Red October-St. Petersburg Russia

[hillcats4]

We are planning a cruise July 2005 on the Jewel of the Sea. Has anyone had experience with Red October? There are four in our family, prices seem high but so do excursions with the ship. Any Russia or other Scandanavian port suggestions would be appreciated.

 

MHill

[Andee]

For four of us travelling together last summer, two full days with Red October were cheaper than two full days of ship's shore excursions.

 

Plus, there were only four of us, so we didn't waste time getting 40 people on & off a bus, in & out of shops and the restrooms, etc. They tailored their itinerary to our interests, and both the guide and the driver were wonderful.

[Francine]

We have nothing but good thoughts about Red October. We used them in June, 2002 when we were on NCL Dream. They were always on time and took us to the places we wanted to see. We spent two whole days with our driver and guide and one evening. We were a group of six and we were escorted right past the long lines of people who booked the cruise ship tours. (We even heard some negative comments made about why we were going passed those waiting on line.) If you go to their website www.redoctober.spb.ru they have a list of suggested sights to see. They will design your tour to your wishes.

Fran

[psygist]

We used RO last summer and have nothing but praise for them. You will definately see and experience far more of St Petersburg with them as your guide. Obviously, they can be more expensive, unless you are able to split the cost among a group of 4 or more, but well worth the cost. They allowed me to design my own itinerary and we were able to add to it once in their van.

 

So, I highly recommend RO - you won't be disappointed!

[bankr]

We also used RO last year in St. Petersburg. It was the highlight of the trip. You will definitely see more than on a ship tour and it was well worth the price. There were six of us...one couple RO hooked me up with before the cruise and then we met another couple on the ship who decided to join us. RO sent extra visas and we just let them know the first day. I would definitely recommend doing a private tour in St. Petersburg.

[hillcats4]

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. Red October has emailed a number of times already and I will definitely look for another two people to share the cost. Any suggestions for the other Scandanavian ports?

 

MHill

[Devon]

Olga at DenRus is very accomodating and we are booked with her group. I compared rates and they are less than Red October and Den Rus is thought of highly as well.

[Andee]

When I researched this trip last year, RO and Denrus were very close in price, but Denrus raised the price a bunch and became unpleasant to deal with when we made some minor itinerary changes.

[gdayhoff]

You can't go wrong with RO.It was nothing but outstanding from day one.A real pleasure and a joy doing business with Laura.First class outfit all the way.Thanks to RO and our guide,Alyonia, St Petersburg was the highlight out baltic cruise last summer.Love to go back

[shoshona2]

Hi gdayhoff,

 

Six of us used Red October last August and had a wonderful tour. We loved it so much that we booked Tauck's tour of Russian for 2005 and will return to St. Petersburg for three more days as well as three days in Moscow.

[Compass Rose Monica]

What were the costs on the Red October tours?

 

Thanks!

 

Monica

[aqua]

We just returned from a 2 day tour with RO. We had a group of 9 people and paid extra to go inside Peterhof and Catherine's Palace. We brought lunch the first day and ate at a restaurant on the second. The first day cost $155 per person and the second day cost $123 plus $17 for lunch.

[Compass Rose Monica]

You mentioned you brought lunch the first time. Does Celebrity let you order a lunch to take with you? Or did you order room service and packed it?

 

Monica

[Dripps]

We are planning a cruise July 2005 on the Jewel of the Sea. Has anyone had experience with Red October? There are four in our family, prices seem high but so do excursions with the ship. Any Russia or other Scandanavian port suggestions would be appreciated.

 

MHill

 

We are also planning July 2005 Jewel cruise. Are you leaving July 2? I have emailed RO and she wrote back saying they were working on this summers tours and would send info after October. We have a family of 4 or 5 going (depending on my older son's availability). Perhaps we can combine our group. I haven't seen any pricing at all from them yet so I don't know if it will save us to make the group larger. I have following the threads on the Baltic cruises to pick up as much info as possible on our upcoming ports.

[NH Cruiser]

There is a thread on the RCI Meet & Mingle board for this trip (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=16203). Hillcats4 is posting on that board, as well as several others on this cruise. Take a look at the M&M board and join in on the posts. There are discussions about RO on that board too. It seems to be the way to tour St Petersburg.

