St Petersburg tours

We are going on a baltic cruise sailing with cruise and maritime next year. We have been told that to go ashore in St Petersburg we will need to book our shore excursions with the ship due to getting a visa. I have looked on web and found companies which offer tours without visa. Can anyone tell me the best and cost effective way to do the tour we are there for two days. Any info would but great as thanks

There are several authorized tour companies that will take care of the visa for you if you book with them. Most use small 16 passenger vans rather than the big buses that ship tours use.

We used SPB tours for a two-day port visit and we were very happy with the service: https://spb-tours.com/

If you look on the Ports board, here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192

you will see this topic discussed extensively. You need a visa to go ashore. You have 3 options. Cruise ship excursion (ship provides visa coverage), private excursions (vendor provides visa coverage) or you obtain your own visa (time consuming and comes with a hefty fee, you provide the visa coverage).

There are many recommendations on the ports board for vendors.

You do not have to book with the ship .We used Den-Rus they have a two day tour that is reasonable .They did a great job .