SteveinPhilly

You watch FAST! 😄  They run over an hour. Glad you enjoyed. There are others from the Baltic Cruise on YT too!

And Day two. Each is about30 minutes. Hope this gives you a feel for what yo expect: 

Assuming that CCdoesn't block the URL here are my two videos of what was in our Alla 2 day tour: 

Day one - 

4 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

Our private tour was with Alla and the now owner of SPB was our guide. (Yes, this was long ago, 2007 to be exact.)

 

I spoke afterwards with many who had did ship tours, and actually most were satisfied. But I did hear a few complaints. One said their bus air conditioning broke down (the temperature was in the high 80s.) Another responded to my saying that our tour guide had 18 years experience by saying their tour guide was 18. Another said their guide bemoaned the fall of Communism. And one more said that their guide when asked a question answered by saying "why would you ask that?".

 

Yes, contact the various private agencies, and find one you are comfortable with. What I did after that was ask for others on our roll call. We ended with a group of 10 who bonded together very well.

In our case the Cruise Line (it was RCI) kept sending alerts to say that unless you had a VISA or were on their Tour - same places at 40% more than Alla - you could not get off ship.  This scared folks though they don't mention that ALA and SPB have "group Visas". ItIS TRUE that - even with the ships tour or ALLA or SPB you MUST stay with the group. If you want to get off on your own, you need a visa which costs $400.

Good luck with booking your tour Dog 55. You are obviously more optimistic than me at this point. Not only are we not certain it will be safe to travel next summer but - depending on how the November election goes and any repercussions we don't know what political situation will be in Russia next summer. Just make sure you have a way to cancel if need be. Glad we could help you here and thatyou found out the problem for you was your email address.

Phone alla as noted above.

Anna at alla usually answered within 48 hours but the world is not the same now. Many are still trying to stay safe. It seems like you have plenty of time if for 2021. Btw the standard tours for alla and spb are in 16 passenger vans - which are roomy. Any smaller group will be a lot pricier. And the admissions in Russia are high.

Hope this helps some. As I said earlier you can see video of our two day alla tour on YouTube

We LOVED ALLA.  They are similar but we opted for a box lunch one day to eat while travellinbg and saw an extra palace. I have a video ourr two day ALL tour on my You Tube Channel if it'll help.

Sounds like you are happy and also a gambler (I'm not). Dare I ask if you bought directly through X or a TA. Since all the perks you mentioned come from X , I don't see any from a TA. I am surprised that yougot 3 perks for just a 4 or 5 night cruise though. I assume you are not in a suite? Anyway a sweet deal (pun INTENDED).

I respectfull disagree with MPK. Until this week I have found EVERY TA's OBC refundable. As I always tell my friends - unless yourTA is your brother, cousin or other relative, it pays to shop. IMHO you should ALWAYS get a quote and then use the "Compete" site to find others. I am not recommending a particular agency (not allowed here on CC) but

you will get at least 7 or 8 quotes from established agencies and my guess is MOST will offer refundable credits in addition to the ones the cruise lines are offering which - of course - are always non-refundable.

1. Woody. Watch those OBCs when booking on BoArd. For even a Balconyy 12 night you only get $50 now and usually deposit NOT refundable.  

It used to pay to book but no more, OBCs got small. I use the compete site and have 15 bids and choose one. I can usually get what X offers plus about $500 OBC on a $5000 balcony and even get PPd gratuities 

BTW RCI treats the Refundable OBCs different than X. Just one more "hoop".

Denny: Just to clarify. The NOn-refundable one used first. THEN refundable. If any refundable still left - always for me. it will go back on the credit card X has on file.

As to Woody's question - you ASK the TA before booking how much is nonrefundable and how much is refundable. Anythingfrom X (like taking the $300 OBC as a perk - or an on board booking OBC is always NOn-Refundable. MOST (but not all from a TA is refundable this as I said the major TA I checked with gives you the OBC but it's NOT refundable. Simple to ask Any agent BEFORE you put deposit down. They better know or find another TA.

