Alebd

We were on that cruise also. Enjoying your review and wonderful photos. Nothing beats a nice relaxing TA!

Very nice review! I'm enjoying sailing vicariously!

Highly entertaining thread! Thanks.

We enjoyed the National Museum. We went mainly to see the cross of Queen Dagmar as she was my grandmother's namesake. Even for a non-Dane, the exhibits are more interesting than you might think, with many artifacts from pre-history to more modern times. I believe it was free, and they have a good gift shop.

I wondered about breakfast times myself. We were notified that our first tour day meet-up time had been moved back to 8:30. Plenty of time to get room service breakfast, as we had planned. But, the second day of touring had a meeting time of 7:00! That's after clearing immigration ( not supposed to be so slow the second day.)

I'm hoping we'll still be able to enjoy breakfast in our room, although the first delivery window is supposedly 6:30-7. Maybe that'll be moved earlier? We sail on Celebrity Eclipse.

Forgot to add that my vote goes to Peterhof. Beautiful setting on the Gulf of Finland, fountains, gardens, wonderful architecture. We were fortunate that the weather was also spectacular on the day we visited. I do remember that 42 years later!

We did the comfort tour and we didn't go to St. Isaac's or Yusupov's Palace (we did go to Sts. Peter and Paul, which is really worthwhile). We were traveling with two teenaged boys and wanted something a bit slower paced. Sure, if we had another day in St. Petersburg I would have liked visiting both, but I don't regret the "slower" pace. (It was still a very intensive two days.) We did see the exterior of both and our guide told the story of Rasputin's murder. I approach travel with the understanding that you will never see everything a city has to offer in a short visit. Heck, I live two hours north of NYC, visit frequently, and haven't even scratched the surface in 30+ years of visits. With the comfort tour, I liked two sit-down lunches. And BTW, a sit-down lunch isn't a short affair.

It's impossible to see everything worthwhile in two days. Due to knee and back issues, I need the slightly more relaxed pace of the Alla Comfort tour. This will be my second visit to StP, albeit the first was in 1972!

Agree, definitely Post of the Year!

Beautiful! Can't wait to visit in June.

We took two day tours with GTI in May of this year. I highly recommend them. Our guide Micha was excellent, informative and accomodating. We had a very comfortable, air-conditioned van. The first day, Galilee, there were about a dozen passengers; the second day, Jerusalem and Bethlehem, there were about ten. It did not seem crowded.

The pace of the tours was lively, as there was so much to see, but it was well organized and truly the experience of a lifetime.

I highly recomment GTI!

Our maiden voyage was on the NCL Skyward, 1978. It was seven days out of Miami, visiting San Juan, St. Thomas, Cap Hatien (Haiti) and Puerto Plata (D.R.)

It was a wonderful first-time itinerary; Haiti was especially interesting. Too bad they don't/can't go there anymore.

We were on a tight budget and had a tiny cabin with top and bottom bunks. Although the ship and its amenities pales by comparison to today's fleets, we thought it was great- wonderful food (although it was strictly early or late seating for B, L, and D- no Lido-type option, just hamburgers or hot dogs on deck), good service, mediocre entertainment as I recall.

Yes indeed, we were hooked on cruising, although our young family kept us from going again until 1995. We took the kids to Alaska on the Ryndam that year. I still think it might be my favorite ship of all.

Fortunately, since then we've been back on HAL several times, and have tried most of the others as well. HAL remains my favorite; we're doing Australia and NZ on the Volendam next month!

Our maiden voyage was on the NCL Skyward, 1978. It was seven days out of Miami, visiting San Juan, St. Thomas, Cap Hatien (Haiti) and Puerto Plata (D.R.)

It was a wonderful first-time itinerary; Haiti was especially interesting. Too bad they don't/can't go there anymore.

We were on a tight budget and had a tiny cabin with top and bottom bunks. Although the ship and its amenities pales by comparison to today's fleets, we thought it was great- wonderful food (although it was strictly early or late seating for B, L, and D- no Lido-type option, just hamburgers or hot dogs on deck), good service, mediocre entertainment as I recall.

Yes indeed, we were hooked on cruising, although our young family kept us from going again until 1995. We took the kids to Alaska on the Ryndam that year. I still think it might be my favorite ship of all.

Fortunately, since then we've been back on HAL several times, and have tried most of the others as well. HAL remains my favorite; we're doing Australia and NZ on the Volendam next month!