Private shore excusrsions in St Petersburg

[Tony UK]

Has anyone any recent experience of using private versus ship excursions. Any difficulties, any drawbacks?

 

Also wanted to let anyone on May 7th 2010 Eclipse trip know that there is a lively roll call running for this trip. Come and join us - lots of information, and opportunities to join private shore excursions.

 

Tony

[cruiseerf]

We were once with a large group of 8..with the private tour we saw far more then on the cruise excursions. HOWEVER....we had to get our own visa's which was an expensive proposition. IT added a couple hundred to each person...but that said....you are there for a short period...it is nice to see as much as you can and enjoy the shopping and sightseeing and not have to be rushed or wait for someone in the toilet.

 

Enjoy...it's a fabulous place.

[j!m]

we were in st petes last year (june) and used private excursions, for just 2 of us

 

was great, saw a lot more than others and didnt have to wait for 30 other people

 

tour company arranges visas and they cost nothing so no need to get visas at all unless something changed since june 09

[beachnative]

Our group of 10 used DenRus for our two-day shore excursion. We could not have been more pleased. They arranged our Visas, gave advice on how to beat the crowds off the ship, and allowed us many choices to arrange our days. Our van was very comfortable and our guide spoke excellent English.

[chezcarp]

We were in SP 3 days in Aug 2009 and spent them with a delightful, fluent, and very knowledgeable guide from DenRus. If you would like more information, please email bcarpenter15@triad.rr.com. Betty

[Pirate1]

Has anyone any recent experience of using private versus ship excursions. Any difficulties, any drawbacks?

 

Also wanted to let anyone on May 7th 2010 Eclipse trip know that there is a lively roll call running for this trip. Come and join us - lots of information, and opportunities to join private shore excursions.

 

Tony

 

===========================

 

Hi,

 

Last Oct we had set up a private van (12 pax) for 2 days in St Petersburg with ANASTASIA TOURS.

 

Prompt in replies, guide & driver, no problems.

 

She will customize it to your liking. e G, we said skip the traditional lunch hour dtop, we brought our own food and ate in the van while driving. YOU NEED THIS EXTRA TIME IN ST P.

 

Havea wonderfull time.

[titusone]

We also were last summer in SP and organized with Anastasia Tours.

It was a very good experience, we customized our tour in advance and everything went smootly.

If you are a small group, I suggest you to organize private tour.

[Albert Ross]

Has anyone any recent experience of using private versus ship excursions. Any difficulties, any drawbacks?

 

Also wanted to let anyone on May 7th 2010 Eclipse trip know that there is a lively roll call running for this trip. Come and join us - lots of information, and opportunities to join private shore excursions.

 

Tony

If you go over to the Ports of Call boards for northern Europe you will find lots of pros and cons for each of the operators. The big guys most often mentioned are: Red October, DenRus, Alla-tour and Anastasia.

Personally have used both Alla-tour and Anastasia and were very very happy with both of them. They organise everything - you send them your passport info and they send back a sheet of dated vouchers, in Russian, that you give to the immigration guys at the port. One voucher for each day.

Small groups are easier and faster to move around, less time for bathroom breaks, and these tour guides seem to get you into the museums and churches ahead of the ships tours. We just walked straight past the long line from the X ship's tour and straight into the Hermitage.:D

You can customise the tour as you wish, and the other plus point is that they are tons cheaper than the ship's tours.

[Ma Bell]

We used Red October and had a wonderful experience.

[Ayuh]

We enjoyed a first rate experience with SPB-Tours in both St Petersburg and Berlin (Warnemunde). Any group size you want, door to door service, no individual visas required, their website already has its own roll call for May X travelers, and the price was right! St Petersburg has a series of world-class sights to behold. Enjoy.

[JIMDSB2]

If the question is whether to take the cruise tour or private tour, my answer is to take the private tour.

Last July I setup a tour with ANASTASIA and posted it on the RCCL Meet and Mingle board. Your cruise will have the same type of thing. Anyway, I was going to cut it off at 10, but due to 2 couples coming together, ended up with 12 people. We could have had 10 more, but 10-12 was the perfect size for cost and for ease of movement.

