St Petersburgh Advice

[Jotrac]

Hi

Going on our first cruise( Very Excited !!) in Aug round the Baltics and looking forward to exploring places we haven't been to before.

 

At St Petersburgh we obviously need a tour guide and have narrowed it down to 2 (Main factor was light tour,limited time at museums as 2 kids would be moaning and price) but I can't find many reviews.Does anyone have any experience ( good or bad) with Smart Free Tours ( they have given us a private Itinerary at a cost) and Inside Tours ?? Is it normal for tour companies to request that you scan and email the front page of your passport?

 

Sorry for all the questions but really want to make the right choice.

[fabnfortysomething]

Hi

Going on our first cruise( Very Excited !!) in Aug round the Baltics and looking forward to exploring places we haven't been to before.

 

At St Petersburgh we obviously need a tour guide and have narrowed it down to 2 (Main factor was light tour,limited time at museums as 2 kids would be moaning and price) but I can't find many reviews.Does anyone have any experience ( good or bad) with Smart Free Tours ( they have given us a private Itinerary at a cost) and Inside Tours ?? Is it normal for tour companies to request that you scan and email the front page of your passport?

 

Sorry for all the questions but really want to make the right choice.

 

the tour companies need your passport info to create the visa waiver so you can get through immigration but we just emailed that info not scanned

 

those companies you have named are not well known on cruise critic-where did you find them?

 

if you read back posts on this forum the most recommended are SPB Alla TJ tours Best guides and several others that get good reviews and other new companies spring up all the time usually from tour guides setting up their own companies

[sonia2509]

We have booked Inside Tours for our Baltic Cruise, as I found them to be the most willing to organise a private tour for the 4 of us that did not include too many museums and churches, and more of the every day life of Russia. They were always very quick and professional in answering our emails and have organised our visas for August very promptly. 99.9% of people on this forum will come back and say go with Alla, best guides etc as no one uses Inside tours. But if you go on TripAdvisor they are there with fantastic reviews and after reading these reviews and doing a lot of research I have decided to go with them. We are getting very exited and looking forward the tour with then. We are also doing the Pre/Post WW2/Cold War tour of Berlin with them.

 

 

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[dogs4fun]

I have never heard of Inside Tours. If you mean Insider Tours (https://www.insider-tour.com/), they are an established company with good reviews on TripAdvisor. If you feel comfortable with your itinerary and price, I am sure that you will be fine.

[sonia2509]

I have never heard of Inside Tours. If you mean Insider Tours (https://www.insider-tour.com/), they are an established company with good reviews on TripAdvisor. If you feel comfortable with your itinerary and price, I am sure that you will be fine.

 

 

My apologies that is them. I have found them very professional in all the time I have dealt with them, and the reviews on TripAdvisor for them is excellent

 

 

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[JHLH821]

Hi

Going on our first cruise( Very Excited !!) in Aug round the Baltics and looking forward to exploring places we haven't been to before.

 

At St Petersburgh we obviously need a tour guide and have narrowed it down to 2 (Main factor was light tour,limited time at museums as 2 kids would be moaning and price) but I can't find many reviews.Does anyone have any experience ( good or bad) with Smart Free Tours ( they have given us a private Itinerary at a cost) and Inside Tours ?? Is it normal for tour companies to request that you scan and email the front page of your passport?

 

Sorry for all the questions but really want to make the right choice.

Our group of 4 is also using Insider Tours for the 2 day SPB visit. We liked that the company offered different activity level options and kept their groups small (6 people). In the end we decided to do a private tour for 4 people, reasonably priced. We were not interested in being part of a 16 person group, Insider fit our needs perfectly.

 

We are now in communication with them to possibly book a Stockholm port tour with them. You selected well!

Leta

[sonia2509]

Our group of 4 is also using Insider Tours for the 2 day SPB visit. We liked that the company offered different activity level options and kept their groups small (6 people). In the end we decided to do a private tour for 4 people, reasonably priced. We were not interested in being part of a 16 person group, Insider fit our needs perfectly.

 

 

 

We are now in communication with them to possibly book a Stockholm port tour with them. You selected well!

 

Leta

 

 

That is exactly why we booked as well. Being in a group of 16 people in Hermitgae Museum with many other groups of 16 with separate guides did not interest us at all

 

 

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[John Bull]

Being in a group of 16 people in Hermitgae Museum with many other groups of 16 with separate guides did not interest us at all

 

 

Hi, Sonia,

 

I think you've gotten a very wrong impression of "groups of 16". ;)

 

16 is the maximum, group sizes actually range upward from about eight.

And our group of about a dozen wasn't "with many other groups". The place is huge, spread over four inter-connected multiple-storey buildings. Like other small groups we had admission well ahead of general admission times, once inside the groups dispersed and in many of the huge rooms we were the only visitors. We only came across others late in the tour, as more & more visitors arrived.

Being with a group we actually found to be an advantage - we all had wireless earphones so we could continue to listen to our guide while we wandered away, we weren't tied to our guide with apron-strings but that wasn't seen as being rude or disinterested.

