SuzieSmith

We just did our tour with Alla. What we did was forgo the restaurant lunch and we all brought our own food from the ship and ate in the van. Absolutely NO PROBLEM taking food off the ship or into Russia. This saved us time and money and allowed more time seeing the sights. Of course you need to get a group that wants to do that...for us it was no problem.

Alla provided bottled water each day (1 per person per day). You could bring your own beverage if you so wished, i.e. a can of soda.

Had the weather cooperated we could have eaten outside at one of the sights but it was raining & cold!

As to the comment about paying. They took us to a store where we paid...either in cash or credit card. I paid in USD's. If you're planning on paying with a credit card make sure you know which ones they accept.

Hope this helps!

We were on the Emerald Princess and in STP on May 17 & 18 and used ALLA. Absolutely wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!! We had 'customized' an itinerary and it was great. There were 9 of us in a vehicle - clean, good driver, and wonderful tour guide. Everyone was happy (and tired) at the end. I can't recommend them enough. I was amazed at how many people on the ship had never heard of Cruisecritic! And many wanted to know about "private tours". They were surprised at what we saw & what we paid compared to their ship tours...

It is nice to read comments like that, Suzie. We were very lucky with the weather and, as always, being there and seeing those great islands was worth the extra effort to find the local bus. On the way back we talked to a lady on the bus who was very interested in what we were doing and that also helped to make the trip more interesting.

I went to your webpage (or whatever it's called) and looked at all the stuff you have there. I wish I knew how to do that! It is so well organized and I like the way you have displayed the photos with the comments, etc. That must take HOURS to complete!

Lair Bear:

Your photos are FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for posting!