Pegontheroad

I goofed up and reserved hotels before fully understanding departure days of the visa-free ferry from Helsinki to St. Petersburg. It turns out the St. Petersburg hotel is non-refundable. The Helsinki hotel is refundable, but the deal I got was for a 3-day stay.

I assumed I could take the overnight ferry on Friday, June 5, to arrive in St. Petersburg on Saturday morning, June 6. However, it appears now that I'll have to take the ferry on either June 4 or June 6. This will goof up my hotel reservations on both ends.

First question: Do you know whether there is another ferry that departs on other days than the St. Petersburg line and which will include the visa-free component?

It looks like either I bite the bullet and take the June 4 ferry, thereby disarranging my hotel reservations, or I will have to go through the hassle of getting a visa from Seattle.

Aargh!

Bedar

A visa is no hassle, just costly.

19cruise80

Only St. Peter's Line currently operates ferries to St. Petersburg. In case you're a US citizen you can get a multiple entry 3 years' visa at the same cost as the 30 days' one.

Mathieu

Since you are going to incur 'a' cost no matter what option you choose out of the ones you are considering, I'd spend the money on the one giving you the least hassle while maintaining your current itinerary which you're happy with, and that would be going for the visa.

Try to find a visa agent to do it for you. Well worth the money. I did that here in Ontario before I left for St. Petersberg and had mine within 3 weeks of starting the process (they said it would take 4).

am_expat

If you have any interest in visiting again, and hold an American passport, you should opt for the 3 year multiple re-entry visa since it is easy to do if you have applied for visas before to other countries. The cost is the same as a 72 hour transit visa and it gives the option for spur of the moment trips to Russia if you are in the "neighborhood"(Europe or Scandinavia). After one visit, there is usually a desire to return to St Petersburg.
If the visit will be a one-shot event, take the ferry, find a cheap hotel, a mini-hotel or AirBnB room/apartment since you will not need services of a hotel, they are all right outside your door. It is a locale where people spend all their time out in the city and not in hotels or their dining rooms, so why pay for all the extras you will never use? This summer if the ruble stays weak there will be some excellent deals for hotels and apartments if you are paying in rubles, 1/2 price compared to booking on a western hotel booking site in dollars or euros. A nice 1 bedroom apartment close to everything might be 1800-3000 rubles a night. The current exchange rate is 65.5:1 so for less than $45 you can get a nice place, with more privacy and a kitchen and washing machine. But the same place booked on a dollar based booking site would be $120-140 after the various commissions are paid.
If you are more of the social type, get on Couch Surfing and make some friends, you can find a bedroom for free or very cheap among the 3,500 St Petersburg members. It never has been lower cost to stay in St Petersburg than right now.

Pegontheroad

Thanks for the info and the suggestions, folks. I've been very busy with homework for my German class, but I'm going to finish doing all the stuff for the visa immediately.