 

I'm sure you'll enjoy your private tour (but do make sure you can get early admission, it really is a big help :)), but I don't want others to get the false impression that the shared-van tours are like cattle-drives - they're far far from that. :)

 

JB :)

[leon55]

Hi

Going on our first cruise( Very Excited !!) in Aug round the Baltics and looking forward to exploring places we haven't been to before.

 

At St Petersburgh we obviously need a tour guide and have narrowed it down to 2 (Main factor was light tour,limited time at museums as 2 kids would be moaning and price) but I can't find many reviews.Does anyone have any experience ( good or bad) with Smart Free Tours ( they have given us a private Itinerary at a cost) and Inside Tours ?? Is it normal for tour companies to request that you scan and email the front page of your passport?

 

Sorry for all the questions but really want to make the right choice.

We just finished a Baltic tour and we're delighted with TJ tours. We used them in Berlin and St. Petersburgh. They answered emails promptly, we're professional and there were no issues at all with Visas. The price was excellent, and the tour guides were excellent as well.

They arranged an evening at the Fabrage Museaum, which was amazing to visit. I'd give them a 10 out of 10

[sonia2509]

Hi John

 

I understand what you mean - but both my husband and my cousin do not want to be going through museums and churches. I have had my husband sit outside churches/museums as he was not interested at all and he won't be able to do this in St Petersburg. We are going to the Hermitage but not for the time most tours are there for as we will be seeing other things in St Petersburg that are not in the normal tours

 

Also John I have always found your posts most interesting and informative [emoji3]

 

Sonia

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Edited June 3, 2016 by sonia2509

[John Bull]

I have had my husband sit outside churches/museums as he was not interested at all

Sonia

 

If we were on the same cruise to St P., I'd be sat outside with him :D

 

Have a great cruise

JB :)

[sonia2509]

If we were on the same cruise to St P., I'd be sat outside with him :D

 

 

 

Have a great cruise

 

 

JB :)

 

 

[emoji106][emoji106]

 

 

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[Margouille]

Hi Sonia,

 

That's sounds exactly like what we'd like to do. When are you cruising? Would love to hear your thoughts post tour.

Cheers, Sophie

 

 

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[sonia2509]

Hi Sophie

 

We leave on the 14th August with Celebrity Eclipse, and yes I will be posting a review for Insider Tours both here and TripAdvisor. It would nice for people to see what else is out there other than the 4-5 companies that everyone seems to use. Sometimes it is good to do something different to everyone else.

 

 

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Edited June 3, 2016 by sonia2509

[Margouille]

Definitely! We are not usually cruisers and enjoy organising our own land content! St Petersburg is throwing us out a bit as we can't be bothered organising visas for 2 days forcing us to consider a tour. We usually enjoy watching the world go by and walking around rather than spend our entire time in museums!

 

 

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[sonia2509]

That sounds like us. We love cruising and always do our own thing. This is the first organised tour I have ever booked as I was very worried about walking around and not understanding the signs due to their alphabet etc. Language barrier you can always overcome. Also Berlin it was too far from the terminal to do on our own so after a lot of research I went with Insider Tours. There are a few articles in this Forum about people doing St Petersburg on their own. The visa is the hardest part but I just didn't have enough courage to do it on my own. I can just see 4 Aussies walking around St Petersburg trying to navigate our way back which wouldn't have been good [emoji23][emoji23]

 

 

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[Giantfan13]

Let's not confuse apples and oranges here.

 

St Petersburg, as well as I can remember was NOT all churches and museums. We did go to Church of the Spilled Blood, but it was just for a very short visit and you are really not there to see anything religious but more the archictecture and everything else. We did also go to the Church of Peter and Paul, but again, it was more to see the final resting places of the Romanov's and Peter the Great. There was really nothing religious about it.

 

As for museums, we did go to The Hermitage. Just a FYI, there are no 2 people that sort of do not like museums any more than myself and my DW, but we did enjoy our time in the Hermitage, just to see so many 'relics' of such a long Soviet history. It is not just paintings.

 

Places like Peterhoff, Catherine's Palace et al, are not museums, or not churches and those are some of the main attractions.

 

I just do not understand why you think St Petersburg is just churches and museums. It is so very far from that.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[Margouille]

We've given up on going to Berlin. Decided to stay around Rostock. I'm French so we go back to Europe nearly every year. Will just keep Berlin for another year. I hear it's a great city! I reckon 4 Aussies in St Petersburgh would be funny. Got lost in Asia a lot. Always a good story! We might give you feedback before you go as we are in SP early August. Happy planning!

 

 

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[sonia2509]

Let's not confuse apples and oranges here.

 

 

 

St Petersburg, as well as I can remember was NOT all churches and museums. We did go to Church of the Spilled Blood, but it was just for a very short visit and you are really not there to see anything religious but more the archictecture and everything else. We did also go to the Church of Peter and Paul, but again, it was more to see the final resting places of the Romanov's and Peter the Great. There was really nothing religious about it.

