Anyone used or are using St Petersburg Tours with Dancing Bears company?

Hi there,

Cross posting from my query on the new cruisers section. I've seen rave reviews on this company and it will just be me, my hubby and kids age 6 and 7. Would you cruise critic members recommend?

Many thanks!

Our tour with Dancing Bear is not until late August but, I have customized a tour for two people and found the owner prompt, efficient and very helpful and willing to put up with my qwerky wishes! We are looking forward to our tour and will report back

Haven't heard of Dancing Bears.

But there are lots of other smaller operators mentioned in posts on this forum that I hadn't heard of either, and like the bigger ones they have all been well-received.

I've come to the conclusion that any SPB operator authorised to provide visa-free tours will do a good job :)

JB :)

Our tour with Dancing Bear is not until late August but, I have customized a tour for two people and found the owner prompt, efficient and very helpful and willing to put up with my qwerky wishes! We are looking forward to our tour and will report back

I was looking to book for late August too and have found them helpful so far, so was just seeking opinions before I book! Be interested to see what you think after your tour.

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Haven't heard of Dancing Bears.

 

But there are lots of other smaller operators mentioned in posts on this forum that I hadn't heard of either, and like the bigger ones they have all been well-received.

 

 

 

I've come to the conclusion that any SPB operator authorised to provide visa-free tours will do a good job :)

 

 

 

JB :)

That’s good to hear, John. Just came across it on tripadvisor when I was searching for excursions with children. Does $335 sound excessive for a private tour? And what currencies would we take on a Baltic cruise whilst you have the experience [emoji6]?

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I used TJ Tours for our June visit, but friends used Dancing Bears and they were very pleased. I wish I could offer more details.

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Cool thanks very much for that ABQCruiser :)

That’s good to hear, John. Just came across it on tripadvisor when I was searching for excursions with children. Does $335 sound excessive for a private tour? And what currencies would we take on a Baltic cruise whilst you have the experience [emoji6]?

 

 

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I'm a little out-of-date on prices - if you post whether that's for one day or two, and the total price for your party or per person, I'm sure folk with more recent experience can comment.

Currencies -

Always difficult to advise for small sums.

We like to have a little local shrapnel in our pockets because street traders, local buses etc usually don't accept plastic. And for minor purchases (a beer for instance) at places which accept plastic because sometimes there's a minimum spend to use a card.

Before we leave home we change a little using the usual high street suspects, for small sums like £20-worth the poor rate is pretty immaterial compared to the convenience.

For significant sums (your euros?), best value is on-line - posted direct or collect from a local agency.

If you use Sainsburys (mebbe other stores) pay on-line click-and-collect from your local store. That's a better exchange rate than simply buying in-store.

Your debit card in ATMs in port is usually best value for cash, especially if you know which ones don't charge a fee for your particular bank card - but again there's a minimum sum. And you might find an ATM near the berth or spend a lot of valuable time hunting for one.

If the ship offers an exchange facility to port currencies, the exchange rate will be abysmal - and unless you have some cash dollars I think you'll be caned with double poor rates - your sterling to dollars, then those dollars to krona :(

Or for Denmark, Sweden etc you can wing-it with no local currency. Plenty do for a one-day port-of-call visit. Especially in Sweden, which is well on the way to being cashless.

Euros rather than £ or $ are a good reserve currency for those countries - the shops, bars etc will give a poor exchange rate, but at least you won't go home with left-over currency. But ask before you buy.

For Russia, we took only enough roubles for the guide's tip so we wouldn't have left-over roubles.

For our souvenir purchases we used plastic, but that cash came in handy - altho lunches were included in Alla's tour cost, something to wash them down with wasn't, and the restaurants accepted only roubles, no foreign cash & no plastic. We drank beers whilst others had to stick with table water. We made up the tip shortfall with euros.

JB :)

Thanks John, I have actually now ordered a Revolut card so can use plastic with no added fees. We could also bring some Euro’s. The owner from the Dancing Bear tours says they can lend us some roubles if needed [emoji3]

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Thanks John, I have actually now ordered a Revolut card so can use plastic with no added fees. We could also bring some Euro’s. The owner from the Dancing Bear tours says they can lend us some roubles if needed [emoji3]

 

 

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We will be touring with DB in mid-late August. A private and customized multi-day tour for our family of four. So far we are very pleased. Can report back after the fact.

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We have booked a private 2-day tour with Dancing Bear for late August for the three of us inc 12 year old son. We chose them because they were the most helpful in advising best options for my wife who suffers with arthritis and providing interest to a 12 year old. They have been very quick to respond to queries. So we are confident in having chosen them.

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Thanks John, I have actually now ordered a Revolut card .......

 

 

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I'd never heard of a Revolut card, so I googled it.

When I saw the words "virtual" and "mobile-based" I stopped reading - this is not the sort of thing that dinosaurs like JB understand :D

JB :)

That’s good to hear, John. Just came across it on tripadvisor when I was searching for excursions with children. Does $335 sound excessive for a private tour? And what currencies would we take on a Baltic cruise whilst you have the experience [emoji6]?

