Viking 2022, 3 days St. Petersburg, spending 1 day in Moscow

[jtrdhead13]

My friend and I are booked on Viking Jupiter's Russia & The Baltic Sea starting June 12, 2022.  There are 3 days in St. Petersburg.  We would like to spend one of those days in Moscow.  Looking for anyone who has done this, pros and cons, recommendations. 

[NancyIL]

I did this in 2014, thanks to Alla Tours. Days 1 and 3 were spent in St. Petersburg, and day 2 was spent in Moscow. We took the train early and returned late, and had about 8 hours in Moscow.

[CruiseMGM]

On 4/21/2021 at 8:57 AM, NancyIL said:

I did this in 2014, thanks to Alla Tours. Days 1 and 3 were spent in St. Petersburg, and day 2 was spent in Moscow. We took the train early and returned late, and had about 8 hours in Moscow.

 Ditto NancyIL's post, we also went with Alla Tours, but ours was in 2016 while on a cruise with RCCL. Day 2 was a VERY long day, I think we got back to the ship after 1am (we got caught in the mother of all traffic jams in Moscow and missed our train back to St Petersburg, managed to catch the LAST high speed train back otherwise we would have been on the milk run train!). After just a few hours of sleep, we were up very early the next day for our final day of tours in St Petersburg. I will say that Moscow definitely had a very different feel to it than St. Petersburg. I'm really glad we did it, as it may have been our only chance to see Moscow. But having done it once, if we were to do another Baltic, we'd spend our days a little more leisurely and concentrate on St. Petersburg.

 

Have a GREAT trip, jtrdhead13!

Edited May 8, 2021 by CruiseMGM

[dogs4fun]

IMHO, it is best to concentrate on Saint Petersburg if you have only 3 days. There is so much to see in Saint Petersburg that 3 days barely scratches the surface.

It is possible to visit Moscow on your second day in port but, as stated above, it will be a very long day. I have been to Moscow several times but not from a cruise ship - Moscow really merits a stay longer than eight hours. However, if your heart is set on visiting Moscow, it can be done using one of the private tour operators (our friends used Alla Tours but there are others as well) that will take you there on your second day in port. As I recall, our friends caught the Sapsan (high speed train) at about 6am and returned a little after midnight. 

[CassCruise]

I went with my daughter in 2019 and we only had 2 days in St Petersburg and elected to do the one day tour to Moscow (we had no choice but to do a ships tour as none of the "big" companies do it when there is only an overnight stopover) - I must say it was cold, wet and generally miserable weather (which we were totally unprepared for) and a super long day leaving at 6am and returning about 1.30am but we smiled the whole time and so thoroughly enjoyed this tour and to this day are so pleased we did this tour and I would say it is if not close to the best tour I have ever done - worth every cent.  The next day we managed to still see a bit of St Petersburg!

[zekebartkowski]

Also booked on the June 12 Viking Jupiter...today posed a question to Viking as to what they will do for the cruise ports of call if Putin invades Ukraine...yes, I want to see St Petersburg but will absolutely not feel safe as a US citizen....will post response if I get one.   And if Putin invades no way would I go to Moscow under and condition....

 

Zeke B.

[tring]

Have you considered returning to do a river cruise?  WE did that a few years ago with Viking and took their two night hotel stays each end as well.  If you do that, you do not need to pay silly prices for the Viking optional tours (though a lot of very good ones are included anyway).  The extra free time you will have both in the hotels and independently from the boat (a day each end if I remember correctly), will leave you time to do those other things independently at very little cost.  Trip Advisor forums are a great way to start investigating the independent part yourself.

[SbbquilterUT]

I would second the advise of the Tsars of the Waterways river cruise.  While we did not go in to Moscow early we thoroughly enjoyed our included walking tour the first day - easy to ride metro, lots of introduction to Moscow, ending with the delightful concert.  The next day we chose to spend the day on our own following Rick Steve's walking tour of the Red Square part of town.  A wonderful memory of all we discovered beyond the typical sites.

[carlsbadbruin]

We're on Holland America's Jewels of the Baltic cruise this June, and are opting to do the ship's tour to Moscow on day 1, and an afternoon cultural tour of St. Petersburg on day 2 (I assume we won't want to get up early after a late night). My husband wanted to go to Moscow and isn't interested in being herded around crowded museums, so this seemed the best way to spend the two days.