St Petersburg -Excursion including the Nevsky Prospect

[Margarita!]

Hello. We are cruising the Baltic next May on the Regal Princess.  We are wondering if anyone has done tour LED-280 in St Petersburg and, if so, do you definitely have a few hours free to wander by yourself in  Nevsky Prospect.   Cheers.

[caribill]

6 hours ago, Margarita! said:

Hello. We are cruising the Baltic next May on the Regal Princess.  We are wondering if anyone has done tour LED-280 in St Petersburg and, if so, do you definitely have a few hours free to wander by yourself in  Nevsky Prospect.   Cheers.

 

I am not familiar with that tour, but no tour allows you to wander on your own for more than a few minutes. To be on your own you need a true Russian visa, not the temporary one that is provided with both independent and ship tours.

[Margarita!]

Thanks caribill.  Yes, everyone says you cannot be on your own now....as we were a few years ago.  However, that is a current Princess excursion so I was hoping someone had done it recently.   Perhaps I will contact Princess cruises directly. Cheers

[Aus Traveller]

17 minutes ago, Margarita! said:

Thanks caribill.  Yes, everyone says you cannot be on your own now....as we were a few years ago.  However, that is a current Princess excursion so I was hoping someone had done it recently.   Perhaps I will contact Princess cruises directly. Cheers

Best of luck with contacting Princess Cruises directly. The person you speak to is unlikely to have any more details of the tours in addition to what is written in the tour description. Out last visit to St Petersburg was in 2016 when we went on a private 2-day tour from the ship. We stayed in the group or nearby for the whole time.

[Margarita!]

Thanks Aus Traveller.   I have previously contacted Princess directly but that was on another matter. It was fairly easy, but yes, they probably will  not have any more details.  I guess I will have to hope for an answer here from someone who has actually done it.  Cheers.

[Aus Traveller]

I don't think the Russian authorities will let you wander on your own for a length of time. In our two day tour, the only time we were 'left' was when we were at the Peterhof Palace. We couldn't go far.

[Margarita!]

 

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I don't think the Russian authorities will let you wander on your own for a length of time. In our two day tour, the only time we were 'left' was when we were at the Peterhof Palace. We couldn't go far.

 

Thanks, Aus Traveller,  but I doubt Princess would allow us to wander if not allowed.  I have just re-read the second part of the excursion as stated on their site...

After your tour of the Hermitage museum climb back onto the bus for the short journey the the city center to enjoy approximately three hours of free time to explore St. Petersburg. Remember this portion of your tour is non-guided and does not include lunch or entrance fees. At a designated time, meet your tour group to return to your motorcoach for the drive back to the ship.

 

Similar to our last experience in St Petersburg but only a 3 hours.    Cheers.

[claudiniusmaximus]

Hi

 

Yes we did that princess excursion in June. Got picked up from the ship

around 9 if memory serves then straight to a guided tour in the Hermitage. The guide then drove us to a department store gift shop off Nevsky Prospekt near the Church of the Bleeding Heart. That was about 12.30. 

 

Then we had i think 3 hours free to wander wander around by ourselves and we met back outside the gift shop to be taken back to the ship for around 4ish. We visited the church, wandered up and down Nevsky Prospekt a bit, found somewhere for lunch  etc. Was nice to be able to do that. 

Edited December 12, 2018 by claudiniusmaximus

[marylizcat]

Agreed. You are indeed allowed to wander around freely for a few hours. We were with a different cruise line, but that was what happened, just as described in the excursion. 

[Hlitner]

As others have said, you cannot wonder away from your group of on an excursion or tour covered under a group Visa.  We have done our own thing in St Petersburg, but needed to first obtain personal Visas which is an expensive and complex process.

 

Hank

[marylizcat]

2 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

As others have said, you cannot wonder away from your group of on an excursion or tour covered under a group Visa.  We have done our own thing in St Petersburg, but needed to first obtain personal Visas which is an expensive and complex process.

