Celebrity Constellation-Time you got off the ship at St Petersburg? Canal tour ?...

[Live the good life]

Our family of 3 will be joining another family of 4 for a 2-day private tour of St. Petersburg (Denrus tour). Would greatly appreciate infos on:

1) Time you were able to get off the Constellation in St. Petersburg (our ship is supposed to arrive at 07:00 a.m.)

2) If you had taken a canal tour of St. Petersburg, how long was the canal tour and how was it? Also, what would be its operating hours in July and where would be a good place to embark...A web site on the canal tours would be great...

(We heard Celebrity offers a canal tour with concert in the evening during the White Nights period, but since we will not be there until July 09 th, this evening canal tour won't be available though Celebrity...

3) What time would the sunset during the second week of July? We are also thinking of doing an evening tour/ballet or folklore through Denrus, and would like to plan...

 

Thanks, Kim

[JLSchutt]

What time would the sunset during the second week of July?

 

Kim, I found the following information for St. Petersburg with the help of Google and the website www.timeanddate.com:

 

Jul 10, 2005 Sunrise 4:54 AM Sunset 11:12 PM

 

Looks like a long day!

 

--Jim--

[stanj]

Our family of 3 will be joining another family of 4 for a 2-day private tour of St. Petersburg (Denrus tour). Would greatly appreciate infos on:

1) Time you were able to get off the Constellation in St. Petersburg (our ship is supposed to arrive at 07:00 a.m.)

2) If you had taken a canal tour of St. Petersburg, how long was the canal tour and how was it? Also, what would be its operating hours in July and where would be a good place to embark...A web site on the canal tours would be great...

(We heard Celebrity offers a canal tour with concert in the evening during the White Nights period, but since we will not be there until July 09 th, this evening canal tour won't be available though Celebrity...

3) What time would the sunset during the second week of July? We are also thinking of doing an evening tour/ballet or folklore through Denrus, and would like to plan...

 

Thanks, Kim

Hi Kim

1. From others I've heard that you could start to disembark as early as 7:30

 

2. Canal trips are great if the boats are not too full, I relax by riding them for an hour or so in the evening after work. The tours are about an hour but some are 45 minutes. The vast majority of fellow passengers will be Russian tourist( as is the case with all tourist activities) so a running commentary in Russian is given over a somewhat distorted loudspeaker on the boat. Try to get a smaller boat for a quieter more relaxing trip. You will see that the canal and river system was the main transportation system in the 18th and part of 19th centuries so the buildings will have the most interesting face towards the water and less so to the street so seeing the real St Petersburg during those times required water travel. You'lll get a very interesting view of the city from the canals and I would highly recommend it. If there is time, a river cruise is also recommended for the same reason.

The tours start running in mid morning, later than you might want, because Russians, particularly during the Summer, don't get up as early or go to bed as early as foreigners. The canal tours run late into the evening at that time, midnight or later depending on demand. These times are ambiguous because there are at least 100 boats run by different companies with different policies. In addition to the scheduled tours, many small boats are available just by calling out to the deck hands if they are free, negotiate a price and go on a private tour any time of day or night. All the main canals in the city center have docks for the canal cruises, most being close to bridges that take Nevsky Prospekt over the canal so it is hard to determine where the best place to get one is other than where ever you happen to be. The Fontanka is the largest canal so it also has the most docks and water side, floating cafes. On either side of the famous Anichkov Bridge on Nevsky pr. is a good place to look.

Any tour company can arrange for the evening canal trips before or after a concert or perfomance.

 

3. White Nights will be past it peak by that date but it will be light until well past midnight even then. At those lattitudes, sun set does not mean darkness, the sky turns light dusk until hours after the sun goes below the horizon. If you have the reserves of energy, late night activities during the summer is the norm and when the city really comes alive. You will then see why few locals are seen on the stree until 11 or 12 in the morning, they did not get to bed until 4 or 5 a.m. . Formal theaters still raise their curtains at 7:00 but most other forms of social activity, including clubs, restaurants and outdoor activities run well into the morning. Thousands of people will be strolling the streets, canals/river and unfenced parks (enclosed parks close about 10p.m.) because it is a wonderful time with beautiful sights, and is considered very romantic....St Petersburg is VERY romantic.

