Red October and Denrus guides

[dog]

Thank you both for outlining your tours. This really helps us get an idea of what is possible in a smaller independent tour! :) J.

[lmt1022]

Just returned from our Gems of the Baltic cruise. In St. Petersburg we had a private tour (group of 8) with Alla Tours. Julia was our guide, and we could not have been happier. I cannot say enough wonderful things about her...

During our 2 days we went to Catherines Palace, Peterhof, Yusopov, St. Isaacs, a local market, the synagague, a canal cruise, Saviour of the Blood Church, Hermitage, rode a subway (which was absolutely beautiful), cruiser Aurora, Nevsky Prospect, Peter and Paul Fortress and some time for shopping. We were able to see it all because the smaller group.

I had checked both DenRus and Red October, but I liked the prices better with Alla, plus she was the only one out of the 3 that replied to my emails in a timely manner. She also did not require a deposit.

[Balliett]

Just off the voyager. note that she docks at a passenger terminal in st. pete, not the industrial area everyone writes about. one could walk a few dozen yards to a busy street with cabs and busses. we had a private guide for the two of us for a day and one half (alla-tours). Peterhof with hydrofoil ride back was one of the best mornings. skip catherine's palace if you are pressed for time. hope for cool weather for yr hermitage visit(s).

 

but you asked about tips. we paid the agreed price of $900 US dollars at the end (included photo fees and admissions). I added tips (in rubles, because I had them handy) of about $60 equivalent for the guide and $35 equiv for the driver. everyone seemed pleased.

 

osu buckeye

[RickT]

just wondered if anyone has had allyona as a guide with RO?comments please although i'm sure she will be great

 

Recently off the Constellation and was part of a smaller group (13) and we had Allyona as our guide. We were originally promised a different guide but had no complaints. Her english was excellent and she was extremely knowledgeable. Would highly recommend her. If she is your guide, tell her you were talking to former guests and we wanted to know how her "KGB" assignment was working out. She kept joking throughout the tour that she was really with the KGB and was on assignment to keep an eye on us.

 

Enjoy your trip.

[Carol1e]

Just returned from a cruise to Russia & took a private tour (just two of us) with Denrus. When we got off the ship, we were introduced to Ludmila & my heart sank because I had read so much about her (& she looks the part) but, thankfully, we were taken over to Olga. Olga was wonderful & I would ask for her. She took us over the course of two days to many places the ship's tours don't. My e-mails back & forth with Denrus were with Natalie who always responded quickly & I would imagine you could ask for Olga.

 

If you need any other info, I'll be glad to help.

[kinderteacher]

we are going on celebrity june 3,2007 we are agroup of 8 from miami.

[SF]

kinderteacher:

 

What ship are you sailing? We're doing a Baltic cruise too but leaving on June 2nd..Constellation.

 

To those that have used either RO or Den Rus:

 

What amnt. of a deposit did you have to leave? How far in advance did you book? What if you can't go, do you get a refund? Did you have trouble getting off the ship early to meet your tour? Do you have to let the ship know you're booked with another agency and need to get off early?

[Sea Day Cruiser]

kinderteacher:

 

What amnt. of a deposit did you have to leave? How far in advance did you book? What if you can't go, do you get a refund? Did you have trouble getting off the ship early to meet your tour? Do you have to let the ship know you're booked with another agency and need to get off early?

 

We used DenRus and gave them credit card numbers when we booked several months ahead of time. No charges went through at that time. About one month before our trip the charge went through on our credit cards. We booked four or five months ahead of the tour. I don't know about getting a refund because it didn't come up for any of us.

 

We were on the Star Princess and had no trouble getting off the ship despite all the scare stuff that was put out ahead of time. The cruise director on the Star is aware that a lot of people take private tours and he told us where we needed to be and when. We made sure we were down by the gangway before 7 AM so we were off before the ship tours started. You do not have to let the ship know you have a private tour. As long as you have the tickets DenRus (and I assume RO is the same) sent in an email, that's what you need. You also need your passport and a copy of the picture page of the passport for Russian immigration.

[Juliadlf]

Just got back late yesterday and was on the Star 8/23 sailing.

We had a DenRus custom 2 day tour with 14 other CC members and we had Inna as our guide. She was excellent and our driver Michael was able to get us through all the heavy traffic without any concerns of us missing the ship!!

 

Julia

[spearmint]

I posted a similar thread to this, but it was removed as it was deemed that I was recommending a company or guide. It is related to other posts on this thread. It concerns DenRus guide, Ljudmilla.