 

Hank

Sorry, but this is incorrect. If you read the responses you will see that you can definitely wander away from the group if you book the appropriate excursion. You don’t need personal visas.

[Aus Traveller]

10 hours ago, Margarita! said:

 

 

Thanks, Aus Traveller,  but I doubt Princess would allow us to wander if not allowed.  I have just re-read the second part of the excursion as stated on their site...

After your tour of the Hermitage museum climb back onto the bus for the short journey the the city center to enjoy approximately three hours of free time to explore St. Petersburg. Remember this portion of your tour is non-guided and does not include lunch or entrance fees. At a designated time, meet your tour group to return to your motorcoach for the drive back to the ship.

 

Similar to our last experience in St Petersburg but only a 3 hours.    Cheers.

That sounds great. It looks like the Russian authorities have relaxed their rules to allow visitors on this type of tourist visa to wander on their own.

[Margarita!]

53 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

That sounds great. It looks like the Russian authorities have relaxed their rules to allow visitors on this type of tourist visa to wander on their own.

 

And, i suppose with only three hours we will only consider exploring centrally.  Would not want to miss the coach back to the ship!  

[Tranquility Base]

Pacific Princess

 

I know that almost all cruise ships dock out of town somewhat at Marine Facade.

But am wondering due to it's size, whether Pacific Princess also docks there, or does it dock downtown at English Embankment ?

[olivercat]

Are you going to be in Saint Petersburg for one day or two? I realize that what is being discussed is a Princess excursion but I would like to make a strong recommendation for a private, small group excursion ( and so will many others). When my husband and I did the Baltic Heritage cruise on the Crown Princess in 2017, we did the two-day tour with SPB, but added an evening package at the end of the first day, giving us a private driver for 3 hours. We chose to go to the Faberge museum and then for a walk on Nevsky Prospekt, but we were free to choose what we did. We were than taken back to the ship, arriving back around 9:30 PM. We even managed to have dinner in one of the MDR because they had extended hours and open seating that evening.

[halfapair]

We were on a Baltic cruise in July 2018 and used a private tour company called "Best Guides" in St. Petersburg: https://www.bestguides-spb.com/?

 

You can contact them and set up a tour of whatever you'd like to see/do in St. Petersburg. Our ship was docked there for 2 nights, so we had 3 full days of sightseeing. We were also able to add on evening activities such as dinner in the city, a folk dancing show, and the Fabrege museum.

 

They are accustomed to doing shore excursions for cruise passengers, will arrange your visa, and will meet you at the cruise terminal. They will also return you to the cruise terminal in the evening and will make sure you are back in time for your departure.

 

The first day we got off the ship was the most difficult. The lines to get off were very long, so plan on getting in line well before the actual time they will be letting you off. You must have your passport AND your tour tickets to get off the ship. The tour ticket(s) act as your guest visa. After the first day the lines were shorter and the customs/immigration process was easier.

[Tranquility Base]

Thanks for the info both.

We are all sorted for tours.

Was just wondering if anyone knew if Pacific Princess docked downtown at the small ship dock.

Thanks again.

[Hlitner]

Lets talk about the difference between cruise line excursions and private tours. Most cruise line excursions will consist of bus-size groups of 50-60 plus a local guide and often somebody from the ship (it can be a musician, singer, etc).   A private tour will generally be a much smaller group (our TJ tours group was 10) with a professional guide and a nice vehicle.   For us it is a no-brainer because we strongly dislike being part of a herd of cattle (large group).  Small groups allow much more flexibility.  Oh, and the other advantage of the small group tours in St Petersburg is that they are generally significantly less costly then the cruise line excursions.  But each to their own.   On our first visit to St Petersburg, DW and I got our own Russian Visas and spent two day doing our own thing (and it was lots of fun).  On our 2nd visit we used a small group tour (TJ Tours) and it was even more wonderful.

