Just got back from St. Petersburg. I highly recommend taking a tour and not use a VISA. You will use up too much time to get around on your own. We used SPB tours. After we booked, I received an e-mail asking if I was a member of Cruise Critic, and if I was, there would be a discount. I thought it was spam, so I e-mailed SPB and asked them if it was legit and they stated it was a legit e-mail. I told them I was a member and they took a $100 off the price of the tour for two people.

If you plan to tour St Petersburg by yourselves you will not be allowed to leave the ship without having a visa. In June 2017 my family was on Holland America’s Zuiderdam twelve day Baltic cruise from Copenhagen, Denmark. My wife reserved a two day tour with TJ Tours. We were a group of twelve passengers that went to see all the major tourist sites in St Petersburg. The tour company provides you with the visa needed to see the city. As for seeing the sites on your own, I’m a retired Municipal Police Lieutenant and personally in a city that large I won’t sightsee there on my own. Our tour guide advised us numerous times during our tour that some popular tourist sites are full of pickpockets and that we should be very careful with our personal property, especially valuables. At one of the last stops on the second day of the tour at The Church Of The Spilled Blood she advised the women to leave there pocketbooks on the tour bus and the men to leave wallets there also. The tour was well worth the price and I personally recommend that company for any tours in St Petersburg.

Did anyone leave their pocketbooks/wallets on the tour bus? Did anyone have interactions with pickpockets?

Thanks,

Tim

We used SPB several years ago for a 3 day private tour for 6 of us. Visa was included. It was excellent, cheaper than the ship and we customized the tour. Went to the Hermitage twice, for example. I would not wander around without a guide there, even with a visa.

Did anyone leave their pocketbooks/wallets on the tour bus? Did anyone have interactions with pickpockets?

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

Tim

We didn't receive any such warnings on our private tour and along with the usual tourist sights we went on the metro (recommended) and to a farmers market which was very busy.

It felt safe to us and we went with the company that the poster who received the warnings went with - TJ Tours.

Their trip was recent, ours was three years ago so maybe things have changed.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Did anyone leave their pocketbooks/wallets on the tour bus? Did anyone have interactions with pickpockets?

I´ve been to St. Petersburg for two nights as starting point of a river cruise back in 2014 (yes, with visa) and there were no warnings regarding pickpockets from our guides. And with the visa I would have been able to go on my own too (but we had so many included tours that I didn´t have any time to go on my own).

I´ve been to St. Petersburg last summer on the Celebrity Silhouette and did two tours with the ship including the Metro and farmers market - again, no warning from our tour guides.

steamboats

We used Alla: superb tour and we walked straight past the lines of passengers on the cruise ship tours and into the museums before them!

Because we were covered by Alla’s visa we also took the opportunity to go out for dinner. Alla arranged the restaurant, a driver picked us up......we felt like kids playing hookey, as I have never ever read of anyone else going out by themselves in this city at night!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I spent four nights in St Petersburg last year. We had a private tour for two days. No warnings of crime other than the typical big city issues. We walked at night and felt safe throughout. Excellent city, lots of history, definitely worth more than a quick visit.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Unless you can read the cyrillic alphabet and know a little basic Russian, I wouldn't suggest you go out on your own. The city is huge and while I think it's not difficult to navigate with a good map, getting from the ship to the city is not as easy. It's so much better to do the private tours, which IMHO, are the only way to go. Even if you know your way around, they are the experts and can by-pass the long lines at many of the main attractions.

I agree with the private tour is the best way because it eliminates the extra cost of obtaining a visa, but your first statement is troubling. I spent a week in China, in two different cities that are larger than St Petersburg, without any knowledge of language. You do not need a "good map" if you have a smart phone. The internet works fine, google maps, or other maps work fine. Translation software works fine. Index cards for taxi's work fine for getting places. I ate at many restaurants without being able to read menu's. When you are prepared, it's not an issue.

I still would take the private tour. From my research, they will go to all the places I would want to go to, with a small group, and cheaper than what you can do on our own. I'm going to St Petersburg, and I am not afraid of going to nations, that are not English.