 

So, plan on the canal cruise, plan on at least one late evening activity and have fun

[aqua]

While onboard the Constellation this summer, we received a letter from Celebrity asking those people with private shore excursions in St. Petersburg to gather in an upper deck lounge to await disembarkation. Fortunately Red October had warned us that there might be a ploy to hold us on the ship so that those with Celebrity excursions could get off first. We decided to ignore the letter and wait on Deck 1. There was a small group who was with us, as I think most people obeyed the letter. We were off the ship and through immigration very early, probably within 30 minutes of the ship being cleared.

[Live the good life]

Thank you all for your replies...LLSSchutt: Pleasantly surprised with the late time for sunset in July! And, Aqua: we will try to get off the ship as early as possible...

 

Stanj, your informative and thoughtful replies must have been very inspirational to many cc members on this board!

We have one more question for you about restaurants/cafes with Russian music:

 

Which restaurants/cafes with live music or at least background Russian music would you recommend? According to the list recommended by Denrus, Demidov has live music (Russian and Gypsy romances)...Troika also has a show, live music (but wondering what kind of music?); Poruchik also has live music (again, what kind of music?); Shinok is also supposed to have live entertainment, with folk group performances in the evening...Which one would you recommend, based on a combination of good authentic food and nice local ambience?

 

We plan to walk around and hang out at one or two of these places after the concert show at 07:30 p.m.; we love taking photos of monuments/homes/people during canal rides of every city and will try to fit the canal tour during the day...Thanks for telling us that St.Petersburg is a very romantic city...We have no doubt it will be the highlight of our trip!

 

Kim

[stanj]

We have one more question for you about restaurants/cafes with Russian music:

 

Which restaurants/cafes with live music or at least background Russian music would you recommend? According to the list recommended by Denrus, Demidov has live music (Russian and Gypsy romances)...Troika also has a show, live music (but wondering what kind of music?); Poruchik also has live music (again, what kind of music?); Shinok is also supposed to have live entertainment, with folk group performances in the evening...Which one would you recommend, based on a combination of good authentic food and nice local ambience?

 

We plan to walk around and hang out at one or two of these places after the concert show at 07:30 p.m.; we love taking photos of monuments/homes/people during canal rides of every city and will try to fit the canal tour during the day...Thanks for telling us that St.Petersburg is a very romantic city...We have no doubt it will be the highlight of our trip!

 

Kim

Hi Kim

Almost all restaurants have background music but live music that enhances the meal I would agree with Den Rus, Demidov is quite nice. There ia a trio which performs every night that I've been there that is a lot of fun and they try to get the diners involved with there merriment. I thought it would be a bit corny for a Gypsy group to play for dinner but each time my date and I had a great deal of fun. It is a very old restaurant east towards the end of Fontanka riki, along the Fontanka canal, a very pretty walk if your legs are not too tired from the daytime activities.

The other restaurant with live I recommend because of...well....everything is perfect. That is the Old Customshouse. It is not a Russian restaurant nor do they play Russian music but it you want a romantic setting, with perfect service, great food and a jazz combo that really knows how to make a meal enjoyable this is the place. The female singer does a very respectable job on many old jazz standards such as Ella Fitzgarld material. Itis not as expensive as the major hotel restaurants, paricularly if you are careful with the wine list but the food is tops. Whille not as expensive as restaurants in the Europe Hotel or Nevsky Palace, or the Taleon Club, it is still going dent your wallet pretty hard so I go there only for special dates.

One thing you will notice is that Russians love music and the type normally heard all over the city is Pop music, a dance oreinted up temp pop style music listened to by all ages. It is all pretty light weight stuff but fun, upbeat and catchy. Usually played much too loud however in most cafes.Real St Petersburg Russian music is classical however so if given the chance, a visit to one of the evening performaces at one of several venues I've written about in other posts would be a thrill for clasical music lovers. St Petersburg is also known for beign the hub of jazz, bard and rock for Eastern Europe while pop is centered in Moscow. Jazz has been played in clubs and concerts in St Petersburg dating to the early 50s and Rock and Roll got started in Russia first in St Petersburg in the 70s. Bard music is quite enjoyable for those who like folk music. It is powerfully sung ballads by masculine sounding male soloists usually with only acoustic guitar. The best is Alexander Rosenbaum, a local doctor who was recently elected to the Federal Duma (Senate). His performances always sell out where ever he plays.

