St Petersburg 2 day and ballet

Has anyone done the SPB 2 day trip to see the sights in St Petersburg and then come back to do the Celebrity Eclipse trip to the ballet? I am just wondering if it gets back in time to do the ballet or if I should book both excursions with the ship. Any advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

Hi there,

Even though you are sailing Celebrity, the place for your research about this is the Ports of Call boards and there is one for Northern Europe and Baltics, at this link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192 <---click here

We just used SPB on our recent Baltic cruise on the Caribbean Princess. We did the 2-day deluxe tour. SPB will book ballet tickets for you, so the safest thing might be to use them and be sure of getting there on time. We decided we'd be too tired so we skipped the ballet. Our ship had a local company of Russian folkloric dancers who performed onboard during the night in St. Petersburg and we did watch that. I wouldn't be surprised if Celebrity does the same. We really enjoyed our SPB two day tour.

If paying extra to go to the ballet in St. Petersburg, make sure they are really taking you to see the world famous Marinsky (Kirov) ballet at the Marinsky Theatre.

On some tours they just substitute a local ballet company, hoping the gullible tourists won't know the difference and only want to say that they went to "the ballet" in St. Petersburg. ;)

Has anyone done the SPB 2 day trip to see the sights in St Petersburg and then come back to do the Celebrity Eclipse trip to the ballet? I am just wondering if it gets back in time to do the ballet or if I should book both excursions with the ship. Any advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks.

We did the 2 day tour with DenRus. The first day ended approx 5PM and they delivered us back to the ship. DH and I were the only ones on the tour who were going to the ballet. We went to our cabin and changed and then we had a lovely dinner in the buffet area where there was a Russian themed buffet. Den Rus picked us up again promptly and delivered us to the theatre. We arrived back at the ship about 11PM, in time to catch the last half of the Russian Dance performance. We were up again at 6AM for the second day and toured all day. St P was just so beautiful that it gave us energy. We never felt tired because of the long first day and I do admit, I was worried we had taken on too much. We are in our 70's so no spring chickens! Go for it and enjoy every minute.

Forgot to say that we could see from our seats at the ballet, that there were about 4 tours from the eclipse. They had much better seats than we did.

If paying extra to go to the ballet in St. Petersburg, make sure they are really taking you to see the world famous Marinsky (Kirov) ballet at the Marinsky Theatre.

 

On some tours they just substitute a local ballet company, hoping the gullible tourists won't know the difference and only want to say that they went to "the ballet" in St. Petersburg. ;)

Kirov Ballet is off for vacation and out of the city tours during the summer (as well as other main theaters of Peterburg). The regular season starts sometimes in September.

SPB should take care of you and getting you there. Last week, on Silhouette, we had friends who went on the ship's 2 day tour while we went with SPB. The SPB covered more and I would recommend them.

You'll have time either way, but as you mention your primary tour is with SPB, did you know you can also book the ballet one with them? Not pushing you either way but as you didn't give a reason, it sounds like you thought it was only available with the ship.

BTW, the standard ballet to visit for either tour is the 'non-mariinsky' one - usually Swan Lake.

We used Alla and booked the ballet through them as well. Didn't want to go to the tourist version of Swan Lake. I researched online and picked a different ballet. Alla got us wonderful seats, about 4 rows back in the center section. They took us there and picked us up when the ballet was over. I thought I would be too tired to do the ballet, but then I thought I would probably never have a chance to see a ballet in St. Petersburg again, so I went. It was wonderful and I managed to stay awake for touring all day the next day. :)

We did two days with TJ Travel the end of May but we passed on the ballet option because the Kirov was not performing the night we were there. Those going to the ballet or opera did not go back to the ship because our first day of touring lasted past 6pm. We opted for a quiet night on board the Silhouette and we glad we had the time to rest. We loved our tour with TJ. Despite the port and city being crowded we seemed to breeze through without lines or delays.

We also had planned to do the ballet in SPB, but it seemed that only the tourist type ballets were available the night we were going to be there.

We actually saw the Paris Opera Ballet's premier of "Paquita" in Copenhagen during our pre-cruise portion instead. I know that's a bit OT, but for someone who wants to watch "good" ballet, don't forget to check out that sort of option. It was amazing, and we actually sat about 5 rows behind the Queen.

We did the 2 day deluxe tour with SPB last month and also took in "Sleeping Beauty" at the Mariinsky on Day 1. SPB said they could not get us the tickets, but I booked them online, a very simple process, the best seats cost the equivalent of $97.

Fourteen of us were going to the ballet, so SBP grouped us together in the same van, evening transportation was $15/pp. But we didn't have time to go back to the ship before the ballet, the driver took us to a cafe restaurant for a quick meal, some of us also changed. We were dropped off at the Mariinsky and the driver waited to pick us up at the end of the show, we left our bags, backpacks, etc on the bus. It was pretty late when we got back, well past midnight, but we loved the performance and were very happy we went.