[aqua]

Monica, We ordered sandwiches from room service the night before. We got ham and cheese baguettes for the guide and driver and they seemed pleased. We also brought bottled water, a few pieces of fruit, and some packaged snacks from home. We brought plastic bags and soft-sided coolers with us and stored the food in the fridge overnight. I don't think that Celebrity sells box lunches- that would have been easier- but this worked out fine.

[Dripps]

NH Cruiser, Thank you so much for steering me to that thread. I never thought to look there already -- and to see 6 pages of activity! I will read through and I'm happy to join the group already making plans!

[nola7246]

Thumbs UP!!! They were great and well worth it!!!!! Can't say enough about them....they made our trip PERFECT and MEMORABLE!!!!

[dappleb]

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH. Red October has emailed a number of times already and I will definitely look for another two people to share the cost. Any suggestions for the other Scandanavian ports?

 

MHill

I am also interested in shore excursions for Baltic ports. Any responses?

[MaseratiCruiser]

I can recommend Red October with highest regards since we used them for two days last August. They will pick you up from your ship, which eliminates you from having to buy a visa for Russia. Their guides are extremely efficient, and although rather expensive, will give you your monies worth for sure. We felt so privileged using them over the ship's tours, because many of the people that used the ship's, or American Express tours, came back complaining about how much they missed out on. Or guide Helen (I think they might have at least three Helens employed) made sure that we were at Peter the Greats palace first thing in the morning, even before the other tours were allowed in. This palace which is usually bumper to bumper with crowds, was virtually empty while our small group of six got to wander around in it like we owned it!

 

I also recommend booking the "lunch with a Russian family" option with Red October, because this turned out to be a very unique experience and was one of our most favorite memories of the trip. We were taken to an upstairs flat, in the heart of St. Petersburg, and this very nice lady (a former Russian ballerina) and her elderly mother that lived there, fixed us a typical Russian meal that was excellent. We got to converse with them over dinner (the daughter spoke English) and our guide would interpret for the grandmother.

 

While I'm still ranting about Red October, even though you will be exhausted at the end of the tour/day, go ahead and pay them more money to pick you up one evening for the Russian Ballet! They picked up four from our group that evening (the other two were pooped out) and dropped us off outside the Marinsky Theater (I'm sure that I'm not spelling this right) where we got to view an entire performance of Swan Lake. How neat it was to be left to watch Swan Lake, in Russia, within a packed theater of Russian locals everywhere around us! After the performance our guide was waiting for us outside the theater for our ride back to the ship.

 

Don't miss using Red October, even if you have to scrape pennies in the other ports to do so.

[dappleb]

Thanks for the info. I'm also looking for a similar operator, if one exists, for the other Baltic stops eg. Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo. Any ideas?

[MaseratiCruiser]

Thanks for the info. I'm also looking for a similar operator, if one exists, for the other Baltic stops eg. Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo. Any ideas?

 

Really and truly, you won't need an organized tour for these three cities. They are so easy to do with the Hop On Hop Off buses. When you board the bus you get a map with route and the attractions numbered, so you can later board any other bus (as long as it is the same color) and continue on from where you left off. These buses normally come through each stop every 15 minutes. Just make sure you know when the stops end, at the end of the day, so you can be sure to catch a bus back to the ship. Very simple, efficient and economical way to see these cities.

 

In Oslo the Hop On arrived right beside our ship. In Copenhagen we had to walk a short distance down the port to the Little Mermaid, where we caught the Hop On. In Stockholm you will need to catch a taxi outside the ship (there will be some waiting and some coming back and forth) and have the taxi take you to into the city. You can ask the driver, but we caught the Hop On right across from the Royal Palace, on the harbor, where the boat tours leave from.

 

If you disembark in Stockholm, I recommend you stay at least another day in this great city. It was one of our favorites and we did not have enough time to see everything we wanted to. Be sure to check out the Royal Armory in the basement of the Royal Palace. Some of the most intriguing items in a museum I have ever seen. They have the Kings horse from around the 1600s, actually stuffed and on display, that he was riding on when he was killed in battle! They also have an amazing collection of the Royal carriages and sleds that are still in pristine condition after 400 + years. Plus too much more to mention. Enjoy!