Advice please on St Petersburg tour

[HopingForFun333]

Hi,

We have been trying to find out about tour PZ16 by RCL in St Petersburg.

This is a short tour called 'Panoramic St Petersburg and Peter and Paul Fortress Territory '.

 

The tour is listed by RCL on its website and in its shore excursion brochure but the details are of another tour. We have been trying to find out details of what/where our tour covers but RCL customer service say they don't have the correct details at the moment ( not impressed by this actually as we sail on July 1st and these tours must have been on sale for ages ).

 

We don't want to book until we are sure, but also don't want to wait until we are on board in case there isn't space for us then.

 

Please has anyone been on this tour and if so what did it cover, and/or if possible what did you think of it as a worthwhile tour /area to visit. We realise it may not be quite the same when we go but it would help if we had some idea of what it covered.

 

Thanks very much for any replies

Pete and Angie

[pudding22]

I wouldn't worry. I was in SP and although I didn't do this particular tour with this particular company, I can tell you that it's a coach trip that doesn't go far and there will almost certainly be unlimited capacity so don't worry about lack of space. There is so much to see there I would take the time to choose when you have all the info.

Have fun

[LondonTowner]

We stopped in SPB last September and booked with Alla Tours, which gets excellent reviews. I wouldn't bother with a ship's excursion, you will see more and get much better value for money by booking via a local operator. If you do a search there is lots of info re tours in SPB.

[HopingForFun333]

Thanks for the replies, good to know there should be space later if we choose to book.

We will just be digging away for more info, we were just disappointed that RCL haven't been able to give us quite simple details but there you go, probably we will find out eventually....

 

We would book with an independant tour compny but we don't want a full day out, all the companies we've looked at seem to be at least one full day if not more which may be fine another time but we need to take it a bit steady this time :)

 

Thanks again

 

Angie and Pete

[TrnrMom]

I posted earlier on the Wonderful Copenhagen board, so apologize any of this is a repeat. Internet has been so spotty it's been hard to keep up with the various discussions. I wrote a note to Hotel General Manager Martin Bristow regarding the horrendous backup getting out of the port and asked if Princess with their resources could arrange something for those of us trying to get to town post cruise. He updated me that Princess was aware of this problem which had existed for about a year. It was particularly bad on the earlier sailing since three ships were in port at the same time. He also said Princess had tried a shuttle to town before with little response. However, he was willing to have his staff look into it.

Two days later, I received a call from Jacob on the hotel staff. The best they could do at this stage of the cruise was a bus company that would provide a bus for 35 passengers and there would be extra fees to the baggage handlers. Since Princess would have to absorb the cost If the bus was not full, at three days before the end of the cruise, it was not practical for this cruise, but they would try for later cruises. There is also the city and port authorities to work with regarding traffic control and flow. Anyway, kudos to Princess for trying and being responsive to my inquiries.

Some other possibly useful information - Royal Princess is the only ship in port until 10 AM on 6/3/14....the other ship comes in at 10 and will be on a port call. Leaving before 7 AM will increase your chance of avoiding a huge backup.

So, the way I see it, your choices are Princess shuttle to airport at $44 per person, private taxi, or car service (ask on your roll call to organize minivans or minibuses). Having taken bus 26 around town - it is not practical if you have a lot of luggage or many people are using it. The area for suitcases is not large. It also may not be running very early or on the weekend.

We are going to leave the ship before 7, and keep our fingers crossed. I will report back on that experience later.