Emerald Princess in new dock St Petersburg

[johnlcd]

Hi everyone from the Azores!

Smooth crossing and great weather so far.

Some news just in that you all might be interested in. 10 of the 13 calls at St Petersburg will now be in the new dock (subject to the Harbour Master not changing his mind of course). As of now I don't know the dates of the 3 that will still be in the cargo/merchant dock only that the first cruise of the season should call at the new dock. When I hear of the dates I will post them.

If you want to check progress on the new dock there is a webcam at the following address

http://www.mfspb.ru

Also new for this year in St Petersburg is that EVERYONE will have to fill out a landing/immigration form (available on board) that will have to be handed in at the immigration booth along with the copy of your info /photo page of your passport and tour ticket or visa.

Looking forward to meeting you all.

John Lawrence

[JEMS]

John,

Thank you for the update. We will be on the June 5th cruise and certainly look forward to meeting you and your staff.

 

Ed & Jean Moore:)

[PrincessNancy]

John

Thank you for the update. Looking forward to hearing your port talks on board the beautiful Emerald the end of July. Also, waiting to receive your CD on touring the Baltic region (another fix until we actually can cruise again).

 

Until then...fair winds and following seas!

 

Phil and Nancy Weigandt

[edpeeks]

Ditto!

[GuideDiva]

Hi everyone from the Azores!

Smooth crossing and great weather so far.

As of now I don't know the dates of the 3 that will still be in the cargo/merchant dock only that the first cruise of the season should call at the new dock. When I hear of the dates I will post them.

If you want to check progress on the new dock there is a webcam at the following address

http://www.mfspb.ru

Also new for this year in St Petersburg is that EVERYONE will have to fill out a landing/immigration form (available on board) that will have to be handed in at the immigration booth along with the copy of your info /photo page of your passport and tour ticket or visa.

Looking forward to meeting you all.

John Lawrence

The port schedule has been published for all 6 ports in St Petersburg, the first arrival in the new port was May 4th and all went very smoothly disembarking from Norwegian Jewel from pier 6, total time for the entire ship to pass through passport control was less than 20 minutes including some stragglers.

The ships are still telling passengers that they can't disembark until later, in this last case, until 9:30 if they are on private tours. That is really bad to lie to passengers, it causes some to think they are going to miss their tours. Luckily, because of Cruise Critic and other internet forums cruisers can share information about the facts and can ignore incorrect instructions from the ship.

 

The migration card that has been required for several years for all other class of visitor was added only recently, within the last month,to cruise passengers. There is some discussions as to this requirement being in violation of the terms of the visa free entry law so don't be surprised if that card is not required anymore by the time you get here. As long as touring with an authorized tour company, including the one that the ship contracts out the tours from, the only documents required by the law is passport and tour ticket. A local rule to speed things up in passport control added the requirement of having a photocopy of the passport to give to the immigration officer.

 

There is a new rule that affects everyone. This is serious, if you have your passport stolen or misplace it, you can't leave with the ship but can depart only after obtaining a new passport. The issue already came up Tuesday the 5th of May. The tourist was with a private company that knew the Consul General, so a new passport was created in extremely rapid time of 2 hours and all was OK. Don't expect such rapid replacement, it can take a long time, weeks.

Protect your wallet by not carrying it. You do not need it in any port. Protect your passport by wearing it inside all clothing, you will not need it for anything after leaving passport control until you return to the ship. Do not carry it in one of those silly neck pouches, a sure invitation for theft. Thieves don't want your passport, they are tossed out and it's usually recovered and turned in eventually, they are hoping money or credit cards are in the pouch or passport. Contrary to popular opinion large densely packed groups are the most sought after by pickpockets, since they are most easily distracted. Pickpockets are most found around Church on Spilled Blood and around street vendors. Pickpockets are not so common but having a passport taken is serious, particularly now with the new regulation. Some countries might take a long time in replacing the passport. The tour company will be responsible for housing the guest if they need to stay when the ship departs so be sure to know the contact information for the tour company you are using. If you are on Princess it is Arctur. If on Norwegian CL it is Baltic Travel, and P&O and Cunard it is DenRus

[cruzisme]

thank you for all the important info that is being compiled here.

 

great for all Baltic cruisers to know.