The Van was spotless and the driver was very professional and courteous.

The sights on both days were breathtaking.

And last but not least, our guide was absolutely the best I have ever encountered.

We were met right at the disembarkation Immigration point.

The only problem was caused by the cruise line themselves by trying to keep us onboard which their tours left. They try to trick you into thinking that it is a Russian immigration thing, with formal notices the days before, but it is only to propagate their own tours and bottom line. Just go down when you are supposed to and be a little persistant and they will leave you off. DO NOT WAIT FOR THE O.K. unless you are on a late tour. But if you are on a late tour, I can tell you, that you are going to miss something extrordinary.

[Tony UK]

Thank you all so much for the positive and reassuring replies. We usually organise most of our own tours, but were a little concerned on this one with the tales of difficulties with visas.

We like to go with a smaller group , and it sounds like the best thing to do. The 2 day excursions sound exhausting but it seems thereis so much to see. Do you think 2 full days is overdoing it?

 

Jim

Thanks for the tips re getting off the ship!

 

Tony

[Hapytocruise]

My husband and I did the Baltic a few years ago. Visa's were not difficult to get. In St.Petersburg we arranged 2 days of private tours with "Peter's Walking Tours" (just google on the web)- wonderful exerience, personalized to what we wanted to do and see along with their suggestions - perfect english so easy to understand and converse about the Russian history and culture all at our own quick pace so we saw alot. Would highly recommend. The only suggestion is for whoever you contract with - have them arrange a car/taxi to pick you up at the port. When we were there not many cars of hire off the boat due to security of the port not many taxis are allowed in - just a lot of buses for the cruise ship arranged tours.

[FTLcruisers]

Two full days won't even come close to being too much! We used Alla Tours and in addition to the tours during the day, we also went to see a dance performance at night. What I liked about the private tour was that there were only 8 of us in the van so it was easy to ask questions about things we were driving by - obvioulsy something you can't do in a 40 passenger bus. Also, our guide would tell us about the photo stops and we'd decide whether we wanted to stop or not. I think the ship breaks up the sites into different excursions so you can't see as much as if you take one of the private tours. Enjoy St Pete - we are looking forward to going back.

[travelgenie]

Has anyone any recent experience of using private versus ship excursions. Any difficulties, any drawbacks?

 

Also wanted to let anyone on May 7th 2010 Eclipse trip know that there is a lively roll call running for this trip. Come and join us - lots of information, and opportunities to join private shore excursions.

 

Tony

 

We used Red October, they were great, and took care of the visas. There was 4 of us for a 2 day excursion. Our guide, Katherine, was so knowledgeable, spoke flawless English and was able to give us a personal insight to Russian culture. What makes private tours so good, the tour guides know how to maneuver around the crowds, ie., The Hermitage which is usually always packed. We waited in line for nothing, including the rest rooms. We were able to customize where we wanted to go. We did opt for lunch both days, one in a nice hotel and another in a local pub type of place, both a nice and interesting treat. Both lunches where called in ahead, so they were ready when we arrived, so it did not take long, I would pass on taking food from the ship, it is a nice welcome break in the middle of the day. Our guide was flexible with time as well, we were able to extend our time at the end of the day, for a fee of course. Enjoy St. Petersburg!

[home1431]

Am on Eclipse May 7 sailing. Am new to cruise critic. What is roll call?? How get info on??

[j!m]

you can use and enjoy as many days as you can get in SP

 

we were there for3 days and wished it was 5

 

there is lots to see it is a wonderful city

 

and yes, our experience was that the cruise line handed out quite a bit of misinformation re visas and departing the ship

 

we just left when we wanted,

 

the first day they told us to wait but i just toldem we had no time to wait and we were leaving, goodbye

 

and frankly, the private all day tours for just 2 of us were not a lot more $ than the ship wanted to herd us with 30 others

 

hava great cruise

[TravelerThom]

Am on Eclipse May 7 sailing. Am new to cruise critic. What is roll call?? How get info on??

