No Hassle From Celebrity Regarding Private Tours in St. Petersburg

[tally10]

Just wanted to let everyone know that there was NO HASSLE or any problems by the cruise line for people taking private tours in St. Petersburg. They did not hold us back. They DID ask us what time our tour was and we had to sign up and give the names and cabin numbers of the people in our group and we had to meet in a designated place. We were ready with plans A and B in case this was a trick. We were very leery after what all the cruise lines did last year. They called us and escorted us off the ship 15 minutes before our tour was supposed to start. They had a meeting some days before for people on private tours and they explained at that time that this is what they were going to do. We were really happy that they kept their promise and there were no glitches.

[cruisemom42]

This is very good news. I hope that all cruise lines will follow suit this season!

[LINGBER]

That is great news! Go Celebrity!

[TLCOhio]

Just wanted to let everyone know that there was NO HASSLE or any problems by the cruise line for people taking private tours in St. Petersburg. They did not hold us back. They DID ask us what time our tour was and we had to sign up and give the names and cabin numbers of the people in our group and we had to meet in a designated place. We were ready with plans A and B in case this was a trick. We were very leery after what all the cruise lines did last year. They called us and escorted us off the ship 15 minutes before our tour was supposed to start. They had a meeting some days before for people on private tours and they explained at that time that this is what they were going to do. We were really happy that they kept their promise and there were no glitches.

 

Good news! But, as I recall, Celebrity has usually been known to be a little "higher class" than some other cruise lines for how they treat customers and don't try to ripe-off/confuse people. We have never traveled with Celebrity, but friends who have used them have offered that viewpoint. There are some other cruise lines, that I won't mention, that have been hit for being so dishonest in how they try to scare people from using private tours.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[floridatravelersforlife]

I am delighted by this. It will make the trip a lot better, even with the Elite Member perks.

[momothree]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I hope Celebrity keeps this up... One less thing for me to worry about during the trip planning process!

[ConnMom]

This is great to hear. We will be on the next Constellation sailing, and I have been very anxious about meeting our tour in St. Petersburg. Thanks so much for sharing.

Cheryl

[sddsddean]

Great news J & R. At what point in the cruise did they ask if you were going on a private StP tour and you had to sign up. Boarding? Couple of days in? or what?

 

Simon

[salsalady]

This is very comforting to hear as we are booked on a private tour in St Petersburg when we do the Baltics on Eclipse next month.

 

Some friends of ours did a Baltic cruise on Constellation last year, and had heard such horror stories about private tours, they actually booked the ships own tours, and they were extremely expensive for what they got...

[tally10]

Great news J & R. At what point in the cruise did they ask if you were going on a private StP tour and you had to sign up. Boarding? Couple of days in? or what?

 

Simon

 

I believe it was a few days before. They explained at the meeting that those on private tours would be allowed off with the cruise line tours and no holding back those on the private tours like it was before . We were very skeptical, especially when we had to give them the names and cabin numbers for our group of seven. Like I posted before, we were prepared to push our way off if this was a rouse. I know when the time came to meet in the designated area for our first day in St. Petersburg, we were very hesitant. We had given them a time a bit earlier than what we had set with Anastasia just in case. But they escorted us off like clockwork. There were groups who were escorted off earlier than ours. Of course on Day 2, you just got off when you wanted and no one cared. I hope they and all of the other cruise lines follow suit. They did tell us that the private tours accounted for a very small percentage of all of those going on tours. Since we had been on two previous Baltic cruises and took only cruise line tours, I will have to say that the private tours are the way to go. You see so much more and are at liberty to pick and choose. We asked to see the subway stations (a fun experience and the stations are beautiful) and a supermarket in our tour along ith the rest of the traditional sights. It was all so much fun and in the supermarket, our guide translated and pointed out what was good and what wasn't as far as Russian chocolates and such or whatever questions we had for her. Her knowledge at all the sights was amazing. Private tours are definitely far superior to what we have seen before with the cruise line tours. Plus we were able to get into the main sights at off peak times in between the large groups.

