Alla Tours - St Petesburg

[hampshirelad]

Has anyone used this Company ? The reports on Trip Advisor are good , but who knows they may have written them .

[Cornishpastyman1]

I used them and they were terrific. We all only get to experience one company so direct comparisons are not possible but Alla are very well thought of on these boards as one of several top-notch independents in St P and you can book with them without any concern whatsoever, and a great time guaranteed.

[jokskot]

We used Alla Tours two weeks ago and fully support Cornishpastyman1's response.

Regards J

[hampshirelad]

Thanks / jokskot / Cornishpastyman1, for such a quick response. I think it sums up all that is so good on these boards.

[fastnloose]

Has anyone used this Company ? The reports on Trip Advisor are good , but who knows they may have written them .

Used Alla last year and they were brilliant. I would certainly use them again. Enjoy the cruise

[SuzieSmith]

We were on the Emerald Princess and in STP on May 17 & 18 and used ALLA. Absolutely wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!! We had 'customized' an itinerary and it was great. There were 9 of us in a vehicle - clean, good driver, and wonderful tour guide. Everyone was happy (and tired) at the end. I can't recommend them enough. I was amazed at how many people on the ship had never heard of Cruisecritic! And many wanted to know about "private tours". They were surprised at what we saw & what we paid compared to their ship tours...

[lynncarol]

Good to hear Alla is still doing tours. We had a 2-day tour of St. Petersburg about 4 years ago and were very pleased. My elderly parents were with us, and Alla managed to accommodate their limited mobility but still allow us to see everything we wanted.

[steve4031]

We are booked on one for the end of June. They have done a fine job answering all of our questions. I was just curious about the lunches that they include?

[baggal]

We are booked on one for the end of June. They have done a fine job answering all of our questions. I was just curious about the lunches that they include?

 

IMO the food that Alla provided on our tour two years ago (one was a sandwich box lunch that we ate in the van on our way from Catherine's Palace to Peterhof and the other was in a restaurant) was just okay. But you'll be coming from a cruise ship where nobody starves. If you have concerns, eat a big breakfast and know that when you get back to the ship you can always find something to eat if you can't wait until dinner.

 

The restaurant lunch was a set menu and featured typical Russian food, including the most wonderful mushroom soup. The rest of the courses were so-so (cabbage salad, a fish dish, vegetables, rice, and a very sweet cake dessert). We were the only tourist group in the restaurant. It was a nice experience but if you're a foodie you might have a different opinion. In any case, it was only one meal and still a very pleasant overall experience.

[hampshirelad]

It seems you stop at the Shop on day 2 to pay for the tour and use the Card Terminal in the Shop to make the payment.

 

I take it this is a normal merchant payment and not cash withdrawal from an ATM

 

Many thanks

[SuzieSmith]

We just did our tour with Alla. What we did was forgo the restaurant lunch and we all brought our own food from the ship and ate in the van. Absolutely NO PROBLEM taking food off the ship or into Russia. This saved us time and money and allowed more time seeing the sights. Of course you need to get a group that wants to do that...for us it was no problem.

Alla provided bottled water each day (1 per person per day). You could bring your own beverage if you so wished, i.e. a can of soda.

Had the weather cooperated we could have eaten outside at one of the sights but it was raining & cold!

As to the comment about paying. They took us to a store where we paid...either in cash or credit card. I paid in USD's. If you're planning on paying with a credit card make sure you know which ones they accept.

Hope this helps!

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

It seems you stop at the Shop on day 2 to pay for the tour and use the Card Terminal in the Shop to make the payment.

 

I take it this is a normal merchant payment and not cash withdrawal from an ATM

 

Many thanks

 

We used Alla a few weeks ago. I wouldn't say this is a normal merchant payment, because there was no 3% service charge which many merchants tack on. I used my Capital One credit card with no problems. Capital One doesn't charge foreign currency conversion fees. Whatever card you use, just make sure they put the charge through in rubles.

We also purchased ballet tickets from Alla, and paid for those at the same time we paid for the tour. We opted to go to La Bayadere, not the Swan Lake they put on for the tourists. She got us excellent seats, main floor, fourth row.

[clueless2]

Alla also takes US Dollars as payment as long as the bills are clean and in good shape. At least that's what she says and that's what I plan to do in a couple of weeks. :)

[badbulldog]

We will be in SPB on the NCL Sun on July 23 & 24th and I sent Alla Tours 2 e-mails trying to get prices and a special itinerary and I have not yet received a response from them and it's been six days. All the other tour companies I contacted have responded. I was interested in Alla due to all the positive reviews but not sure what is going on with them and no response.

