Anyone recently back from a Denrus tour?

[Mercury]

I would be grateful for some answers to these questions:

 

Who was your guide?

Was it easy to get off the ship or did you wait for the shore excursions to first disembark?

How did you enjoy the tour?

What was your favourite place in St Pete's?

 

Thanks!

[jsf25]

Hi,

 

Just got back from a Denrus tour on June 2-3. In answer to your questions:

 

1. Who was your guide?

** Her name was Svetlana. She was in her mid-20's and did a good job although at times she seemed to tire of answering questions or handle special requests. Still she was good.

 

2. Was it easy to get off the ship or did you wait for the shore excursions to first disembark?

** It was much easier than I thought. We did not wait for the other shore excursions to get off first. We sailed with Princes and no one at the gangway asked to see anything except our cruise card as we got off.

 

Just an FYI, the lines through to immigration move slow. If you can find out when the ship's tours are meeting and exiting, try to go at opposite times and you'll avoid the long queues.

 

You have to show your passport and ticket from Denrus. You're issued a red laminated pass that is your permission to stay in the city. Don't lose the pass as there is a fine involved if you do. When you return to the ship, you'll go back through immigration and give back the pass.

 

3. How did you enjoy the tour?

** I enjoyed it very much. At times it was a bit rushed, especially in the Hermitage but overall it went well. The guide did an excellent job with giving a good overview of each site's importance and role in Russian history. The driver was very good at navigating the streets of St. Pete which can be crazy at times.

 

I consider myself a very independent traveler. Very rarely do I take tours but in this case I felt it was appropriate and a good decision. In my eyes, Russia simply does not have a strong tourist infrastructure in place just yet. Having a guide and driver made it 100 times easier and was money well spent.

 

4. What was your favourite place in St Pete's?

** Probably Peterhof Palace which was pretty amazing and the fountains and gardens outside are gorgeous. Also really enjoyed the Hermitage and because the story of the last tsar is really of interest to me I enjoyed Yusupov's Palace where Rasputin was murdered.

 

Any other questions, feel free to ask.

[Skydeck]

We just returned from the Constellation Baltic Tour. We used DenRus in St Petersburg and Nadya was our guide. She was perfect! She made our two days with her a total pleasure.

 

The ship instructed us that those on private tours had to wait until after the ship's tours had disembarked. We ignored this. The first of the ship tours was to meet at 7:30 in the theater. We knew DenRus would be there as early as we could get off the ship so we went down to the area for disembarking the ship around 7:15 am. The ship finished clearing immigration around 7:20 am and we were off the ship about 7:21 am.

 

Our tour guide had all of the paperwork in order to get us into every venue we had requested without standing in line. The whole experience was terrific. We even had great weather!

 

We were a small group of six, so we could always hear everything, all could ask questions, and we never wasted a minute.

 

Have a great trip.

[Mercury]

Thanks jsf25 and Skydeck - you are both absolute stars! You have really helped alot and I will relay this info to the rest of our group.

 

Kind Rgds

[jewels95]

Do you know how to contact Denrus.

Thanks

sharon

[jsf25]

OlgaT@denrus.ru

[mek]

We just returned from the Baltic yeaterday. 6 of us did a Denrus tour and it was wonderful. We were picked up just ouside of the immigration area and had no trouble being processed. I customized their standard itinerary to include some places I wanted to see. The first day we had lunch at the Hotel Europa, which was a lovely buffet and the second day we packed sandwiches and ate while driving to save time. We saw so much more than the people who took the Princess tours - it's the only way to go in St Petersburg.

[cdonn]

My wife and I just returned from a cruise on the Constellation. Elena, our Denrus guide, spoke flawless English and carried on a non-stop conversation with us, at our request, for two days. She was marvelous and very open with her answers to our many questions. Our driver, Sergei, was also very accomodating though spoke little English. He found oil filters for my old Russian motorcycle, mini vodka bottles, and a persian lamb hat all while we were otherwise occupied. As we are poker fans, he also taught us a Russian poker game. We recommend this pair highly.

[mek]

We had Elena also, on the 12th and 13th. She was wonderful! Denrus was great in customizing an itinerary for me, which included a visit to the Alexander Palace - the highlight of my trip. The only thing I would do differently, as I mentioned on another post, is to go to the flea market at the Church on the Spilled Blood the first day for shopping rather than the second.

[vtrav]

Does Denrus arrange the visa??? I understand the other companies do.

[John&Betty1539128129]

We are also interested in the visa question. Apparently Red October does supply one and a company called Palladium does not. Palladium offers support letters for you to get your own visa through the Russian Embassy. A process that costs $100 per person and involves mailing them your passport.

 

We have e-mailed DenRus but they have not responded yet. Can you tell us about their prices?

[japiscopo]

We are going with Red October in St. Pete late Aug. RO did not help me to get a visa. Laura kept insisting that we didn't need one, even when I explained to her that we were doing a 3 night Russian post cruise tour, and would need a visa. I went to the RSSC website and clicked on Visas and that let me to Zierer Visa Service, who I used to get a Russian Visa. The form was a little difficult, but after a few phone calls to Zierer, I realized that what I couldn't fill out (questions that were not personal), Zierer would take care of. Getting the visa was somehow connected to Radisson. Sent off our passports and forms, with picture, to Zierer with $311. Received an email back from Zierer that it was in process and we would receive them Aug. 1.

Zierer website is: http://www.zvs.com

 

Mary Lou

[vtrav]

We are going to St. Petersburg next week or so. I think we will go with Denrus because RO hasn't e-mailed me back yet. Did anyone do anything different that is not in the regular tour guides. My dad is 81 and can't walk alot. I think we will do Peteroff, the Military Museum, a canal cruise if the weather is nice, and Peter and Paul fortress, though I'm not sure how different that will be from Peteroff? We are thinking of skipping the Hermitage...I know that seems like a sin... but I'm not looking forward to the crowds even though we can get in early. What do you all think.....

[mek]

We had a group visa through Denrus that was included in our price. They were very accomodating with me concerning a customized itinerary. Perhaps you could have them arrange a "mini" tour of the Hermitage? I would be a shame to miss it, and the private tour groups by-pass all of the lines and go right in, so no waiting. My husband has problems with his knees and they did have an elevator that took us to the 3rd floor. I would suggest you have them send you their standard itinerary and then start making the additions/deletions that you want. That's what I did.

[Andee]

There is a lot of walking through the amazing gardens at Peterhof. My mother's walking is very limited, and we hired a teenager on a bicycle with a rattan lounge chair on the front to give her a tour for $5. Best $5 we ever spent.

 

Peterhof and Peter and Paul Fortress are very, very different.