What Would You Have Changed on RO's Itinerary?

[jasm8449]

We'll be on the RO 2-day tour in July. We have added the Choral Synagogue, and lunch in a Russian home.

What you change, if anything, in their standard itinerary?

[lysolqn]

We just did a 2-day tour with RO which included the synagogue and lunch with a Russian family. Other than those additions, their suggested itinerary pretty much covered all the bases. Some folks wanted to travel on the subway in St. Petersburg but our guide suggested against it, saying it was very crowded and a real hassle to get down to the tracks.

[msiowa]

We didn't do the synagogue or lunch with a family, and I regret it. Great additions.

We did do the subway and it was great. Very interesting down there - incredibly beautiful stations and an interesting history. Just don't look up when riding the escalator back up. It's so steep that it made the escalators in the London Underground look almost flat! (made me dizzy!!)

Happy sailing!
Joanie

[nny92825100]

I would add a canal cruise. I did the canal cruise on the second day with the ship and now wish I could have done it with RO instead.

[klauer]

Our guide seemed a little nervous about the subway, but I think it was just the challenge of keeping everyone together. We had some extra time, so were able to add this the second day. BTW, it was really interesting that their subway has the same lines that Boston does -- green, blue, orange, and red!

[aqua]

We also made a few changes to their suggestions. We went inside both Peterhof and Catherine's Palace. We also went inside Peter and Paul Fortress. We were glad that we did those things. There were some extra charges, but we thought that they were worth seeing.

[birders]

We requested a visit to the Alexander Nevsky monastery -- on the wooded grounds is a cemetery that includes the graves of many of Russia's most famous musicians plus other artists,writers, etc. (We've sung much Russian music in the Boston area so it was a bit of a pilgrimage!) Among the composers buried there (with unique headstones) are Tschaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, etc., etc. (Among authors: Dostoevsky...). The monastery is at the end of Nevsky Prospect. Church onsite is open for touring but we didn't request that- MANY other wonderful churches and cathedrals already on our schedule! Our Red October guide was terrific and the two days were spectacular!

[Jane110]

We added a visit to the Synagogue and we walked along the Nevsky Prospect. Since I had spent 2 weeks in Moscow about 7 years ago, I knew that the other couple we were with would love seeing a Russian supermarket as well as a department store, so we went to both and they really loved that we made that change. We cut short some of our walks in the gardens in order to do this.

[DesertSailors]

We added the canal cruise and a visit to the Gold Room at the Hermitage - both were great choices! We also had some additional time, so we did a little shopping at the flea market next to the Church and then were able to visit the synagogue. Every addition was worth it - Red October did an outstanding job!