altiva

Perhaps because it is too close to Kiev?

You mean, Pereyaslav is too close to Kyiv? Why would this be a problem?

I did a 2 week Baltic cruise on Celebrity many years ago. It was a great cruise. I would take it again. However, I will not go to Russia due to the political unrest. I would like it if Celebrity would cruise without a stop in St. petersburg. Other cruise lines are doing Baltic cruises without a stop in Russia.

Thank you so very much.

New article on Cruise Critic:

Viking River Cruises Returns to Ukraine and Dnieper River in 2016

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6513

 

But why on earth Kremenchuk? It's just a modern industrial town. Why not Pereyaslav Khmelnytsy, a town which dates back to 907, and the whole town is an open air museum, with additional traditional 30 museums (of traditional architecture, of Ukrainian churches, beekeeping, ancient embroidery, cosmos, bread, local traditional artefacts and so on)? What a strange choice.

Add me to that chorus. ;)

 

As per those threads on the Baltic forum, if you take a pre-booked tour with either the ship or local tour operator (like most CC members I'd recommend using a local operator) you don't need a visa.

I'm being pedantic here but it's not an included visa or a group visa, it's a visa-free concession. Your tour ticket issued by the ship or e-mailed to you by a local operator gets you through immigration without a visa. It kinda harks back to the bad old days of visitors having a minder, though nowadays they're very much guides, not minders :D.

 

JB :)

All vetted and primed by FSB, that's why they are allowed to be guides in the first place.

That part of southern Russia will be very hot in the summer ?

What is "part of southern Russia"?

can anyone recommend any Thomson excursion in Odessa thanks in advance

hi Toon, did you use any of the Thomson tours already? If yes, can you come back and talk about your experience, please?

That was our experience-right down to the taxi.

 

However, it disheartens me to see how many people "dislike" seeing people in their 20s and 30s. We are a professional couple in our early to mid 30s, and we behave ourselves quite well. We dress up for formal night, we tip, we eat and drink both in the buffet, specialty and MDR. There may be a few bad apples in the bunch, but I've also seen a few people in their later life behave badly. So, please, embrace the differences and you just never know who you're going to meet [emoji3]

Have you ever wanted or were you ever tempted to do something interesting, different and challenging?

The most obnoxious drunk I saw onboard was an older gentleman who was in his late 60s. He was at a roulette table and started harassing the dealer because he was Croatian. He was incessant in his questions about Russia and Putin and would not accept the fact that Croatia is quite a distance from Crimea.

 

I must admit, I prefer seeing a younger crowd, but I'm also in my 30s. I was however quite pleased with the lack of children aboard. It is, after all one of the reasons why I prefer X.

They adore Russia and Putin in Croatia, the staunchest supporters of Russia and Putin ever.

I know that traffic/lines/ other issues may come up, but wondering how my plan looks to those who have visited St. Petersburg before. I am going on a private tour so I am very flexible with my day and after much negotiation with my hubby this is our plan we was currently working with.

 

Let me start by saying my hubby is one of those people who works through lunch most work days and is pretty type A about travel, etc. He wants to see the most exciting/photograph worthy places. I, on the other hand, am more interested in some history and a more relaxed pace.

 

Here is goes...

 

 

Saturday in July: we dock at 7am so planning to meet the guide at 8am

8:00 to 10:00am intro to town, bridges

 

10-10:45 go to St. Isaac's for opening and my hubby will climb the tower up, for a good view of town

 

10:45-12 Drive from town to Catherine's and stop at Chesma Cathedral for 15 minutes or less, just see outside

 

12-1:15 Guide eats lunch, I am likely to eat lunch also, hubby is more likely to just get some extra photos of the outside of Catherine's

 

1:15-2:45 See Catherine's with the guide

 

2:45-3:45 Drive from Catherine's to Peterhof- anything worth seeing on the way over?

 

3:45-5:15 see Peterhof upper and lower gardens only

 

5:15pm leave from Peterhof, see the St Nicholas Maritime on way back (not too far out of the way), also called Nikolo-Bogoyavlenskiy Morskoy sobor

 

Around 6:15pm or so go to the Faberge museum for the evening tickets, no guided tour needed and figure likely to only spend 45 minutes or so

 

Back to ship by 7:30pm

 

If I get crunched for time, since we are paying per hour, figure we might go over and if so just pay a bit more.

