Ship’s tour in St Petersburg

We are a family group of three couples travelling on the Zuiderdam in June. We have decided to take the Ultimate St Petersburg Small group tour with Holland America. I would be quite happy taking an independent tour with any of the companies discussed at great length on CC, but one of our group is extremely nervous about being stranded in Russia if the tour gets back late to the ship. She would not be able to relax and enjoy an independent tour, so we have all agreed to take the ship’s tour. However, I would really love to go to the Faberge Museum as an evening add on. Does anyone have any idea what time the ship’s tour finishes on Day 1, and if it is possible to then join an evening tour with one of the independent companies? Thank you in advance for any information.

Our evening at the folk show wouldn't have worked as a separate tour because there would not have been time to go back to the ship between tours - at the end of the tour we were dropped at a bar in town, and collected from there for the evening show. But those who went to the ballet did go back to the ship first - the ballet started later, and daytime dress for the ballet wouldn't have been ideal.

And I think that very probably you could book Faberge for just the two of you at little or no extra cost, so could set your own start time.

But I think the main problem is that (some? all?) local operators will only book evening excursions for those who book the day tour with them.

I suggest you e-mail a number of them and ask.

Or you could book an independent operator's tour for Day 1 and ship's tour for Day 2 - but finding two tours that don't have repeat locations would be a challenge.

BTW, elsewhere in the world ships' tours are of mixed quality but those who have taken a ship's tour in SPB all seem to have enjoyed them immensely - probably because they're run by the same local operators. And you've mentioned a ship's "small group" tour so that sounds like the same vans as used for independent tours. :)

It's a great shame that one of your party is so nervous about missing the sailing. That's simply not going to happen, it would destroy the operator's business. They plan their days so that the afternoon of the final day is at locations close to the ship (same planning as experienced DIYers anywhere in the world) and aim to get cruisers back to the ship with a stack of time to spare. Using a local operator throughout would avoid complication and doubtless reduce the total cost - can your friend be persuaded?

JB :)

With 3 couples can you price out a private tour for just your family? When we sailed to Guatemala I panicked because there aren’t many private vendors and the best one had a review stating that the tour had returned late and nearly missed the ship according to a cruise critic post. The captain of the HAL prisendams wife and daughter was apparently on the late excursion and the captain said they’d wait a little bit but if they didn’t arrive soon he’d have to leave them behind. Thankfully they made the ship. Normally I’d never book a private tour with those kind of reviews, but I was traveling with my 3 year old. And if we don’t control the itinerary and make sure we keep him happy we can ruin everyone’s experience on a group tour. The reason why i finally went ahead was that I booked a private tour for just my family. That meant that I controlled the itinerary and if it got late, I was sure they’d return immediately once I asked them to take us back ( the tour that returned late to the ship was a group tour, and half the group was worried about time and the other half trusted the vendor and wanted to stay). If you book a private tour for just your family, theyd probably be willing to let you stay late on day one if the nervous person on your tour needs your group to return earlier on day 2 (our tour guide let us do this just because the weather was better on day one so we switched the canal tour to day 1). You should check with the tour operators, but our group of 2 adults and 1 kid was able to skip all lines outside museums - the lines are to ensure the museums don’t have bottlenecks caused by large group tours. I think 6 people could skip the lines but the tour companies would know that better than me. Private tours might start later on day 1 due to new port regulations, so you might not be as tired later on. Best of luck - I hope that group member would be comfortable if she has a two or three hour grace period in which she returns to the ship prior to sailing since you’ll be able to have a much easier experience logistically on a smaller tour. We didn’t have any problems with our private tour in Guatemala, or with any of our other private tours and we’ve taken the kids on a few cruises and John Bull is right in that the operators in St. Petersburg have spent years building their reputations, which would be destroyed if anyone got left behind.

An independent tour in St.Petersburg is NOT NOT NOT going to be late returning to the ship. As John Bull states, doing so would be a death knell to their business so they all make sure that their last stop of the day on Day 2 is close to the ship. I have been reading the posts in this forum for years (both before and after my Baltic cruise) and there has never been a post regarding a late return to the ship by an independent tour company. (And if it had ever happened, somebody would have posted here.)

