If you are among those lucky travellers with a cruise ship bound for Saint-Petersburg, this guide will provide all the necessary information for those who want to disembark at the port of Saint-Petersburg without obtaining a tourist visa and join the shore excursions in St.Petersburg with a local English-speaking guide.

Our tour-operator organises shore excursions in St.Petersburg for the following cruise ships: Costa Pacifica, Costa lirica, Costa Luminosa, Costa Neoromantica, Costa Deliziosa, Msc Magnifica, Msc Lirica, Msc Opera, Msc Poesia, Norwegian Star, Celebrity Constellation, Brilliance of the Seas, Leggend of the Seas, Royal Princess and others.

Disembarkation with or without tourist visa

• Disembarkation at the port of St. Petersburg with an ordinary tourist visa

In case you are used to travelling independently, without a local guide and or organized tour, you will require a tourist visa to disembark at the port of St. Petersburg. In order to obtain a visa, contact authorized agencies or the Russian consulate in your area and submit the required paperwork.

If you have a tourist, visa you can disembark at St. Petersburg independently and explore the city following your preferred schedule. However, this can be quite due to language barriers along with the additional expenses and effort to obtain the visa in the first place.

For cruise travellers who want to stop at the port of St.Petersburg for one or two days, maximum, there is an easier option.

• Disembarkation at the port of St.Petersburg without a tourist visa

According to Russian law, cruise passengers arriving in St. Petersburg for a period not exceeding 72 hours may disembark without having an ordinary tourist visa.
Passengers are required to present the tour ticket as proof of disembarkation at the border authority.

This tour ticket (disembarkation visa - provided by a local authorized tour operator) allows you to disembark for the purpose of your guided tour and exploration of the St.Petersburg region accompanied by one of our local tour guides. To participate in a shore visit, please submit the following: passport details (name, passport number, date of birth, citizenship) and an application to book a place on one of our tours.

Once we receive this information, a tour ticket will be sent to you via email within 24 hours. The cost of the tour ticket is included in all of our shore excursions. This solution is ideal for those who don't want to waste time and money obtaining the general tourist visa and would rather be visiting the most interesting attractions of this wonderful city.

OUR SHORE EXCURSIONS

Actual needs of the cruise passengers

Our office staff consists of people who are highly experienced in working with cruise passengers arriving freshly arriving at St Petersburg, particularly in the organization of English speaking guided shore excursions. Many of our experienced team have worked as tour guides with major English tour operators and the best-known cruise companies. This means understand the needs of the cruise passengers visiting St. Petersburg perfectly. Drawing on our experience, we create these tour packages by carefully considering the balance of your time to allow our travellers to visit the most wonderful attractions, understand them with the help of our guides and yet to avoid a rushed blur of nothings. We want your visit to be memorable for the right reasons.

Visiting without breaking a sweat

St.Petersburg is a very large city. Its historic centre spreads for several kilometres and offers travellers a wide choice of attractions, not to mention the wonderful palaces of the Tzars that are located in the suburbs. When choosing from the wide range of excursion options, cruise passengers should consider the number of attractions one can see during the excursion as one of the key criteria for making their choice.

The more the better, but of course without being in a hurry. In our experience tourists arriving in St. Petersburg by plane normally devote three to five full days to seeing what cruise passengers have the opportunity to complete in only one or two days maximum. In the past we organized many tours composed of visits that included everything and more, and we can assure you that those passengers were exhausted and didn't want anything but go back to the ship already by midday.

That sort of experience is exactly why our tour packages for cruise passengers contain a balanced programme that allows you to enjoy and appreciate the popular attractions of St.Petersburg peacefully.

