Saint Petersburg Russia Tour Guide

Part 2 Ogas Reply: If you are ready to obtain visas, it means you will have to pay for them and plus for the invitation letters. They will be faxed to you by a local SPb travel company who is authorized to issue these important documents.
In your letter you said: I will fill it out and return to you . Sorry, but it cannot be done like that. I will try to explain "why". Because, as you will see - those papers have special local authorizing stamps, registration numbers, etc...You see, It is not you or me who has the right to issue them or fill them out.
After receiving the invitations, you will use them when applying for visas. Pls send me all the relevant info which i mentioned in my 1st letter: all your passports' details (numbers, the dates of issue and expire, your citizenship, your full names), the name of your ship, days of stay in SPb.
We will fax you the invitations within 3 working days after receiving the required info.

Part 3 Continued Ogas Reply

Infortunately, I have already had some negative experience when the required invitations were faxed to my prospectice clients, but then they decided not to deal with visas, and consequently, i had to pay for these invitations to the company who issued them - from my own pocket.

In connection with that, I have a request. Could you please send me out some deposit. It would pay for the invitations and secure your reservations with me for your dates.

I will be glad to speak about nicer and more interesting things, i.e. your sightseeing program in my next letter. Could you pls remind me the dates of your stay in SPb, because dealing with you directly, now I feel uncomfortable about going back to that site and look at your letter.

Depending on the dates, I will work out a sightseeing program based on your interests and wishes and also on our museums time-tables (they have days off on some week-days). If you are interested in Russian Folk Shows, I will be able to book for you tickets, and i will take you to a good place for dinner and wine.

P.S. If you have a SKYPE phone, we can speak free of charge.

Look forward to hearing from you,
Olga.

sounds like what you can expect to go through to get a visa without staying at a local hotel (they normally function as your sponsor). We spent 3 nights in St. Pete and enjoyed our trip very much (stayed in the Petro Palace Hotel, booked through Expedia with a fairly deep discount). It took us sevearl tries to get our visa processed (lots of details) but fortunately we have a local Russian consulate to help with the filing.

I don't know if every last word is valid but the majority is. It is difficult, time consuming, and expensive to obtain private visas for Russia. It can be done but there are a lot of hoops. We looked into it once and decided that taking the ship's excursions was cheaper and easier.

Don't try to do it on your own. If the letter seems confusing, it's because the whole process is opaque, rendundant and constantly changing. I would either go with the ship-sponsored tour, or book a private excursion through a travel company that knows how to handle these things.

Hi Rod

I have done 3 cruises to St. Petersburg.

I have taken private tours in St. Petersburg each time with Red October.

Red October, Den Rus, and Anastasia are THE most reputable to use while a cruise ship passenger. Ask OLGA who she contracts with if you really want to use her and they can arrange that.

If you book directly with them, they handle all of your paperwork and visas. THEY hire the guide. THEY have the power and infrastructure to help you by pass lines, come up with planB if traffic delays are an issue and most likely they will be.

Work directly with one of those companies or the SHOREX department with your cruise ship.

If you don't and go completly on your own, you are required to handle the visa yourself. I WOULD NOT go this route. Also, the port of St. Petersburg is far from anything, unless you are on Oceania who has ported in town in the past

Once onboard the ship, the cruiselines EVERY SINGLE cruise give private tours passengers the run around that you can't depart the ship until shorex do, this is a LIE you need to head down to the departure deck 45 minutes before you are suppose to clear. You need 2 copies of your passport EACH DAY for russia passport control. If going to Gdansk you need another copy of your passport

You will want to head over to Cruisecritic.com if you haven't done so. It is a wealth of informartion
find the North Europe ports info board, also you can find your roll call and it's a great way to arrange private tours with fellow passengers if you wish to try that route.

Also, please visit our personal travel journal. I did a full trip report on my 3 cruises, I have tips for each port including Riga as we spent 4 nights there post cruise. There is sights to see lists, how to do the ports on your own versus a shorex. Also, we have a ton of photo albums.

Feel free to email through our website any questions and I would be happy to assist you!

Here's the address

ourpassportstamps.com

I haven't taken this trip yet but I've studied it and the answer seems to be take a tour so you don't have to deal with the visa. The tours also skip lines so your time is used much more efficiently.

Red October is the company that seems to produce good results for everyone who has used them. There are a couple of other good ones, but that's the one I hear most often.

I would not book with the cruise. You will pay as much or more with the cruise as for a small group tour. You will see less because you will be on a large bus with a slower group. The cruise will tell you that you won't be able to get off the boat right away unless you book with them. If you show them your tour reservation and insist you need to meet your tour, however, they will let you be one of the first off the boat. You will be on your way with the small group long before the big bus cruise tour leaves the port.

Ourpassportstamps.com:

What a great web site, makes mine look Mickey Mouse!

We are going to the Baltic (4 of us) this June and this info is great. I was planning on calling our TA tomorrow to see about visas, but RO may make that unneccessary. Thanks

Thank you so much!

It's been a labor of love!

I would love to see your website, if you would like to share it..

I know you will have a wonderful time on this cruise ...

just try to do as much homework in advance...

go to the library check out dvd's, watch youtube, the discovery channel, on itunes I think there is something in Biography on Catherine the Great...at least there was ..

all of your senses will be overly stimulated, it helps if you are somewhat prepared

K.