Baltic cruise

[beryl patricia]

hi we are booked on Crown Princess Baltic cruise. The two day excursions sound great but should we plan anything for the evening or is it best to spend the evening on board resting the old feet !!

 

Thanks for any info

Gill

[Kevin's girl]

We did a Baltic cruise in 2014 through another cruise line but still had an overnight in Russia. When booking our excursions I decided that this would likely be our only chance to see St Petersburg and figured we could rest our weary feet later. We did booked with a private tour company for the two days and an evening canal tour through the cruise line. We did truly have weary sore feet but no regrets. It was the highlight of our cruise just as I had hoped. I did do a very long review of the cruise and am posting a link here if you think it could help.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2095403

[cat-tav]

We're booked on the July 8 Baltic cruise. I decided to split up the days and take advantage of the Princess excursion to Moscow. It's pricey, but worth it to us--when else we ever get a chance to do it? We leave very early in the morning, take a high speed train to Moscow, walk around in the Kremlin, see St. Basil's Cathedral, walk through GUM department store, etc., then return late on the train. I'm sure we'll be exhausted, but I don't want to waste a day in a place I'll probably never get to visit again, so the second day I reserved the Hermitage Museum & St. Petersburg On Your Own tour that will get us off the ship and into town. While the private tour companies may be cheaper than Princess, as far as I could find none of them had the trip to Moscow without a 3 day stay in Russia. Also, none of them had an affordable one day tour for our second day in Russia. So we're opting to do the Princess tours. I kind of wish the next day was a sea day so we could rest a little, but we'll survive!

[cheeseclan]

My boys and i did this cruise last May on the Regal. We had a great time but we were definitely exhausted at the end. We did the 2 full day tour with the night tour as well in St. Petersburg. Figured will not be back anytime soon so might as well see as much as we can. We did our tour thru Princess and had a wonderful time with a great guide.

[ComputerDad]

This private one day to Moscow tour is more expensive but you fly (80 minutes) from St. Petersburg and take the train back. The train both ways is pretty exhausting.

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductDetail?product=7351P2&d=1869896&aidSuffix=xsell&partner=Viator

[cat-tav]

This private one day to Moscow tour is more expensive but you fly (80 minutes) from St. Petersburg and take the train back. The train both ways is pretty exhausting.

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductDetail?product=7351P2&d=1869896&aidSuffix=xsell&partner=Viator

 

I looked this up because I liked the idea of flying one way to allow more time in Moscow. If the price difference wasn't too much, it'd probably be worth it. For the date we'll be there the Princess price is $550 per person. The Trip Advisor price is $925 each! Nearly double is way more than I'm willing to pay. :( Maybe I can spend some of the price difference on Putin calendars and fake Faberge eggs from the GUM department store! :o

[caribill]

My suggestion is to forgo any evening excursion. The two days or touring are very full and they start early each day.

 

If you still have the energy that first evening, Princess usually has a Russian folklore group put on a show in the Princess theater.

[ontheweb]

My suggestion is to forgo any evening excursion. The two days or touring are very full and they start early each day.

 

If you still have the energy that first evening, Princess usually has a Russian folklore group put on a show in the Princess theater.

 

I agree with this. And I would add that the Russian folklore show was the best entertainment onboard that we experienced during our Princess' Baltic cruise.

[susancruzs]

I was on the Regal Baltic cruise in May last year. I agree with the 2 separate tours and enjoying the folklore show onboard. I took a tour that included a lunch, main sites and we spent more than an hour almost 2 seeing key things at the Hermitage.

 

The 2nd day I chose the walking tour and it was excellent, I would do it again. It included a ride on their subway system, and longest escalator I've ever seen. The mosaics and white tile in the subway was amazing.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed my Baltic cruise and if my health holds up, and my finances :), I will do it again.

[beryl patricia]

Thank you all for your replies, much appreciated

Gill

[skynight]

This private one day to Moscow tour is more expensive but you fly (80 minutes) from St. Petersburg and take the train back. The train both ways is pretty exhausting.

 

https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductDetail?product=7351P2&d=1869896&aidSuffix=xsell&partner=Viator

For the Moscow tour you will require a Russian visa obtained in advance. For tours in St. Petersburg your tour ticket is your visa.