 

I had read negative reports on these boards about Ljudmilla and then, later, some positive reports. However, the negative feeling remained, and when I approached DenRus for tickets, I indicated that I did not want Ljudmilla as a guide. Since we were buying the Value Excursion Tour, and not the more expensive personalized version, choosing the tour guide was not an option. THANKS GOODNESS! We got Ljudmilla, and after an initial feeling of dismay, decided to just "go with it". Within 2 hours we were glad that we did.

 

I guess my posting is an attempt at a tangible apology to her; with my age and my education, I should have known better than to make a decision about a person without firsthand knowledge or experience. That does not mean that other posters should not have written about what they perceived on their trips; this is just my and my wife's experience.

 

Ljudmilla is intelligent, independent, knowledgeable, articulate and has a good sense of humour. We were lucky, in that there were only ten of us on our tour, in a van instead of a bus, and we got to know each other somewhat over the next two days. Ljudmilla noted on the second day that we were like a little family instead of individuals in a group, and that was true. I asked all ten people about our guide, and all were enthusiastic over her. (Some were even aware of the negativity from CruiseCritic. We also met another larger group from DenRUs on our canal cruise and some of them knew of Ljudmilla from this site, too. I promised all that I would write positively when I returned home.) We met each other occasionally on board or on other excursions after Saint Petersburg, which was great. A big hello to Robert and Nancy, Bob and Meg, Garth and Heidi, Mark and Wendy. Almost all of my photos turned out... over 1300!

 

Yes, she made comments on the Tsars, the Soviet Union, and Russia. She made no attempt to favor past over present or vice-versa. Personally, I thought that she "had her act together" pretty well. She gave us a great 2-day tour, with detailed information, for example, on paintings in the Hermitage, and kept up non-stop information on what we were seeing or what was coming up as we travelled in the van or on the canal.

 

Yes, she made it clear that she was the guide and had the tour excursion planned out, and that she could not necessarily change or add to it at the whim/request of any one person. Well, isn't that what one wants a general guide to do? If one wants a personalized itinerary, then a personalized (but more expensive) tour is available. If one does not want to be taken around and shown the sights, then one should not take a tour; one should go on one's own. As an example, Ljudmilla often took another route through the Hermitage, when our group was threatened with absorption from some of the larger hoardes who barreled in and seemed intent on taking over the place! She took us back to the original spot later when there were fewer crowds. Without a competent guide, one would be at a complete loss as to what to do.

 

Yes, she made comments about men (and women) in general. We thought they were humorous, especially the women! She told about life in general in Russia, including statistics about homelife, life expectancy, children, etc. It was not difficult to see where some of her comments came from. We joked with her a good deal.

 

Ljudmilla turned out to be the best guide of all that we had on our cruise, and that is saying something, as the guides from Poland, Finland and Sweden were super. All were from ship's tours by the way. One of my common comments after Saint Petersburg was that the guide was "good, but he/she was no Ljudmilla."

 

In the interests of fairness, I must say that other groups that we met were enthusiastic about their guides as well, including the group with us on the canal cruise. We went to the CruiseCritic party and met "Sandyruth" who was very pleased with her Red October guide.

 

Every positive comment on this thread which I have reread, turned out to be totally accurate regarding Ljudmilla. But one should not discount those who's experience was not positive. My second purpose in writing is to advise members to keep an open mind when reading and reacting to posts. I did not and I should have. Happy touring to all of you.

[racmar2]

I'm thinking about booking either Red October or Denrus for our upcoming Baltics cruise on the Constellation. I was wondering the name of the some of the guides people have used and if they were good. I read that some were very good, while others just okay.

 

I had read the threads about Ludmilla, and talked with StanJ at DenRus who stood firmly behind her. Low and behold she was our guide for the Value Tour of 2 days in St. Pete in August. When I realized she was our guide, it was quite exciting, like having a celebrity--such strong opinions had been expressed about her about her on the internet. I believe she is a recently retired university history professor and long time St. Pete resident. My husband and I found her to be very intelligent, fair, humorous, wise and interesting in her interpretations of history. I noticed her compassion and her passion for people, Life, and St. Petersburg. She carried an unbrella or a cute toy high in the air so we could always fine her. She was definitely a "take charge" woman, and I felt very safe with her, but she was also relaxed and even playful, much of the time. I felt I knew St. Pete much more intimately because of Ludmilla and the experiences and history she conveyed to us. In evaluating the tour for Den Rus, when asked the best thing about the tour, I had to write, "LUDMILLA". Somehow, I feel that during our two days in Russia, I got to know a very interesting Russian. I found myself missing her in the days after St. Pete.

