Anyone Already Sailed the Baltic?

[Aruba76]

We will be on the Silhouette in May, going to Scandinavia and Russia. There are several tour companys from which to choose, especially for St. Petersburg, and we would like to hear from someone who has already been and had a good experience. It would be great to get any insights from others. Thank you in advance for any help/suggestions you can give us.

[RJ2002]

We will be on the Silhouette in May, going to Scandinavia and Russia. There are several tour companys from which to choose, especially for St. Petersburg, and we would like to hear from someone who has already been and had a good experience. It would be great to get any insights from others. Thank you in advance for any help/suggestions you can give us.

 

Head over to this forum... lots of info there.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192

[england1]

We used SPB in St. Petersburg, Berlin, Helsinki, Stockholm and Copenhagen. We thought they did a very good job. We did the deluxe tour in St. Petersburg and we felt we got to experience a good cross section of the area. However, be prepared for long days.

[Aruba76]

Head over to this forum... lots of info there.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192

 

Thank you! Lots of reading to do!

[cynalan]

We had a great experience with DenRus. Small bus carrying about 14 people with a very knowledgeable guide. Saw many more sites than the ship's shore excursions at about 2/3 the price.

[jelayne]

We used Anastasia Tours & were able to customize our tour to what the 4 of us wanted to do. Price was very competitive and with just four of us it was easy to move through the crowded sites like Catherine's Palace.

[Mr. Click]

We were supposed to go last May with friends but I ended up in the hospital instead. Our friends went and really enjoyed the tours we had booked with Alla. That said, they also heard a lot of good feedback from other passengers about SPB tours. We are now booked again to go this May and have booked with SPB because others on our Roll Call started booking with them....To quote my son " it is all good"

[TeaBag]

We had a great experience with DenRus. Small bus carrying about 14 people with a very knowledgeable guide. Saw many more sites than the ship's shore excursions at about 2/3 the price.

Glad to hear this. We are booked with Den Rus for the May sailing on Eclipse.

[luv2cruise450]

We were on the Constellation last July for a Baltic sailing and booked the 2 day 'deluxe' St Petersburg tour with SPB (after reading many posts here on CC and on TripAdvisor about them) and it was a fantastic 2 days filled with so much to see and experience there. And afterwards...from speaking to other pax who had booked the ship's excursions...we saw and experienced soooo much more. Several venues that we actually got to go in to experience for ourselves...they only saw 'in passing'. SPB must be one of the biggest agencies there providing tours...'cause they had over 2 dozen plus 'mini buses' waiting for the pax who had booked tours with them. We had 16 in our mini bus with a great driver (Alexy) and a fabulous guide (Tatiana). Viktoria...the owner of SPB was there the first day to get us situated and was there again when we returned to the ship on our 2nd day to wish us an enjoyable rest of the cruise and to thank us for touring with them. I cannot say enough good things about our 2 days there with SPB and would not hesitate to recommend them to others traveling there. St Petersburg is a fascinating city!

[cynalan]

Glad to hear this. We are booked with Den Rus for the May sailing on Eclipse.

 

You will enjoy the tour. Our guide was an art historian and published art critic. The small group made it much easier to visit the historic sites in an efficient manner. You will have a great time.

[alcpa1]

We did the Baltic several years ago on Azamara and toured with SPB. I arranged the tour for our group of 8 and after e-mails with all the major companies we chose SPB. One in our group was somewhat physically limited and used a wheelchair as she tired. SPB handled our needs and exceeded our expectations.

[spearmint]

We also used DenRus for Saint Petersburg (used ship's tours for the other cities). Cannot say enough positive things about our 2-day tour, their basic one. Dealing with Ali was just fine, in emails and eventually in person, and our guide, Ludmilla was super; she knew, for example, in the Hermitage how to leave the area where we were and come back later just as a noisy, large group from another cruiseline (apparently notorious for their undisciplined passengers) roled in.

 

There were 10 of us in a van which was great as it was much easier to get around the city in a smaller vehicle.

 

Bill

[donaldsc]

We used Alla Tours for St. Petersburg and several other Baltic countries. They did a very professional job. I would recommend them.

 

DON

[cheriooo]

We used Alla Tours for St. Petersburg and several other Baltic countries. They did a very professional job. I would recommend them.

 

DON

I would second the consideration of Alla tours for St. Petersburg. We had 2 very memorable days of touring. They also provided us separately a dinner show which was very entertaining.

[tessa74]

We had a great experience with DenRus. Small bus carrying about 14 people with a very knowledgeable guide. Saw many more sites than the ship's shore excursions at about 2/3 the price.

 

We also had a great experience when we used them 2 years ago. We also went to an evening folk show they offered which was great.

[phillygirl2400]

We booked with SPB Tours for a 3 day tour in St Petersburg. We were on Oceania's Marina. Tour guide Anna. Absolutely wonderful! Also used SPB in several other cities.

[Shore_rat]

we sailed to the Baltic on Eclipse in 2014 and toured St Petersburg with Alla tours. They were excellent! Good service from the moment of booking, good quality tour and flexible guide willing to accommodate wishes of the group.

 

Whilst I am sure many of the larger operators are good, my vote goes to Alla.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[KandMB]

we used SPB, two day tour, absolutely brilliant, can recommend totally.

[Aruba76]

Thank you everyone. Looks like we can't go wrong with any of the tour operators!

[phillygirl2400]

Enjoy!