Comments/Opinions of Anastasia Tours

[tally10]

We are booked on the Celebrity Eclipse in May of 2010 for a Baltic cruise. We have done two previous Baltic cruises in 2004 and 2006, using the cruise line's tours. This time, we would like a private tour company and one that will customize the tour to where we want to go. We have emailed Alla Tours, DenRus, Red October, and Anastasia Tours. The only one that has answered our inquiries has been Anastasia Tours. The have answered all of our questions with prompt replies and have done a nice job on the intinerary. We have not heard of them before except a little bit on the boards. Has anyone had any experience with their tours? Thanks for any input.

[sondi 14]

We used Anastasia for our tours when we were in St. Petersburg in June. We were more than pleased with the tour and our guide and driver were excellent. The guide was very knowledgeable and we were constantly amazed at the depth of her knowledge. We found that we got from place to place very quickly and bypassed the lines of people waiting to get into the sites. We also found Anastasia to be very prompt at answering our emails and questions and she delivered everything as promised. We were also able to change plans once we were there and do some things that we hadn't confirmed prior to arriving in SPB. I would highly recommend her. Have a great trip.

[disneydavid]

I agree with everything sondigreen just said. We used Anastasia a couple of weeks ago. They were always prompt with the replies and worked with us to give us the itinerary we wanted. Everything went as promised. Our tour guide, Svetlana, was full of interesting information and seemed to know what interested us when she was talking. They were extremely efficient. They would call ahead to where we were going next, have an agent already there purchase the tickets, then hand them to us when we arrived so we could go right in. The driver had a nice Mercedes van and would come and get us whenever we were ready. Once there, we asked for extra stops at a grocery store to buy chocolates and a bookstore and were accommodated with no problem. We could never have seen as much with a ship's tour or on our own.

[RachelG]

We used Anastasia for 3 days last summer. Very good. I was impressed with her prompt service and willingness to add or delete from the set tours based on our interests. I would highly recommend.

[Florida Guys]

We were in St Petersburg June 19-20 and did a custom 2-day tour with Anastasia. We cannot say enough good things about our experience. Our guide Jane (Eugenia) was awesome and very knowledgeable about all our stops. Her family has been in St Peterburg for years, so she had a lot of personal information about the area including their experiences during the siege by the Germans. She even included an unexpected stop at their siege memorial on our way to Catherine's Palace. Jane was flexible with our schedule if we wanted to make minor changes. All tickets were prepurchased, so there was very minimal wait times at all the sites which was nice.

We had 7pp in our group and were given a minibus that seated 12pp, more than comfortable. We saw all the major sites (more than on the cruise tour). The biggest surprise was our canal cruise where we were given the entire boat for 7pp. It seats probably about 100pp. Yet our per person cost for 2 days was less than the Princess tour!

I would not hesitate on using Anastasia again in the future. No deposits and we paid at the end of the 2nd day. We no longer use the cruise tours so we can customize our plans, see more, and pay less. Our group got off the ship right away the first day, while those on the Princess tours complained about a long wait to disembark.

A big HI! to the Castle family and our friend Suzanne. We met on Cruise Critic to share the tour. You were all so fun!

[tally10]

We were in St Petersburg June 19-20 and did a custom 2-day tour with Anastasia. We cannot say enough good things about our experience. Our guide Jane (Eugenia) was awesome and very knowledgeable about all our stops. Her family has been in St Peterburg for years, so she had a lot of personal information about the area including their experiences during the siege by the Germans. She even included an unexpected stop at their siege memorial on our way to Catherine's Palace. Jane was flexible with our schedule if we wanted to make minor changes. All tickets were prepurchased, so there was very minimal wait times at all the sites which was nice.

We had 7pp in our group and were given a minibus that seated 12pp, more than comfortable. We saw all the major sites (more than on the cruise tour). The biggest surprise was our canal cruise where we were given the entire boat for 7pp. It seats probably about 100pp. Yet our per person cost for 2 days was less than the Princess tour!

I would not hesitate on using Anastasia again in the future. No deposits and we paid at the end of the 2nd day. We no longer use the cruise tours so we can customize our plans, see more, and pay less. Our group got off the ship right away the first day, while those on the Princess tours complained about a long wait to disembark.

A big HI! to the Castle family and our friend Suzanne. We met on Cruise Critic to share the tour. You were all so fun!

 

Thanks for your input. We are a group of three but are hoping to include 2-6 others. It seems that both Anastasia and TJ Travel both have a lot to offer and are about the same price. I know it is a long time from now, but we love to plan ahead. We have had some good cruise line tours but I think with the private ones, you experience so much more and you don't have to go looking for the people who don't make it back to the bus on time, which has happened before. Thanks again!

