Visas for Russia?

We took a private tour with a group and the company took care of the visas. If you are on a ship's tour, you do not need to worry about the visas.

My understanding is that if you book a ship's excursion, they will cover you on a group visa. In most cases you'll travel as a group on the tour, although there is free time at various locations. If you wish to do something independently, even just leaving the ship, I believe you have to obtain your own visa which involves a trip to the Russian embassy for biometric captures etc. I started to look into it then decided that I'd prefer the security of the cruise operator for my first time and then be more adventurous if I return.

As a suggestion, you should look into Russia as your next destination. Russia has so much interesting stuff to offer for its tourists. If you want to see Russia at its fullest then you need weeks and weeks to experience and enjoy beauties there. I have to say that https://www.russiadiscovery.com really did do a good job of showing me all the gems that Russia has to offer, it's insane. Lively people of Russia welcome every season and festivity with full passion. Their colorful celebrations make every day seems like a special event in Russia. Nature there is on a whole new level.

Honestly, I wouldn't want to venture out on my own. Knowing my luck I'd get lost. I wonder if there are any tours that take you to Moscow? Now that would be interesting to do.

Our cruise line took care of our visa. We had a group visa but could not travel independently with it. We had to stag together with the group but our tours were quite extensive anyway and we didn't mind the restriction. We traveled on the trains, visited a huge market, saw someone's home and drank vodka at 10 am. We also toured museums and other historical places.

In regards to a visa. My sister and her husband did an excursion in Russia and the cruiseline took care of the visa requirements.

You could go to the CLIA Agent Finder - that should find you one. I don't think we can mention travel agents by name on the site, but perhaps WeCruiseToo (a member here) can lend his expertise in the area to find you a good one.

I will book on the hotel's website. I don't have a travel agent. I probably should get one. Not sure how to go about it though. Thanks for the info on the hotel :)

I have never stayed there, but my Travel Agent highly recommended the Hotel Christian IV. I have a room reserved for next April. (If you do stay there, be sure not to get the small room -- opt at least for the medium. It is only a few dollars more, and quite a bit bigger. Also, when booking, make sure you are booking through someone you trust or the hotel site itself. Somehow I ended up on Reservations.com and had given them my money before I realized it was a third party site. Ended up costing a few dollars extra.

Sorry, I cannot answer the other questions.