Very happy with DenRus

[SheilahMcA]

We just returned from a Baltic cruise on Cunard's Caronia, and we used DenRus for two days of touring St. Petersburg on July 30 and 31. We were totally pleased with all aspects of DenRus services. We wanted to go to certain sites associated with Peter the Great, rather than the standard itinerary, and Ilya of the DenRus staff was very accommodating in working out a plan to meet our particular interests. His responses were more prompt than my replies, and even though I got the visa information to him less than 10 days before we left, everything we needed arrived at our home in no time. We did not need to pay for anything until the end, and I think the charges were reasonable for what we got- a comfortable private car, driver, and guide for two days for just two of us with an itinerary which was entirely according to our wishes.

 

Our guide was Ludmilla, a former teacher in her fifties, and I cannot imagine a better person to have explored St. Petersburg with. Although there were huge lines of ship tour bus passengers standing in the rain outside Peterhoff, we went right in. Ludmilla made sure that we were able to have our tour of one of the smaller palaces, Mon Plaisir, even though it was closed because of the rain. She took us to a small Russian pierogi shop for lunch, where we were the only non-Russians, and the three of us had an excellent substantial meal for less than $12 total! She took us to Russian shops, the subway, Putin's summer home, the central Post Office, antique shops, Peter's statue to see the Russian brides donating their bouquets, and all sorts of other places that were not on our intinerary but were fascinating. When I forgot to bring the right tour tickets (which constituted our entry visas) when getting off the ship the second day, Ludmilla came in and had the matter taken care of with Russian customs in an eye blink. She seemed to know everyone and everything at the museums and sites we went to, and her knowledge of art and history added greatly to our experience of the collections of the Hermitage and the historical sites we saw.

 

Those were some of the practicalities of touring with Ludmilla- the most fascinating part was Ludmilla herself. She was well educated, knowledgable, interested, opinionated, engaged, candid- I think in our conversations we learned as much about Russian life and the similarities and differences between our two societies as we did about Russian history and culture. She was alternately assertive or diplomatic when needed and managed my travelling companion very well, who can be sometimes slightly difficult when in a totally unfamiliar situation. It was truly a memorable two days, and I am very happy that we chose DenRus- our short visit to St. Petersburg was everything that I could have hoped for.

[Mercury]

Thanks so much for sharing this. We are sailing on Jewel on 20 Aug and a group of us have also booked with Denrus. Your positive report has made me even more excited!

[thecruisechick]

SheilahMcA,

 

How many were in your group? What kind of car did they use? Did they send you the forms for the Visa and then take care of having it issued?

 

Thanks for the report on them.

[Jane110]

HI Sheila,

 

Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience.

 

Four of us took a tour with Red October and we liked them very much. The only thing that disappointed me with them was they wanted to take us to one of the tourist places for lunch at $21. per person or to a russian family's home for the same price. Knowing that I can eat well here in expensive NYC for that and comparing it to Russia's economy, I felt both were rip-offs. I would have insisted on going to a real russian restaurant like the one you went to, but the other couple we were with had dietary issues, so we wound up bringing sandwiches. I would have preferred the pirogi lunch. (we had a lovely lunch in Gdansk for $5.50 a person)

 

We were deciding between the 2 companies and the other couple read more about RO than Denrus and so preferred them. However, I have heard nothing but good things about Denrus too.

 

I'm just happy to see some balance here and the raves for Denrus. It's not good if everyone uses Red October.

 

Again, thanks for sharing.

 

Jane

[vtrav]

We went with Denrus a couple of weeks ago and had a fabulous time!!! We went to a small restaurant also and had a great lunch, 3 people for $20 (we treated the guide to lunch).

 

Anyway, I can't imagine a better guide, tour or driver (Micheal).....

 

Just fabulous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Compass Rose Monica]

I see people posting their tour information, but don't see prices. I'm going on a Baltic cruise next year, so I'd appreciate knowing what your tour cost pp.

 

Thanks!

 

Monica

[SheilahMcA]

In response to the questions: 1)I do not know the brand of the car- it was a comfortable compact car with no air-conditioning, as I requested. You can request various levels of vehicles, including luxury vehicles or vans, but I went with the cheapest; 2) the price for 2 of us for 2 days for private car, driver, and guide was about $800, not including the tips we gave at our discretion- the prices vary depending on the number of people, the type of car requested, the number of hours, and the specific sites requested. DenRus will send a price list laying all of the alternatives out in response to your emails; 3) I provided basic passport info by email and we were sent our tour tickets by mail very quickly-we had also recieved the itinerary, invoice, a letter containing all certification info about DenRus, a letter regarding ship practices with private tour passengers, and the itinerary by email. The tour tickets constituted our entry visas-there was no extra charge for visas, this was included in the tour price.

