Time to Explore St Petersburg
 

We want to cruise this area of the world, however most ships only spend two nights. Are there cruises that give a more in depth opportunity? Especially in St Petersburg?

So why not go without taking a cruise?

No ... and that's because of the quirks of Russian visas. You can only stay for 72 hours without a visa. There are some more local options that connect Stockholm with Talinn and St. Petersburg that will give you another day, but that's about it.

If you want to spend more time, look at river cruises between St. Petersburg and Moscow and plan on getting a visa. Viking has some good options and have been in the market the longest.

It could depend on budget. I recall that some of the luxury cruise lines like perhaps Oceania or maybe Regent used to port in SPB three days but of course then the fare is way higher.

I believe Azamara has a cruise that offers three days in StPetersburg.

Just to be clear, "three days" equals "two nights". That's what I was talking about. The visa-waiver limitation really restricts cruises to that, but you can get almost three full days on most 2-night cruises. You arrive early in the morning and leave late on Day 3 on some itineraries.

Having said that, Azamara is a great cruise line and an almost-luxury experience for reasonable high-mid prices.

That third day would have come in handy. Our two days were packed!

I see in a brochure from Princess that I received today that Princess will be starting a Baltic cruise that will be round trip to St. Petersburg, which will give you an opportunity to add days there at the beginning or end of your cruise, either on your own or with Princess. I have never seen any cruise line offer this before. In the past you only spent two nights in St. Petersburg and that was on the ship (no visa required). I don't know the visa details if you add on days before or after the cruise, but I'm guessing that you would need to get one. Check with your TA or Princess for details.

If the cruise originates in St. Petersburg, then you would almost certainly need to get a visa for Russia unless they have changed their rules.

We are just deciding on a cruise as well that spends the most time in St. Petersburg. Silverseas has a great one that stays 2 nights and you have 3 full days in the city. It leaves and returns from Stockholm and does a stop everyday vs. having a day at sea which we personally dislike. We cruised on them last year to Alaska and they were a very good line. Everything is included except your tours so no nickle and diming on board. We have also taken Azamara and they were nice as well. The rooms on Silverseas was larger.

My only suggestion would be to choose a trip agent (rather than what the cruise line wants to sell) carefully and look through there itineraries carefully.

We used SPB for our needs (you can add on extras as well such as after dinner trips - late night trips etc)

https://notesfromthebarn.blogspot.co...and-day-1.html

On our wishlist.