[AndrewM]

In evaluating the tour for Den Rus, when asked the best thing about the tour, I had to write, "LUDMILLA". Somehow, I feel that during our two days in Russia, I got to know a very interesting Russian. I found myself missing her in the days after St. Pete.

 

Your experience with Ludmilla sounds pretty much the same as that shared by the other people on my tour...I was the only one who had anything the least bit disparaging to say about her. In fact, the older guy in my group was sending her love notes in Russian after we got back. Are we talking about the same woman pictured here on my webpage: http://www.hwired.com/baltic/stpetersburg1.html

[jcrandle]

Your experience with Ludmilla sounds pretty much the same as that shared by the other people on my tour...I was the only one who had anything the least bit disparaging to say about her. In fact, the older guy in my group was sending her love notes in Russian after we got back. Are we talking about the same woman pictured here on my webpage:

That is certainly the Ludmilla that guided our value tour in August this year. When we were introduced to her, I mentioned that I had seen postings about her on CruiseCritic. She immediatly said Uh Oh, but I went on to tell her that most were very positive. She then told us about one negative incident that she suspects resulted in bad postings. Keep in mind that the following is Ludmilla's account, and since I was not there, I can't vouch for the accuracy.

 

Ludmilla was leading a tour group that had several pax that were a bit challenging and one of them, who happened to be a priest, seemed to be questioning some of her statements. (I suspect that a personality conflict developed.) Ludmilla said that on their visit to one of the cathedrals (I believe it was St. Issac's) she pointed out a mosaic that depicted Moses holding the two stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments. Wishing to make peace with the priest, Ludmilla asked him if he knew why there were four Commandments on one tablet, and six on the other (designated by roman numerals). He didn't know, and evidently thought that Ludmilla was deliberately trying to show him up.

 

Evidently the answer is well known to people brought up in the Russian Orthodox religion, but not so obvious to others. When she asked me the same question, I had to admit ignorance. The answer is that four of the Commandments are about man's relationship with God, and six about his relationship with his fellow man.

 

DW and I thoroughly enjoyed Ludmilla, both for her detailed knowledge and commentary on the sites we visited, but also for her sense of humor. Since we had the good fortune to be the only two on a Value Tour, we had more than the usual opportunity to swap jokes, which Ludmilla would translate for Nicholai, our driver. He responded in kind, and we had great rapport.

 

As others have mentioned, Ludmilla has strong opinions, and doesn't hesitate to voice them. One that she mentioned, was her frustration over recent immigrants to Russia from some of the former Soviet territories. She complained that they didn't respect the laws and culture of Russia, and didn't bother to learn the local language. I admitted that in the US many of us had similar issues and concerns.

[susha]

We were also on the DenRus tour with Ludmilla as our guide. I have to say ,she was amazing! Her background as an Art History Lecturer was a bonus and all on our tour thought she was wonderful! You won't go wrong with her and DenRus!:) Hi Spearmint. Glad to see you got home ok.

[spearmint]

We were also on the DenRus tour with Ludmilla as our guide. I have to say ,she was amazing! Her background as an Art History Lecturer was a bonus and all on our tour thought she was wonderful! You won't go wrong with her and DenRus!:) Hi Spearmint. Glad to see you got home ok.

 

Hi, Susha! We were just looking at a photo of you, hubby and youngster, up in the viewing box of the Viking Ship museum as we went through our photos the other day. It was great to meet another poster on our tour. I am so glad you also wrote re:Ljudmilla, as I felt she was getting a reputation that was quite undeserved. Hope all is well down under. Regards to G. Bill

[kinderteacher]

Thank-you Mycruz and Bill S. for your very informative input. Helen sounds like a wonderful guide. How far in advance did you book Red October? My cruise is in June 20007. I went on a Med. cruise in 2004 and booked my guides about a year in advance and didn't know if I should do the same for the Baltics.

Thanks again, Scott

 

We will be going on the century june 3 2007 when are you going?

my e-mail is joaniks@aol.com

[Aliasfan]

Were on the Constellation on June 30, 2007.

[Aliasfan]

Thanks for all your replies!!

[ROSEBERRY]

We spent 2 days with Ludmila on our DenRus tour last July. I fought with her on occasion and I could tell she hated me with a passion but it was 2 days I don't regret at all. You describe the woman I remember so we must have had the same guide. I've detailed my 2 days with Ludmila here:

 

http://www.hwired.com/baltic/stpetersburg1.html

 

What a wonderful review Andrew, you described beautifully the same experience we had with Ludmila in St Petersburg. Like you we don't regret one minute we spent with her.She is an extremely educated women who doesn't tolerate fools, but what she doesn't know about Russia isn't worth knowing;).