 

Incidentally, Ilya, the young man with whom all my email communication had taken place, was at the docks along with our guide and driver to greet us and make sure that everything was to our satisfaction. We also met some of the other DenRus personnel when we returned to the ship one day-DenRus was handling the ship tours for a huge British cruise ship that was docking in the same place, and Ludmilla introduced us to several people, incluidng Olga, her boss. They were all very pleasant and concerned to make sure that were were pleased with our experiences, which we certainly were.

[Jane110]

We had 4 people on our Red October tour and we were charged about $750. per couple. This included musuem admissions and the extra $15. pp to go into the Gold Room at the Hermitage. Also included were our Visa's. Price did not include any food, drink or tips. The price goes down with the more people you have. We could have saved money by having another couple or two with us, but we preferred our group to be only 4.

 

We had a comfortable Mercedes Mini-Van, a driver and a guide that was fluent in english. She was terrific.

[Compass Rose Monica]

Thanks for the pricing information!

 

Monica

[Compass Rose Monica]

"We went with Denrus a couple of weeks ago and had a fabulous time!!! We went to a small restaurant also and had a great lunch, 3 people for $20 (we treated the guide to lunch)."

 

Vtrav, could you provide the name of the small restaurant you dined in?

 

Thanks,

 

Monica

[eddie]

I just finished reading the denrus reviews does anyone ahve their web address or their mailing address. thank you

[cadreamer]

SheilahMc A I am very interested to hear about how you planned your itinerary that enabled you to go to so many interesting out of the main stream places. Did you chose some larger sites and then allow extra time to insert extras? Did you just say you wanted Peter the Great sites and then leave it up to Denrus? How were you able to fit it all into the allotted time? I got the impression that he itinerary was pretty well decided in advance. It seems you found your guide very flexible. What museums did you go to besides the Hermitage?

[Jack1]

Last summer we too took DenRus and had Ludmilla as our guide. She is everything sheilahmca described. (She is opinioniated but we put that down as part of her charm!) We thoroughly enjoyed our 2 days there and we came to believe that Ludmilla knew everyone in St. Petersburg! She was great at bypassing the long lineups (at times we felt guilty) but we just followed her lead. We saw many things we might not have in a cruise sponsered tour and she and the driver (Sasha) were always prompt and reliable. Nice to see someone else had a good experience with DenRus after hearing so much about Red October and only a little about DenRus.

[SheilahMcA]

In rereading the posts, I find I did not address all of your questions. The itinerary was decided in advance but was flexible. There was time built in for a city tour each day and that is probably where the extra time was found to add things. Most of the sites in the city are very close together with very little travel time between them. We could have changed museums and nearly did- when Ludmila found out what an art lover my companion was, she suggested we might want to go to the Russian National Museum to see the collection of Russian art, and said we could work it in if we wanted. In addition to the Hermitage and the sites mentioned above, we also went to Prince Menshikov's Palace, Peter's best friend and top minister, who started out as a stable boy. We did not go to Katherine's Palace or Yusupov's Palace, which are on the standard tours, or to St. Isaac's or inside the Church of the Spilled Blood. We did not plan to go into the fortress but did anyway and also into the church to see the Romanov crypts. It did not seem to matter much when we got to a particular place, which was fine with us.

[Mercury]

Just to add my voice to the praise of Denrus! We spent a wonderful two days with our guide Ilyana who was most knowledgeable in all aspects of Russian history. The cost was $255 per person and we had 10 people in the group.

 

I would highly recommend Denrus to future Baltic cruisers.

[Adelicious]

Hi there shipmates

 

Just wanted to add my two pence worth; we returned from our 'Baltic Treasures' (Grand Princess) on August 8th (seems a lifetime ago) myself, mum and twin 10 year old daughters.

 

Our time with Denrus in St Pete's was truly the highlight of our cruise. The lovely Eugenia was a delightful guide and Alexander a competent driver.

 

Im sorry I have not contributed a full report but please feel free to ask any questions and I will answer if possible.

 

PCD has well and truly kicked in but life goes on and we are left with tremedous memories and far too many photographs!

 

If I can possibly save up enough I am thinking of treating us to the Grand again next summer in the Med so will be transfering my allegiance from the Baltic to the med boards - love this website, I learned so much from fellow posters prior to our cruise - what a valuable resource.

 

Happy sailings

 

Adele xxxxx