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On 5/9/2019 at 10:53 AM, kcbookworm said:

For dinner, you can choose traditional dining at 5:30 pm or 8:00 pm - or you can choose "anytime dining".  With anytime dining, you can make reservations or just show up and wait for a table.   You set up your dining at the time of your booking. 

 

Chef's Table was $85 a person.  It is a 5 course / 3 hour experience with wine pairings for every course.  The chef prepares the dishes himself and comes to the table to explain them.  It is limited to 10 people at a table in a private dining room. 

 

Majesty only has 1 pool 

 Hi,

When we booked, only the traditional dining came up as an option.  Can we change this once we board?  We usually cruise NCL and are used to eating when we are hungry!

Day 6

St Petersburg 2

Forecast: 47F/8C (It was much warmer than this!)

Arrival: Overnight

All Aboard: 6.30pm

 

We had agreed a slightly 'later' start of 7.50 for our tour today, as we'd managed to get the subway visit in yesterday. So, again, we all met in the card room and went down to immigration at 7.30. This time, it took under 20 minutes for us to get through immigration. Partly because people were getting off the ship in a staggered fashion rather than all at once, and partly because the immigration officers had recorded all your info yesterday. They still took longer with me for some reason - must have a guilty face.

 

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We started the day off with a visit to a souvenir shop. On the entry, they offered samples of what they called Russian Water, but turned out to be two different types of vodka - so we were all quite cheerful by 8.30 am. There was an immense variety of Russian dolls on offer, including an example of some being crafted. They were excellent quality and genuine - unlike many of those we saw being sold elsewhere - but were also very, very expensive. There was also a lot of amber, which is something else they specialise in. The port terminal also has a wide-range of stores, including someone selling postcards and stamps if you need those, so you could hold off souvenir shopping until the end of your visit if you wished.

 

After that, we headed off for a river cruise, which was a phenomenal way to see the city. The real highlight for me was seeing the cruiser Aurora, which signalled the start of the revolution. I had no idea she still existed, and we got to actually circle her at close quarters. Amazing! [ATTACH]407441[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]407442[/ATTACH]

 

We all agreed that this was probably the best part of the experience. You go through a lot of narrow canals, as well as the open river, and under some low bridges. It was good fun, as well as giving a new perspective on the city. I recommend making sure that your tour includes a river ride. The only downside was that it was very hard to hear the commentator, so I recommend being assertive and asking them to turn up the volume if you are sitting outside (which is the best way to see things, and wasn't cold at all).

 

After the boat ride was the thing that everyone comes to St Petersburg to see. [ATTACH]407443[/ATTACH] It is as impressive as everyone expects. We had early entry before the public so it wasn't too crowded for us, although unfortunately I think this is being stopped for all groups now. Nonetheless, it will be worth seeing. [ATTACH]407450[/ATTACH]

 

Every room is crowded with priceless artifacts, including paintings by Da Vinci, Raphael and Rembrandt. I won't post many pictures here, because you'll want to discover it on your own. One thing that really stood out was the most beautiful peacock clock I have ever seen - I have a video of it and can e-mail it to anyone who wants to see - you need to make sure you stop to take that in.

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It took about an hour to go around the Hermitage, moving quite quickly. Our guide knew something about every piece, which was very impressive - no reference sheets needed.

 

Then it was off to see the Church of the Spilled Blood - commemorating where one of the Tsars was assassinated. [ATTACH]407448[/ATTACH] It's a very impressive building, but I think we were all more impressed with the distinctive outside than with the interior. This is probably unfair, but we'd seen a lot of Orthodox interiors at that point and they're all designed on a similar theme. [ATTACH]407449[/ATTACH]

 

After all this, it was time for lunch, and we went to a very nice restaurant for some beetroot soup, a savoury sort of pie (like a merger of a strudel and a cornish pasty) and - of course - more vodka.

 

Then it was time for our last stop of the trip - the Faberge Museum. We had skip the line entry, which was a good idea. This museum has only been open for a few years, so it's the first time you can really see the collection together. It's not just eggs, although these took pride of place. We were given the story behind each one, and how they were tailored to what was going on in the Tsar's life in the year that they were made - so sad years tended to result in an egg of a darker colour, for instance. There was also a story to each of the surprises in each egg, which frequently included portraits of the family, increasing as more children were born. There were also some of the mass produced eggs, which I didn't know they did, which could have been bought for a couple of roubles - they even had a shop in London apparently (spot the British flag).

 

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That, unfortunately, was the end of our time in St Petersburg. It was amazing from start to finish, and I would have loved to have had more time there. Anya, our tour guide from Alla, was phenomenal and did a fantastic job.

 

Once we were back at the terminal, we did a bit of shopping for souvenirs (although many of the group had bought mini-faberge eggs to take back) and then boarded the ship. I think the rest of the day included a visit to O'Sheehan's for a snack, then Tropicana for dinner (very enjoyable, although too far away to see the floor show).

 

The ship had a few talks about Faberge and Russian culture throughout the cruise, which were in the Freestyle dailies if you wanted to go to them. There were also a range of Russian souvenir items on board.

I booked this same 2 day tour with Alla! Thank you so much for posting.

I'm booked with Alla and did not get the email. I'm thinking I need to log into my account and check for messages! Thanks for posting

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We have been on the Epic and Spirit Med. cruises. Vast majority of passengers were American, Canadian, British and Australian. Lots of teens on board. Tell her not to worry!

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We stayed there several years ago. As I recall the stop was almost across the street. We spent a great day on the HoHo bus!

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Going on this cruise next July! Very excited but concerned about all the problems in Turkey. Hopefully things will improve by then.

Just stumbled on this review and have tears of laughter streaming down my face!!!.

Thank you so much for posting this review. So many use these boards to complain about the littlest things; did they never see the Poseidon Adventure?

Despite all the disasters, you still enjoyed the cruise. Now THAT is the attitude of a great cruiser.