St Petersburg Recommendation

[sbullock46]

Can you recommend which RCCL tours I should do with my two daughters 15 & 11? We want a sightseeing and highlights tour....too many to choose from.

[Pet Nit Noy]

Can you recommend which RCCL tours I should do with my two daughters 15 & 11? We want a sightseeing and highlights tour....too many to choose from.

You'll have better responses if you ask this same question on the RCCL board.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=83

This board is the place to come if you're interested in touring with the many excellent licensed tour companies; touring St Petersburg with the ship's excursions is not the preferred way among folks on this board. If you think you'll need to get a Russian visa if you tour any way except with the ship, have we got a pleasant surprise for you! Just come back and we'll tell you everything you need to know.

[Donna_In_India]

We were on the Serenade with our daughter last July. We had 3 days in St. Petersburg and went with TJ Travel on the 3 Day Highlights with Faberge Museum (https://st-petersburg-tours.ru/). It was excellent! We also booked dinner with a Russian family (in their home) through TJ, which was a fantastic experience.

[trosebery]

You'll have better responses if you ask this same question on the RCCL board.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=83

This board is the place to come if you're interested in touring with the many excellent licensed tour companies; touring St Petersburg with the ship's excursions is not the preferred way among folks on this board. If you think you'll need to get a Russian visa if you tour any way except with the ship, have we got a pleasant surprise for you! Just come back and we'll tell you everything you need to know.

 

Yes, most people here will not recommend ships' tours but any of many tour companies (SPB, Alla, TJs, Best Guides, etc.) that will offer you a small-group, five-star experience for less money (and no visa). I followed their advice last summer and was very grateful I did so. The small buses/vans can park closer and get around traffic more easily, and the small groups themselves move much more efficiently and bypass many lines (doing early entrance at the Hermitage, for example). Which means you can pack in more experiences -- for example, a subway ride. I cannot comment on the length of a particularly long escalator anymore without one of my kids scoffing and saying knowingly, "This is nothing compared to the St. Petersburg subway escalator."

[LondonTowner]

I would definitely not book a ship excursion in SPB when the local tour operators are so good. There are hundreds of reviews and recommendations on this thread, so have a look through.

 

You can contact some of the companies with no obligation.

[Hunwolf]

I would definitely not book a ship excursion in SPB when the local tour operators are so good. There are hundreds of reviews and recommendations on this thread, so have a look through.

 

You can contact some of the companies with no obligation.

 

Ditto this. Recommend a local operator. We've worked with Alla tours.

[LondonTowner]

Yes, our tour was also with Alla and they were excellent.

[spbstan]

Don't bother with companies, focus on interests and style you want. For example are the kids interested in some interest or hobby, or have interest in art, architecture, history or contemporary culture and daily life, or recreational activities? The larger companies feature set itineraries, none optimized for kids, they focus on very large groups divided into 15 passenger vans, all on the same route and timing.

The RCCL tours are usually 50 passenger buses. The primary difference is 15 versus 50 members, and price. If you want something more individualized to fit your family start designing your own tour. There are lots of guides and smaller companies who focus on customized experiences. What the kids want will be very different from what the ship or larger companies focus on. You and the kids might want something more free form without a strict itinerary, and lots of free time, or an itinerary optimized for a particular interest. Some offer free time in the evening where you can do as you want when you want to do it on your own, which might be attractive for your personal group. All the tour itineraries were developed over years that catered to the interests of people in the 50-70s, the great majority of visitors on cruise ships. They were also developed to cater to the interests of Americans because until a few years ago, 70-80% of cruise visitors were American because that has been the most popular way of foreign travel for Americans for years. Only in recent years have cruisers diversified and far fewer Americans are coming. You will see more Chinese, Indian Central Asian, Latin American and European visitors now arriving on cruise ships. World economics have changed and styles if recreation travel has changed. But the tours are still the same 8 destinations everyone sees, so they are VERY crowded but the city and its very diverse range of attractions, is not experienced by most cruise passengers. A few museums are no fun anymore because of the crushing crowds, and best visited on days when no cruise ships are in port or off season. The greatest museum in the world is a top choice, the Hermitage, for example and it is large enough to accommodate 15,000 people at a time but cruise tours all seem to arrive and follow the same limited path through a tiny portion of the 1005 rooms that are open in the Hermitage. It has gotten so densely crowded in the few rooms everyone sees, like the French Impressionists that the Hermitage got rid of them, transferred all the most desired 19th and 20th century European art to the General Staff building, which few if any cruise tours include. When 10-15,000 cruiser passengers are being shuffled through the same rooms at the same time, usually right at the beginning of the day, the vast majority of the wonderful exhibits are in rooms with few if any visitors. Catherine Palace is also on the standard must see list for cruisers and it has gotten so crowded and tickets so hard to get many will be dropping it next year.