Of the pop acts my favorite, and occassionally can be seen live in clubs in St Petersburg is a trio of very attractive(very!) women who put on spectacular shoy entertainment programs. They go by the name Via Gra. If presented in the west, the creative music videos, stylish and sexy fashions and top production values would be quite a hit. They out Madona Madona in every catagory.

You will have a great time with any of the many options.

[celem]

We were on the Constellation this past July. Here is my journal entry for St. Petersburg which contains the times that we were able to get ashore:

-------

July 7, 2004, St. Petersburg, Russia

$1 = 29.037 Rubles

- Room service for two, to save time as I wanted to get a jump on the "independent tour" requirements of waiting in the Reflections Lounge on deck 11 for our debarkation numbers.

- Observed arguments by Red October customers with crew at the gangway, then went to reflections lounge to get debarkation pass. It was a very ugly scene between the Red October customers at the gangway trying to argue their way through the crew's barricade. The crew remained polite but obstinate while the Red October customers grew ever more hostile. There was a lot of foul language and name calling, etc. When, around 7:15AM, the ship's Moscow excursion came through, one of the Red October customers jumped into their line and when queried by the crew said that she was on the Moscow excursion so they let her through. Eventually, the Red October customers were permitted to get off around 7:25AM.

- We were in the first group of "independent" travelers permitted off of the ship at 8:40AM.

- Our American Express tour by Baltic Travel was also delayed in its 9AM departure because we were waiting for three customers that were held late by Celebrity because they had high exit numbers.

- Hermitage was our first stop with early entry that bypassed the queue. It was wonderful and beautiful but quite crowded- a bit of a madhouse. Among countless art objects we saw Rembrandt, Monet, Picasso, Gougain, etc. The building reviled the art.

- Lunch was with many was, obviously, a restaurant that had contracts with many tour companies, including Celebrity. OK - nothing great.

- Peterhof was the next stop. Peterhof had wonderful architecture but on a smaller scale than the Hermitage. Very extensive inside tour followed by a shorter tour of the outside fountains.

- On the way back we stopped for a photo stop at a beautiful old church that was not damaged by the ****s because they used it as a navigational landmark. Traffic was dead stopped on the way back so the bus took little back streets to wind its way back to the ship.

Before dinner, we went to the thalassothrapy pool. It was not crowded because many people were off of the ship on evening tours to ballet or the Russian folk show. This was to be the only time that we encountered a sparsely occupied thalassothrapy pool. We only went there one more time during the entire cruise and it was so crowded that it was like a human sardine can – so very unlike our experience on the Renaissance’s R2, where we used the thalassothrapy pool almost every day.

- Open seating tonight. Ate roast beef with a table of nice Canadians.

- After supper we went upstairs and ended up staying until after midnight talking with to nice, younger women (late 30s) traveling at the Vodka tasting bar. They were quite taken with our tour guide, Nickolis, giggling at his remarks about that he may have to "discipline them". They seemed to relish the thought of his potential discipline.

 

July 8, 2004, St. Petersburg, Russia

- Room service for Gail while I went up to get our disembarkation passes. They were not doing it today. Possibly due to the ugly scene with the Red October folks, or possibly it was only for the first day - who knows?

- Today we visited Catherine's Palace at Puskin

- Lunch.

- City Tour, which included the obligatory shopping, stop for the ladies at the “Onegin” tourist store (Ed walked around the block and shopped on the street- purchased a KGB labeled hip flask).

- Stopped at the church of spilled blood for a photo stop and another at the statue, then back to the ship.

- We went to our newly assigned table for dinner (412), but Victor seemed to have messed up as there were 10 trying to sit at the 8-top. The waiter said that this was the third such problem at her table this week. Celebrity's dining room doesn't run very smoothly.

[Live the good life]

Celem and Stan J, thank you for taking the time to share...I enjoy reading your posts very much...very interesting experiences! Having spent my elementary school years educated by mostly French teachers, I am very much in tune with the European/Asian/Latin culture. Work hard but also want to live life to the fullest...have a good time enjoying music, dancing, people watching...Stan, sounds like you are doing just that, helping others on this board, and having a good time...

 

Has just e-mailed to Ilya at Denrus with the request to add the canal cruise to our tour and a quote for the evening tour...Waiting for his reply...And very much looking forward to conversing with our guide to learn about the Russian culture...

 

Have a great week,

 

Kim