St. Petersburg Shore Excursions

[toseaornottosea]

Anyone have experience with Insider Tour (formerly Optima Ltd)?

[hockeyfan12]

Anyone have experience with Insider Tour (formerly Optima Ltd)?

 

Following up on this query.

 

Looking at booking their group tour vs. alla's (pretty much same price).

 

Saw some great reviews on Tripadvisor for this operator - but barely anything on cruisecritic.

 

Anyone have any experiences?

[Ashland]

Several favorites on this board...We ended up using TJ Travel in Aug 2010 and we were "very happy" with the private 2 day active tour we did with them..Just stick with the more well known and recommended and you can't go wrong..Enjoy this amazing city!!

[Grego]

Hope to see some good recommendations here.

[tmcw]

I used them in June 2014 with my 3 fellow travelers. Having been to St. Pete before, we wanted to see things not included in the cruise line's tours, and we wanted to travel in a small group with flexibility in terms of time and changes to the itinerary. I planned our itinerary via email with Alexandra at Insider. We were met at the dock at the time we chose - after the hordes of people had disembarked in long lines - by our very capable driver and the excellent guide Marina. She was fantastic: knowledgeable, funny, friendly. She was amazing at cutting through the crowds at the Hermitage and her wonderfully bright orange hair made her very easy to see. When rain made some of our 1st-day plans difficult, she changed the itinerary to maximize our time. We were in desperate need of reliable wifi by this point in our trip and she wisely advised us to use the Hermitage's free wifi before lunch as after it would be impossibly crowded. We rode the subway, visited a grocery store, ate in small local restaurants, and did other things we couldn't have with a standard tour. The service wasn't cheap but it was fairly priced and well worth the money. I'll definitely use them again if I'm ever back in St. Pete.

[Giantfan13]

The last posters experiences are well documented and that procedure is used by almost all the private tour companies. That is one of the major differences between a private tour and a ships tour. The private tour operators can and will change itineraries around to meet the day and the things that happen along the way. A ship's tour will go from A to B and then to C with no deviation.

We toured with SPB Tours. We had glorious weather on day one so they changed some of the itinerary around so we could use that glorious weather to do more of the outdoor things, especially the Canal river cruise which was originally scheduled for day 2.

 

My advice is to use any of the major private tour companies and you will sleep more comfortable at night leading up to your trip. You really cannot depend on Trip Advisor for a lot of help as a company can have all it's relatives write up a review. There is no screening process. You know, a lot of one post wonders telling you how wonderful such and such a company is. We here on CC, will give you a better review.

Now this company might be great but maybe they won't even be around when you go. A lot of these smaller companies come and go very quickly. They try to start up a business but never really make it, or are swallowed up by larger companies.

Just my advice, stay with the well recommended ones and you will have no fears about your trip and tour.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[Essexlass2]

Good advice from Giantfan13!

 

We've booked with Alla for our two days in St Petersburg :)

[newtocruise123]

There are several companies which get great reviews on both CC and tripadvisor. In the end, I opted for Alla Tours in July 2012 for their 5 port tour which include a day trip to Berlin which I would not have had if I had opted for ships tours as they were so expensive.

 

The two days in St Petersburg were absolutely fabulous. We were ferried around in a minibus. Our guide was great as was our driver. We had absolutely no concerns over the two days.

 

When we got back to ship the people who used the ships tours were pretty envious as our itineraries included so much more.

 

In summary, I am so glad that we found them as they really made our trip.

[p_mori7]

There are several companies which get great reviews on both CC and tripadvisor. In the end, I opted for Alla Tours in July 2012 for their 5 port tour which include a day trip to Berlin which I would not have had if I had opted for ships tours as they were so expensive.

 

The two days in St Petersburg were absolutely fabulous. We were ferried around in a minibus. Our guide was great as was our driver. We had absolutely no concerns over the two days.

 

When we got back to ship the people who used the ships tours were pretty envious as our itineraries included so much more.

 

In summary, I am so glad that we found them as they really made our trip.

 

 

Agreed !

 

We used ALLA as well in St-P and in Berlin.

 

They were an EXCELLENT provider !

[CrazyJess]

My advice is to use any of the major private tour companies and you will sleep more comfortable at night leading up to your trip.

Good advise! All these companies were named on CC many times but once again: Spb tours, Best Guides, Alla tours, TJ. Of course you can experiment with new companies but I think it’s too risky.

 

Jess:)