frenchhorn

We have booked a 2-day customized private tour in St. Petersburg for 4 of us with TJ, because we wanted to see some things that are not on the usual tours. We are skipping Peterhof and Catherine Palace and will instead stay in the city both days. We are considering booking private tours in a couple of other ports and will look at TJ and other companies. The descriptions of food tours that some cruisers have taken are really appealing, but the timing in some ports may make it difficult to schedule those on our cruise. (Viking Homelands). We're looking for some off-the-beaten track things to do in addition to seeing some major sights.

Krisval, Enjoy your cruise and keep the information coming! PhilW - We appreciate the Copenhagen tour suggestion and welcome information about tours in other ports. We have eight months to plan and are enjoying hearing others' suggestions. Have you heard any opinions about the Jazz Cruise in Copenhagen? Carol

14 of us from Cruise Critic got together and booked TJ Tours for a private Mercedes van absolutely excellent and complete 2 day tour of St Petersburg. Guide was a PhD student working at The Hermitage Museum. Very easy to book online and get any questions answered by email. Print out your tour ticket and it is your Visa. No problem at customs. You pay at the end of the tour by credit card. They request that you tip driver & guide in US $ or Euros. They also took my wife to Swan Lake ballet. Same premium seating as those on the more expensive Viking optional tour.

 

My wife absolutely loved the Malbork Castle tour in Poland.

Thanks for those specifics - very helpful.

You are going the opposite direction than we did so you time in port is longer than ours was and now that they are actually docking in Gdansk you should have time to do both. With your time in port, the castle tour will only be offered one slot and if you do that, the included tour may not be offered at that time but you should be able to do a little exploring on your own when you return.

 

As for you SP tour, which we did with Alla as well. I think you should probably book as early as possible to get the word out about the tour, especially if you are not traveling with a group. People may be slow to join but the sooner they know of the option, it gets their mind thinking about it. Our group wound up with 12 but the van holds 16

Good information. Thank you!

We will start the Homelands cruise in a few days. We are booked with Alla tours in St. Petersburg. I don't remember when I started the booking, but probably 3 or more months ago, I have been very impressed with their customer service- very quick responses to questions, clear instructions for things that need to be done, sensitive to special needs.

We signed up for the Malbork castle excursion after I checked to be sure we'd actually get into the castle (it is normally closed for tours on Monday). I was assured we would be going inside. The timing is such that we will exit the ship, go to the castle, and return to the ship in times for the departure.

I will post our experiences as we go along.

Have a great time, and I'll look forward to following your posts during your cruise! I will be especially interested in your opinion of any included tours you take vs. private tours. We want to do a mix of private, included, and time on our own, but we haven't made any of those decisions yet other than planning to book in St. Petersburg. Thanks in advance for posting as you go along. Carol

I probably booked 5 or 6 months out for St Petersburg. We used Alla Tours. They are outstanding. For Gdansk we took a Viking excursion to Malborg Castle which we enjoyed the drive to it and the castle itself. We didn't take the included. I did hear great things about the included.

Thanks for the information! We are interested in the Malbork Castle tour and would like to see it plus spend time in Gdansk. After your tour to Malbork, was it possible for you to spend time in Gdansk on your own and get a shuttle back to the bus?

Carol

To those of you who have booked private tours in St. Petersburg, how far ahead did you book your tour? We are on Viking Homelands departing Bergen 5/26/18. Should we book a private tour soon? We are also considering booking a private tour from Gdansk and wonder if any of you have done that. We would like to have time to ourselves to wander in Gdansk and maybe have a meal in a restaurant, but we think it might be wise to book a tour for at least part of the afternoon. How is the Viking tour in Gdansk? We are there from 1:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Thanks so much to all of you for your valuable information. I have copied and pasted so many of your tips to print and take along.