St Petersburg 2 day excurision

[Sorry Muffin]

I'm on the July 5 Jewel of the Sea Baltic Cruise.  I was thinking of signing up for RCCL 2 day St Petersburg excision, and notice that it is considered Strenuous. I'm 70 years old and in good health except I has asthma.  Is the working as hard has climbing to the top of the Acropolis in Athens?  I just completed this tour, made it to the top, but then stumbled and dislocated my finger, I was able to continue the tour.  So if any one can compare the 2 please advise me

 

Mary 

 

[klfrodo]

Strenuous in that there is a lot of walking and climbing stairs. Nothing like the Acropolis though. That one wore my 60yo butt out.

We did what you're planning last year. My wife and I don't even count it as a tour. It was more of a walk by (as in Drive by but walking).

If I were to do this again, or if someone I really liked were to do this and they asked my advice,,,, I would highly recommend looking at Alla Tours https://alla-tour.com/   There reviews are very good, the groups are much smaller, they arrange for the Visa just like the cruise ship does.

 

Our Royal tours were just a nightmare. Too many people, too rushed, and with so many people, some folks didn't pay any attention and went off on their own causing our tour guide to stop our tour until they could get the herd back together.

Edited October 21, 2019 by klfrodo

[shofer]

Hi Mary,  I can answer your question but for more opinions, post this question on the Baltic port of call board.

 

First of all,  join the Roll Call for your cruise on these Boards.  There will be much sharing of information about all the ports of call for your cruise.  When we did the Baltic on Vision, I found and joined a group who already had booked a private tour with ALLA tours.   MUCH BETTER than the ship's excursions!  We had 14 people on our tour of St. Petersburg with early access to museums, etc. and easier on the wallet.

 

As far as being able to walk the tour, don't worry.  It is mostly flat walking with some stairs.  I was 69 y/o climbing the Acropolis and 71 y/o touring the Baltic and did it w/o any trouble.  You do need stamina for the walking and there are some chances to sit/stand.  Of course you are sitting on the bus between sites some of which are 30-60 minutes apart.

 

Here is my review of that cruise which has quite a bit of detail.

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=587874

 

Happy to answer any questions you may have.

 

Susan

[voyager70]

No where near as difficult as walking to the top of the Acropolis.  You'll be fine.

 

[SoccerMom#3]

Another vote for Alla Tours in St. Petersburg.  We did their two day Must See Tour in May when we were with another cruise line.  Loved Alla and only 14 in our group.

[nwcruiselover]

Another private tour company that I can highly recommend is TJ Tours.  They can arrange tours for all the stops on your Baltic cruise if you wish, and there is an attractive discount for booking multiple tours.  I was very pleased with the company and enjoyed all the tours.  That being said, St. Petersburg was very challenging for me, but I did it and I’m glad I did.  There is a lot of walking and standing.  I did just a one-day tour, and my Fitbit said I walked 17,000 steps.  That’s about 7.50 miles, many more than I usually do.  I was 70 when I did it.  St. Petersburg is such a unique and interesting place to visit, so I encourage you to do the tour if you can.

[njkruzer]

Used Alla.  Recommend them.

[Glide_Path]

For the price of a RCL excursion, you can probably do a private tour with one of the big 3 Alla, TJ or SPB.  Do the private tour, go at your own pace.  Walk and see as much or as little as you want to.

[Tin can]

Another recommendation for a private tour. We went with TJ Tours and can’t recommend enough.

 

We had our four year old son with us so also wanted something less strenuous and it worked out great.

 

We are usually big fans of RCI tours but the ships tours created a lot of very angry passengers in St Petersburg. The first evening in Russia it looked like half the ship was queuing at shore excursions.

 

This was in 2014 so maybe things have changed now but I would have happily paid double for our TJ tour as it was that memorable.

[swmichigan cruiser]

This summer we used SPB tours for St. Peter and 4 other ports and all tours were very good. I am 72 and wife 69 and we also had two older grandkids with us. We did a two day deluxe tour in St Pete probably 14 people. It does tire you out but well worth it. Only thing I did wrong for the first night I booked a Russian folklore show and then I realized we were already getting tired and knew we had to get up early the next morning and I knew it was to late to get a refund but I still canceled it. Not SPB tours fault mine for trying to do to much.

[LeeW]

The big problem with ship excursions in St Petersburg is the large buses.  You spend a lot of time getting on and off these and they are big steps.  Some large staircases in Catherine Palace.  Entertainment and meals are great but days are 8-9 hours of straight on the go.  You would likely do better with a smaller private tour company tour using a van.

[steveru621]

Acropolis was a shorter but more strenuous excursion. 

 

RCI's 2 day St. Petersburg excursion is a lot of walking on flat ground through parks and museums.  Except for short periods on the bus and during lunch, you are on the move the whole day.  We did it at 66 and we were tired, but happy, at the end of the day!

 

EDIT:  Just want to point out the traffic St. Petersburg is challenging to say the least.  We got back to the ship on the RCI excursion one hour late.

 

 

Edited October 22, 2019 by steveru621

[Lindypops]

3 hours ago, swmichigan cruiser said:

This summer we used SPB tours for St. Peter and 4 other ports and all tours were very good. I am 72 and wife 69 and we also had two older grandkids with us. We did a two day deluxe tour in St Pete probably 14 people. It does tire you out but well worth it. Only thing I did wrong for the first night I booked a Russian folklore show and then I realized we were already getting tired and knew we had to get up early the next morning and I knew it was to late to get a refund but I still canceled it. Not SPB tours fault mine for trying to do to much.

We did the 2 SPB tour and found it excellent.

There was 8 or 10 , cant remember , in a mini bus much better than the ships mega tours.

agree that you should not book an evening tour on the first night it is a long day.

 

we got to see so much but it never felt rushed and I think we did a couple of things which the big tours dont do.  Lunch at a pie shop where the locals eat and a trip down the escalators into a subway station, which was like a marble hall complete with Chandeliers .

On out return to the ship on day 2 we were met by one of the company directors thanking us for choosing  SPB.

 

Totally recommend SPB 

 

[Joseph2017China]

Did a two day tour, and highly recommending it with one of the small tour companies previously mentioned.  My wife is disabled and with a scooter.  We managed the entire two days with no issues.  Plus, we extended day one, with an evening dinner and a private walking tour with the tour company that included a vodka tasting in the evening.  We were out from 8:00 to sometime after 10:00pm and did the second day tour.  Tours like this is more about your attitude than about the aggressiveness of the tour.  If you go with a good attitude, and willing to push yourself than all will be good.  We had 2 people that only wanted to get back to the ship, they "saw" enough.  I think most of the others wanted to just leave them behind.  They complained about every thing, including the walking, and the amount of time spent at each place etc.  They complained that the food stop was Russian.  So if my wife can do it, so can you.  It was a great tour, and unforgettable experience (including the Russian lunch)