Need Info for 2-Day St. Petersburg Tour by Celebrity and by Other Private Tours

We will be on the 12 night N. Europe cruise on Silhouette (8/23-9/4).We would like to take the 2-day comprehensive St. Petersburg tour. There is a St. Petersburg 2-day exclusivetour – small group for $399/pp from Celebrity. This is about $114/pp more expensive than the 2-day comprehensive tour ($285)from all other private tour operators (SPB Deluxe, ALLA Grand, TJ Travel AllHighlights, etc.). I just wonder if anyof you have the experience regarding the 2-day comprehensive tour for St.Petersburg that offered by Celebrity and by all other private tours. Are they similar or one is better than theothers? I also wonder which tour companyactually provides the tour for X.

Thanks very much for your help!

the ships tours will always be much more expensive and in much larger groups than the private companies who provide the same visa waiver tours

search this forum for lots of recommended companies as no one has experience of all of them but the general consencus is that private wins over ships

We will be on the 12 night N. Europe cruise on Silhouette (8/23-9/4).We would like to take the 2-day comprehensive St. Petersburg tour. There is a St. Petersburg 2-day exclusivetour – small group for $399/pp from Celebrity. This is about $114/pp more expensive than the 2-day comprehensive tour ($285)from all other private tour operators (SPB Deluxe, ALLA Grand, TJ Travel AllHighlights, etc.). I just wonder if anyof you have the experience regarding the 2-day comprehensive tour for St.Petersburg that offered by Celebrity and by all other private tours. Are they similar or one is better than theothers? I also wonder which tour companyactually provides the tour for X.

 

Thanks very much for your help!

None of the tour companies that you mentioned (Alla, Spb or TJ) provide the tours for Celebrity. Don't have any experience with ship tours of St. Petersburg - have only used Alla Tours and her tours are excellent.

Thank you all for your very helpful inputs. Can someone provide some inputs for the weather condition on that route as well as scenery view point on that route?

Thanks so much!

We were on the Norwegian Star in May 2014 and used Red October. We loved it. Only 11 people on the mini bus. We all had headsets so we could hear our guide. Lunch was provided both days at different restaurants and both were excellent.

Last year we used SPB. They were fantastic; we felt it was a great deal considering how much we saw and the excellence of our guide and driver.

Thank you all for your very helpful inputs. Can someone provide some inputs for the weather condition on that route as well as scenery view point on that route?

 

Thanks so much!

we hit a heatwave when we did the route in 2009 but that was very unusual

wear layers is the best advice!

I think I remember the name of the tour company operating for X : last year, it was Arctour. I didn't take the two days tour, but two different excursions because I had already visited SP and had choosen specific visits. I have to say I was very impressed by their organization : two (good) guides for 24 persons in the bus (two groups of 12), good audio system, very short stop to souvenir shop (and only because some passengers asked for!) and plenty of time to visit each site : the best ship tours during this nice Baltic cruise. Unfortunately, the ship tour in Helsinki was very far from this level!

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I think I remember the name of the tour company operating for X : last year, it was Arctour.

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I think you are correct. I found the website for arctur tours and it appears that they are the company used for almost all cruise companies - must be a big operation. A list of cruise company partners can be found on their website. From their website:

"Arctur Travel Ltd is the leading Shore Excursion Operator in St.Petersburg, providing ground services for cruise ship passengers. The company was founded in 1990. Arctur Travel Ltd provides services for a substantial number of cruise and tourist companies.

Over the last 20 years, we have serviced over 3.700.000 customers."

http://arctur.spb.ru/about.html

Asking about the weather, we cruised mid to late August and you can definitely feel the Autumn chill in the air most mornings, Of course you could hit an unexpected heat wave, but in general, most AM's will have a chill in the air. We usually went out with a light jacket on, and by mid day the jackets came off. We were blessed with just gorgeous weather for our 12 days, but if you do encounter a rainy day, most likely it will be cool and raw. If you have sea days, and plan on sitting out, you will also need a jacket or sweater of some kind. Myself, I try and avoid the sun all the time as I have had multiple cases of melanoma, but while sailing at that time of the year, everyone moved chairs and lounges to the sunny side of the ship. Since you are traveling into September, I would forgo all shorts and settle for jeans and a few good sweatshirts.

Maybe things have changed sine we toured, but I have always recommended the private tour companies over any ship's tours. My main reason is that the private companies bend over backwards to o make you happy. They alter routes according to weather and traffic, they usually accommodate special requests etc. Most ship's tours are pretty much set in stone, Sure they want you to have a good time, but they really don't need your recommendation. Save the money and use a private company. We happened to use SPB tours and they were great, but they all do a wonderful job.

Cheers

Len

We used SPB and have friends who were on the same cruise and used the ship's two day tour. You have already figured out the price difference. The ship's tour did not go anyplace that we did not. Things that we did that the ship's tour did not include subway ride, canal boat ride and taking the hydrofoil (instead of the bus) to Peterhof.

I just noticed your question when looking for info re: various Baltic port tours. We are booked on NCL Getaway in early June, and have chosen SPB for the two-day St. Petersburg tour. Friends of ours have used them, and raved about how good they were. I have also heard good things about Alla. I've done a lot of research, and it's clear that the non-ship tours I've mentioned are of the highest quality, and at a considerably lower price than the ship's excursions. It's a no brainer for me.