 

 

 

As for museums, we did go to The Hermitage. Just a FYI, there are no 2 people that sort of do not like museums any more than myself and my DW, but we did enjoy our time in the Hermitage, just to see so many 'relics' of such a long Soviet history. It is not just paintings.

 

 

 

Places like Peterhoff, Catherine's Palace et al, are not museums, or not churches and those are some of the main attractions.

 

 

 

I just do not understand why you think St Petersburg is just churches and museums. It is so very far from that.

 

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

Len

 

 

I never said it was all Churches and Museums there was the same thing offered by every tour company and I just wanted to do something a bit different. Everyone is different and like different things and it was good to see a tour company who was interested in what we liked and from there organised our tour. When I asked a few companies for a private tour and told them what I would like to see they came back with nearly the same organised tour they offer to everyone but arranged in different times. I can never see us doing St Petersburg again as we live on the other side of the world and we want to see thing that we are interested in for those 48 hours that we are there.

 

 

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[sonia2509]

We've given up on going to Berlin. Decided to stay around Rostock. I'm French so we go back to Europe nearly every year. Will just keep Berlin for another year. I hear it's a great city! I reckon 4 Aussies in St Petersburgh would be funny. Got lost in Asia a lot. Always a good story! We might give you feedback before you go as we are in SP early August. Happy planning!

 

 

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We were really thought about doing Berlin but we thought we will probably never go there again so we decided to do this very long day. We do have 2 sea days after this to recover [emoji3] St Petersburg, Berlin and the Abba Museum are the 3 things I am looking forward to on this cruse

 

 

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[Pet Nit Noy]

I never said it was all Churches and Museums there was the same thing offered by every tour company and I just wanted to do something a bit different. Everyone is different and like different things and it was good to see a tour company who was interested in what we liked and from there organised our tour. When I asked a few companies for a private tour and told them what I would like to see they came back with nearly the same organised tour they offer to everyone but arranged in different times.

 

You've given up too quickly in your search for a company who will do what you want. You can accomplish what you're trying to accomplish.

 

I had your same experience planning our two days in St. Petersburg on our 2015 Baltic cruise, but I got lucky when the very first place I contacted gave me the name of the White Nights Travel. (URL below) We wanted to include a backstage tour of the historic Mariinsky Theater, an in-depth tour of the Grand Chorale Synagogue, a visit to Peterhof only to see the 11:00 AM fountain launch, the Cottage Palace on the grounds of Peterhof, and the Russian State Museum (This is to Russian art what the Hermitage is to European art.) The rest of our time, we visited places we had missed the first time around during a three-day visit. These places included the Yusupov Palace and the Faberge Museum. We also ate more leisurely lunches at restaurants where we ordered individually.

 

My husband and I are not unique. Other cruisers have identified other tour companies willing to arrange one-of itineraries. I've read this board for a while and know that some couple arranged their tour to include the Museum of Political History. Hardly a typical stop. Another couple who loves icons organized their port call to include a day trip to a place (a monastery?? don't recall the name) which had a better icon collection than the State Museum mentioned above. I don't recall if they also visited the Sampsonievsky Cathedral has an amazing iconostasis, the wall of icons still in place as the barrier between the worshipers and the priests. Most places display icons the way works of art get displayed in a museum. This church keeps the original icon wall and adds gold gilding so I wouldn't be surprised if this out of the way church made that couple's unique itinerary.

 

I've read a post by someone who was very interested in music and was looking to incorporate visits to the State Museum for Theater and Music, the Museum of Music in the Sheremetev Palace, and the Rimsky-Korsakov Apartment Museum.

 

My point is your wishes can be granted. You just have to be willing to keep hunting for the right company and to pay for the privilege of a unique itinerary. (It is less likely that you'll find travel companions to share the cost if you post your unique itinerary on your roll call.)

 

http://www.wn-travel.com/wnt/Tours.html

Edited June 3, 2016 by Pet Nit Noy

[sonia2509]

We have already booked with Insider Tours and are very happy with what they have organised but thank you for your suggestion

 

 

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[Jotrac]

Thanks for everyones replies.

 

I did looks at lots and lots of tour companies but to be honest Price was a hugh factor I have been quoted between $280 and $860 USD for practically the same tour. I think I may go with Insider Tours and will post a review when we return to share my experience .

 

Thanks again.

[purdo]

Hi All, I'm on the Eclipse on the 14th August too. I've booked SPB Tours for St Petersburg @ $225 per person for the two days including the Faberge Museum and decided to do the Berlin Tour as well for $89 pp. Also, going to the Ballet & signed up on the Roll Call.

 

 

Mary

Edited June 3, 2016 by purdo
Typo

[Pet Nit Noy]

We have already booked with Insider Tours and are very happy with what they have organised but thank you for your suggestion

 

I'm glad to learn another name of a tour company that is willing to customize. I'm a poster who tends to reply to people looking to customize a tour. Although I knew a couple of other companies existed, I didn't remember their names.

 

I hope you'll come back to this board and tell us how your time with Insider -- especially their customization -- went.