[JRJarr]

Hi, we are just off the Constellation and 4 of us toured with Annastassia in SPB. Our tour guide Olga and driver Alexander were great. We met Annastassia on our second day when we stopped outside the port and she collected our fee. We got into everything very quickly as with only 4 Olga knew where to go and how to get us through the crowds. Alexander was always prompt with the car. Olga took us to Russian fast food "Pancakes" the first day for lunch and we took her to McDonald's the second day. We didn't want to use up time with sit down long lunches.

 

We had a great time!

[tally10]

Hi, we are just off the Constellation and 4 of us toured with Annastassia in SPB. Our tour guide Olga and driver Alexander were great. We met Annastassia on our second day when we stopped outside the port and she collected our fee. We got into everything very quickly as with only 4 Olga knew where to go and how to get us through the crowds. Alexander was always prompt with the car. Olga took us to Russian fast food "Pancakes" the first day for lunch and we took her to McDonald's the second day. We didn't want to use up time with sit down long lunches.

 

We had a great time!

 

Thanks. You have given us some food for thought, literally, about the lunches. Some of the restaurants she had mentioned, did not sound all that great. Pancakes and McDonald's sounded like a great idea! We just emailed her to book. BTW, DenRus finally answered and they charged more for a custom tour. Anastassia and TJ Tours did not. DenRus kind of blew us off and told us to contact them in 2010. Their loss. Thanks again!

[DLewisPugs]

4 of us toured with Annastassia in SPB.

 

Could you please send me the site for Anastasia?

We are doing the NCL 8/14 Baltic cruse and want to find tours for some ports other than St. Pete and Berlin.

Thanks...........any other tour companies too. I have DenRus. I'm also looking for people to join us to cut costs. :)

[sondi 14]

Anastasia's website is http://www.anastasiaworld.com.

[donnajo53]

We just returned from our cruise to the Baltics and booked Anastasia's tour for St. Petersburg. I was VERY nervous, since I suggested using Anastasia rather than the ship's tour. All 8 of us couldn't have been more pleased. Maria was our guide and she was wonderful. She was very informative, knowledgeable and flexible. For example, one of our friends on the tour works in the food industry and wanted to visit a Russian grocery store. We also asked Maria to take us to a local eatery for lunch. Maria found time in the schedule for both of these impromptu visits, which were very interesting. The van was new and comfortable and the driver, Sergei, was a delight. Everything the previous posts said was also our experience. I highly recommend Anastasia for a memorable experience in St. Petersburg.

[tally10]

Thank you all for your comments and some of the ideas you have given us. The grocery store idea from Donnajo sounds very interesting as we do look at supermarkets in other countries for goodies to bring home. We have booked them for our cruise next May. They have always replied to our emails promptly and are willing to customize, which is what we prefer. While DH and I have been to St.Petersburg twice before on cruises and would like something different, others in our group have not. So,we need to see it all-lol! Thanks again everyone for your input!

[Tony UK]

Tell me more about the pancakes - cant match them with Russia somehow! Also what vehicles did Anastasia use, were entrance fees included in the prices quoted?

 

Grateful for your information

[TLCOhio]

Tell me more about the pancakes - cant match them with Russia somehow! Also what vehicles did Anastasia use, were entrance fees included in the prices quoted? Grateful for your information

 

Anastasia will use the size of vehicle to fit your needs and size of party. We had two couples last summer and she had a Mercedes mini-van like you would have here in the US from Chrysler. It worked great. If it's a just a couple, it would be Mercedes sedan. For a larger group, it would be a van to fit your size of group.

 

Anastasia will send you a complete spread-sheet that lays out all of the costs, including for admissions, photo permit stickers, etc. That makes it easier to know what's included, how all of this works. You can understand and adjust accordingly based on what she sends you. She will show costs in rubbles. We went through several revisions as we fine-tuned the schedule to make it best fit our personal needs and that for the other couple. Her responsiveness during the planning process was great and helped make the actual tour work so smoothly.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[mzredhead]

How far in advance did you make arrangements with her? We are going in June.

[TLCOhio]

How far in advance did you make arrangements with her? We are going in June.

 

You don't need to do anything immediately. I made my first contact with Anastasia and the other major operators in early January for a late July trip. It might not have been needed to start that early, but I felt it was helpful to start the planning at that stage. Also during that period they are not as busy in St. Petersburg with other tours, etc. You can wait later, but since St. Petersburg is so important in sorting through and considering your many options, it is good to do more and better advance planning. Hope this helps. Let us know any other questions.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[cincicouple]

My husband and I along with my Mom & her friend will be in St Petersburg next July, and I too am starting to plan. We did Mediterrean last summer with private tours and really feel that is the way to go. I realize that Anastasia will tailor the tour for us, but can anyone give me a ballpark idea on cost of 2 day tour? Also my Mom and her friend cannot walk great distances without resting and tire easily if they have to stand while waiting in lines. Can anyone who has used Anastasia advise if they think that this would pose a problem?

