Aurora had slowed down and I looked out of our balcony window and was surprised to see ruined buildings passing by and at first I thought we had reached St Petersburg but we were just passing by Kotlin Island.
Kotlin Island is near the head of the Gulf of Finland. We were passing the fortified town of Kronstadt.
The island separates Neva Bay and is the gateway to St Petersburg.
Our Baltic cruise on P&O Aurora would take us to Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Denmark and Norway.
On Friday 19th May we sailed into St Petersburg for the first of our two days there. We had booked a two day private tour with the local company – TJ Travel.
Arriving in St Petersburg
The ship had slowed and this had woken me up well before our 5.15 am alarm call. In any case I was now awake and put on my clothes to go out onto the balcony. By then the ship was back in the open waters of Neva Bay but still going relatively slowly.
Early breakfast in the Horizon
Our breakfast was at 6.15 am up in the Horizon buffet. The restaurant was opened early for full service at 6 am to cater for passengers who needed an early start when the ship docked.
Whie waiting for a freshly prepared omelette I witnessed the first incident on board of a rude passenger this cruise. The cook had inadvertently added cheese to an omelette. After apologising the cook had started to prepare a fresh omelette. The passenger continued to berate the cook about how the omelettes needed to be cooked more thoroughly. This one sided ‘conversation’ continued throughout the cooking and the second omelette was returned multiple times to the pan before being taken away grudgingly,
After the my omelette was ready I asked if I could have the rejected one too – waste not want not!
St Petersburg
We could see St Petersburg and its suburbs on the horizon on both sides of the ship. As we approached the dock we could see another cruise ship berthed there.
From the window of the restaurant we watched Aurora tie up to the quay. There were lots of people around on the quayside standing watching and we were all speculating what their roles actually were.
Our trips were booked with friends and the four of us joined others waiting near reception on Deck 5 for the clearance to leave the ship. The majority of passengers there were also on TJ Travel excursions.
Once the bridge officer announced that the ship’s passengers were cleared to go we walked down to Deck 4 to leave. After another short wait the ship’s security staff were given the OK to let us go. Now we would find out just how hard or easy Russian Immigration would actually be.
Our small group were the only passengers for Immigration so early in the day. The red and green lights were a little confusing as they indicated when you could leave the booth and not to enter it. I was directed to a booth and handed over my documents to the lady officer. There was a glimmer of a smile when I said “Good morning” but that was all. No questions for me, she simply scanned the passport and examined the TJ Travel documents. She printed a Migration Card and then stamped the passport. No conversation, the light turned green and I was through the turnstile.
We then all walked through the customs hall which had a solitary officer watching us pass. He was sitting on a chair behind an X-ray baggage scanner.
Once through the doors we were in a hall that had souvenir shops and behind a barrier a lady was holding up a sign for TJ Travel. We checked our names off her list and we went outside to the waiting Mercedes-Benz mini-bus.
The car park was empty except for a couple more Mercedes-Benz Sprinter mini-busses. This was when we met our guide, Alexander.
Alex explained how the day would run and the sights that we would see on our first day. We picked up our tourist headphones that allowed Alex to talk to all the party wherever we were. Then we found out that the coach had wi-fi and I was soon online downloading emails and realising just how fast this connection was.
The coach took us out of the port area past a large area of re-claimed land. This was the land that we could see before the housing blocks from the ship.
The day was so busy that I have had to revert to a selection of images with the occasional comment.
I have used the TJ Travel itinerary as a guide to where we were and what we were seeing throughout the day.
7:00-7:30 am Meeting by the ship. City tour in St Petersburg
Views across the river and back across the bridge.
We walked to a floating restaurant.
The traffic was heavy …
… and this allowed me to do grab shots at we stopped at traffic lights.
We stopped briefly in a square, with traffic passing around us.
Then it was back to the river to catch our hydrofoil.