GrouchoSentMe

I have answered my own question!  Going through to reserve the excursions gives you a start time; the walking tour starts at 2pm on the Tuesday which is too late to combine with the evening tour of the Hermitage.  So for anyone interested in excursion times (!) I am now doing a tour of the Yusupov Palace plus canal cruise (starts at 8.15am) and the evening tour of the Hermitage (6.15pm) on my first day, and the walking tour and metro ride (which starts at 1pm on the Wednesday) on my second day.

Hello - I'm going on a Baltic cruise on the Costa Magica this June and I'm trying to work out which of Costa's shore excursions I want to go on in St Petersburg.  (I appreciate I could probably tailor better or more cost-effective trips with a private tour company, but as this is my first ever cruise and there's so much to get to grips with, I'd rather go for the easier option of sticking with Costa's St Petersburg excursions.)  On my first day I was wanting to do the 'Walking Tour and Metro Ride' (4 hours) earlier in the day and the 'Evening Tour of the Hermitage' (3-5 hours) as the name suggests(!) in the evening.  But Costa don't give any sort of indication as to what time of day the trips take place.  On a Tuesday (which is the day I could go on the evening tour) the Hermitage shuts at 6pm, so I presume we might be leaving the boat to go on the trip at around 5pm-ish.  But the problem is I don't know when the other trip finishes and whether I would be back in time to go on the evening tour...  Has anybody been on the 'Walking Tour and Metro Ride' with Costa and knows what time of day it takes place?

Just to add - I've finally managed to register with My Costa/Costa Club this evening and can now access their info about drinks, trips etc - they already had record of which cruise I was booked on, so hopefully everything will run smoothly with tickets etc nearer the time!

I've just rung the company I booked with and apparently one week before sailing Costa will send the relevant details to them, and then they will send them to me.  So I'll try and stop worrying that I haven't got a cabin!

1 hour ago, gerryuk said:

If you booked directly through Costa, in my experience  you will get your cabin number 14 days before departure. You will receive a email with a link to your tickets for the cruise. As well as the cruise tickets you will also receive a page with printed labels for your bags. You attach these labels with tape to your luggage and then hand your luggage to the porters in the port. Your assigned room number will be on these printed labels as well as your tickets. Also in my experience, if you go into My Costa you will see the room number assigned to you at present is G000000, when they assign you your room, again around 14 before departure, your My Costa page will be updated with your room number on.

I have done a couple of cruises with Costa and booked direct with them, and this was my experience with guaranteed rooms.

I would say it is very unlikely that you will get upgraded unless the ship is sailing half empty. There are a lot of people in Costa Club, and they will be first in the que when it comes to upgrades, but you never know.

I haven't booked directly with Costa so am unable to access My Costa.  I don't know if this will cause any problems with receiving my tickets or my luggage labels... I'm having quite a few difficulties with accessing anything on Costa's website at the moment, which is rather annoying because I want to see what different drinks packages they offer/their St Petersburg trips and possibly book these in advance.

5 hours ago, tenpin said:

No if you booked a basic cabin, you will be allocate your cabin on boarding, this can sometimes be a change from any number mentioned on your booking.

These basic cabins are not Guaranteed & dining times cannot be chosen, however id you want early dining (6.30) see Maître 'd after boarding deck three/four MDR aft about 4pm, see daily news sheet found in your cabin.

The G00000 just confirms a cabin you may even get up-graded to an outside.

The Magica is a lovely ship we been on her five times over the years, best bar for English speakers is on deck five aft. Piano/wine bar no coffe but main bar aft serves that if you want one.

Great first cruise to Northern Capitals.

Just to confirm - this means I don't have a 'Guaranteed' cabin in that it might not be a specific type or number, but I am 'guaranteed' a cabin; I won't get to the port to find I'm not allowed on board!  Thanks for all your helpful info re the Costa Magica!  I am using this trip to try out whether I like cruising and am okay on the boat; also as a convenient way to see a number of places/countries I've never been to before and work out whether I then want to save up for a longer holiday in any of these places (particularly Sweden and Finland).

2 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

GTY is for a guarantee where they pick the cabin for you. If you picked an inside you should have had a cabin number as soon as you booked.   I would call your TA or the cruise line to verify what you have. 

Thanks - I will get in touch with the company I booked with to try and clarify matters!

Thanks for replying - the category is just an inside room.  I don't know what GTY stands for?  (I'm very new to all of this!)

Hello!  Apologies for being so clueless... I'm going on my first cruise in June (Costa Magica: Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Tallinn).  I'm in a cheaper cabin so I didn't get to select a specific one.  My booking itinerary lists the cabin as G00000.  Do I find out in advance which cabin number I've been booked in or for the cheaper cabins are they apportioned on a first come first served basis on the embarkation day?