St. Petersburg Private Tours

We are leaving next week on Voyager with a 3 day stop in St. Petersburg. I have already prebooked several tours with Regent for that city. However, my wife and I (and maybe a second couple) would like to book a private tour (car & driver) through Regent for either 8 or 10 hours. We can't do this until we get on board because we wish to use some of our ship board credit that we have. My question is, using the Regent Private car & driver, how much can we really see in one full day? The big three would be Catherines Palace; Peters Palace and the Hermitage. We don't want to blow through any of these, especially the Hermitage, Is it reasonable to think we can see in depth, two of the above in on one full days tours? Are all three possible?

Thanks

Donn the Hazmat Guy

You could probably do The Hermitage and Peters Palace on a one day private tour, however, Catherine's Palace is quite a distance from the cruise port. We were able to do Catherine's Palace on a half day tour - it was a highlight of our visit to St. Petersburg.

Thanks, TC:

That gives me a better idea of what I have to do as soon as we get on board. We have already booked each of those three with Regent as group tours, but if I can combine any of them, it will open up an extra day to try added excursions.

Based on comments on this forum, we also want to try and get to the ballet if it is still available, but again, we want to use our shipboard credits, so we will also have to wait until we board.

Donn:)

Are you aware that you can book the excursion now (and pay for it) to insure that you get the excursions you want and then, once onboard, go to Destination Services and have them cancel and rebook the excursions using onboard credits. You will get your money back in cash rather than on the credit card but this is what we do when we are interested in certain excursions that may book up before we board the ship.

You mentioned that the private car cannot be booked until you are onboard the ship. I do not know if this is normal practice or not. If you have not already done this, you (or your agent) might want to double check with Regent that this will be offered there. There are some stringent rules concerning licensing for the tour guides and you are not allowed (unless you have a visa) to leave the secured port area unless accompanied by a licensed guide. So, you would be prudent to make sure the private car option will be available and has a licensed guide or you won't be able to take it. I'm fairly confident that a licensed guide would be included and that the option will be available but it still would be prudent to double check for this restrictive port as you really don't want to miss the sites.

If you were not using onboard credits and were not satisfied with the Regent tours I'd say go with a private guide - there are several companies providing this service there, they are very good and they are licensed. Also, you don't pay them until the tour so there is no risk if the ship gets delayed or something unexpected happens. I have used them with small groups (8-10 people) and have been very happy but I'm confident that they could make arrangements for a smaller "private" tour if you desired. If Regent confirms that the private driver option is available and operated by a licensed tour guide then that would be a great way to burn off the onboard credits. Not advocating one way or the other - just that you want to double check.

Really good point - I had not thought about that!

Hasmat Guy - One can fairly easily visit both Peterhof and Catherine Palace in one day with a private car and driver. They are about 40 km apart and both on the outskirts of St. Petersburg (Peterhof to the west and Catherine Palace to the south). We managed a very good visit to both of them in one day, along with a visit to a couple of local markets (food markets).

John's comments that you will need a guide as well as a car & driver are spot on, primarily due to the requirement that if you don't have a personal visa, you must be with a licensed guide. Further, the private guide can help you to skip the sometimes dreadfully long queues at those two palaces. When we were there on Voyager, the only offerings of private cars for a half-day or a day included a licensed guide.

Have fun. If you have the good fortune to visit Peterhof when the fountains are in full glory, it is quite a remarkable sight.

Cheers, Fred

OK- Let me take all of this in order.

First, TC: Thanks for the info. I wish my TA had told me I could book in advance and then rebook on board using shipboard credits-It would have made planning so much easier. Unfortunately, we are now to close to embarkation to make any changes. Will have to wait until we're on board.

John: appreciate the info but the bottom line is I have a ton of ShipBoard credits so I really do want to use them, or at least most of them, if I can. If we do elect to use an outside private guide/tour company will we still need to get visas or is that requirement waived? If we are locked out of the ballet with Regent, we would consider trying outside agencies if Visas are not an issue.

Freddie: thanks for the comments; My first choice, if we can book a private car through Regent is to do Both Palaces in one day. You have told me that this is possible.

To everyone: My understanding was that if we don't use tours or private guides provided by Regent, then we will have to get a Visa. It seems that you are all saying that we can get a private guide/tour on our own (from several agencies mentioned in these boards) and that would not require a Visa either. The only downside is we would pay for these and not be using our excess Onboard credits. Is that correct?

