rein53 Posted March 18, 2016 #1 Share Posted March 18, 2016 Thinking seriously about taking this in aug or sept. Anyone done it? Anyone intersted in getting an english speaking group together? Do you need a visa? also are the ship excursions in english, or do we need to find private excursions? Also thinking about doing a med. cruise or norway cruise before or after, if anyone is interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5bagspacked Posted March 20, 2016 #2 Share Posted March 20, 2016 I am trying to talk my family into doing the Baltic cruise in September along with a land tour of Europe but they are not as keen as I am. The cruise looks like a great value (under $500 all inclusive for 7 days) and I like the fact they spend 2 days in Stockholm and St. Petersburg. My understanding is you do not need a visa except for St. Petersburg where there is an exemption if you do an organized tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rein53 Posted March 20, 2016 Author #3 Share Posted March 20, 2016 I am thinking of doing baltic on sept 3, then northern europe on sept 10. got price of 668 for baltic, and 639 for n. europe.. my air from cleveland or pittsburgh is about 1300. All I need now is to find some one to travel, or find out what a single will cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5bagspacked Posted March 20, 2016 #4 Share Posted March 20, 2016 If you look at the Pullmantur UK site, it looks like the single supplement is 50% or less of the regular price. For example, $646 inside pp and $879 for lowest single rate on Baltic cruise. Looks like it might be worth it since the rooms are small. Did you get rates direct from Pullmantur or are you using a TA? The lower rates I saw were on one of the big online cruise sites. I have not called them to verify though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rein53 Posted March 20, 2016 Author #5 Share Posted March 20, 2016 I used vacations to go site. called them, but only got rates for a double thinking my sister would go with me, but she is unable. will call vtg tomorrow for single rates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rein53 Posted March 20, 2016 Author #6 Share Posted March 20, 2016 are the same size as RC majesty of the seas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midnight sushi Posted March 21, 2016 #7 Share Posted March 21, 2016 are the same size as RC majesty of the seas same class of ship Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rein53 Posted March 21, 2016 Author #8 Share Posted March 21, 2016 have you been on this cruise or are you thinking about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephensfamily5 Posted March 22, 2016 #9 Share Posted March 22, 2016 My husband and I are considering the Sept. 3rd sailing. Such a great deal, but will still need to work out a couple of details. If so, we would love to find someone to go together and arrange an english speaking tour of St. Petersburg. I have read that all of the Pulmantur excursions are in Spanish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanderwoman424 Posted April 6, 2016 #10 Share Posted April 6, 2016 I am trying to talk my family into doing the Baltic cruise in September along with a land tour of Europe but they are not as keen as I am. The cruise looks like a great value (under $500 all inclusive for 7 days) and I like the fact they spend 2 days in Stockholm and St. Petersburg. My understanding is you do not need a visa except for St. Petersburg where there is an exemption if you do an organized tour. IF you visit Russia on your own you will need a visa. If you visit Russia with a cruise and DO NOT take a ship's excursion, you will not need a visa. If you visit Russia with a cruise and take an excursion NOT under the ship's aegis, you will need a visa. If you visit Russia with a cruise and take an excursion under the ship's aegis, you will not need a visa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanderwoman424 Posted April 6, 2016 #11 Share Posted April 6, 2016 I used vacations to go site. called them, but only got rates for a double thinking my sister would go with me, but she is unable. will call vtg tomorrow for single rates. The single rate is twice the per person rate plus only one set of port fees and taxes. Last time I looked the pp rate was 150 USD, so the singles costs would be about 420 USD TOTAL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rein53 Posted April 8, 2016 Author #12 Share Posted April 8, 2016 I hope it comes down that low. It is 408 p/p without tax and fees now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephensfamily5 Posted April 8, 2016 #13 Share Posted April 8, 2016 Wander woman, please see http://www.saint-petersburg.com/russian-visa/for-cruise-ship-passengers/ Cruise ship passengers can take tours with independent, licensed tour guides. You could also check out the hundreds of reviews of independent tour operators on Tripadvisor.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanderwoman424 Posted April 9, 2016 #14 Share Posted April 9, 2016 wander woman, please see http://www.saint-petersburg.com/russian-visa/for-cruise-ship-passengers/ cruise ship passengers can take tours with independent, licensed tour guides. You could also check out the hundreds of reviews of independent tour operators on tripadvisor.com thank you!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chihulyfan Posted April 12, 2016 #15 Share Posted April 12, 2016 Hello! My husband and I booked the Sept. 3 cruise today. We too are looking for a private or small group excursion in St. Petersburg. So glad to see that there will be other English speakers onboard. Have a great day! Michelle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mystik Posted June 14, 2016 #16 Share Posted June 14, 2016 Hello! My husband and I booked the Sept. 3 cruise today. We too are looking for a private or small group excursion in St. Petersburg. So glad to see that there will be other English speakers onboard. Have a great day! Michelle Hello, My husband and i booked this cruise back to back for 2 weeks. There are not many english speaking people on the ship. hope to meet on the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mystik Posted June 14, 2016 #17 Share Posted June 14, 2016 Thinking seriously about taking this in aug or sept. Anyone done it? Anyone intersted in getting an english speaking group together? Do you need a visa? also are the ship excursions in english, or do we need to find private excursions? Also thinking about doing a med. cruise or norway cruise before or after, if anyone is interested. Hello, This will be my first spanish cruise it will different for sure. We took 2 weeks back to back in sept. I also decided to book my excursion with the ship in st-peter.... for the 2 days. It was cheaper i don't know if it is english but we like to take pictures anyway. Hope there is a little bit of english or french around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FauxNom Posted June 20, 2016 #18 Share Posted June 20, 2016 My husband and I did this trip last year -- my first cruise -- and it was fun. We had no info on how this would go for non-Spanish speakers, so I thought I'd reply to this thread. The ship assigned a host for the "international passengers" which was basically anyone not from Spain. She did a little orientation meeting and encouraged us to all sign up for the 2 day St. Petersburg tour offered by the ship, saying we would get an English speaking guide if we had enough. Luckily, that worked out and it was a really good way to see the city in such a short time. It was also a good way to meet most of the others in our tiny group. There were 5 Americans, probably 7 or 8 Aussies, 8 or 10 Japanese, a couple from Bulgaria, and a group of 4 from Denmark. A group of 3 Spaniards joined us because they liked speaking English and getting away from the hoards! They put us all in the same area at dinner (we were urged to do the first seating because the 2nd is very popular/crowded). The Spaniards were fun to people-watch, because they definitely know how to have a good time, and will stay up very late to do it. I thought the food was pretty good, but my husband wasn't so impressed. The Aussies we sat with were not shy about sending things back and requesting extra veggies and such, so I think if you can overcome the language barrier you can get what you want. We sprung for a balcony cabin and I'm so glad we did. The scenery was at times gorgeous, and always interesting. We didn't do other shore excursions besides in Russia, and enjoyed taking long walks or public transit. All in all, I'm very glad we did the trip, even though it was weirdly like being marooned in a place where nobody can talk to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FauxNom Posted June 21, 2016 #19 Share Posted June 21, 2016 I should add, we were on the Empress but same time of year and I think the same basic itinerary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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