 

Hank

[gma rae]

Does anyone know the current process for cruisers with private tours getting off the ship in St Petersburg?

 

We have booked a tour with TJ tours. I have read on the Baltic thread that some cruise lines allow those taking a ships tour to leave first before allowing cruisers with private tours off.

Is this the case with Princess?

 

[slug33ukuk]

On 12/12/2018 at 12:22 AM, Margarita! said:

Hello. We are cruising the Baltic next May on the Regal Princess.  We are wondering if anyone has done tour LED-280 in St Petersburg and, if so, do you definitely have a few hours free to wander by yourself in  Nevsky Prospect.   Cheers.

 

I can give you the personal email of the guide we had who now runs her own company called redsun-tours...I can HIGHLY recommend her.....I have given her name etc to DOZENS of cruisers both here and FB and they have ALL been VERY PLEASED .She can tailor the tour to what YOU want, ie Times ,places, visas, and even sort out Ballet if you want. When we went (on Royal) the ship charged over $200 per day pp....she charged half that for 2 days...really exceptional....please message me if interested

[Margarita!]

On 12/12/2018 at 9:48 PM, claudiniusmaximus said:

Hi

 

Yes we did that princess excursion in June. Got picked up from the ship

around 9 if memory serves then straight to a guided tour in the Hermitage. The guide then drove us to a department store gift shop off Nevsky Prospekt near the Church of the Bleeding Heart. That was about 12.30. 

 

Then we had i think 3 hours free to wander wander around by ourselves and we met back outside the gift shop to be taken back to the ship for around 4ish. We visited the church, wandered up and down Nevsky Prospekt a bit, found somewhere for lunch  etc. Was nice to be able to do that. 

 Thank you for confirming that recent excursions allow the free time.  This should suit us just fine.   

[Margarita!]

Thanks to all for your responses.  Slug33ukuk, I looked up red-sun tours and they certainly seem cheaper for a small group.  We did a tour like this in Iceland but not really for us.  Cheers to all and happy cruising.

[hehny]

On 1/17/2019 at 6:16 PM, gma rae said:

Does anyone know the current process for cruisers with private tours getting off the ship in St Petersburg?

 

We have booked a tour with TJ tours. I have read on the Baltic thread that some cruise lines allow those taking a ships tour to leave first before allowing cruisers with private tours off.

Is this the case with Princess?

 

The port requires ships tours to depart first.  This to alleviate strain in customs and process people more efficiently. Private tour operators are aware of this and configure their meeting times to be in compliance.  

[gma rae]

50 minutes ago, hehny said:

The port requires ships tours to depart first.  This to alleviate strain in customs and process people more efficiently. Private tour operators are aware of this and configure their meeting times to be in compliance.  

 

Thank you. Princess has tours scheduled to depart at varying times from 7 am until 9:30 am. Our tour departs at 8:30 am. So we need to leave before all Princess tours depart. The directions from the tour company say the customs people don't care what tour we are on and that Princess cannot detain us. Just trying to figure out what is fact and what is rumor.

[Shelldor]

On 1/21/2019 at 10:54 AM, gma rae said:

 

Thank you. Princess has tours scheduled to depart at varying times from 7 am until 9:30 am. Our tour departs at 8:30 am. So we need to leave before all Princess tours depart. The directions from the tour company say the customs people don't care what tour we are on and that Princess cannot detain us. Just trying to figure out what is fact and what is rumor.

 

We were in St. Petersburg in July 2018.  This rumor was all over the boards back then.  It was not true!  Princess had everyone report to a staging area where you are assigned a group number.  We waited about 10 minutes for our group to be called.  Russian customs didn't know or care what group we were in.  The only issue is whether your tour guide can enter the area where you are to be picked up.  If they scheduled you for 8:30 am, just get to the staging area by 7:15 to give you enough time to clear customs on the first day.  The second day is a breeze.