I have just read the details of the HAL tour you propose taking. It is essentially the same tour we did with ALLA. However, the maximum number of people on our tour was 16 whereas the maximum on the HAL tour is 25. (Size matters in St.Petersburg). Also, while no price was given on the HAL website, I can bet you dollars-to-donuts that it will be significantly higher than what any of the major independent tour companies— Alla, SPB or TJ Travels—charge for the same tour.

I can understand that if ONE person in your group is nervous about missing a ship, all the coaching in the world will not change that.

I have been singing the praises of independent tours in St Petersburg for quite a while now. I had a very good friend recently do a Baltic cruise and they always book tours thru the ship, and all my coaching, conniving, pleading with them to do it, for all the reasons` mentioned here, fell on deaf ears. If it will ruin your trip, then either split up for the time or that other suggestion of the 1st day private and the second day ship's tours, might be a good alternative. All of us here, know that there is ZERO chance anyone will ever miss the ship, but you cannot convince everyone of that fact.

Cheers

Len

Thank you all for the excellent replies. I will show them to my sister in law and hopefully change her mind!

TALK AGAIN TO YOUR SISTER IN LAW!

As stated emphatically here in this thread, and in literally hundreds of other threads on this site, a St Petersburg independent tour WILL NOT be late getting back to the ship on day of departure. End. Of. Story. Not only (as has already been stated here and elsewhere) would this be a death knell to their business, but also remember this is RUSSIA. Stranding a group of Americans or Australians or any non-Russians in SPB would be a nightmare. The logistic, political, diplomatic, linguistic (English is not widely spoken in Russia outside of pre-arranged tours), and other obstacles make such an event a literal nightmare of the highest order. It JUST WILL NOT HAPPEN. Having done such a tour myself, and spoken to many others who have done so, and read many threads here, these tour operators have this down to a science. Yes, St. Petersburg is a large place, and some of the sights are quite far from the ship, but these are done on the 1st (or 2nd if it’s a 3-day tour) day of the itinerary. Even then they always get you back on time on those days. The sights that are nearer to the ship are always done on the last day or the last afternoon of the itinerary. They will be back to the ship on time ABSOLUTELY GUARANTEED.

As stated many times here, the independent SPB tours are a bit less expensive than the ship’s tours. But that, IMO, is not the main draw. The most important thing (IMO) is that these independent tours are simply BETTER. Smaller group sizes, smaller, and nicer, vehicles, more engaged, friendly, personable guides. In every way imaginable, a better experience.

TALK AGAIN TO YOUR SISTER IN LAW!

When talking to your sister-in-law, you can also mention the size of the vehicles as another reason that the independent operators with the smaller groups can get back without a problem: their vans or minibuses can move through traffic (and find parking) much more efficiently than the large buses.

I've been on independently-operated tours elsewhere where I did get a little nervous that we weren't running on time -- stops or transit time were taking too long, the guide was having to track down people who'd wandered off, etc. This was *not* the case in St. Petersburg. Everything ran *ahead* of time, the guide kept in contact with everyone in the small group. . . . It was literally the most streamlined, professionally-run tour I've ever been on.

When talking to your sister-in-law, you can also mention the size of the vehicles as another reason that the independent operators with the smaller groups can get back without a problem: their vans or minibuses can move through traffic (and find parking) much more efficiently than the large buses.

 

I've been on independently-operated tours elsewhere where I did get a little nervous that we weren't running on time -- stops or transit time were taking too long, the guide was having to track down people who'd wandered off, etc. This was *not* the case in St. Petersburg. Everything ran *ahead* of time, the guide kept in contact with everyone in the small group. . . . It was literally the most streamlined, professionally-run tour I've ever been on.

Chiming in again here, I totally concur with trosebery. While independent tour operators around the world are generally pretty reliable (they HAVE to be, their business depends on it.....), the major operators in St. Petersburg take this to another level. As already stated, there is ZERO CHANCE you will miss the ship when using one of the major St. Pete tour operators.

When talking to your sister-in-law, you can also mention the size of the vehicles as another reason that the independent operators with the smaller groups can get back without a problem: their vans or minibuses can move through traffic (and find parking) much more efficiently than the large buses.

We took SPB three-day last August when everywhere was filled with HUGE crowds and it still ran like clockwork. They are expert at getting you in and out and making sure you see everything and knowing where to park. And we had a van with only 16 people which was much more efficient than a huge coach. I’m one of those nervous Nellies about getting back to the ship and I didn’t have a moment’s worry. Highly recommend!