St. Petersburg tour advice?

[Point Loma Cruiser]

We are planning to book private tour in St. Petersburg.. need help choosing between RO and DenRus -- both look good. Also, has anyone taken boat trip along rivers and canals ? Is it worth including in tour? How about Gold Room -- should we book this and spend less time at Hermitage? Any advice re: shopping. We are looking to buy some folk art pieces and would like to avoid typical tourist stuff. Lastly: tell us about your experience with evening program... we'll probably go with Folklore rather than Ballet. DenRus offers program that includes light buffet (at extra cost of course); RO takes us back to ship where we have about an hour to grab something to eat and then we are picked up and taken to concert hall for program. Has anyone done either of these? How did it work out?

 

Thanks so much for any advice you can give us. These boards are so great -- really helpful for those of us who are less experienced cruisers.

[TLCOhio]

DenRus offers program that includes light buffet (at extra cost of course); RO takes us back to ship where we have about an hour to grab something to eat and then we are picked up and taken to concert hall for program. [/img][/url]

 

We haven't done our St. Petersburg tour, yet, but in doing the planning, if you want to pack in as much as possible, that evening connection/timing is key. If you battle traffic back and then from the ship, in their heavy traffic there in St. Petersburg, it is hard to do ALL of things on your wish list. It seems best to stay in main St. Petersburg, rather than waste that time in transit, back and forth.

 

You do searches on this site to get more info and many of your other questions.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[TLCOhio]

DenRus offers program that includes light buffet (at extra cost of course); RO takes us back to ship where we have about an hour to grab something to eat and then we are picked up and taken to concert hall for program. [/img][/url]

 

We haven't done our St. Petersburg tour, yet, but in doing the planning, if you want to pack in as much as possible, that evening connection/timing is key. If you battle traffic back and then from the ship, in their heavy traffic there in St. Petersburg, it is hard to do ALL of things on your wish list. It seems best to stay in main St. Petersburg, rather than waste that time in transit, back and forth.

 

You can and should do searches on this site to get more info to answer many of your other questions. Lots of great info here.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[mycruz]

We toured with RO a couple of years ago with 4 other couples and it was a great experience. RO was very accomdating since we had a couple of things we wanted to do that the rest of our group didn't. One was the Gold Room at the Hermitage. Our guide was able to get us with another RO guide and her group for the Gold Room and then met us afterwards and we joined the rest of the group for the remainder of the Hermitage tour. Was it worth it? yes, and since you need days to see everything there, I thought it was a good decision. Another thing they did for us, our guide took the group minus the two of us to meet up with another guide for a canal tour of the city while we visited Yusopov's Palace with our guide.

the rest of our group said they were not that impressed with the canal tour. We opted out of the evening events but the rest of the group went to the ballet and they enjoyed it. These are two very full days and we wanted to rest in the evening. Overall, I can say this was the best private tour we have ever had and loved our guide and driver.

[dog]

I arranged a RO 2 day tour for 6 of us on our 9/9/07 Star Princess roll call.

It was an ideal size in a van that seated 8 passengers plus guide and driver.

It eliminated the waiting around for a large group getting in and out of the van, in to the palaces & museums.

RO was very accommodating in the planning through emails and we went with the Russia site and did not pay anything until the 1st day of the tour.

We also booked the Gold Room. I'm glad we did, but I can understand some wouldn't see it worth the extra money to see it, as well as having to pay for some photography fees in some of the museums and palaces. We ended up buying good photo postcards. Many of our photos taken were too dark...inside and out.

We arranged to go to Peterhof the second morning and take the hydrofoil back which lets you out across the street from the Hermitage.

The first morning we went to Catherine's Palace which is a bit of a way out of the city.

It is a good idea to allow plenty of time to get back to the ship a bit early on the 2nd day. We were going from the Hermitage to the ship and it took 30-45 min. in Friday traffic.

Did not do the canal tour nor evening tour. The first day of touring was quite enough for us. There was a Russian dance group onboard the first evening and they also played it on the tv in the room.

[sailaway5]

We took a 2-day private tour with Den Rus. However, we signed up for the Ship's evening tour for the Folkloric Show. We had about 1 1/2 hours after Den Rus dropped us off on the first day to grab a quick bite to eat and get ready for the Ship's tour. Since we were going to a theatre by bus, we felt the ship tour would be sufficient. The Folkloric show was fantastic and better than anticipated with colorful costumes, singing and dancing. Would do this again! The theatre also had Russian souvieneres set up in the intermission area which was a bonus for me (they were very reasonably priced too).

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[Nastena]

Boat trip along rivers and chanels is great. It is a time to relax and enjoy the real beauty of St Petersburg. :p

[Nastena]

RO takes us back to ship where we have about an hour to grab something to eat and then we are picked up and taken to concert hall for program. Has anyone done either of these? How did it work out?

 

If you take Red October day tour and also the evening options, there will be no need to come back to ship if you do not wish to... But if you wish to return on board before the evening program - also no problem. You will be everythere in time!:p

[WYB!]