[murphytx]

We will be in SPB on the NCL Sun on July 23 & 24th and I sent Alla Tours 2 e-mails trying to get prices and a special itinerary and I have not yet received a response from them and it's been six days. All the other tour companies I contacted have responded. I was interested in Alla due to all the positive reviews but not sure what is going on with them and no response.

My wife and I will be on the Norwegian Sun on the July 19th sailing. We are looking to go on a 2-day St. Petersburg tour. We have contacted a few tour operators (including Alla Tours) and received some information. We would like to go with another couple in order to reduce the cost but do not want to go with a large group. If you are interested in forming a group with us or would like to share information, please e-mail me at tmiller@concho.net.

[rdnpdx1]

My wife and I will be on the Norwegian Sun on the July 19th sailing. We are looking to go on a 2-day St. Petersburg tour. We have contacted a few tour operators (including Alla Tours) and received some information. We would like to go with another couple in order to reduce the cost but do not want to go with a large group. If you are interested in forming a group with us or would like to share information, please e-mail me at tmiller@concho.net.

 

I would recommend that you make this request on your roll call. On that thread everyone will be on your sailing and it will be much easier to arrange something through that thread. In fact, CC policy forbids tour share posts in these forums (see the sticky above the list of threads).

[elainemasey]

Badbulldog, please double check the email address you are using. We are booked with them for August and I always had my emails responded to by the next day....sometimes that evening depending on how early in the morning I sent off my request, even on weekends.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We used Alla Tours two weeks ago and fully support Cornishpastyman1's response.

Regards J

how much to tip?

[elainemasey]

I believe the tip is 10% of the tour. I don't recall the exact advised split, it is something like 80/20 guide/driver.

[murphytx]

I would recommend that you make this request on your roll call. On that thread everyone will be on your sailing and it will be much easier to arrange something through that thread. In fact, CC policy forbids tour share posts in these forums (see the sticky above the list of threads).

Sorry this was not the right forum. I have previously posted on our ship roll call; just not much activity. Only 16 posts and the ship sails in about 1 month. Anyway, sorry for not following the right protocal.

[lauderdalebob]

We took the 2 day complete St. Petersburg Tour with Alla about 2 wees ago off the NCL Sun and had the wonderful guide Valentina in a group of 14 put together by Alla. My travelling companion and I each gave Valentina $40 at the end fo the second day as a tip and $20 each to the driver of the van (U.S. cash for both). Was worth every penny and she sure deserved it for all the knowledge she imparted to the group about every place we visited. Her tour was the highlight of our cruise vacation.

[rdnpdx1]

Sorry this was not the right forum. I have previously posted on our ship roll call; just not much activity. Only 16 posts and the ship sails in about 1 month. Anyway, sorry for not following the right protocal.

 

No biggie. I noticed your roll call had very little activity, which is too bad. Ours is on page 36.

[Owlhelm]

Whatever card you use, just make sure they put the charge through in rubles.

 

You make an interesting point. What was the exchange rate they used, as Alla only quote their prices in USD? I know the Russian government have a cap on the exchange rate over there, and wonder if getting charged in Roubles makes any difference to Alla, or us.

 

Thanks

[jokskot]

You make an interesting point. What was the exchange rate they used, as Alla only quote their prices in USD? I know the Russian government have a cap on the exchange rate over there, and wonder if getting charged in Roubles makes any difference to Alla, or us.

 

Thanks

For our recent tour (10 persons) Alla quoted and charged US$365 which included a 10% discount for putting the group together on this website.

When I asked for the prices in other currencies, I was quoted €275, £245 or if paying by credit card 10972 rubles.

 

As they say " You do the math"

 

Regards J

[southwestie]

We will be in SPB on the NCL Sun on July 23 & 24th and I sent Alla Tours 2 e-mails trying to get prices and a special itinerary and I have not yet received a response from them and it's been six days. All the other tour companies I contacted have responded. I was interested in Alla due to all the positive reviews but not sure what is going on with them and no response.

 

 

Please double check that your email was correct, no little mistakes, I can honestly say that Alla returns all my emails in hours, they have arranged our tour for August and have been amazing so far, really wait to see SPB