mconthehighseas

Cazz, I think you caught the essence of what many of us liked about ministerman's days in St. Petersburg. The chance to go to another place and to do things the locals do is very appealing to many of us.

I have found that many tour guides give the same information that you can find in a book or online, so unless I can find a guide who is a specialist in what we are seeing, I sometimes prefer a "day of adventure". That's if there is a good public transport system, or if things are close by, but there are other factors to take into account as well. You need to weigh ALL your options, and then decide what will work best for you.

eetonaee, everyone's desires and situations are different. We have done excursions with others from the ship, excursions on our own, and ships excursions. All were fine for the ports where we did them.

I think ministerman's info is good to have. People who thought about going on their own now know what it entails, and can decide for themselves if it would work for them.

What you offer is just one more way to see St. Petersburg, and with an excellent guide, it would be something we would consider.

Thanks for posting this - this is excellent info. I have a couple of questions, but work is calling! I will sign on later to ask them.

Terry, thank you for the cabin and balcony pictures. I really appreciate you doing that, especially the closet photo - something you will never get in a brochure!

Hope you are enjoying your cruise as much as we are!

Terry, I am new to this thread, but have been following your adventures intently. I am hoping you will have a chance to take cabin photos during your cruise, so we can see how they have storage, seating, etc. set up. I know there are some pics on the Silverseas website, but they never show the balcony or have comments as informative as yours.

Mindy, who is thinking about Silversea for next year.

It doesn't really matter what day you come in there will be shops open, unless you want to get some timber to build a house.

 

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Thanks, Jason. Since we should not count on buying timber, we can get a smaller cabin. ;) I appreciate your insight and you taking time to answer all of us.

Jason, I will also be in Stanley on the 12th. As jpver pointed out, that is a Sunday. Will there be fewer guides available that day because of that? And will shops in Stanley be open?

Jpver, I hope you decide to join CoolCruise2 and me on our roll call thread. Right now we are in the trading info stage, but I am hoping to have enough people as we get closer to our sail date, that HAL will sponsor a get together for us.

Jasonflk and/or Gixer, I have a question that I am sure you can help me with. We will be on a cruise to the Falklands this coming December. My husband and I would like a private tour of the battlegrounds. When should we start trying to contact tour guides? I don't want to bother anyone too soon, but I don't want to miss out on a wonderful opportunity.