 

/quote]

If it includes lunches it is a normal and decent price, certainly better than the ship sold tours. There are many offered on Viator in that range or lower for private tours. The devil is in the details, what is included?

A lot more children are arriving in St Petersburg because more countries are represented in cruising now, and because St Petersburg has gained the reputation of being one of the safest and friendliest cities in Europe. The recent World Cup certainly added to that reputation. Because of the increase in families with small children most tour companies have family-friendly tours. Not many cities in the world have more kid-focused cultural programs, arts and creative facilities, or recreation for kids. If your child has a photo ID from his school they can even get into all the world-class opera, ballet and classical music concerts for free. One activity most remembered by kids is simply going to one of the hundreds of parks and go meet other kids their own age. Communications is not a problem if they are young. For those over 6-7, Russian kids that age have already had a full year of English in school. One of the prettiest palace estates in the city is devoted to children's creative activities after school.

Another large complex on a center quiet residential street is the St Petersburg Children's Technology Center. A perfectly restored 19th century massive building filling a city block is focused on any tech interest of childs, everything from computer programming to satellite communications to robotics to biology, Maker activities, sound, optics, lasers and anything else in science that a kid might be interested in building or experimenting with down to early ages.. The antenna farm on the building is so elaborate, few tech universities have such facilities. The amateur radio stations connected to those towers would be the envy of any adult geek..All for free for kids, just show up. Seeing 7-year-olds writing machine code for a robot is pretty intimidating.

I have just paid the deposit using my brand new Revolut card, which I also never previously knew about, so hopefully will not lose anything in fees and make use of decent exchange rates [emoji23]

Our tour will include the Doll Museum , Grand Model Museum, plus Peterhof garden, Hermitage, st Catherine’s Palace, Church of Split Blood, walking round back streets seeing He Cat and She cat (whatever they are!). Lunch is not included but they will take us to have Russian pies and coffee breaks.

They had kindly fitted in the doll museum during the day for us otherwise it would have been an add on, taking the tour into the evening and I was worried about the kids having dinner and bed late only to have to get to the port at 830 the next day. A tip I saw today was to have room service brekkie to save time!

Would be interesting to compare experiences with those who also booked with DB!

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Just googled the Revolut card ... who knew? Sounds great!

We were in St Petersburg last weekend and used Dancing Bear Tours, for 2 different tours for 4 people. On the first day we had a private tour with a guide and driver for 7 hours to do whatever we wanted to do at a cost of $320, we also had an option to have extra hours as we required and was provided with an extended time on our visa. We were met at the terminal at the arranged time by Julia the owner of Dancing Bear who introduced us to our driver Anatoli and guide Anastasia. We had a fabulous tour around all the sites that St Petersburg is famous for without feeling pressurised to go into the museums which isn't our thing. We had some rubles for local spends (like Stolle pie) and we gave what we had left to the driver and guide at the end of the day with the tip.

Our next tour was the following night from midnight to 3am to see St Petersburg at night, we met Julia in the terminal at the alloted time and she introduced us to our driver Alexi. St Petersburg is absolutely fabulous at night and this was a real highlight for us seeing the bridges open and the canal boats racing through.

We can thoroughly recommend Dancing Bear Tours based on our experience last week and wouldn't hesitate to use them again when we return.

If you get the opportunity to visit the colonnade at the top of St Isaacs I suggest you do it, it's a climb of over 200 steps to the top but the views are spectacular.

Julia is fantastic and will tailor the tour to your requirements.

We were in St Petersburg last weekend and used Dancing Bear Tours, for 2 different tours for 4 people. On the first day we had a private tour with a guide and driver for 7 hours to do whatever we wanted to do at a cost of $320, we also had an option to have extra hours as we required and was provided with an extended time on our visa. We were met at the terminal at the arranged time by Julia the owner of Dancing Bear who introduced us to our driver Anatoli and guide Anastasia. We had a fabulous tour around all the sites that St Petersburg is famous for without feeling pressurised to go into the museums which isn't our thing. We had some rubles for local spends (like Stolle pie) and we gave what we had left to the driver and guide at the end of the day with the tip.

Our next tour was the following night from midnight to 3am to see St Petersburg at night, we met Julia in the terminal at the alloted time and she introduced us to our driver Alexi. St Petersburg is absolutely fabulous at night and this was a real highlight for us seeing the bridges open and the canal boats racing through.

 

We can thoroughly recommend Dancing Bear Tours based on our experience last week and wouldn't hesitate to use them again when we return.

 

If you get the opportunity to visit the colonnade at the top of St Isaacs I suggest you do it, it's a climb of over 200 steps to the top but the views are spectacular.

 

Julia is fantastic and will tailor the tour to your requirements.

Thanks Mr Seagull for your feedback. As you can see from our rough itinerary above, it also does not involve a lot of museums either [emoji3], and tailored it for our kids!