 

 

Sun

 

8:30 pick up

9-10 canal cruise

10-10:45 figure it is a ways to get to the Church of Spilt Blood so walk through the park maybe to get to Church, not sure if it would take 45 minutes

10:45- 11:30 Church of Spilt Blood - open at 11am?

11:50-1:20 in Hermitage with guide

1:20-2:20 guide has lunch while we spend longer in Hermitage

2:30-3:15 see Kazan Cathedral

3:15-3:30 drive to Peter and Paul Cathedral

3:30-4:00 see Peter and Paul Cathedral only

4:05 drive back to ship

4:30 back at ship

 

 

If I run out of time today I can skip Kazan or skip Peter and Paul, I've seen it before. Might also have less time in Hermitage. I might decide to go in a metro today if time allows, I may not be in an artsy mood for 3 hours of the Hermitage : )

 

Any thoughts?

 

Is it busy typically on Saturdays and Sunday?

 

Any areas you think I am missing? Should I change the order of some of these things to have less crowds? I heard the hydrofoil doesn't run reliably if it is windy. I know it would save 30 minutes of travel time supposedly, is that worth exploring?

 

Jenn

And what about the bust of Putin as a Roman emperor?

The only "curfew" for adults on cruise ships I have ever heard of was in pirate territory (east coast of Africa near the Arabian Sea and Red Sea). We were not allowed outside on public decks or balconies after dark.

You cruised through a pirate territory? How extreme.

You just couldn't make this up, could you !

 

Reminds me of the Little Britain Sketch "Computer says NO".....

ha ha

 

 

 

,

 

 

 

Thanks for your help happy v,we have found a tour we will try.Altiva don't go into your own cruise go into Thomson website and look at ports their are eight under Odessa.

Thanks, toon. I did use their website but looked under the "extra-tours" and they said "no experience", then used "search the all web site" and again found nothing. Now, I see them all.

They are showing eight on their web site.:confused:

 

Sorry can't help with a recommendation.

Why when I look I can't find none? It says "no experience".

can anyone recommend any Thomson excursion in Odessa thanks in advance

They don't have any, sorry.

We've been to Odessa and have photos of the opera house /theatre but I don't think it was open to go inside, but this would have been morning so quite possibly it opened later. Is there not a tourist information site which would probably give opening times?

You can't just stroll by and pop in into the Opera House as you please. The same as you can't just go inside any movie theatre further than the booking offices. It's not a thoroughfare for people to go in and out. It's open during the performances, to see which you must buy a ticket.

If you want a tour, you need to sign in at least two weeks prior with INN and pay for it.

As for your other question, here is the official site of Odesa Opera House:

http://opera.odessa.ua/en/

Thank you so much Altiva for all that information.

 

It has been said many times on Cruise Critic that members are so kind to spare the time answering questions.

 

Thanks to all

You are welcome, Cruising. Also, about currency exchange re: above. You can change your currency (US dollars, British pounds, euros), in any bank or even special currency exchange booths, which are numerous in the centre, they are basically on every corner. It takes less than one minute, and you will need to show them your passport. The people in the story above requested certificate №377, so they had to wait long. It's the certificate which allows foreigners to change hryvyna back into their currency. The law says that the foreigner can't change more hryvna into, say, dollars, than the amount of dollars, originally exchanged. For example, you changed 100 US dollars into hryvna, you can then change back 100 dollars, 99,99 dollars, 99.98 dollars and so on, but not 101 dollars. To prove that you are not changing more than originally changed, when you make the exchange the first time, you ask for the certificate №377, as a proof.

So, all the people who thought it was too long should have done is, to change some small sum of money quickly, without asking for №377, then spend it all and be happy.

We are visiting Odessa on a Saturday.

 

It is a great itinerary visiting new ports we havent been to, namely Thessalonika,Kavala, Chios Town and Patmos, not to mention Constanta, do not fancy a three hour drive to Bucharest so methinks a day on board for that port of call!