Your Roll Call is at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=939874

 

It is where people on your specific cruise can ask questions and chat before the cruise. Often a great place arrange to join a private tour if you would like to.

 

Enjoy.

Thom

[Tony UK]

Thom

Come on over and join us. I'm picking up some spaces for a comprehensive tour of St Petersburg - 2 days, with Anastasia. There are just 5 so far so it will be a small group. Let me know if you want to join us.

 

Thanks so much everyone. As you can see I have taken your advice and gone for a smaller group for a private tour. I am so exited now I just cant wait to get there!

Angie

[derekthesailor]

We had a party of 18 with SPB tours doing a 2 day "Baltic Pearl" tour.

http://www.spb-tours.com/st-petersburg/en/

The cost was about 300 USD each for 2 full days.

 

There is a diary at http://www.pamnewton29.plus.com/ if you want an idea of what we covered.

 

Viki was excellent an excellent organiser. Elana, our guide was extremely knowledgeable, whilst Yuri, our driver was very good. I cannot recommend them enough. We were off the ship, through immigration and onto our minibus before anyone on the cruise line tours had even started to leave the ship.

 

One tip - there are no restrooms in the Peterhof gardens, and lots of fountains and running water. Take any opportunity to go beforehand !!!!!!

[Albert Ross]

Thank you all so much for the positive and reassuring replies. We usually organise most of our own tours, but were a little concerned on this one with the tales of difficulties with visas.

We like to go with a smaller group , and it sounds like the best thing to do. The 2 day excursions sound exhausting but it seems thereis so much to see. Do you think 2 full days is overdoing it?

 

Jim

Thanks for the tips re getting off the ship!

 

Tony

There is a lot to see in 2 days - but just ask yourself 'will I ever be back here' and the answer is probably 'no' so it is well worth those early starts and long days, just for these 2 days!

[caripoo]

We were once with a large group of 8..with the private tour we saw far more then on the cruise excursions. HOWEVER....we had to get our own visa's which was an expensive proposition. IT added a couple hundred to each person...but that said....you are there for a short period...it is nice to see as much as you can and enjoy the shopping and sightseeing and not have to be rushed or wait for someone in the toilet.

 

Enjoy...it's a fabulous place.

 

 

We spent 2 days with a private guide and driver. we picked where we wanted to go and got into places that the ship tours couldn't get to. We spent less money and did more. Didn't have to wait for anyone and waited in no lines. Despite the extra money for a visa, Trust me this is factored into the cruise prices also. The tours were less. We ate where the locals ate. It was awesome!!

[cruise love]

Thom

Come on over and join us. I'm picking up some spaces for a comprehensive tour of St Petersburg - 2 days, with Anastasia. There are just 5 so far so it will be a small group. Let me know if you want to join us.

 

Thanks so much everyone. As you can see I have taken your advice and gone for a smaller group for a private tour. I am so exited now I just cant wait to get there!

Angie

 

Hi

 

I am also traveling on the May 7 Elcipse. I am interestes in private tours in St Petersberg. We are 6 Australians travelling and have a few specific things we wish to to see in St Petersberg. We are happy to travel in our own group or to join with others .

 

Cant wait now

 

Cruise Love

[home1431]

If you still have room. Would like to see your itinerary. Please e-mail to home1431@comcast.net

[tinybabynurse]

TBN Hubby here

 

We used DenRus for our group of 6 a couple of years ago and were very happy with our guide, driver, and tours. We started with the base tour and customized it considerably. No problem. Some went to Ballet others did not. No problem. Went opposite the ships tours so avoided the worst of the crowds.

 

No issues with our visas, just showed the officials our information from DenRus.

 

Do consider the Canal boat at the end of your last day. You will see many of the same things as the land tour, but from a different perspective. The canal boat guides only speak Russian but you will already know what you are looking at. Magnificent views from the canal and no buses or other tourists in your pictures!

 

Also the subway is neat. Can't take photos there but the two stations we saw were works of art.