While here and discussing X - the NON-refundable  OBC from X can be used at tables in the casino but can't be cashed in. You get special chips that you use and any wins are given to you in "cashable" chips. I usually have a $100 or so left in NON-refundable OBC and use for $100 in "marked" chips at the casino. I then find a regular gambler at one of my meals and offer them to the person at a 10% discount. They are gambling anyway and are usually happy to do it. So I lose $10 but don't need to spend the $100.

3 minutes ago, Denny01 said:

I’m no expert, but not sure how any onboard charge isn’t covered by whatever OBC you have, either refundable or non-refundable. The On Board account shows all the OBC and all the charges and the resulting total. And there is not a place to mark that OBC should be used for some charge made on board or not. It just shows up as a running total. 

 

From what the Celebrity people said to your friend and how it was handled by the On Board account it just sounds as if that charge was done prior to boarding, or somehow the system identified it as a charge prior to boarding. Either your friends made an error forgetting they charged an excursion on line or made a reservation on line and so on and forgot, or the on board charge was misidentified by the computer as a charge prior to boarding.

 

There is no requirement (or way) of saying on the On Board Account some on board charge should or shouldn’t be covered by On Board Credit. 

 

Den

 

 

On our last X cruiose the accounts on the TV screen showed the refundable and non refundable OBCs separate and any charges (like dinner) were charged FIRST to the non-refundableOBC.

I just wanted to share I surprise I got yesterday. I always use the compete site to get quotes. As we all (should) know the price for a particular category on a particular ship on a particular sailing is always the same no matter the agency. And on X there perks are offered by X. But the difference is the OBC the TA gives you OVER what the cruise line does. EVERY agency I've used has always BOUGHT the credit from the cruise line and so it has been "refundable" if unused. (sometimes you need to request but always refundable). Since we often choose perks like PPD gratuities and Classic Drink Pkg - and never use ships shore excursions - we net the extra OBC to figure our cruise cost. Yesterday I got a quote from a MAJOR TA (can't give name) and learned the $650 OBC was not refundable. I then asked another of the 6 TAs who quoted me and they said they had same policy. It was an AGENCY policy. They are the only ones. So, even if they were giving me a higher OBC the fact that it was NON refundable lost them the booking.

So advice when getting quotes. ALWAYS ask up front if it its a non-refundable or "refundable: OBC. Oh yeah. The BIG agency has fine print saying the non refundable OBC "cannot be use for gratuities or in the Casino".

Thanks all. Ill stock with classic. But noticed on the summit list that quite a few reds exceed then$15. Max for even premium. But I'm really on the cruise for the destinations so things will be fine. Ibwascjust surprised that none of the mostvasked questions via Google us: where can I find the wine price list.

I know but it gives me an idea of how many wines are $9 or under. Interesting that on the list above there are no MERLOTs. Good to see that not a lot of Calif ones. I did a google search on some reds and they sell for $8.99 to as high as $12.00 bottle on line. You can tell that X is not breaking the bank. MOST of my drinking is cappucino and lattes and I know I can get with skim milk at a bar or in dining room. The "Machine" in Captains club doesn't offer that. (and I can add liquor too with my Classic Bev Pkg) Also, unlike RCI the Captains Club HH is only till 7:30 and I sometimes want a drink at the show.

But this does show me a sample of what's being offered and how many (or few) are covered in the Premium Beverage Package (See how many wines are between $9 and $15 - cap for Premium)

WOW! Just what I needed. Thanks SOOOO much!

This has to  be the hardest info to discover. Celebrity only lists "examples" (Merlot, Cabernet, etc on their Beverage package flyer. I know the classic package is good for wines up to $9,00 glass. The prices are on the wine list for MDR and some bars, but I can't find a scan. It's a popular question and I'd REALLY appreciate it - others would too - if someone could scan it or take a jpg of it when on a Celebrity Ship. 

On 7/11/2018 at 5:25 PM, bigbenboys said:

I would think you can have most drinks listed on the Blu menu, but ask them to make it with Classic spirits. Here is the list of spirits for each package. It is dated March 2018, but it also has the date listed when the premium drink package is increased in price.

