When to book Alla tour

[tract0rgirl]

Hi

 

My husband and I have booked our first-ever cruise for next year, sailing on Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas in June 2009 for the Baltic/SPB cruise. We'd like to book the two-day Alla tour when we get to St Petersburg, but wondered when is the best time to book this. I'm not sure how far in advance we can do it. Has anyone got any advice on how far in advance they booked their Alla tours?

Also, as this is our first cruise trip, we're are torn between taking the organised tours in our ports of call, or making our own way to the city centres. Are there shuttle buses from the docks at every port? We both love walking, so not adverse to having to walk a little way (although not too far) into the city centre. We're obviously quite nervous about making our way into foreign cities, but do like exploring on our own.

By the way, this is a fantastic site. It's going to take me until next June to get through it all. Thanks for everyone's reviews - it's been really helpful.

[JEMS]

tractOrgirl,

 

We are also doing a Baltic cruise (Emerald Princess) in June 2009.:D Although this will be our 9th Princess cruise, it is the first time we are considering not taking only ship sponsored tours. The reports we have seen about St Pete tours has convinced us we can see more and save.

 

We have contacted Alla tours, but they have not supplied pricing for 2009 as yet. We're keeping our options open and have met more folks who are going to be on our cruise through these threads. Just Google Allatours, as I don't remember the address @ this time.

 

Enjoy your cruise. It's absolutely the best way to travel:) .

 

Ed & Jean

[stunnedinva]

Hi

 

My husband and I have booked our first-ever cruise for next year, sailing on Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas in June 2009 for the Baltic/SPB cruise. We'd like to book the two-day Alla tour when we get to St Petersburg, but wondered when is the best time to book this. I'm not sure how far in advance we can do it. Has anyone got any advice on how far in advance they booked their Alla tours?

 

We booked our Alla tour in April for our June '08 departure. My understanding is that some who waited too long were unable to make reservations because she was fully booked for their requested dates.

[Peregrina651]

You cannot book too early. Alla does not require a deposit and you can easily change your mind.

 

In the meantime, you can start researching and reading to see what other folks have done, so that you can figure out how you want to spend your time. There are so many options -- and to some extent, the price of your tour will depend on what you decide to do (because of the varying entrance fees and the number of people in your group).

 

Happy planning!

[greenbuick]

My wife and I just returned from a Carnival Freedom cruise to the Baltic, including St Petersburg.

 

We selected Alla Tours based on reviews in Cruise Crituc. We reserved our space six months prior and were immediately impressed by the timeliness of Allah's responses and information provided. Alla did not request payment from us until the second day of touring.

 

We were a group of 20 and were given a full tour as provided in Allah's itinerary. Our tour guide was first rate, fully informative. There was absolutely no downside to this 2 day tour and the price, $300.00 was a baregain compared to the one offered by Carnival.

 

In addition we got into the Hermitage by 9:30am, beating the crowds and avoiding the buildup of heat in the building on a warm summer day.

[jpsykes]

our group of 8 just got back for an Alla tour of St Pete and were very please. We booked about 5 months out.

 

In our case it helped to book early. Unknown to us when she quoted us the price she also locked it our exchange rate. When we added the Gold Room and an evening out all the additional pricing was done at the exchange rate we 'locked in' and since the US dollar had dropped we came out ahead.

 

John