Baltic Private Tour Companies

[lgilroy]

We are travelling on the Norwegian Getaway October 7, 2017. We are a family of 8 and last year on our Mediterranean cruise we used all private companies for our tours and our experiences we amazing and much cheaper than going through the ship. We are going to the following ports

 

 

Copenhagen, Denmark, Berlin (Warnemunde), Germany Tallinn, Estonia St. Petersburg, Russia Helsinki, Finland Stockholm (Nynashamn), Sweden and ending back in Copenhagen, Denmark

 

Does anyone have suggestions on tour companies?

 

 

Thanks

Lisa

[dogs4fun]

We are travelling on the Norwegian Getaway October 7, 2017. We are a family of 8 and last year on our Mediterranean cruise we used all private companies for our tours and our experiences we amazing and much cheaper than going through the ship. We are going to the following ports

 

 

Copenhagen, Denmark, Berlin (Warnemunde), Germany Tallinn, Estonia St. Petersburg, Russia Helsinki, Finland Stockholm (Nynashamn), Sweden and ending back in Copenhagen, Denmark

 

Does anyone have suggestions on tour companies?

 

 

Thanks

Lisa

Yes, there are many fine independent tour companies in Saint Petersburg that are frequently mentioned on these boards. I have used Alla Tours and they are fabulous - smaller groups, more comprehensive and much less expensive than the tours offered by the ship - https://alla-tour.com/tours/

Others were equally pleased with the particular company that they used - the problem is that most of us have no basis for comparison as we have only used one tour company in Saint Petersburg. Myself, I have been to Saint Petersburg multiple times and although I have booked almost exclusively with Alla Tours, I do have experience with one other company in Saint Petersburg. The tour with this 'other' company was OK but not of the quality that I experienced on my tours with Alla.

I suggest that you contact several companies and see which one best fits with your particular needs.

[Krisval]

Are you able to tell me which other St. Pete tour company you used (maybe just first initial)? I'm booking for a party of 8 and the two companies most frequently used seem to have very good reviews.

Thank you .

 

 

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[Huntingdon1701]

I've just come back from a Norwegian Getaway cruise using Alla in all the ports of call and each experience was phenomenal. I can highly recommend them. I'm halfway through posting a review thread in the NCL forum if you want to see some of the routes and sights that we took in on their tours.

[rebusrockeress]

We have just returned from a Baltic cruise on P&O Aurora. We used TJ Travel for St Petersburg (https://st-petersburg-tours.ru/) and I cannot recommend them highly enough - they were wonderful. Just 6 of us on a mini-bus and at least one other group of 10, separately. They even offer a discount for cruise critic members! We did the standard 2 day excursion plus the Russian Experience in the evening. A blanket visa is provided, just as it is on the ship and we walked through immigration with ease - just had to put the tour ticket they email you into your passport - just the same as the instructions for the ship's excursions. It was an early start on the first day but that meant we were one of the first off the ship. They also do tours in many of the other Baltic capitals we visited, although we didn't book any, as we prefer to be independent in general. Please ask any questions, but we had a fantastic two days

[TriMomma]

Hi Lisa,

I am on the same sailing as you. Also checking out private tours for our group of 7. Thanks to all who have offered suggestions!

[luvalaska]

We used TJ Travel on our Baltic cruise on the NCL Getaway 5/16. We booked tours with them in all ports and they were fantastic. Would highly recommend them to anyone.

[Sauer-kraut]

Frequently commented on here in the forum"

TJ Tours

Alla

Red October

SPB tours

White Nights

DenRus

 

All kinds of reviews for these companies will be found on TripAdvisor.com as well. It is really up to you to do your homework.

[gbits]

We are on a Baltic cruise in September & have booked a large group from out roll call with TJ. They have been terrific in the communications & everyone who uses them seems quite happy with their tours. In the other places, I have found locals in each place rather than use TJ as I was concerned that we might get someone from St. P instead of a local person & they would not be as familiar with the particular area. In Berlin we are using Heather Mae Ellis who has been fabulous with putting together an itinerary & transportation arrangements for us. If you want her contact info email me at gbits@optonline.net. In Tallinn there are a couple of companies that offer free walking tours (2 hours) or a private tour (3 hours) for those who prefer a smaller group (the free one can be upwards of 50 people). I booked a private tour through Tallinn Traveller Tours for 9€pp, group of 15. They have been very responsive. Working on Helsinki now, happy to share my research with you if you email me [emoji3]

 

 

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[Jetsgo]

We're currently booked with SPB Tours for our upcoming cruise not only because they have great reviews, but because they were the only tour company we could find that offered tours in each port of call. In our case, that meant: Oslo, Berlin, Tallinn, St P, Helsinki, Stockholm, and Copenhagen post cruise. The convenience of working with one tour operator for all ports eased a lot of stress and anxiety for us. Bonus points for being able to prepay online in USD at the time... although now I think due to Russian law they can only accept payment in Rubles so make sure your card doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee.

[John Bull]

We were very happy with Alla, but those who used any of the other local operators mentioned on Cruise Critic were equally happy.

In fact, although I've seen plenty of "don't use **** Tours" warnings for other parts of the world I've seen nothing but praise for any St Petersburg tour operator. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them.

 

 

Virtually all tours by local operators are in 16-seat vans (minibuses).

OK, so there are 8 of you.

We were on a small ship & the operators weren't offering "seat in bus" bookings for our ship, so we had to put a group together. Alla's price was on a sliding scale depending on numbers, but for at least 8 was the same as her advertised "seat-in-bus" price. In fact we ended up as 20 - most thro the Cruise Critic RollCall & some from direct approaches to Alla - & were able to divide into ten each on a "Grand" tour & a "Comfort" tour, all at the "seat-in-bus" price.

 

So you should be able to book a van to yourselves for the same advertised price.

That way you can also vary the itinerary (the tour operator can help you put together a viable custom itinerary) because there are no other folks' wishes to be considered.

 

Several St Pete operators also offer tours in some of the other Baltic ports, with discounts for multi-city bookings.

But other ports, with the exception of Berlin from Warnemunde, are pretty easy to DIY using shuttlebuses, local buses, ho-ho buses & boats, and shanks's.

 

JB :)

[Sauer-kraut]

pretty easy to DIY using shuttlebuses, local buses, ho-ho buses & boats, and shanks's.

JB :)

For those of us on this side of the Atlantic....no, not weapons fashioned in a prison but rather the use of one's legs. ;p

[Hapylady]

We've signed up with Alla tours in St Petersburg because I've read such good things about them here and on Trip Advisors. We are sailing in mid August on the Princess.

[Snowy81]

We just came back from our cruise to the baltics.

In Helsinki we did a tram & walking tour through the city with http://www.finlandlocalguide.com

We went to the rock church and all the other major sites by taking the tram and walking.

 

 

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[jmsharp7]

We have booked with Alla Tours in St Petersburg. The itinerary looks great-a long day but covering so much ground. Anya has been our contact. She has replied promptly to all my questions and helped us through each stage of the booking process. No deposits required and we pay when we join the tour. We are looking forward to our day with Alla tours in St Petersburg.

[collijoha]

I prefer to avoid difficulties so one company to book for all the Baltic ports was the only way, we booked Best Guides. They were the most fast and proficient to reply and go ahead:D