St Petersburg - Tour Company Options

[Mydnite]

We just returned and had booked with Tatyana at Travel to SPB (www.travel-st.petersburg.com).

The tour was fantastic!

Two days and we selected the 'everything tour' (not sure what it's really called but we did indeed see EVERYTHING!). Our guide was Alex and she was amazing. Great personality and easy to follow, answered every question with real knowledge and was so informative, throughout the entire 2 days!

We had a group of 8 from our cc board and it was an amazing experience. Price was really good and we even did an evening canal tour with just the 8 of us on a boat to ourselves, with Alex...was one of the highlights (well, most everything was a highlight!).

She got us to the front of some very long lines, had lunches on the run that were perfect and local and the driver really knew how to get around the traffic jams and put as much time into the tours as possible.

I can't recommend this company enough...they met us at the ship as soon as we got off (first thing after docking) and we were on the run all day but never really felt rushed.

If we do this cruise again we would definitely choose this company but maybe a more relaxed tour schedule but this was the best way to see this incredible city!

 

 

I was on this tour as well, it was absolutely fantastic, Alex and TJ were great, the tour was a high point of the trip.

[SeaFavorite101]

Just returned from the Eurodam and we used a private tour. It was just my mother and I for two days with a driver and guide. I can't say enough about how wonderful our experience was in Russia. All our tickets were arranged, the visas and getting off the ship and into the cruise terminal was a breeze. There were plenty of agents to take care of all the passengers getting off.

 

Our guide and driver were so experienced. They gave us so much knowledge about all the sights and the history of the beautiful St. Petersburg. They were with us every moment of the day and even took us to "Russian fast food" which I can say was wonderful and fast.

 

We asked for some specifi cthings to take back to our families and friends and they took us to great places with terrific finds. These always included clean restrooms and drinks that you could also purchase.

 

The ship is very convincing and wants you to buy at their Russian bazaar after the ship has left the Russian port. If you really want beautiful and reasonable priced Russian souveniers don't wait.

 

We found good prices on Amber Jewelry in Tallin, Estonia.

 

I am ready to go back to Tallin, Helsinki and St Petersburg. I loved everything about the country.

[mzredhead]

We just returned and had booked with Tatyana at Travel to SPB (www.travel-st.petersburg.com).

The tour was fantastic!

Two days and we selected the 'everything tour' (not sure what it's really called but we did indeed see EVERYTHING!). Our guide was Alex and she was amazing. Great personality and easy to follow, answered every question with real knowledge and was so informative, throughout the entire 2 days!

We had a group of 8 from our cc board and it was an amazing experience. Price was really good and we even did an evening canal tour with just the 8 of us on a boat to ourselves, with Alex...was one of the highlights (well, most everything was a highlight!).

She got us to the front of some very long lines, had lunches on the run that were perfect and local and the driver really knew how to get around the traffic jams and put as much time into the tours as possible.

I can't recommend this company enough...they met us at the ship as soon as we got off (first thing after docking) and we were on the run all day but never really felt rushed.

If we do this cruise again we would definitely choose this company but maybe a more relaxed tour schedule but this was the best way to see this incredible city!

We used TJ travel and found them to be great. Our guide and driver were courteous and friendly. Ksenyia, our guide, spoke perfect English and was also extremely knowledgeable. Our trip seemed to parallel yours. This was a great experience from the planning stages to the tour. We were so glad to have used this company. I would highly recommend them. It seems that we all favor the company we used.

[icruisetoo]

In June we used TJ Travel ( st-petersburg-tours.ru/) for a two day tour of St. Petersberg and were very pleased with the tour. Our guide Kesynia was excellent and made the two days the highlight of our trip. We were a group of six who agreed to be combined with 4 others to make 10 of us in a very comfortable van. Working with Tatiana of TJ Travel to set up the tour was easy and we received prompt responses to all inquiries. The price was excellent and included eveything we requested. We would definitely use them again.

[marlin48]

I booked with Red October based in Russia; did you book with them or with Red October in the US?

