Visiting St. Petersburg

Probably most of the major cruise lines offer this stay in St Petersburg. Holland America Line has a cruise that sails out of Copenhagen.

Try googling "Baltic cruises". Because of the visa issues, not every cruise line stops in St. Petersburg, but many do.

My parents went on a Baltic cruise this past spring. When they were in St Petersburg they were told that they could not leave the ship unless they were with one of the cruise's organized day tours. You would have to have a Russian visa, which I understand can be difficult to obtain.

When I visited STPB and Moscow in 2000, I obtained my visa in 10 days plus $80 from the embassy in Washington DC. The time it takes will vary during the year.

I would read the Russian Govt webpage first. I printed the application for visa off that page.

I have read that the Russians are very strict about handling visitors. I had no problem while there.

If the cruise ship docks in St. Petersburg, the company should provide you with a visa application. If they don't (or if they don't direct you to apply via the Russian embassy in Washington), ask why. Getting a visa isn't that difficult, but you need the proper information on the application, which the cruise line should provide. The real confusing part begins when you first arrive in Russia, which once again, the cruise line should handle for you.

Check out vacationstogo.com. You can put in St. Petersburg as one of the destinations and it will show you all the options. As I recall, they are pretty much done by the first week of September so you will have to shop for next Spring.

It's a trip I want to take down the road. Most of the boats depart from London, Amsterdam or Copenhagen and two days in St. Petersburg is the norm (although some only stay one day). The typical stops are Talinn, Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Stockholm. Some also have stops in Oslo, Gdansk, Berlin (or they call it Berlin, the port is actually quite a ways from Berlin) and/or others.

You will find at least a half-dozen cruise lines operating in the area. So far I haven't seen the hostel-like Easy Cruise (or Easy Boat? something like that) offering anything in the Baltic.

The Northern countries are really expensive so a floating hotel that includes your meals and transportation can be a really affordable way to see it.

I should add most of the people on cruise critic who have been to St. Petersburg suggest the guided tours by Red October (and a couple others I can't recall the names). If you're on a tour, you don't need to get a visa ahead of time. Check out the experiences of people who have done it on Cruisecritic.com

Why a cruise line? If your main aim is to visit St Petersburg but see a bit of Scandinavia on the way, a ferry is what you need. Stella Lines has just started a scheduled service from Helsinki to StP, an overnight journey. See http://www.stellalines.com/eng/index.php. The ferry comes in at the main passenger terminal on Basil’s Island, which is where the smaller cruise ships moor. The larger cruise ships have to moor at the cargo port, which is definitely inferior. On the down side, if you come by ferry you will need to get your own visa because only the group excursions of cruise lines are visa-free. You’ll also need a hotel for the night. There are some fine hotel in St.P but a shortage of medium-price ones. Try Wikitravel http://wikitravel.org/en/Saint_Petersburg_(Russia)#Sleep and also DiscovertheBaltic http://DiscovertheBaltic.com. Coming back you can take the same boat, or for more of an adventure, the train will get you back to Helsinki in 7 hours. You could even take the train both ways, and buy the ticket in a package that includes the hotel http://www.vr.fi/heo/eng/ita/ita.htm. The joys of arriving by sea are greatly exaggerated because the Baltic is so shallow at its eastern end that you can’t sail into St Petersburg itself. The train drops you right in the centre at the Finland Station