So decide if you want a a traditional tour or one that is created around your interests, and whether you want a private small group of just your family. What Would you like to do...some just want to explore without firm time table, shop, take photos, meet locals...there are LOTS of kids your daughters ages who speak English, in fact most know some English so interacting with them might be interesting for the kids. From my observations over years, not many kids have the same interests as 50-70 yo for whom most tours itineraries were designed for.

If for example you like art, there are dozens of major galleries but the Hermitage will be extremely crowded unless on a day when only one ship is in port. But the largest gallery of Russian in the world art is just a couple blocks away and no cruisers visit the State Russian Museum. St Isaac is grand but very crowded since almost all cruisers visit it but there are dozens of cathedrals that are open and have no entry fee, are working churches and without crowds. There are so many exciting interesting activities that are not on the cruise tour itineraries if you want a less than crushing crowd in every destination.

[ljandgb]

If you are willing to pay RCCL prices, then you could look at a private tour for your family. It might be well worth it to customize a tour. I look at TripAdvisor and CC recommendations, contact tour agencies, and choose the one that seems the most willing to work with what we'd like to do and who communicates in a timely fashion. We've had great luck so far. For instance, we did a fairly standard one day SPB tour, but included a stop at the Cat Museum, for my dd who is a HUGE cat lover, and lunch at a fast food blini place, for another dd who loves to try new foods. As it was just us on the tour, when we got a bit tired, we were able to stop at a coffee and ice cream shop for a breather. Even that was an adventure as it took us a bit to figure out how to order. We also did dinner out in town at the end of the day. We had the option of our tour guide staying with us, or just the driver. We opted for just the driver, (who waited outside) and had a really nice family dinner.

 

Don't be overwhelmed by organizing your own tours. Our Baltic cruise I decided I'd organize half our excursions and do DCL excursions the other half. At the end of the trip, we all decided hands down our private tours were markedly better, while cheaper as well.

[mskaufman]

If you are willing to pay RCCL prices, then you could look at a private tour for your family. It might be well worth it to customize a tour. I look at TripAdvisor and CC recommendations, contact tour agencies, and choose the one that seems the most willing to work with what we'd like to do and who communicates in a timely fashion. We've had great luck so far. For instance, we did a fairly standard one day SPB tour, but included a stop at the Cat Museum, for my dd who is a HUGE cat lover, and lunch at a fast food blini place, for another dd who loves to try new foods. As it was just us on the tour, when we got a bit tired, we were able to stop at a coffee and ice cream shop for a breather. Even that was an adventure as it took us a bit to figure out how to order. We also did dinner out in town at the end of the day. We had the option of our tour guide staying with us, or just the driver. We opted for just the driver, (who waited outside) and had a really nice family dinner.

 

Don't be overwhelmed by organizing your own tours. Our Baltic cruise I decided I'd organize half our excursions and do DCL excursions the other half. At the end of the trip, we all decided hands down our private tours were markedly better, while cheaper as well.

 

We used SPB and found a couple that used the ship's tour to compare. They paid about $30 more pp for the two day tour. Their tour did not include a subway ride or a canal boat ride. They also rode the bus to Peterhof (make sure you go) while we took the hydrofoil.

[Hlitner]

Can you recommend which RCCL tours I should do with my two daughters 15 & 11? We want a sightseeing and highlights tour....too many to choose from.