Som

Hi Som'

We booked with the Russian office of Red October and they allways replied within 24 hours on each of our queries and we had quite a few.

Enjoy St Petersburg it's brilliant

[carolat]

We were with TJ Travel - Lana as guide - in a group of ten for a one day tour. Quite warm, but excellent communication and very good tour. Highly recommend small group!

[hillslife]

Just returned on July 31st and used Alla Tours for 'Complete 2 Day Tour' of SPB. We had 31 people from CC and arranged our own groups, divided into 2 busses (each held 18) with 2 guides. We got a 5% discount for arranging our own groups.

 

They provided all admissions; photo included in all but one palace; water bottles included; lunchs were very tasty.

Would highly recommend their services; very accomodating; great correspondence with Katya - the one that works the internet questions; good food and admissions included. Our guide was Elena and she was excellent at getting us around the crowds and seeing as much as possible.

 

Many paid in US Dollars - which had to be in good condition (no tears, writing, etc) but they didn't really even look at them...so not an issue.

 

Alla supplied our visa for getting off the ship and it was not a problem to get off first thing - no delay for non ship tour groups. We did have to go through Russian immigration (as did all the tours) but it was well organized and pretty quick. Day 2 was almost non-existant.

 

Couple of issues: One group had a non-AC Volvo bus on day one and the temperature was close to 100 which is rare in SPB (was supposed to be a AC Mercedes bus), and that was corrected on day 2.

 

They collect the $$ on the morning of day 2 - they sent only one manager to get the $$ and there was a long wait (our bus waited 45 minutes) while he collected the $$, ran the credit cards, etc for all 3 tour groups. I complained to him about this - so hopefully it will change.

 

Other than that, would use Alla again. They accomodate your needs and work with your group to get the tour you dream of.

 

Enjoy!

[TLCOhio]

Couple of issues: One group had a non-AC Volvo bus on day one and the temperature was close to 100 which is rare in SPB (was supposed to be a AC Mercedes bus), and that was corrected on day 2.

They collect the $$ on the morning of day 2 - they sent only one manager to get the $$ and there was a long wait (our bus waited 45 minutes) while he collected the $$, ran the credit cards, etc for all 3 tour groups. I complained to him about this - so hopefully it will change.

 

I would not be very happy with that level of "service", nor to have my valuable and limited time wasted in this manner. Not good!!! They should have done more for you than just promise that "it will change", maybe, in the future.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For more details, great visuals, etc., from our July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle Silver Cloud experiences:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[letsgotoday10]

Hi, we will be taking a 2 day very active tour with TJ tours in St Petersburg on Sep 3,4th. we are on the Princess Star cruise August 30th. Anyone use this tour company before? We also would like to get one or two more couples to join us, to bring our price down to $300 Each. The total in the group with 2 more couples would be 8.

Thanks,

Julia

[GSPLover]

Hi, we will be taking a 2 day very active tour with TJ tours in St Petersburg on Sep 3,4th. we are on the Princess Star cruise August 30th. Anyone use this tour company before? We also would like to get one or two more couples to join us, to bring our price down to $300 Each. The total in the group with 2 more couples would be 8.

Thanks,

Julia

 

We (group of 8) did the very active tour with them on Jun 30/Jul 1. Our tour guide was Alex (a very charming, knowledgeable, and intelligent gal.) All of us in the group strongly concur that we would/will strongly recommend them.

[surreyfamily]

We've just done the 2 day active tour (with some added bits at our request) with TJ and they were wonderful. We settled on 11 of us (including our 11 year old) and that brought the price down below $300 and there was a 5% discount for cash. superb guide-Nina- and quick and easy entry into everything. highly recommend them.

[letsgotoday10]

Hi, Thanks for the reply. I read lots of threads on other tour companies but did not see TJ Tours so I thought I better make sure!

[letsgotoday10]

Great, I feel much better and we are sooooo looking forward to the St Petersburg Tour! We still need one more couple for our tour though.