 

Any info. on any of these ports will be handy

 

Thank you

Every Saturday and Sunday there is a very cheap open for all tour of the inside of the Opera House. No English. It starts at 17.00. The tickets for this tour you can buy not in the Opera House ticket office, but in the central ticket office in Gorsad.

Or you can order a private tour. For this, you'll need a local guide. That local guide will have to go to the Opera House with their national ID and their taxpayer number, and sign you in. You tell them how many of you there are. Then, you can have a private tour, photos are allowed, in English. You'd better do it in advance, because if a boat arrives, all the nice slots are taken at once, plus, it takes up to two weeks to process your application.

There are numerous ATMs in Odesa. You can withdraw cash from them. It will need to be a debit card and you should call your bank to warn them that you'd be travelling abroad, and tell them what countries you'd be visiting, or else, they can block it, thinking that someone stole it. It should be also something world known, like Visa, not some obscure card, or else local ATMs won't recognize it.

Hope it helped.

We are visiting Odessa on the Spirit in July, We hope to visit the theatre but do not think we will have time to fit in a show, we would still like to see the inside and my question is this.

Has anyone been to Odessa and do they know if it is possible to do this?, also are Euros accepted?

 

Thanks fpr any info

What day of the week do you visit?

Check out the latest UK News from Cruise Critic:

 

River Cruise Lines Cancel, Cut Back Operations in Russia in 2015

 

Continue reading for more details

 

More...

 

How the tide has turned, from a year ago, when all large cruise companies cancelled Ukrainian tours, and continued going to Russia, to reward Russians for the war they started, and take away from Ukrainians a decent way to earn money, which they desperately needed.

Ukrainian government should take a stand now and blacklist all the little enterprising cruise ships who visited occupied Crimea and never allow them into any of Ukrainian ports ever again.

During my daily OCD check of my personalizer today (:D) I happily saw that Princess has changed our itinerary for our October Black Sea cruise on the Ocean.

 

Yalta and Odessa have been replaced with Santorini and Kusadasi. We personally are very satisfied with this change. Although Yalta and Odessa would have been highlights and of course we're disappointed that we can't go, it's obvious no cruise ships will be calling on these ports in 2014 (although a Silver Seas ship was in Odessa on the day of the fire where 32 were tragically killed).

 

I think Princess was wise to make this change now and not to wait to make a decision that was inevitable

Surely "tragic" is the strange adjective to use to describe what has happened. Some people joined a terrorist organisation for pay, were paid to occupy the government building and shriek "kill Khohols" (Khohol is a derogatory nickname for Ukrainians, akin to N word). For this, FSB, KGB that was, paid them 20 bucks a day. They beat people for speaking Ukrainian language, fired at an old lady, who sat near her window, at her apartment, under a Ukrainian flag and burned down all the stores with Ukrainian signs on them. Then, one day, their FSB leader told them that they would get a hundred US apiece if they create a good disturbance, beat people, stop trains and finally, barricade themselves in the building. These "people" happily agreed, ran out and started throwing stones at the passing cars, beating everyone who didn't wear their insignia, and so on. When the police arrived, instead of dispersing in the crown and going home, they ran and barricaded themselves in the Trade Union building, which they occupied before and turned into a veritable pigsty, urinating and defecating directly in the rooms and on the stairs. Their FSB ringleader, then, promptly discharged the lethal gas, walked out and closed the doors. Everyone inside died or was burned to death, with Ukrainian fire-fighters, whom those barricaded inside incited to kill just half an hour ago, trying to save them, all in vain.

Many words come to mind, when thinking about what happened to these people, "tragic" never being one of them.

I will not argue too much because you have just not done enough unbiased research in my opinion.

 

MH17 was flying 300 miles further north and 3,000 feet lower than its sanctioned and chosen flight path which just happens to be 300 miles further north and 3,000 feet lower than the previous 10 MH17 flights were give in order to avoid the danger area both in distance and height and not its intended flight path but it was very similar to much previous flight paths before the area was declared by Aviation authority a danger zone and instructions were issued to avoid the area. Look it up.

 

You believe that Ukrainian Jet fighters had the right to shadow an Airliner at 32,000 feet? Look it up.

