Save to give Passport info to SPB tours?

[Tybro]

We are getting ready to book a private tour with SPB tours for July. They want our passport info now so they can send us the tickets we need to get off the ship. I'm a little nervous about giving this info to a foreign company like this.

Has anyone else done this? Is it safe? I tried asking the U.S. Consulate in SPB,but they didn't respond.

Thanks

[VAtravelers100]

We did, and so have all the other people recommending SPB tours on this forum. It's routine, and we have no reason to believe it isn't safe.

[geospyder]

We used SPB in May of 2010. Highly recommend them. We did their Berlin tour, St. Petersburg two day tour and even the Vodka cruise the night between the two day St. Petersburg. Beware of the Vodka tour. You will have a big headache the next morning :)

[Kamloops50]

Most tours in the former East Bloc require your passport information .

This for passport and visa control in the port .

[aquilegia]

I don't imagine SPB, or any other Russian tour company, would be able to cover you with their block visa without having your passport number.

[frogsgirl]

We gave ours over to SPB a few weeks back so we could get our etickets & disembarkation procedure in St P.

 

FG

[marylizcat]

Yes, they need it in order to issue your visa documents. You can't book with them if you don't! Everybody seems to have emerged safely after doing so. Great company!

[Got2Cruise]

All the private tour companies ask for the passport number. We gave it, really what can they do with it, even if they wanted to do something illegal? I would rather give my passport than my credit card number, which is NOT required, btw.

[madame]

We are getting ready to book a private tour with SPB tours for July. They want our passport info now so they can send us the tickets we need to get off the ship. I'm a little nervous about giving this info to a foreign company like this.

Has anyone else done this? Is it safe? I tried asking the U.S. Consulate in SPB,but they didn't respond.

Thanks

 

We did the 2 day tour with SPB last July. Yes, it's safe to give them your info, and as someone mentioned, it's necessary for them to fill out the group visa. No problems. Good tour group. Check out my comments on page 2 of the above thread on St. Petersburg tours.

[dogs4fun]

Agree with all previous posts. Although we used Alla Tours rather than SPB, we also were required to submit our passport numbers. No problems whatsoever. :)

jill

[Giantfan13]

When we booked our tour with SPB Tours we came on this forum and asked the exact same question you are asking and we got the same replies you have gotten.

We gave the info as the others have said, and that was that. We received our tickets thru email and all we needed to do was print them out and bring them along. SPB Tours is one of the major players in St Petersberg and if anyone of the tour companies did anything dishonest, their name would be mud from then on. This procedure is as honest as it can get.

If you want to do a private tour, this is what you will have to do. Do not even fret about it one more minute, nothing will come of it.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[Alberta Quilter]

SPB provides a link to a secure part of their website for the passport information. I had no issues providing it for them for our upcoming tour. And I received the tour tickets about fifteen minutes later!

[SweetGG]

SPB provides a link to a secure part of their website for the passport information. I had no issues providing it for them for our upcoming tour. And I received the tour tickets about fifteen minutes later!

 

I was in your boots.... threw caution to the wind, and Alberta Quilter is correct:) had my tickets within minutes. With all the past pax good recommendations, I think these companies are trustworthy.

[katie31]

Did you enjoy the vodka tour we are thinking of eithermdoing that or the folklore show would be interested to here some feedback

[KirkNC]

Yes they need your info for the group visa. We provided ours to them as well.

[Hockey 123]

Has any one used this company this year???:)

[rdnpdx1]

We did, and so have all the other people recommending SPB tours on this forum. It's routine, and we have no reason to believe it isn't safe.

 

 

Agreed. This is standard practice.

[smithysrat]

We used them last year, can't reccomend them highly enough. They need your details in order to arrange the "Visa" that you need.

[PEG2nd]

We just returned from our cruise and used SPB tours. They were great. SPB tours need your passport info to arrange your tourist visa. It is perfectly safe. I would use them again and recommend them to all my friends and family. St Petersburg is AWESOME.

[Neuhoftraveler]

Opinions on this apparently differ. Close friends of ours went a couple of years ago and walked out in the middle. They found it jam-packed with busloads of tourists who kept jumping up in front of them to take nonstop photos; phony-looking pseudo-"folklore," including the humiliation of selected customers dragged up to the stage; and a ludicrously skimpy "buffet" that was scavenged up by the busloads in mere seconds.

 

But some posters here have said they enjoyed it. Chacun a son gout.

[GuideDiva]

The US Consulate is not going to give any information about Russia, or in this case, German companies, only US companies operating in Russia, naturally.

 

Passports are not the security threat that some travelers think, it is your only form of valid identification when outside your own country. In fact it is best to leave all other forms of ID at home since there is no good reason to have it and if lost, is just a headache back home to replace.

 

There are some precautions however like with any internet data transmission, make sure that you do not send it by email or other non-secure transmission. A SSL secure, encrypted form is the proper way to send that information, just as your home address or credit card details.

 

Here in Russia, we have a domestic passport that shows our marriage and parent status, our official place of residence etc which is used for all types of activities like buying train tickets or museum tickets because if we are residents of St Petersburg we get a lower price. You can't get on your ship without giving passport information and you can't get off a ship without giving it either. No difference between ship and flying, you do not get on a plane that leaves your country or enter its air space without valid passport data being given in advance to authorities.

 

The important point about passports is to protect them from being lost or stolen because you can't return to the ship without it. Between 6-12 people on each typical cruise looses their passport in St Petersburg. The number is fairly high because people are just off the ship longer and interacting more than in other ports. Pickpockets are not looking for passports and they tend to throw them away on the street if they catch one by mistake.

 

Most lost or stolen passports are recovered and turned in to the appropriate consulate within a few days but the ship has long gone without the passport owners.

Both the UK and US consulates in the city are very good about replacing missing passports, if your tour operator has good relations with them, they can help you. I've seen replacement passports gotten from the US consulate in as little as 3 hours but that was with a visitor on a tour by a US based tour operator. I have also seen people wait 1-2 weeks and sitting in Moscow trying to get a new passport.

 

So it might not be worth anything to a pickpocket but replacing one could ruin your vacation and cost thousands of dollars. You have to carry it but you will only need access to it when passing through passport control to and from the ship. So keep it in a interior pocket or pouch, away from the real target of pickpockets, your purse or wallet.