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Hello everyone, just thought I would report back and I’m glad to say I found them amazing! Julia the owner met us at the port with our guide also called Julia and the driver Igor. They were very efficient and we did not have to wait in any queues whatsoever, and did not get stuck in any crowds in the busy museums. Felt sorry for the crowds :)

We were also taught some basic Russian and tried the Stolle pies which even my children ate! Had good fun at the Peterhof fountains and were patient with my little girl’s frequent toilet needs [emoji849]

We did not need any rubles and used euro coins for one toilet and the rest on credit card, and shouted the guide her lunches.

Glad we went with DB! To those who used them recently, please feel free to share your experiences!

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We also used them a couple of weeks ago for a private tour for the 3 of us (including our 12 year old son). Our guide was Tatiana. She was very knowledgeable and was great at getting us in places without queuing. Julia was very helpful arranging an itinerary to suit our needs. We had a ride on the metro and a visit to the Grand Maket (massive model village of various parts of Russia). We also did the usual places. Loved the Church of the Spilled Blood. Because it was very busy we couldn’t get tickets for Catherine’s Palace so went to Pavlosky Palace instead which was interesting but not crowded.

Would totally recommend DB.

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We will be touring with DB in mid-late August. A private and customized multi-day tour for our family of four. So far we are very pleased. Can report back after the fact.

 

 

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Reporting back on our excellent experience with Dancing Bear Tours. We were a family of four and arranged a private tour for the 3 days we spent in SPB. I received initial quotes from multiple tour companies and Julia from DB provided us with the best value itinerary for us. They were prompt, reliable, and a pleasure to deal with. DB was flexible when the weather was not cooperative and we needed to switch some outdoors to indoors activities and vice verse. They added a site we requested on the fly without any problem. Our driver, Alec, was fantastic. Our guide Elena was extremely knowledgeable and attentive to all our needs. I would recommend this outfit to anyone.

We also used them a couple of weeks ago for a private tour for the 3 of us (including our 12 year old son). Our guide was Tatiana. She was very knowledgeable and was great at getting us in places without queuing. Julia was very helpful arranging an itinerary to suit our needs. We had a ride on the metro and a visit to the Grand Maket (massive model village of various parts of Russia). We also did the usual places. Loved the Church of the Spilled Blood. Because it was very busy we couldn’t get tickets for Catherine’s Palace so went to Pavlosky Palace instead which was interesting but not crowded.

Would totally recommend DB.

 

 

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Glad to hear you had a great experience too, such a shame you couldn’t get in to St Catherine’s Palace as it was definitely one of the must sees. We did the model museum too and the Doll Museum for the benefit of the children!

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Reporting back on our excellent experience with Dancing Bear Tours. We were a family of four and arranged a private tour for the 3 days we spent in SPB. I received initial quotes from multiple tour companies and Julia from DB provided us with the best value itinerary for us. They were prompt, reliable, and a pleasure to deal with. DB was flexible when the weather was not cooperative and we needed to switch some outdoors to indoors activities and vice verse. They added a site we requested on the fly without any problem. Our driver, Alec, was fantastic. Our guide Elena was extremely knowledgeable and attentive to all our needs. I would recommend this outfit to anyone.

Glad you had a great experience too, they were also very flexible with us.

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We had a 2 day tour with Dancing Bear Tours in 2016. Julia worked with me so we could see and do everything we wanted because I didn't like the typical itineraries every other tour was doing. Elena our guide was great and sneaked us past all the lines and Julia makes sure to meet everyone even if shes not your personal guide. FYI: best views are at the top of St Issac's... mostly locals as no other tours go up there.

I am in the process of booking a 3 day private tour with Dancing Bears for next summer. This company appealed to me because of their great reviews and they seem to specialize in small group(2-4 people) private tours which we plan to do. Their rates were also less than the big name companies, being this is a small family run business. They would like a 50% deposit to book this tour. If I should cancel up to 3 weeks prior, I would get back the full deposit. After that date, I would get back the deposit, less $100 which they said is for museum tickets already purchased. Is it normal to pay such a high deposit? I have booked many private shore excursions and most have been no deposit or maybe at most a 20% deposit with full cash back. For those that have used this company, was your deposit also 50% and did you feel comfortable giving such a deposit? So far,  my communication with Julia has been wonderful and I feel confident that she will give us a great tour.

On ‎10‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 10:30 PM, bonnieg said:

I am in the process of booking a 3 day private tour with Dancing Bears for next summer. This company appealed to me because of their great reviews and they seem to specialize in small group(2-4 people) private tours which we plan to do. Their rates were also less than the big name companies, being this is a small family run business. They would like a 50% deposit to book this tour. If I should cancel up to 3 weeks prior, I would get back the full deposit. After that date, I would get back the deposit, less $100 which they said is for museum tickets already purchased. Is it normal to pay such a high deposit? I have booked many private shore excursions and most have been no deposit or maybe at most a 20% deposit with full cash back. For those that have used this company, was your deposit also 50% and did you feel comfortable giving such a deposit? So far,  my communication with Julia has been wonderful and I feel confident that she will give us a great tour.

it is very unusual for any deposit to be required with most of private tour companies

payment usually on 2nd day