In St. Petersburg - how do you keep box lunches from spoiling?

[NancyIL]

Do Red October and DenRus have coolers in their vehicles for the lunches you bring from the ship? I'm not too keen about eating a meat sandwich that has been sitting in a hot vehicle since 7:30 a.m.!

[Princess Di]

I always take one or two of those plastic, padded, foldable lunch sacks. They don't take up much space in your luggage. I have one with a shoulder strap, as well as a plastic thermos with a shoulder strap for my lemonade or water. Very light weight and no hands needed. :D

I always take several sizes of zip-lock baggies for wet clothes, food, etc. You have ice in your cabin from the cabin steward. :rolleyes:

Just fill one or two of the zip-locks with ice and put with your lunch. That is what I intend to do. :cool:

I will take a couple of these to leave in the car or van - one for drinks and one for sandwiches, fruit, and cookies. ;)

[japiscopo]

We had planned to bring box lunches for ourselves and our guide and driver (RO), but when we requested them from Radisson, we were told that Russian customs does not allow food brought from the ship. I had brought small foldable insulated bags with, but never used them.

[Toots]

We had also been told by the ship (NCL Dream) not to take food on shore and sure didn't want to take a chance of getting into trouble in Russia (shades of the Cold War). So we asked Red October to bring our box lunches. On the first day our van made a stop somewhere on the route around noon and picked up our bag lunches. They included freshly made sandwiches, an apple, bottled water, and a candy bar. The second day we stopped at the Red October store around lunch time and ate our bagged lunches there, also everything fresh. I don't remember how much the lunches were, maybe about $10 each. When we stopped at Red October store the second day, we paid for the tours and extras in cash. It was a wonderful, unforgettable tour.

[Carlene]

We have been told and I have read various places that the issue of lunches off the ship is not true.

RedOctober has made it clear that we can bring lunches from the ship for the day of touring. And that's what we plan on doing, including lunches for the driver and guide.

If they take them from us at customs the customs officers will have a good lunch and RO will have to adjust our schedule.

 

I'm just hoping Celebrity doesn't change our intinerary again.

 

Carlene