 

You doubt the Spanish Air traffic controllers story so you doubt that event occurred?Just some twisted individuals who decided to make up untrue stories before most of the public had even heard of MH17 by hacking relevant peoples twitter and facebook accounts thus causing the accounts to be suspended and all their conversations removed? You may doubt there existence even but they are there and electronic date/time imprinted. Look it up.

 

3 days after the MH370 went missing the last recorded contact with air traffic control was made public, MH17,s last recorded contact with air traffic control has still not been released? Is one a bigger Air disaster than the other to render MH17,s more secret or classified? Or is there some truth to the doubted Air traffic controllers denounce false stories seen on twitter that the authorities actually seized the recordings immediately after the disaster?

 

Why was the recording of a Rebel leader telling a Russian General they had shot down an airliner so quickly released to the public when it has since been proven it was recorded 16/7/14, could world government organizations with all its technology not also discover this first before releasing it? Or do you believe that Russia recorded it along with the rebels to purposely incriminate themselves? why has it not been removed from media just as the Air traffic controllers comments were?

 

Rebels may have blown it up as Russia may have but so could have Ukraine or a hijackers bomb!

 

If it is in fact ever found to be Ukrainian weapons fired by Ukrainians I doubt the strong sanctions that are being threatened by USA on both Russia and Rebels will apply to Ukraine.

 

Me I will know what really happened when an unbiased investigation is conducted which seems more and more unlikely the more you research and time goes by.

 

Take a look at Russian media of Russian satellite photos that show the Ukrainian BUK missiles positioned within firing range of MH17 before and on 17/7/14 and then Gone after the downing, then go looking for USA satellite images of the same! They have not been released even though the US satellite was tracking over the area and Russia has shown proof? Too secret? or not good for public opinion?

 

You are wasting your time, talking to a paid Russian troll:

"Dear people, stop taking seriously and talking back to the employees of the Centre of Information technologies of Skolkovo, building 3, floor 2. They receive 85 roubles for every post, monthly pay - 30 000 roubles plus bonuses. I ask all the admins to ban this pro-Kremlin propagandists, and its not a violation of democracy, because they are not even people - they are fake profiles with stolen photos. The people who use them change every day. Sometimes profiles work around the clock, three shifts - think about it, a real person can't post five days and nights in a row without pausing to sleep. Some profiles exist for many years, and are used periodically for information campaigns against Russian opposition.

I urge you to ban Kremlin trolls, because now, during the war, the information balance is very important."

Cruisemom42 said it better than anyone possibly could:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=42409509&postcount=8

It reminds me about a group of people on these forums, who were to visit Ukraine and who discussed and shared information about how, during the visit, they could encounter Russians only (15 % of the population), how if you needed some help, you'd better look for a Russian person, how to hire only Russian guides, and so on. And if someone told them that it was racist, they said that they were above politics and were just coming to have "a nice time" (nice time, avoiding 85 % of the local population).

So, I am at a loss here - is St Petersburg going to be "destroyed" during a "civil war"?

This is a nice menu. I think the main probem with vegetarian dishes, that cooks have no imaginations, so you have a lot of dough/pastry. I am not big on pastry and dough, so pastas, chibattas and such are not for me. It's like they don't know what to do and bake you some stuff. Certainly one can eat vegetarian without that much dough.

Kamyanets-Podilsky is an ancient Ukrainian town. It was founded in

12 century, obtained Magdeburg rights in 1347. Now, it's famous for

its old fortress, old town centre, Guildhall, cathedral, and an Art

museum and an archeological exhibition.

It's about 8 hours drive from Odesa. If you want to tour

Kamyanets-Podilsky, you will need an overnight stop (they have really

nice hotels down there).

What: Kamyanets-Podilsky, old town, old fortress.

When: whenever you got there.

Where: Kamyanets-Podilsky, Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Ukraine

Ukraine - breathtakingly beautiful.

 

 

 

More photos here:

http://odessainterpreters.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=11

Great video by two Dutch cyclists who cycled throughout Ukraine

without knowing a word of Ukrainian language!

They got the names of all the dishes, cities and towns right. Ok,

they misspelled "Kyiv" and talked some about Russians at the

beginning. Otherwise, a great video, without any prejudice or

Ukrainian phobia. Thank you, Blanche and Douwe!

http://vimeo.com/49933499