KittyloverCA

On 6/6/2019 at 5:37 PM, ciocco said:

Searaider,

Thanks for your post.  I will also be doing a tour with TJ in St. Petersburg and wondering about lunches?  Were you on your own and if so did they direct you to where to go?

Thanks

Is you tour a group one or private? Ours was private (ie just our family) and for that reason the lunch aspect was more ad hoc . The tour itself was amazing, we felt like VIPs

We had a private tour with TJ. On the 1st day we went to Stolle pies, on the 2nd day we just ate in the hermitage cafe to save time, so really nothing special .

Book a private tour. It’s an amazing city , and you will gain so much insight from a private tour, and it’s easier with kids. We loved our guide so much I almost cried when we had to say goodbye. It was really unforgettable and worth the splurge

We are going on a med cruise, next summer. We don’t care much about a balcony, the one time we had one we didn’t use it much.

i can’t really find any other good sized cabins without going up to a suite. We have a teen and tween so need some space. 

The cabin descriptions of the other ocean view and spacious ocean view seem to have just a pullout couch in addition to the main bed  and we really need at least 1 bunk, so the kids don’t have to share. Maybe I’m wrong in thinking that but the descriptions are very vague 

I think I’m mostly wondering why they are so inexpensive when so large, is there’s some catch, something not good?

Anyone? I am kind of baffled I can’t find any reviews

I'm slightly skeptical because the cabins are very large but relatively inexpensive. They seem to be in the very front, is that a bad location? We’ve always been more mid on ships I think. But I like the layout as my kids can have their own beds etc

Oops, Explorer!

Hello,

i cant seem to find any reviews of this type of cabin, they are in the front of the ship, has anyone stayed in one?

thanks!

Personally I had no qualms tipping this amount for our private tour guide as she was so great, and I doubt she makes much money. We went with the suggested amounts 

On 3/10/2019 at 10:32 AM, jemz1949 said:

My family will be enjoying a 9 day cruise in the Baltic this summer.  I understand that tipping in Europe is generally not necessary.  Is the same true in the Baltic in regard to tipping of tour guides and drivers?  SPB is suggesting 10% for guides; 5% for drivers.  What are your thoughts and practices?  

We just bought ours there. Our hotel sold them it turned out so it was easy

Napogx, fair enough, I just feel it’s a dubiousand disingenuous way to market. I’m sure it’s hard to compete against the big guys

On 3/3/2019 at 10:51 PM, warble said:

Top rated companies are busy; we needed more individual approach. After some research we booked a 2 Day tour of St. Petersburg with Red Sun Tours. It was fantastic! The tour was tailored for us and we had really unique experience. I was surprised even by the personal touch and wonderful stories of our great guide.

Pretty sure this is a fake endorsement

pretty sure that’s a fake endorsement

In SPB they have a bar with a sp3cial decorative wrapper. They sell them on the ships too. In Helsinki- frazermints!

Id suggest a private tour for SPB so you can customize, there are some kid-oriented ones. 100% make sure you get them to see Grand Maket (scale model Russia)

For ours they pretty much set the schedule. I believe by the time we got to them it was 10

Both alla and SPB have excellent reputations. We used TJ which is also great

The main SPB tour companies are excellent and extremely reliable; their reputations depend on that. We had a private tour for our family of 4 and no issues whatsoever getting back with plenty of time. We used TJ

Another good option for Copenhagen is the Copenhagen card if you are there a couple of days. We really enjoyed it there, so I’m glad we had a couple of days there

Wanted to give this a bump in case anyone is considering a cruise like this for the summer!

That is too bad about the short day, I wonder why cruises are doing that? There is so much to do, 2 full days is merited for sure. We used TJ and had a private tour a

flr just our family (2 adults, 2 kids). It was amazing and with the small size our guide managed to whisk us by lines easily. We were able to fully customize our tour (see my trip review linked below). I would not miss the hermitage, Amber room and st catherine’s. We could have done without the hydrofoil from peterhof, but peterhof itself was beautiful. 

That’s a big bummer to have such a short visit, but make the best of it. Book a private tour and customize your itinerary, make a full day of it! We used TJtours and loved them

I don’t know about the weather but the cruise/ports are fantastic. We were there last July and it was brutally hot everywhere, so October so October should be an improvement. Be sure to book a 2 day small group tour in SPB with one of the major tour companies...you won’t regret it!

On 1/6/2019 at 11:23 AM, IM1969 said:

We're visiting St Petersburg in July, trying to find the right balance of freedom to explore and cost.  We went to Italy last year and visited Lake Como on a guided tour, it was a poor experience.  I don't want to trudge round wearing headphones, it's horribly restrictive.  I'm not interested in any tour that requires the use of headphones.  Very excited about visiting Russia (and the other Baltic destinations), really want to make the most of it.

I don’t think possible to have much freedom in SPB, however we found our (private) tour with TJ absolutely fantastic and worth every dime. We didn’t have or need headphones. I understand your apprehension as we decided to do a ship’s excursion in Stockholm and it was completely mediocre.

I would book a private tour (we used TJ) and tell them what things you’re interested in doing and they will customize it