I also suggest you go to the world famous Mariinsky (old Kirov) rather than one of the lesser theatres, the cost is more or less the same but you get to see a superior performance. (http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbill/)

You'll have time either way, but as you mention your primary tour is with SPB, did you know you can also book the ballet one with them? Not pushing you either way but as you didn't give a reason, it sounds like you thought it was only available with the ship.

 

BTW, the standard ballet to visit for either tour is the 'non-mariinsky' one - usually Swan Lake.

Thank you so much for the advice. I wanted to go with the ship's tour for the ballet because it seemed easier to book and the Celebrity website gives the impression that they would definitely have tickets.

It would have been lovely to have seen the Mariinsky ballet but I believe in making the best of things and as we are only tourists, I'm sure we'll enjoy Swan Lake. It's a holiday to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary so it's special anyway.

Having read the posts it seems like we'll have enough time to do the SPB tour and the ship's.

We did the 2 day deluxe tour with SPB last month and also took in "Sleeping Beauty" at the Mariinsky on Day 1. SPB said they could not get us the tickets, but I booked them online, a very simple process, the best seats cost the equivalent of $97.

 

Fourteen of us were going to the ballet, so SBP grouped us together in the same van, evening transportation was $15/pp. But we didn't have time to go back to the ship before the ballet, the driver took us to a cafe restaurant for a quick meal, some of us also changed. We were dropped off at the Mariinsky and the driver waited to pick us up at the end of the show, we left our bags, backpacks, etc on the bus. It was pretty late when we got back, well past midnight, but we loved the performance and were very happy we went.

 

I also suggest you go to the world famous Mariinsky (old Kirov) rather than one of the lesser theatres, the cost is more or less the same but you get to see a superior performance. (http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbill/)

So? How did you enjoy "Sleeping Beauty?" We had discussed going to the Mariinsky before either one of us took our respective cruises, and I was wondering if your experience was as good as ours. We saw "Giselle" in the original Mariinsky, and if I remember correctly your performance was at the Mariinsky II. I loved it. It was worth the long day and night the first day, and the long day the second day. We were beat in Helsinki and probably didn't do as much as we could, but the city was pretty much shut down for the Midsummer's Eve holiday anyway.

So? How did you enjoy "Sleeping Beauty?" We had discussed going to the Mariinsky before either one of us took our respective cruises, and I was wondering if your experience was as good as ours. We saw "Giselle" in the original Mariinsky, and if I remember correctly your performance was at the Mariinsky II. I loved it. It was worth the long day and night the first day, and the long day the second day. We were beat in Helsinki and probably didn't do as much as we could, but the city was pretty much shut down for the Midsummer's Eve holiday anyway.

Rosethorn, we loved "Sleeping Beauty" and were extremely happy we made the effort. Our sailing was Stockholm-Amsterdam, so we'd had a relatively quiet day in Helsinki before getting to St Petersburg. All the same Day 1 was a long day, since we were doing SPB's 2 day deluxe tour, but I wouldn't have done it any other way:D

We did the 2 day deluxe tour with SPB last month and also took in "Sleeping Beauty" at the Mariinsky on Day 1. SPB said they could not get us the tickets, but I booked them online, a very simple process, the best seats cost the equivalent of $97.

 

Fourteen of us were going to the ballet, so SBP grouped us together in the same van, evening transportation was $15/pp. But we didn't have time to go back to the ship before the ballet, the driver took us to a cafe restaurant for a quick meal, some of us also changed. We were dropped off at the Mariinsky and the driver waited to pick us up at the end of the show, we left our bags, backpacks, etc on the bus. It was pretty late when we got back, well past midnight, but we loved the performance and were very happy we went.

 

I also suggest you go to the world famous Mariinsky (old Kirov) rather than one of the lesser theatres, the cost is more or less the same but you get to see a superior performance. (http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbill/)

Kirov Ballet is off for vacation and out of the city tours during the summer (as well as other main theaters of Peterburg). The regular season starts sometimes in September.

We are planning our Baltics cruise for next June. Is the Mariinsky always off for the summer? For those that did see the ballet at the Mariinsky what time of year did you cruise? I sort of had my heart set on the Mariinsky...

We are planning our Baltics cruise for next June. Is the Mariinsky always off for the summer? For those that did see the ballet at the Mariinsky what time of year did you cruise? I sort of had my heart set on the Mariinsky...

The Mariinsky will be open in June, that is when they have the "Stars of the White Nights" series, I believe it is closed in August, details should be on their website. Note that there are two Mariinskys, 1 & 11, the former is the old baroque one and the latter was built some years back. We went to Mariinsky 11, there was an opera at the other one the evening we were in town and we chose the ballet, absolutely no regrets at all.

The playbill for end May onwards was announced only about 5 weeks ahead, you can sign up for an alert, also suggest you keep checking the website so that you can book your tickets as soon as they go on sale. The booking process is very simple, you register on the Mariinsky site and they send you a code/link to book and pay, just print out the tickets and you're good to go.

BTW, we were there May 31, don't hesitate to ask if you have any other questions, would be happy to help:)