Oceania 12 day Baltic Cruise

[PRINK]

Six of us will be traveling together from Md. Looking for advice on excursion packages. Have heard good things about Alla tours. Also, have heard about Red October and SPB tours. Welcome comments and recommendations.

Thank!

[computerworks]

We have used Viktoria at SPB Tours...I would give them my highest recommendation.

Both Alla and Red October also consistently get high praise.

 

Any of them are a good choice.

[orchestrapal]

Six of us will be traveling together from Md. Looking for advice on excursion packages. Have heard good things about Alla tours. Also, have heard about Red October and SPB tours. Welcome comments and recommendations.

Thank!

 

The Ports section of CC and Roll Call for your cruise would be the places for this question.

All three of the companies you mention have gotten good ratings from cruisers.

Welcome to CC.

Edited February 1, 2014 by orchestrapal

[CintiPam]

We used SPB-Tours for touring with just one other couple for our two days in St. Petersburg, and it was wonderful. I had visited on a land trip with my sister for four days a few years earlier and knew precisely what my husband would want to see, and SPB worked very hard and successfully to meet all of my numerous detailed requests. Owner Viktoria greeted us at the port the first day and checked in with us the second day on our return to find out if we were satisfied. (We also completed a questionnaire from her on our drive back to the ship on the second day.)

 

After much debate about spending six hours RT on a bus in order to visit Berlin from Warnemunde, I decided later in my trip planning to organize a tour of Berlin, which would take place our very first day after embarkation. The bus ride was a chance for the 18 of us from our roll call who joined the tour to get to know each other! Our 6-1/2 hours in Berlin was fabulous, with an American tour guide who at my request even pre-ordered our simple (30-minute) lunch so that those interested would have enough time to visit the Pergamon at the end of the day.

 

We enjoyed our well-organized taste of Berlin (which included much more walking, preferable IMO, than I expected) that we returned for a six-day visit just last May. (Unfortunately beautiful Unter den Linden is torn up for a metro project at present.)

 

I should add that we were in Berlin on a Sunday so had no traffic issues and in St. Petersburg the following weekend, which again saved a lot of time being wasted in traffic.

Edited February 1, 2014 by CintiPam

[Barrheadlass]

We too used SPB tours last May, for 2 days in St. Petersburg and one day in Berlin. Very happy with our guides and the tours, although the lunches in St. P were not great. However, we were there for the museums, etc., not for the food.

[arima22]

Six of us will be traveling together from Md. Looking for advice on excursion packages. Have heard good things about Alla tours. Also, have heard about Red October and SPB tours. Welcome comments and recommendations.

Thank!

 

If you are on the Marina cruise departing Stockholm on Aug. 21, see my posts on that specific Roll Call. We currently have 4 people set up on a multi city tour program with SPB Tours at a very good early bird discount. All of the tour specifics are included in my Roll Call post.

 

Herb

[williegirlcat]

Last summer on a 14 day Baltic cruise we were in St. Petersburg for 3 days and used Red October. It was an excellent choice. We were a group of 8 who met on CC. We opted for a private tour with early admission to the Hermitage. We were always taken to special entrances by our guide and did not have to wait on lines.

[YoHoHo]

As per arima22, I suggest you review your CC Roll Call where you can meet up with others on the same sailing and share with their plans.

[roothy123]

We loved Alla. We did the comfort tour and it was quite enough for us - saw a lot but didn't kill us by rushing about.

 

No matter what company you choose (and all of the major ones seem similar and get good reviews) my advice would be this: Get in line early to go off the ship on the first day in St. Petersburg. It looked like 2/3 of the ship was up early that day and the line snaked around the area quite a ways. SO many people go off the ship in SPB - many on group tours like Alla, plus many on the ship's excursions, plus a few independent souls. Unlike most other ports in the Baltic, keep in mind that you need to go through a little clearance process in SPB, similar to clearing immigration at an airport after an international flight, and this adds maybe 10-15 minutes to the time you need to meet a tour group in the cruise terminal in SPB. I guess what I'm trying to say is that if your group is supposed to meet at 8:30 (or whatever) you cannot finish breakfast at 8:15 and expect to meet the group at 8:30. I would allow at LEAST a half hour to get off the ship and through the Russian clearance check (with your tour document and other stuff in hand - read the info the tour group gives you - very important!) to meet your group. Last year we "lost" a couple because they had no idea the process would take so long. Alla was great and had someone wait for the couple and catch them up to us, but it was quite embarrassing to the couple, so just thought I'd give you a heads up.

 

We loved our Baltic cruise. I'm jealous.

[wiks]

We had a private two day tour with Alla for 10 people 2 years ago. They were outstanding in helping with the pre-cruise arrangements; flexibility in setting our schedule from their "canned" tour; and their guide was very professional and spoke excellent English. The transportation was a small, modern Mercedes bus which could have seated 15 people so we had plenty of room. We would certainly use them again.

 

Wiks

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[brian_uk]

We have used both of the tour ops in St Petersburg and frankly they are as good as each other. It is all down to the quality and friendliness of your guide.

 

Do try and take a subway ride and we also went to a Food market and the last unusual thing was Tea at a historic teashop (cannot remember the name but a little like Fortnum and Mason in London). We did all of these on our second visit.

 

It is a great City.

 

Brian