Donn the Hazmat Guy

If you use a licensed guide, you do not need a visa. The ship uses licensed tour operators so no visa required either. Fully agree that you should use the shipboard credits if possible. If you do end up using a private guide you should make arrangements as early as possible. I may be wrong but I seem to recall that the agency needed some time to process paperwork and then they have to email you a form that allows you to get through the cruise terminal to meet the guide on the other side of security. May sound complicated but really is not.

Best,

John

You may also want to check whether some of your onboard credits are the type that can be redeemed for cash if not used. This would free you to book earlier.

I am assuming they can NOT be converted to cash since I was told that i definitely could not use them in the casino.

Good thought but, alas, won't work

Hazmat Guy

I am unsure whether that is a good equivalent answer to the issue. I would still inquire of my TA since some credits must be used on board while others can be redeemed for cash if not used.

I am unsure whether that is a good equivalent answer to the issue. I would still inquire of my TA since some credits must be used on board while others can be redeemed for cash if not used.

The words used by my TA a few weeks ago were: "use it or lose it"

To me that's a pretty definite statement that I can't cash anything in to take home.

Sounds definite..sorry.

I spent three days here several years ago. My second all my tours were booked by me using a private tour operator. I printed out fancy vouchers that got me off. The ship each day. I was picked up in morning and came back after dinner at night.

I picked everything from palaces to sushi to a mall. Had lunch in a private flat built way before the war.

Had a great time.

I could not go out alone. Crew could but not me. The first time I had my own visa so I wandered away from hotel several times.

We have now booked a private tour for one day in STP. The tour operator has said that we need our passports when we leave the ship to meet them, but it is my understanding that the Purser takes our passports when we embark and holds them until the end of the cruise. How does this work?

HazmatGuy

Generally, you can get your passport even if the ship has them. The ship often needs the passports for clearance to the port but you can request that your passport be returned to you after port clearance - you will probably have to bring them back after your port visit. Hopefully, this will not cause a delay.

Although it has been a few years since we were there, we also had to print out a document emailed by the tour company to get us through the cruise terminal. So if you did not get a document, check back with the tour operator. Maybe the rules have changed in the 3 years since we were there but at that time the authorities were quite strict and we needed the "pass" as well as our passport.

The authorities in Russia are also very dour, with a total lack of good humour

They make US Homeland Security and UK Border Control look positively merry by comparison ;)

We just returned home from the Stockholm - Southampton cruise on August 14, and we had 3 days in St. Petersburg as well.

We did the upgraded Hermitage and Gold Room tour on the first day, but we added the upgrade as soon as we got on the ship using our OBC. We also saw the song and dance show that evening.

Our second day was a private van tour (there were 5 of us) which we were able to book in advance and then swap for OBC once we were on board. Thanks to the many posters on CC who let us know that was definitely an option!! Our tour guide was Natasha and she was amazing. She had so much information about Russian history and architecture and art. We opted for the 10 hour day but were worn out after 9 hours. One of the benefits of the private tour is that you can leave your jackets, umbrellas and any items you bought in the van, as the driver stays with the van. We did give Elizabeth in Shore Excursions information about what we wanted to see a few days ahead, so that she could pass that along to our guide ahead of time. Natasha managed to get us to the same synagogue that the Regent tour was holding at the same time the Regent group was there so that we could connect with my parents who were on that excursion.

I'm pretty sure that we did have visas that Regent and the tour company secured for us. Natasha carried an envelope with her everywhere we went, but never opened it. I suspect that it had our visas in it.

The third day we did the Regent trip to Catherine's Palace. It was amazing. If you want to do any last minute shopping, you can go to the 2 booths that are right as you get off and on the ship - but only as you are leaving and returning for an excursion. Don't think that you can get off by showing a tour ticket you don't plan to use, and then easily get back on the ship. We did this, and while my 80 year old mother (who was the instigator) got back on with no trouble, I got a nasty scowl and some unpleasant words that I did not understand but the message was clear.

We were not able to work in Peteroff, but we saw so much that I don't feel like I missed out.

I know that this might be getting out there too late for the OP, but perhaps someone else can benefit from the information.

The only other advice I can offer for the OP and followers is that if you know you will have extra OBC, use it early. The Voyager's gift shop was pretty low on supplies, (I think they were going to re-stock shortly after our trip) so there were several of us in there the last night finding things to buy.

I don't want to start a mutiny on this post, but if you have a bit of extra OBC, I know that your cabin stewardess would LOVE a bottle of perfume.

Finally - all of our OBC was use it or lose it. We thought that we could use it for the Blackjack Tournament, but learned that we could not after we entered (and lost). However, you can use it for Bingo, and I managed to re-coup that loss by winning one game.