Recently the cruise lines have become more aggressive in trying to protect their overpriced business of shore excursions and they have come up with all kinds of artificial excuses and incorrect explanations that the passengers
are not permitted to disembark the ship unless they have purchased a ship
sponsored shore excursion. Perhaps you have received such a letter.
We at DenRus know about these letters only after people who received such
letter have contacted us. These letters are routine and we have seen them
each year. The normal questions from our concerned passengers have been:
Have the Russian laws changed? How can the ship force us to be aboard
against our will? Can the ship deny our exit in Helsinki and Stockholm as
well? Why are they doing this? Etc.
We at DenRus know that the Russian law has not changed. The ship cannot hold
its passsengers aboard against their will. All the foreign tourists will be
allowed to to enter Russia provided they have the proper documentation, and
this applies to all the Baltic ports. We do not know why the cruise lines
are doing this, we can only guess that they are concerned of losing their
inflated excursion revenues.
Some people have even sent their letters to us for our comments, and we can
only say that the wording has been so carefully created that it may easily
scare or mislead some people. If you have received such a letter and you
wish to bring your concerns to our attention and for our comments, please,
send us your questions and quotations of the letter.
According to the Russian law regarding the non-visa cruise passengers the
proper documentation is: 1) A valid passport, 2) A photo copy of your
passport 3) A proof of your participation in an escorted tour program
arranged by a licensed and authorized operator. Items # 1-2 you shall
provide yourself, and item # 3 shall be provided by DenRus. It is our
personalized excursions ticket, just the same type as your own cruise ship
would produce and we shall send them to you electronically or by mail. Just
for your information there are other points as well, which do not concern
you, for instance that the maximum stay of the ship can not exceed 72 hours.
But these are for the cruiseline to worry.
Again, based on the reports from our earlier guests, we understand that some
cruise ships also try to control the order of disembarkation, as well as
the timing. They may tell that all those passengers having made their own
independent arrangements must wait until the ship's own excursion passengers
have exited first. In some cases even an exact time, like 09:30 may be
announced. Normally all the ship's group tour passengers are mustered into
certain areas of the ship's restaurants and halls for controlled group
exits, but that is all. All the other passengers can really walk out when
ever they decide, and you are advised to do so. If you look over the ship's
railing you'll get a picture how long the lineup on the pier really is and
how much time it might reequire to clear through the inspection.
The fact is that for the Russian Immigration inspector, sitting in his or
her booth, it makes no difference if the person standing in front of him
handing his documents is a member of the ship's group tour or a privately
arranged excursion program, or a tourist holding an official visa, or what
ever. If you have decided to book your excursions with DenRus, all that is
important is that you'll present the right documents, and we shall help you
with that. It is our responsibility. We always advise our passengers to
disembark as early as only possible.
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