St. Petersburg Canal Cruises

[Billthekid]

On one of HAL's excursion, they say you will have three hours to yourselves prior to returning to the ship at 2:30PM. We would like to do a canal cruise, but can not find that many operators listed on ther net. Would like to know the price of the canal tours, whats included, and what fellow cruise travelers thought of the canal cruises.

[Giantfan13]

On one of HAL's excursion, they say you will have three hours to yourselves prior to returning to the ship at 2:30PM. We would like to do a canal cruise, but can not find that many operators listed on ther net. Would like to know the price of the canal tours, whats included, and what fellow cruise travelers thought of the canal cruises.

 

Bill

 

We did the Canal Cruise as part of our 2 day tour with SPB Tours. At that time they were the only one including it in the original cost of the tour. Others were charging extra for it. If you do book a tour with any of the independent tour companies, I would very highly recommend this option. On this board, most of the people have done the private tours and I really have never heard of anyone doing this Canal Tour on their own.

 

As I have said, I would highly recommend it. We did our tour at the end of day one. It was originally scheduled for day 2, but we had some fantastic weather on day one, so they included it on that day. It was just a great way to relax, unwind and see St Petersberg from an entirely different perspective.

 

Here are a few pix of our Canal crusie

 

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europemaster771.jpg

 

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe786.jpg

 

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europe774.jpg

 

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europemaster772.jpg

 

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europemaster783.jpg

 

http://i834.photobucket.com/albums/zz267/Giantfan13/baltics/europemaster760.jpg

 

Hope You Enjoy

 

Cheers

 

Len

[Kingsbridge]

If you are thinking of taking the HAL excursion that gives you free time in St. Petersburg, you can take a canal cruise from the dock on the Griboyedov canal at the intersection of Nevsky Prospect. It's simple to get to since your tour bus will be parked just behind the Church on Spilled Blood and the canal is the one that runs along the side of the Church. When I took this canal cruise from the same HAL tour in 2009, it cost 500 rubles which I paid in cash. The timing worked out fine but the narration was entirely in Russian. I would also say that calling it a "canal" cruise is a bit of a misnomer because the route goes through a few of the canals and then out on to the Neva. You get a somewhat better close up view of buildings on the river but you will have seen those on your bus tour prior to your free time. There are other departure points for different canal cruises that follow different routes, but it would take you longer to get to a different location and getting back to your bus on time would be more uncertain. The cruise took about an hour and I didn't make any arrangements in advance. I just showed up and took the next boat leaving. I told the guides on the bus what I was going to do. If the weather is really good, it's relaxing to do a canal cruise. Otherwise, don't waste your time and money.

[Harriet1910]

On one of HAL's excursion, they say you will have three hours to yourselves prior to returning to the ship at 2:30PM.

 

Sounds a bit strange - everybody is saying here on this forum you can only be on your own without a guide if you have a Russian visa:confused:

[Kingsbridge]

HAL and Royal Caribbean both offer excursions that include free time in St. Petersburg. Regardless of what anyone else may say on these boards, these excursions are legal, fully backed by the cruise line, and less expensive than many other tours. I took HAL's Journey to St. Petersburg on both days in 2009, which I think was the first year they offered it. On HAL's excursion, the first part was a bus tour around the main sights with a recorded narration in different languages that you could listen to on head phones. After the tour, we parked in a parking area by the Church on Spilled Blood. Many tour buses park there and the little flea market is right next to it. Our guides on the tour bus then took us on foot to a fancy souvenir shop in Arts Square where they had large clean public rest rooms (a very desirable amenity in St. P). After that we were on our own. The guides offered some suggestions and answered questions but did not accompany anyone as they walked around. Lots of my fellow passengers just had lunch and took a walk.

 

Having been to St. Petersburg before, I went to the Russian Museum on the first day and walked in the Michael Gardens. On the 2nd day, I took the canal cruise and visited Kazan Cathedral and the Church on Spilled Blood. I think that the Royal Caribbean excursion may not include the bus tour and therefore may offer more free time. I bought $100 in rubles at Travelex before I went on the cruise although I believe there is now an ATM in the marine terminal and there are certainly ATMs in St. Peterburg.