 

Like many other posters, we would not recommend any RCCL (RCI) tour! Instead, book a private tour from any of the oft recommended licensed private tour providers (Alla, TJ, etc) which you can do online before you leave home. These tour providers offer numerous tour options, generally at a far lower cost then the cruise lines, and you will have smaller groups. They will also provide you with the necessary Group Visa (you get it via e-mail once you book) needed to get off the ship. Our personal recommendation if for TJ Tours (we most recently used them this past August) but the other recommended (here on this blog) all seem to be of similar quality and pricing. TJ tours usually offers a discount (I think its 10%) if you mention Cruise Critic when booking.

 

Beware of your cruise line...as some cruise lines will try to scare you away from the private tour providers with various negative comments. The reality is that the Russian authorities (at the port) do not favor the cruise line excursions groups and it is simply first come first serve as you leave the ship. Some cruise lines have been known to try and hold up independent/private tour passengers so they can rush their own tours off the ship...and that is something one should resist. Our most recent visit to STP was on a HAL cruise and we waited near the ship's egress and were among the first off the ship (we were ahead of all the ship tours).

 

Hank

[Pet Nit Noy]

Like many other posters, we would not recommend any RCCL (RCI) tour! Instead, book a private tour from any of the oft recommended licensed private tour providers... Beware of your cruise line...as some cruise lines will try to scare you away from the private tour providers with various negative comments.

 

I'll go farther than Hank in warning you about cruise line behavior. They deliberately omit crucial information; the cruise lines typically say that there are two ways of visiting St Petersburg:

o visa free by booking an excursion with the ship's excursion desk OR

o applying for a full-up Russian visa to visit independently

 

The reality is that there is a third option: visiting visa-free by booking a tour with a licensed tour agency. When a cruiser books directly with a licensed Russian tour company that represents lost revenue for the cruise lines which is why they stay silent on possibility #3.

 

The following link to a Russian web site does a great job of explaining the three legal ways to visit Russia as part of an ocean cruise. The information is accurate and complete. It is also demonstrates a sense of humor when it comes to describing the cruise lines' behavior.

 

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/russ...ip-passengers/

Edited March 17, 2017 by Pet Nit Noy

[Charles4515]

Don't bother with companies, focus on interests and style you want.

 

I agree with not focusing on the companies. After I read reviews of about ten companies I didn't see one that got a bad review. All the private companies seem to do pretty good. So we corresponded with three or four companies and picked the one which was most responsive to our particular interests, TJ Travel, and the size group we wanted to be in. They were great. Next time I go I would do the same, and it could be a different company that would satisfy our interests than last time.

Edited March 17, 2017 by Charles4515

[Charles4515]

I'll go farther than Hank in warning you about cruise line behavior. They deliberately omit crucial information; The cruise lines typically state that there are two ways of visiting St Petersburg:

o visa free by booking an excursion with the ship's excursion desk OR

o applying for a full-up Russian visa

 

The reality is that there is a third option: visiting visa-free by booking a tour with a licensed tour agency. Obviously, booking directly with a licensed Russian tour company is lost revenue for the cruise lines which is why they stay silent on this possibility

 

The following link to a Russian web site does a great job of explaining the three legal ways to visit Russia as part of an ocean cruise. The information is accurate and complete. It is also demonstrates a sense of humor when it comes to describing the cruise lines' behavior.

 

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/russ...ip-passengers/

 

Before our cruise a few years ago I heard all kinds of horrible stories about the cruise lines behavior. (we were on Celebrity) Also that they would hold us back until all their tours got off. I was execting the worst. The local company warned us too. Steeled my self for it. But none of that happened on our sailing.

[Starlaker]

I read the same warnings about cruise lines holding us back for our private tour in SPB. We were down at the Princess ship exit first thing that morning and they could not have cared less. We were off and on our way before the ship's tours.

[mskaufman]

I read the same warnings about cruise lines holding us back for our private tour in SPB. We were down at the Princess ship exit first thing that morning and they could not have cared less. We were off and on our way before the ship's tours.

 

Same here. There were no problems getting off. We did have to wait for everyone on our tour before we left. Only ab out 15 minutes. SPB was very well run.