[DougH]

 

The 2nd day I chose the walking tour and it was excellent, I would do it again. It included a ride on their subway system, and longest escalator I've ever seen. The mosaics and white tile in the subway was amazing.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed my Baltic cruise and if my health holds up, and my finances :), I will do it again.

 

The escalator ride was amazing, I thought it would never end.

 

I did a 2 day tour with SPB and would have been very tired if I had added the evening option. Were on the move constantly for two full days and I'm glad I had nothing planned that night.

[LeeW]

We did the two day Princess tour a few years ago. Great tour, lots to see and really great food and entertainment at lunch. About 9 hours the first day, getting back to the ship around 5:30. Folks going to the "Evening with Catherine" or ballet barely had a chance to eat and get changed before they left. Next morning at 7:30 they were DRAGGING and were really tired by 5:00 when we got back to the ship. Can you do it? Sure. They survived.

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

We were in St. Petersburg two years ago. We used SPB Tours. You will save about $150 pp over Princess and it is a small group tour. Princess also offers small groups, but that adds another $50 to the price. You will also see more with SPB. They are a great company with top reviews on Trip Advisor. If you book with them they will send you the paperwork in advance showing your booking. This will serve as your visa.

[BRANDEE]

hi we are booked on Crown Princess Baltic cruise. The two day excursions sound great but should we plan anything for the evening or is it best to spend the evening on board resting the old feet !!

 

Thanks for any info

Gill

 

We did the Baltic Cruise on the Emerald Princess this past June. We stayed on board the first night and saw a fantastic Russian Folklore group in the Princess Theater. Glad we did...touring is exhausting and the second day was off for more touring by 7am.

 

We joined the roll call for our cruise and found out great information from those who were repeating the cruise for a second or third time. A lot of pre and post cruise information, too.

 

Also, for the first time ever, we chose to use an independent tour group...this was due to all the information on our roll call. We used Alla..they had tours in all Baltic ports except Burge. I highly recommend you look at them. Much lower cost and much smaller groups. All the tours, except the castle tour in Poland had audio..earplugs. This helped greatly especially with a "hard of hearing" spouse. They accepted payment by charge card (after the first day in St. Petersberg) and they obtained the needed visa for you in Russia.

[KyOh]

I can second the wonderful tour that Alla provides. While we weren't on a Princess ship, we picked up five people from the Princess ship docked next to ours. There were ten of us in a van with a driver and guide. It was two full days. We didn't plan any evening activities other than what was offered on our ship. We did the full tour that included the canal tour Beautiful.

[sawtooth]

Also check out SPB Tours. Very good and highly recommended.

[IECalCruiser]

We opted to stay on board and watch the folklore show. It was entertaining and let us rest our feet and everything else for the second very full day of our SPb tour.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[kitkat343]

If you book with a private company, and if they have space available, they will probably be willing to add you to their evening activity tour on the day you arrive. Our tour company, SPB, wrote our visa waiver that covered every minute the ship was docked in St. Petersburg since people sometimes choose to add the evening tours at the last minute. We had dinner reservations, but decided the day of to stay on the ship due to the fact that we were so exhausted (but we had a 3 year old touring with us, so your level of exhaustion might be different). So if you are willing to take the chance that the excursion might sell out, you can make a decision on the day of your tour. Just check the times of your visa waiver when the tour company emails it to you since Russian customs won't let you off the boat unless the evening is included in your visa waiver.

[Lucky TGO]

It's only 2 days forget sleeping you can sleep when you get home. Have a great time!! :D

Tony

[cat-tav]

It's only 2 days forget sleeping you can sleep when you get home. Have a great time!! :D

Tony

Exactly!! :ship:(y)

[cat-tav]

For the Moscow tour you will require a Russian visa obtained in advance. For tours in St. Petersburg your tour ticket is your visa.

 

We decided to stick with the Princess tour due to cost. Surprisingly, in this case the Princess tour is cheaper than the private one, probably because it takes the train both ways rather than flying one way. Anyway, no visa problems--Princess takes care of it!

[beryl patricia]

Thanks again everyone lots of great advice.

Gill