 

Thanks

[offtraveling]

We received a quote from Anast. Tours last week. Family of 4 adults, two day tour is about $342.00 USD. If interested in joining another group, just email Anast. and let her know. The more people the lower the cost.

We are looking for others to join our group

Heidi

[geospyder]

We received a quote from Anast. Tours last week. Family of 4 adults, two day tour is about $342.00 USD. If interested in joining another group, just email Anast. and let her know. The more people the lower the cost.

We are looking for others to join our group

Heidi

 

Is that cost per person or for the tour in total?

[bardstowntraveller]

I did a lot of research before booking my tour with Anastasia for next July. Once I finalized the itinerary I wanted, I e-mailed requests to Anastasia, Alla, Denrus and SPB. The tour recommended by Anastasia was cheaper and included more that any of the other companies. I was very impressed with how quickly they responded. We locked in our price at 2009 rates and no payment is required in advance. Based on comments from others who have used this company, I am looking forward to a great tour

[sbhdmh]

My husband and I along with my Mom & her friend will be in St Petersburg next July, and I too am starting to plan. We did Mediterrean last summer with private tours and really feel that is the way to go. I realize that Anastasia will tailor the tour for us, but can anyone give me a ballpark idea on cost of 2 day tour? Also my Mom and her friend cannot walk great distances without resting and tire easily if they have to stand while waiting in lines. Can anyone who has used Anastasia advise if they think that this would pose a problem?

 

Thanks

 

You may want to check out a thread entitled "SPB Tour Info Please" on this board. There was a poster, FabnFortySomething, who did a lot of research trying to find a private tour company that would accomodate someone with mobility issues. That may answer some of your questions.

 

Have a great trip!

[fabnfortysomething]

My husband and I along with my Mom & her friend will be in St Petersburg next July, and I too am starting to plan. We did Mediterrean last summer with private tours and really feel that is the way to go. I realize that Anastasia will tailor the tour for us, but can anyone give me a ballpark idea on cost of 2 day tour? Also my Mom and her friend cannot walk great distances without resting and tire easily if they have to stand while waiting in lines. Can anyone who has used Anastasia advise if they think that this would pose a problem?

 

Thanks

 

I have been doing a lot of research as my husband has walking difficulties and the "standard" tours would involve long trips around the museums none of which are particularly disabled friendly.Anastasia offered to tailor a minimal walking itinery ,for the 3 of us 2 days it was about $500 each

 

In the end I've gone with an independent tour operator who presently works with the larger companies but is setting up her own business.I found her to be the most responsive and pro active .The cost in roubles for 3 of us is approx 28000 roubles-approx $300 each if my conversion rate is correct for 2 shorter days with less time at museums.I've posted the itinery on the NCL roll call for Norwegian sun 22nd July 2010 if you want more details.Otherwise web site is guide-spb-ru.com or email Masha at mashavankova@hotmail.ru

 

 

hope this helps

 

Lyn

[LINGBER]

Hi,

 

I got a quote from Anastasia for a private tour for my family of four. Her email advised that her prices are not yet available for 2010. She also noted that the prices are in Rubles and the price may fluctuate based on US conversion rates. The other tour company has given me a fixed price. I was condisering using Anastasia but I prefer to lock in my price for budget purposes. Has this been everyones experience?

 

Thanks.

[TLCOhio]

Hi, I got a quote from Anastasia for a private tour for my family of four. Her email advised that her prices are not yet available for 2010. She also noted that the prices are in Rubles and the price may fluctuate based on US conversion rates. The other tour company has given me a fixed price. I was condisering using Anastasia but I prefer to lock in my price for budget purposes. Has this been everyones experience? Thanks.

 

Anastasia's prices for us last summer were quoted in rubles. Given the movements in dollar values that could be good or bad. Locking it in now could be a win or a loss. The bigger key is to think really hard on what you want to do or not do while in St. Petersburg. Make those decisions with thought and care.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[celyvabeach]

Hi,

 

I got a quote from Anastasia for a private tour for my family of four. Her email advised that her prices are not yet available for 2010. She also noted that the prices are in Rubles and the price may fluctuate based on US conversion rates. The other tour company has given me a fixed price. I was condisering using Anastasia but I prefer to lock in my price for budget purposes. Has this been everyones experience?

 

Thanks.

 

 

I have locked in my Strenuous 2-day Tour with Alla at 2009 prices.