Types of our shore excursions

Most cruise ships stop at the port of St. Petersburg for one or two days, some of them for three days. Depending on the times of arrival and departure of the cruise ships we perform the following types of shore excursions:

• Tailor-made shore excursions: We prepare these for individual travellers, couples, families and groups, based on their specific needs and requirements. If you wish to use this service please provide us with; the list of attractions you want to visit, the name of your cruise ship and the date on which the ship is due to arrive.
Once we receive this information we will prepare an offer tailored exclusively for you to fit with the time at your disposal.
• Package tours for small groups: One day tour or two day tours which include the most interesting attractions among those that cruise passengers can see having little time at their disposal. These tours are done in small groups of no more than 16 people.
• The price of our tours – reflects the quality and advantages of travelling in fewer numbers.

From the very beginning, our focus has been on the quality of our tours rather than drawing big crowds. For us, offering a high quality service means: small groups, never more than 10-16 people, where the guide can make contact with each traveller and give them their full attention - which is never the case in large groups. A small group is much quicker in moving, thus we can move between attractions faster and have even more time to enjoy them to the full. Quality also means you being accompanied by experienced and competent guides who can discuss the characteristics of monuments and places of interest in detail without sounding like a broken record. Our team aim to be more than just guides, they are your companions for the adventure, who get into the hustle of daily life of the city and do their best to make you feel a local. In all our prices a discount of 20% is provided for children under 18 years old. Children under the age of 7 participate in tours free of charge.

HOW TO BOOK A SHORE EXCURSION IN ST.PETERSBURG WITH OUR AGENCY

To book one of our shore excursions please visit the section of our website dedicated to tour packages for cruises. There you can choose a package of one or two days depending on the length of the ship's stay at the port of St.Petersburg. Here you can also check out the price of the tour using the calculator at the bottom of the page. Furthermore, you can send your request directly from the page of the tour, pressing the button "Availability request", or you can fill in the feedback form on the contact page specifying the following information:
• full name
• email address
• telephone number
• name of your cruise
• date your cruise ship is due to arrive at the port of St. Petersburg
• the number of adult participants, number of children and their age
As soon as we receive your request we will respond promptly, confirming the availability and the price of the tour.

If you decide to join the shore excursion, to obtain a tour ticket ( valid visa for disembarkation) simply send us the following passport information:
• Name and surname
• Date of birth
• Passport number
• Citizenship
• Telephone number
Once we receive your data, you will be provided with your tour ticket for disembarkation via e-mail and the program of the shore excursion in St.Petersburg as a confirmation of your tour booking.

PAYMENT FOR OUR TOURS

For our excursions and tours we do not ask for prepayment, instead we accept payment upon completion of the tour. Payment can be made in cash or with a credit card on the spot directly to the representative of our agency.

DISEMBARKATION PROCEDURE IN THE PORT OF ST.PETERSBURG – REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

Since our shore excursions start early in the morning, disembarkation usually takes place 30 minutes after the official arrival of the cruise ship. In order to avoid the queue at the control point we suggest you prepare and have all required documents in hand 15-20 minutes before the time specified in your tour ticket. To pass the control point of the Russian border you should have the following documents:

• Valid passport to present to the officer at the control point of the port. He will check your identity and stamp your passport for entry into the Russian Federation.

• Immigration card: it is a paper form that will be given to you by the border authorities upon disembarkation.

• Tour tickets (disembarkation visa) are obtained from the local tour-operator. It is a document that we provide you via e-mail. It should be printed out on a single sheet of A4 paper, one-sided. According to the law of the Russian Federation it proves your booking at our tour agency and serves as the official disembarkation visa for cruise passengers. If you have booked a tour for two or three days ( or an evening tour) you do not have to fill out the immigration card a second time. Simply show your passport along with the tour ticket for disembarkation.

HOW TO FIND US AT THE PORT

Finding us at the port of St.Petersburg couldn't be simpler. After passing through border control, you will find yourself in the arrival hall where you will easily recognize our agency staff and your guide as they will be holding a sign indicating «HeyRussia». After meeting with your guide, they will accompany you to your bus and you will leave the port to discover the wonders of the legendary city of St.Petersburg.
Should you have any doubts or need more information regarding disembarkation at the Port of St.Petersburg, please contact us at info@heyrussia.com or write us from our contact page using the feedback form. We will answer you promptly!