[elleen]

Just wanted to let everyone know that there was NO HASSLE or any problems by the cruise line for people taking private tours in St. Petersburg. They did not hold us back. They DID ask us what time our tour was and we had to sign up and give the names and cabin numbers of the people in our group and we had to meet in a designated place. We were ready with plans A and B in case this was a trick. We were very leery after what all the cruise lines did last year. They called us and escorted us off the ship 15 minutes before our tour was supposed to start. They had a meeting some days before for people on private tours and they explained at that time that this is what they were going to do. We were really happy that they kept their promise and there were no glitches.

 

Just curious which tour company you decided to use. Did you have your own small group or did you go on one of their "Value Tours" We are in the process of making final decisions so any imput would be very helpful.

[tally10]

Just curious which tour company you decided to use. Did you have your own small group or did you go on one of their "Value Tours" We are in the process of making final decisions so any imput would be very helpful.

 

We used Anastasia tours and designed our own tour. We wanted to do some different things, but kept most of the traditional stops since some of our group had not been to St. Petersburg before. Anastasia was very cooperative and let us pick what we wanted to see. There were three of us and we were joined by 2 other couples from the roll call. You definitely want to include some fun things like the subway ride (the stations are beautiful) and even the trip through a Russian supermarket was really cool! If you are into the story of the Romanovs, Alexander Palace next to Catherine's Palace was very interesting. Kind of modern history as this was the last place Nicholas and Alexandra lived before they and their children were murdered. Not too many people go there. None of us were into art museums, so we just had an abreviated tour of the Hermitage.

[obxgirl]

Just wanted to let everyone know that there was NO HASSLE or any problems by the cruise line for people taking private tours in St. Petersburg. They did not hold us back. They DID ask us what time our tour was and we had to sign up and give the names and cabin numbers of the people in our group and we had to meet in a designated place. We were ready with plans A and B in case this was a trick. We were very leery after what all the cruise lines did last year. They called us and escorted us off the ship 15 minutes before our tour was supposed to start. They had a meeting some days before for people on private tours and they explained at that time that this is what they were going to do. We were really happy that they kept their promise and there were no glitches.

 

We had no problems on the Celebrity Eclipse. We did not attend the meeting or report anywhere when we docked. We just walked to the gangway and got off the ship. We were asked if we had a tour. We said yes and that was it. I think we were in the first ten to get off.

 

Linda and Bob

[tally10]

We had no problems on the Celebrity Eclipse. We did not attend the meeting or report anywhere when we docked. We just walked to the gangway and got off the ship. We were asked if we had a tour. We said yes and that was it. I think we were in the first ten to get off.

 

Linda and Bob

 

That was our original plan but we wanted to see what they had to say after all of the horror stories posted last year about the cruise line tactics. We went along with it but were prepared to do what you both did if they tried anything. They kept their word and we were off in plenty of time to find our Anastasia tour. We had 2 wonderful and memorable days in St. Petersburg and I would highly recommend Anastasia Travel.

[salsalady]

That was our original plan but we wanted to see what they had to say after all of the horror stories posted last year about the cruise line tactics. We went along with it but were prepared to do what you both did if they tried anything. They kept their word and we were off in plenty of time to find our Anastasia tour. We had 2 wonderful and memorable days in St. Petersburg and I would highly recommend Anastasia Travel.

 

Well I hope we have the same experience when we sail on Eclipse very soon.

 

We are doing the 2 day tour of St petersburg with Denrus tours....

 

Karen

[Albert Ross]

Do you know which port you were docked at? Was it the old industrial one where you go out through the arch about a mile from the ship?

[tally10]

Do you know which port you were docked at? Was it the old industrial one where you go out through the arch about a mile from the ship?

 

No, this was the new port. We had berthed at the other port in 2004 and 2006. This was the new one. Not industrial like the other one.