We are planning to book private tour in St. Petersburg.. need help choosing between RO and DenRus -- both look good. Also, has anyone taken boat trip along rivers and canals ? Is it worth including in tour? How about Gold Room -- should we book this and spend less time at Hermitage? Any advice re: shopping. We are looking to buy some folk art pieces and would like to avoid typical tourist stuff. Lastly: tell us about your experience with evening program... we'll probably go with Folklore rather than Ballet. DenRus offers program that includes light buffet (at extra cost of course); RO takes us back to ship where we have about an hour to grab something to eat and then we are picked up and taken to concert hall for program. Has anyone done either of these? How did it work out?

 

Thanks so much for any advice you can give us. These boards are so great -- really helpful for those of us who are less experienced cruisers.

 

 

Ya know, there is no such thing as the perfect tour, and I believe there are too many variables involved in your questions. For example, is this your first time to St Petersburg, or to Russia, do you speak any Russian? What time of the year are you going to be there? How much time are you going to be in port? Have you even been on a canal tour in Amsterdam? (If so, then you really won't enjoy the canal tour in St Petersburg). You say you "are looking to buy some folk art pieces and would like to avoid typical tourist stuff", are you looking for high end museum quality pieces and are you willing to pay an export tax on your purchase? What kind of traveler are you? Do you like to go off on your own, or do you enjoy some hand holding? How many of you are there traveling? Would you be more inclined to eating on the ship or off the ship?

 

I'd like to offer you some advice but I don't know your travel habits well enough to do so. What you should be doing is more research on your own. St Petersburg has a lot of history behind it. Founded in 1703 are you trying to cram everything in, in a day?

 

I would suggest reading the St Petersburg Times the weekly local paper of for Expats living in the city: http://www.sptimes.ru/

 

I'll add this obscure information here an no where else. The best and easily accessable bathroom in the center of the city of St Petersburg can be found in the Grand Hotel Europe complex across from Gostiny Dvor. Not in the Grand Hotel Europe itself, but look for a restaurant called Chopsticks and Sadko's, just south of the Grand Hotel Europe's main entrance but on the same block. Walk inside there and go up the 5 stairs. Go left and down the only stairway you see. The food is also great at both restaurants, the price may seem kind of high, but the quality and service is also very high. To this day, I have never eaten off of finer china wear, (maybe Mr Chow's the other night). Sadko's is more of a bar where you can get a bite, menu's are written on boards around the bar (a slice of Pizza is around $10 USD).

 

Safe travels,

 

- CWipes

[TLCOhio]

our guide took the group minus the two of us to meet up with another guide for a canal tour of the city while we visited Yusopov's Palace with our guide. the rest of our group said they were not that impressed with the canal tour.

 

How good was Yusopov's Palace? Was it worth it and that special? We're considering that as an option. Reactions? Any more feed-back on the canal boat trip? I've heard and read things say that is one of the best ways to see many of the special buildings, etc.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[dog]

I'd like to add to this: You would be wise to go with an government recognized tour company who will provide you with a guide. This person will know where good clean restrooms and restaurants are.

 

You probably know about the Visa issue. If not do a search on this forum to read about it.

 

This board is an excellent research resource. You can also find references for books and other internet sites if you do a search on this forum.

[Mike073]

Luckily we had three days so we could see more things, but here are my comments. Depending on where your ship docks you may be right downtown or 45 minutes away in the port area. Going back and forth diminishes your touring times. You can eat a quick bite in town early evening to avoid the trip back and forth to the ship.

 

We were a group of 9 and everyone enjoyed the canal trip to see the city from a very different perspective. We chose to take the boat instead of going to and from the ship before the folk show. It was a last minute decision but the fact we were on an Alla tour, they rolled with the situation easily. The food at the folk show at the Nicholas Theater was very acceptable, but you get it at intermission - figure your time accordingly. Great show also.

 

Yusopov palace was very interesting to see how the typical wealthy families lived. Rasputin's murder was planned in the basement.

 

 

 

[llund]

Mike...was the boat trip and folk show arranged by Alla or by the ship? We are taking an tour with Alla which won't be done until 6:00. She told us that the folk show is at 6:30 so we won't have time to go back to the ship. I did not see any evening excursions on the rccl website for the Jewel of the Sea. How did you work it out with Alla?

[houch]

JMO

WE were there 2 days and booked Princess tours for both days. (this avoided the visa issues for us) They were long, 9 1/2 hours and we saw a lot. Both days included lunch with vodka, and both lunches were very good. WE were pleased with both tours, both guides spoke very good English and we had ear phones to hear them no matter how far away we were, good for all the walking we did. Also had several opportunities to shop for souvieneres and the prices were good where we shopped.

As far as the Hermatage, I got very bored with all those paintings, (not my thing) and wished I had had less of them and had seen the gold room, oh well.

The traffic there is awful. When we were there I though it was worse than LA!!!

We prefer the ships tours in the foreign countries. If you encounter a problem that causes you to be late, the ship won't wait for you. We had such a problem on our second day. The tour guide insisted we still complete our whole tour, notified the ship we would be late and it waited for us.

We chose to just stay on the ship in the evening and relax as we were up very early both days. Glad we did.

[Baltic Bridge]

Gold rooms are definitely worth a visit - and in case you are having an individual programme you can fit a normal visit to regular area of the hermitage.

Folklore: it is better to return to your ship for a short rest; there are performances starting about 20.30 - try to insist for this time.