 

This was a great cheap way to revisit a city I was familiar with. I'm not sure I would recommend it for a first time visitor, although everyone else on the bus was a first timer and they enjoyed themselves. If you prefer to be taken to specific places and given a lot of information throughout your tour, then this is not for you. On the other hand if you want to learn by doing, then you will find it much less restrictive than a structured tour. St. Petersburg is like any other big city, safe enough in the daytime in the city center but it has its share of pickpockets, etc. so we were advised to keep our passports and money safely tucked away which we did.

 

In order to offer this tour, your cruise line is covering you under a blanket visa like any other excursion they offer. You must show up on time for the bus back to the ship. It's certainly an interesting option for a responsible, self sufficient person. I found it helpful to be able to decipher words in cyrillic. I don't speak Russian but I didn't find that a problem.

[Billthekid]

If you are thinking of taking the HAL excursion that gives you free time in St. Petersburg, you can take a canal cruise from the dock on the Griboyedov canal at the intersection of Nevsky Prospect. It's simple to get to since your tour bus will be parked just behind the Church on Spilled Blood and the canal is the one that runs along the side of the Church. When I took this canal cruise from the same HAL tour in 2009, it cost 500 rubles which I paid in cash. The timing worked out fine but the narration was entirely in Russian. I would also say that calling it a "canal" cruise is a bit of a misnomer because the route goes through a few of the canals and then out on to the Neva. You get a somewhat better close up view of buildings on the river but you will have seen those on your bus tour prior to your free time. There are other departure points for different canal cruises that follow different routes, but it would take you longer to get to a different location and getting back to your bus on time would be more uncertain. The cruise took about an hour and I didn't make any arrangements in advance. I just showed up and took the next boat leaving. I told the guides on the bus what I was going to do. If the weather is really good, it's relaxing to do a canal cruise. Otherwise, don't waste your time and money.

 

Thank you very much for the information. I looked and looked on the internet and found very little on obtaining an independent canel cruise. I did find out that most are in Russian, but I can work with that since all I am doing is looking with little chance of retention of the information (if you know what I mean). I will take advantage of your information. Thank you.

 

Also thanks for explaning to others about being able to be on your own for three hours. I know I will be comfortable being on my own.

[Kingsbridge]

Hi Bill. I saw a post you wrote on another thread and I wanted to tell you that you should ask your tour operator on day one about other locations for the canal boats. There used to be a boat that left from the Admiralty Dock (on the opposite side of Nevsky Prospect from the Hermitage). That boat started on the Neva and then went into the canals and spend most of its time on the canals. I took this boat in 2003 and it was a lot of fun. I believe there is also a canal cruise location between the Field of Mars and the Mikailovsky Garden (closer to your drop off point). It too has shallower boats that can go through all of the canals and under all of the bridges. The bigger, taller boats like the one on the Griboyedov at Nevsky can't do that which is why they go out on the river. In any event if it's a sunny day, you'll enjoy the relaxing cruise.

 

Regardless of which boat you take, the signs will have the departure times and prices in numbers so you'll have no trouble.

 

I think you'll find it refreshing not to have to listen to the narration. It frees your mind to enjoy the scenery which is why you came in the first place.

[StPetersburgPort]

Dear kingsbridge,

 

you are right some cruise lines offered such type tours and some even still offer (HAL and RCCL not), in tour programs they mark your free-time as "shopping", which is partly legal, however, there was a bis scandal in 2010, when one of HAL passengers didn't get back to the ship with the tour and only returned in the late night. He and the company, which serve HAL were fined (he paid about 200USD and the company about 20000USD) for that.

 

Billthekid, finding the boat-trip wouldn't be a problem, there are plenty of boats near Nevsky prospect (almost by every bridge you see) and at the Palace square

[ImaFrugalCruiser]

We will be on the HAL ms Eurodam in St. Petersburg in June. The HAL site states quite clearly that a visa is required in St. P. I emailed HAL direct after reading some of these forums and the response was that yes it is necessary. Maybe the reason is because of the 3 hours when you are 'on your own'. Getting a Russian visa in Canada is time-consuming and somewhat expensive and this was one of the reasons we chose a private tour (with STP Tours), as they include a 'group visa' in the cost of the tour. And their tour also happens to include a one-hour canal boat ride and a hydrofoil ride.