JiGlo

I will pass on to daughter. Her husband prefers to carry kids in backpack carrier -- hates stroller.

We were on children-tailored tours with Best Guides 2 years ago when our little-one was 6. She was thrilled. You may try it.

As for the backpack carrier - what a husband!!!:)

But the tour of the Hermitage is about two hours, anyone would get a backache.

I will be in St. Petersburg for 3 days in 2016 as part of an Azamara cruise. I am a US citizen. Questions (1) can I get off the ship unescorted if I have not secured a visa while in the US? (2) do I need to get a visa in the US if I want to take a non ship related tour in St. Petersburg? (3) is it true that if I sign up for the ship tours of St. Petersburg, I do not need to obtain a visa on my own? (4) if I want to obtain a visa while still in the US, how do I do it (everything I read requires a personal appearance and I live hundreds of miles from visa office?

As far as I understand you do not necessarily have to book the ship tours, but you do have to be as you say escorted, which I understand as to be on a guided tour with a company which is able to provide blanket visas along with the tour. It is not only the ship. There are many. You can browse this forum for their names. We were with Best Guides on and there groups are 12 people, but in our case it was 8 - a nice little friendly group.

But we did have to get visas when we traveled to StPeters on-land for Christmas. We did it through a TA who prepared all the documents for us, but we still had to go to the visa center personally. This was several yeas ago, so maybe things have changed since. But it was also quite costly. The sum we paid for the visa was comparable to the cost of the guided tour in StPb. I would not bother for just a two day tour.

We were on board Norwegian Star this Summer. It was a wonderful trip! It was our second cruise. Two years ago on our previous cruise we were with out little daughter and booked special children tours for her with Best Guides. The tours were wonderful and the little one was absolutely happy. We were as well. So naturally this time we booked with Best Guides again. But it was an "adult" trip, so we wanted the full-time tours and booked the whole Baltic Package – shore excursions in Helsinki, Tallinn, Berlin, Stockholm and of cause St.Petersburg. The shore excursion we had in St.Petersburg was called “Best of the Best” – a two day tour package. It was really the best! Reasonably intensive – but we saw a lot!!! Peterhof founains, Amber room, Spilt Blood Church, and of cause THE HERMITAGE. We had the early admission to the Hermitage, which was very convenient. And we also enjoyed the Hydrofoil to Peterhof and a nice little tour of the Russian Tsars' Bathhouse with a whole room where the water pores right from the jets in the walls. They demonstrated it during the tour. Lunches were also nice in cosy little restaurants. And though it was already our third time in St.Petersburg we enjoyed the tour and also learned a lot! Our guide – Inna - was marvelous!!! It was very interesting to listen to her. And she was the most caring person I’ve ever seen.

Shore excursions in other ports were also very nice. We particularly liked the Helsinki tour which included walk and public transport rides – it was very I would say home-like. We were worried about using the public transport first, but Helsinki appeared to be very easy to get around and the guide managed to make us feel part of the local life, and at the same time we did see all the places of interest.

And also Tallinn was wonderful! The guide was very nice and the Old Town itself was really charming and romantic. All in all our impression from the trip are unforgettable!

We had no problem using whatever dollars we had to pay for the tour and in souvenir stores. They wanted rubles in the Hermitage cafe only. We had none, but it was no problem either. Our guide offered us some rubles and we put it on the bill in the end of the tour to return the sum in dollars. We did not want to use credit card, because some of our friends told us there was a lot of card fraud in Russia. Well - it was two years ago. Maybe the situation has changed by now.

Hi, CrazyJess!

With your little one you have to go to Junibacken,

It is a fairytale land with personages and houses of Scandinavian fairytale characters (like Pepi Longstocking, Mumins and others). we've been there with our daughter last time and she had a lot of fun. We were stuck there for the whole day. You first take a little train which takes you through fairytale scenes and you can listen to comments through earphones, and then you just walk around and children are allowed to crawl and climb everywhere, touch everything and play with things inside the play houses.

Hi

 

Has anyone done the dinner with a Russian family that is being offered by TJ travel as part of the nighttime optional evening excursions in St Petersburg? If so, what did you think? Was it a real experience or just a touristy gimmick? Thanks in advance!

Interesting. Looks like several companies offer this option. There is a same thread about meeting a family and painting nesting dolls offered by Best Guides here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=46338918&posted=1#post46338918

Looks like a very interesting option to me. It depends on the family I think how interesting this would be.