11026027_CEL_Beverage_Packages_Flyer.pdf 663.88 kB · 229 downloads

I can't believe how HARD it is to find a WINE LIST with prices from Celebrity. We are on the Reflection in October and I found this thread. So far I have not seen a scan of any menu with the wine (vineyard, country) given showing the prices so I can see which ones are $9/glass or under. I've only see the sales flyer that lists the "varietal" but that's it. I hope someone reading this will have the info soon. We are not connoisseurs and don't drink enough to upgrade the Classic package we got as a bonus. Thanks!

On 5/18/2019 at 8:58 AM, cruisingcasey123 said:

 

I’m currently on the Serenade with CD David Bradshawe and am finding his behaviour completely bizarre - he seems lost and confused most of the time, stumbles over words, entirely loses track of what’s going on in the gameshows - the Love and Marriage show was downright uncomfortable to watch and the audience was having to shout out instructions to get him back on track. He has no charisma and I’ve overheard other guests saying much the same. 

 

AM Elizabeth Hackett and the rest of the staff are absolutely fantastic but I can’t help but groan when David turns up! A real shame!

Oh boy! We are boarding the Serenade next week for Arctic. And I just saw your post.Per his Linked in profile he JUST joined RCI in January 2019. At least our cruise is not dependent on the CD. Too cold for pool events and entertainment just so-so. I got the list.

Thanks for heads up Casey

On 2/28/2019 at 9:09 PM, SteveinPhilly said:

 

Cinnbon - you might want to start with Trip Advisor (Cruise Critic's parent company) to look for local tours. Also www.toursbylocals.com.  I'm one of those who is not anxious to have RCI take a large cut and have groups of 30 trying to tour together. I will tell you that the HOHO bus really filled one of our days.  But that's just MY opinion. I like tourism money to stay "local" 

PAKathy: Where are you in suburb? I'm in Queen Village. Anyway, here is link to my Playlist of all 25 days including 2 days in St. Petersburg. We used All Tours and loved them. Our guide Alex was amazing. The buses had room too. If you put together your own group on Cruise Critic you might even get more room. And there is a Discount for Cruise Critic members. Contact Anya and mention me. DO NOT book through Viator or other site if using All. With Alla you only pay (with credit card) after the first day of tour (if on a 2 day tour). Hope this helps!

Well we are retired and so the 12 days was perfect. If you go to my YT Channel and look at the playlist for the St. Persburg you will see Copenhagen, Tallin, Stockholm and Helsinki videos. In at leasdt two of those were used the HOHO bus which actually picks you up at port. We did not go to Berlin. I would have loved to. Was there in the 1980s. 

Janine: First off we were on RCI - I'm not a fan of NCL  - the price was great. - If you post your itinerary I'll let you know other tips. I can't believe any cruise line charghes for the nightly theater shows (well maybe the 6,000 passenger ships). You find my videos of Alla Tour on Youtube here: 

and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot-1iXePEAY

Each about 30 minutes.

S

10 hours ago, Tranquility Base said:

 

Hi,

Just wanted to check which actual tour you did that included the Faberge, how much time you had there and how crowded / rushed it was.

Thanks.

I guess I wasn't clear. We did not go to the Fabrege Museum while in St. Petersburg. You can't see everything. Alla does offer the Fabrege Tour as an EVENING option. I know we had just the right amount of time in every place we went and so - having seen the eggs in New York (Forbes Gallery - free) we opted for dinner on ship and the Russian Dance Show on board (very good) and bed. They are long days.  But, remember if you use Alla to ask for the Cruise Critic Discount.

22 minutes ago, Janine S said:

 

Janine. we chose Alla last year and loved it. I have a Youtube of the highlights if you want to see. We liked them because of how much we saw but didn't waste time. Some fo9lks who took tours which included Fabrege Muuseum during day were rished from the Hermintage tour. Honestly you can't really squeeze it in during day. Our tour ended at 6 or 6:30 so we just wanted dinner and bed to be up for 8am the next day.

Another thing was that 1st day lunch (included) was in restaurant but second was nice box lunch so we could eat on bus and gain an extra hour at the Palace.  Anna at Alla is great and responds fast. Also remember there is a discount for Cruise Critic folks who mantion the Roll call. Have fun. We sure did.