Advice on Shore excursions

[shmuel]

We have booked our Baltic cruise on the Queen Victoria for next August. This is our very first cruise and we really need advice about booking shore excursions especially for St. Petersburg. Do we do it with the ship or private tours. Any help would be gratefully appreciated.:)

[pepperrn]

We have booked our Baltic cruise on the Queen Victoria for next August. This is our very first cruise and we really need advice about booking shore excursions especially for St. Petersburg. Do we do it with the ship or private tours. Any help would be gratefully appreciated.:)

 

Hi.

 

I would choose Cunard's tours (unless you know the city/country/locale very well or are within walking distance (or can easily get a cab) of the dock). If you get stuck in traffic or suffer a breakdown on a Cunard tour coach they will hold the ship for you. If you travel privately and you're late back to the ship... then you'll have to fly to the next port of call.

 

I was on board QM2 last year, at Southampton, when they held the ship for nearly two hours so that passengers on Cunard arranged coach tours to Windsor (who were stuck in traffic following an accident on a motorway) could join the ship. Next port of call was Hamburg...

 

Hope this helps.

[juliecat]

You will need a visa for Russia if you use private excursion companies. If you book through Cunard, you'll be covered by their group visa. Don't miss the Hermitage or the canal waterway tour.

 

J

[imacruizer]

Check out the posts on the ports of call on Cruise Critic. I hope this is a link to that forum:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192

 

We have good friends who just returned from a Baltic cruise on the QV and had a fabulous voyage!!! You might also look at the cruise reviews for the QV on Cruise Critic.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=376

 

So far, there are no reviews from 2009 but there are quite a few from 2008. I'm sure there will be several from 2009 in the next few weeks.

 

Beth

[Carnevale]

We did the Baltic on Crystal a couple of years ago and found the ship tours were the way to go. I started down the path of trying to get Russian visas and found it was both complex and expensive. Plus our ship docked in a large industrial port and we were about 1 mile from the gate so you couldn't just go out and easily get a taxi. Those with visas generally had pre-arranged a private tour so someone was waiting right at the ship with a car and guide. I looked into that and given the cost of the visa and the extra cost of a private tour it wasn't worth it. So if I do another cruise to St Petersburg I'll again just do ship tours. Our tours on Crystal were all excellent but you don't get a chance to shop (other than the stop at the over priced tourist trap shop). Don't miss the Hermitage. Our tour group was let in about 45 minutes before it opened so we had some wonderful time before it as crowded (another plus when you take a tour arranged by the ship - just check to make sure the Cunard tour does this).

Enjoy the Baltics - we loved it!

[Cruachan]

We have booked our Baltic cruise on the Queen Victoria for next August. This is our very first cruise and we really need advice about booking shore excursions especially for St. Petersburg. Do we do it with the ship or private tours. Any help would be gratefully appreciated.:)

 

For St Petersburg last year I booked the Cunard two day tour (two long days, roughly 7.00am to 5.00pm each day) and couldn't fault it in anyway at all, unless you count the St Petersburg traffic which, although it's horrific, is hardly the fault of Cunard. St Petersburg is the most astonishing city I've ever visited - absolutely fantastic.

 

Some of my holiday snaps from the visit are here - hopefully they might give you some idea of what to expect.

 

http://photos-by-maureen.fotopic.net/

 

J

[kaimedia]

We have booked our Baltic cruise on the Queen Victoria for next August. This is our very first cruise and we really need advice about booking shore excursions especially for St. Petersburg. Do we do it with the ship or private tours. Any help would be gratefully appreciated.:)

 

We just returned from that cruise. In Bruges we took the Cunard tour ($58?) into Bruges. You need the bus to get there, then we did Bruges on our own. We took the complimentary Cunard shuttle into Copenhagen, Stockholm,Tallin, Helsinki and Gothenburg. These cities are easy to do on your own and the Cunard shuttle drops you off at a convenient place. All have either HOHO sightseeing buses or boats that are very inexpensive.

 

We wanted to see Hamburg so we took the Cunard coach tour (Hamburg is about 2 1/2 hours from the port). And the St. Pete 2 day "marathon" Cunard coach tour. It was subcontracted to Dan Rus and our guide was excellent. We were late getting back to the ship in both St. Pete and Hamburg and the Queen Vic waited for us before sailing. A big advantage.

 

In Kristiansand Norway we took the Cunard coach tour which was a waste of money. It included a stop at a "fishing village" that was not. Do the open air museum (worthwhile) and city by yourself.

 

Just a note... this ship is very formal, gowns are worn on all but the casual nights. Even on the casual nights most people were in cocktail attire. Much different than our previous experience with Celebrity and Royal Carribean formal nights.

[Betsy's Mom]

We sailed on the Queen Mary last fall to Europe and took all Cunard tours. I had been to most of the ports many years ago, my DH had not. We are in our 70ties and not as nimble as we might be. The tours were wonderful and well worth the charge. I hope to take the Baltic Cruise someday soon and will use Cunard tours again as I feel they are good value with less stress.:)

B.

[southweststatuary]

When I was in St. Petersburg you had to have a visa if you went off the ship on your own.