Port or Starboard docking for St Petersburg

[Major007]

Sailing on the Britannia does the ship dock on the Port side or Starboard side in St. Petersburg?

[jeanlyon]

Could be either.  Whatever the port wants on the day!

[Major007]

MMMMMMM ok so just take pot luck in booking the right side then

[Major007]

.....if you have been what are the views like then....sea one side and scenery the other ? lol

[P-L-B]

Docked port side when we were on board Azura in July 2014

 

[bee-ess]

I not sure but there is not much to see in the dock area anyway apart from the soccer stadium - the dock is a little way out of the city.

[Major007]

Great thanks.......

[jeanlyon]

I actually thought the port was very dowdy.  In fact the whole city is rather drab.  Enjoyed the Hermitage etc., but the actually city, no.

[majortom10]

There are some fantastic sights within the city Hermitage, Church of Spilled Blood and some beautiful architecture and also the underground is an experience. There also other fantastic buildings on the outskirts of the city Peterhof Palce and St Catherines Palace. We also did once a boat ride on the river which was very enjoyable seeing the sights of the city.

[Thejuggler]

St Petersburg main cruise port is in the middle of a 1960/70s Russian housing development, across the water is a huge power station and industrial area. It isn't pretty.

 

 The modern Holiday Inn looks quite out of place.  

 

However it does at least look like I imagined Russia would look!

[Brayman]

12 hours ago, Thejuggler said:

St Petersburg main cruise port is in the middle of a 1960/70s Russian housing development, across the water is a huge power station and industrial area. It isn't pretty.

 

 The modern Holiday Inn looks quite out of place.  

 

However it does at least look like I imagined Russia would look!

 

13 hours ago, jeanlyon said:

I actually thought the port was very dowdy.  In fact the whole city is rather drab.  Enjoyed the Hermitage etc., but the actually city, no.

 

I have to agree with both these posts. The docks and hinterland are grim, the city itself is quite dowdy apart from the tourist attractions! All those wires crossing the street reminded me of those awful cities in India.

 

[jh1809]

Try to do an excursion that takes in the inside of the Church on the Spilled Blood. The outside is remarkable enough, but the inside is the most amazing interior of a building that I've ever seen.

[Brayman]

1 minute ago, jh1809 said:

Try to do an excursion that takes in the inside of the Church on the Spilled Blood. The outside is remarkable enough, but the inside is the most amazing interior of a building that I've ever seen.

I was rather underwhelmed by the interior when our Russian guide told us it was mainly fake! What looks like mosaic is actually just paint it seems.

 

[jh1809]

Does it matter how the effect was achieved? It's just an amazing feast for the eyes.

[napoxoguk]

On 2/9/2019 at 5:42 AM, Brayman said:

...our guide told us it was mainly fake! What looks like mosaic is actually just paint it seems.

 

I think you must've misunderstood your guide - they might have referred to "indirect" (Venitian) technique being used, vs. "direct" (Roman) one. 

 

But it's hard to argue that the beauty, as always, is in the eye of the beholder.

[Britboys]

Personally, I wouldn't worry about what side the ship was berthing to.  I have been to St Petersburg twice on a cruise and on each occasion was off ship all day both days on excursions. Yes, some areas may be a bit dowdy but there is a lot to see and I found it utterly fascinating.

[annieuk]

I'd rather be docked looking out to sea than looking over towards the horrible grey flats which you can see on the land side.  There may be wonderful sites to see in the city itself but certainly not in the port.

 

 

[Brayman]

7 hours ago, napoxoguk said:

I think you must've misunderstood your guide - they might have referred to "indirect" (Venitian) technique being used, vs. "direct" (Roman) one. 

 

But it's hard to argue that the beauty, as always, is in the eye of the beholder.

 

I think it was use of the word "fake" that surprised us so much, and not just in the Church of Spilled Blood!

 

[crimson moon]

A couple of pictures of the port area taken last summer.

[napoxoguk]

7 hours ago, Brayman said:

 

I think it was use of the word "fake" that surprised us so much, and not just in the Church of Spilled Blood!

 

I think the use of the word "fake" must've been your guide's little idiosyncrasy: for some people, anything that has been reconstructed or restored is not "authentic", which must severely limit one's appreciation for the world around us 🙂

One should only see the wartime and post-war photos of Peterhof, Catherine's palace and other places in and around Leningrad to process the scale of damage - and, for some people, appreciate the quality and scale of restoration work.

 

As to the port itself - yes, it's nothing to write home about. When they built the city back in 17 hundreds, they didn't quite have the foresight to accommodate several 6,000-pax megaships at a time in the historic center. 

Edited February 11, 2019 by napoxoguk

[P-L-B]

1 hour ago, crimson moon said:

A couple of pictures of the port area taken last summer.

Nice pictures.

Looks like you docked at a different location to us when we visited in 2014.

You can see the view we had from Azura, see post 5