I would take the family AND matryioshka option if I were you. It is interesting to see how the Russian families live and at the same time you have some entertainment painting the dolls which helps to communicate a lot when you meet people for the first time in your life.

I can't understand. Is this Moscow or St.Petersburg metro after all? I thought it was the Moscow metro that was so beautiful and famous, not St.Petersburg. Am I wrong?

Came upon this old thread just accidentally and I should say I have changed my mind about the babysitters in Russia. Or rather I found another way to solve the problem. When we traveled with my little one last time I booked children tours for her. The guide was so good with the little one, that now I think I could easily trust her with the baby and take another guide for my husband and me to have our own tour meanwhile. We went with Best Guides on their special children tours. Maybe this would be helpful.

Wow! Wonderful photos! What a shame we do not have time for Moscow:(.

We have toured with Best guides 2 years ago. Took a special child-tailored tour for our little daughter. She was absolutely happy. We had a lot of fun as well, but this time as we are traveling just two of us (our parents' present for our 10 years together!!!!!!!!) we decided to learn a bit more about St.Petersburg than we learned on a child-tour :). So we are taking the full quite adult-tailored two day tour with Best guides again of cause. As a matter of fact they have very attractive discounts for Cruise Critic members. You can get 10% off the early bird price!

We traveled with Best Guides and were seeking to join a group tour first. The reason was the same - to lower the budget. But we finally ended up booking a private children-tailored tour as we were afraid that for our daughter (she was 6) it would be too tiring to stay with the group all day long. We did pay about $1000. But it was worth that. In fact the tour was exclusive and could have cost more. If prior to booking I was concerned about the price in the end of day two all my concerns vanished.

We took a children tour with Best Guides last Summer. We were thinking of going on a group tour first, but then decided that for our six year old daughter this would be one time too much, so we booked individually.

The tour was called "The secrets of St.Petersburg" and was perfectly tailored for the little one. Our guide told stories like fairy-tales so my daughter listened with her mouth opened. We found some treasure (a little toy key) in a secret passage of the Fortress and climbed the Colonnade of the St.Isaak's Cathedral (it was quite scary for me, but the little one had a lot of fun). In the Hermitage our guide told Em she had to be be dressed up for the Royal place and gave her a little tiara and a fan. And then we went through the rooms "playing princess" - it was so cute!

Parents were not forgotten either :). After the "fun part" was over we went to see the impressionists' paintings and our guide surprisingly turned from a fairy into an art expert.

All in all we were absolutely happy we chose this tour!

Hi! We are traveling with a child of three and plan to book with the Best Guides. I’m currently in correspondence with Natalia. She offered us a baby sitter while we are in the Hermitage. The cost is pretty low - 25 $ per hour. Who ever used babysitters from the Best Guides or from any other Russian companies? How it worked? All information is very welcome. Thanks in advance. Jess

Staying with a baby sitter at home is very different from staying with a baby sitter in an absolutely new unknown place. I dunno - with my little one I would not take the risk.

You must be a very brave mother to use a foreign baby sitter in a country where you have never been before!

We had a special family oriented tour with Best Guides in St. Petersburg last summer. The way of delivering the information was adapted to our daughter’s age (10yo). We didn't miss any of the must see places and had many things extra that were interesting for all of us. We were closer to real life, saw some yards and playgrounds, saw more of the inner life of the city than with the group tour I had done before. With an individual children oriented tour you have more freedom in making a stop/break when you need it and spending more time at the places that your daughter likes making it more enjoyable for all of you.

Thanks Aorinka! This sounds nice!

Hi Len,

It looks like you are a very experienced cruiser and I think I need your help. Currently I’m choosing a tour company for a private two day tour in St. Petersburg. The problem is – we are traveling with a child of 3 and need a very individual approach. We will probably need a quick stop for lunch and we would prefer our tours to be finished at about 3-4 PM. I also think we should start at about 9-10 AM. We don’t want and we just can’t rush from one museum to another, we would prefer to see just the most famous ones such as the Hermitage and the Summer Palace. Could you please recommend a company which would be able to provide a very individual and personalized itinerary? Thank you for your help.

Jess.

We are also traveling with our little one and we are currently in correspondence with Best Guides to book a tour. They provide very special children tailored tours. Maybe you could also try one of them?

We are going on a cruise with our 6 year old daughter. I saw the special children tours on the Best Guide's web-site. Looks attractive. Has anyone tried them?