Way to Russia Talk Lounge

Cruiser · Just Starting Joined: 27 Jun 2009 Posts: 1

My cruise ship offers shore excursions for which they say I do not require a VISA but I don't want to be limited to only doing what the Cruise offers - all guided tours.
Can I get a VISA following the same procedure as someone flying into Russia?

romdur · Lounge Lizard Joined: 03 Apr 2009 Posts: 151 Location: USA

I think that the answer is yes. From this webpage:

http://petersburgcity.com/for-tourists/visa/cruises/

nikir · Posted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:02 am Post subject:

Check with the shipping line to see if they can give you a 72 hour visa. This was possible in some circumstances but not sure if it still is.

romdur · Lounge Lizard Joined: 03 Apr 2009 Posts: 151 Location: USA

The information I've found isn't very clear on this. There used to be a short (72-hour) visa, and I haven't been able to confirm that it exists today.

To add to the confusion, there is also a 72-hour visa waiver. In most (but apparently not all) cases, when
1) a ship stops at a port of call for less than 72 hours,
2) passengers are staying overnight on board their ship, and
3) passengers go ashore as part of a cruise tour group,
then these passengers can be ashore in Russia without a visa.

72 hours is perhaps a threshold here, because staying longer would trigger the legal requirement for registration with the police.

romdur · Lounge Lizard Joined: 03 Apr 2009 Posts: 151 Location: USA

Thinking more about the problem...

If you will be staying aboard the ship, using the tourist visa might have limitations. I haven't tried a cruise myself, but I am guessing that you will need to go through passport control each time you go ashore.

A standard tourist visa allows one entry, but you can easily get a double-entry visa, usually at no extra cost (but 2 entries is the limit for a tourist visa). In this case, you would be able to go ashore (on your own, without being part of the tour group) a maximum of two times. If my picture of how things would work is correct, you would need to plan with care: if you forgot your camera and wanted to go aboard to fetch it, one entry would be "used up."

And this is at a single port of call: cruises usually stop at several places, so a tourist visa may be of little help here.

If there are only one or two ports of call where you wish to wander about on your own, and you will explore only one day (or are willing to get your own lodging), then a tourist visa would do the job for you.

Unfortunately, I am guessing here about the passport control arrangements. I hope that someone with recent cruise experience can speak more knowledgeably. But I would think that the agency through which you are booking the cruise ought to know the ins and outs of this.