St. Petersburg

[ekp]

What is the quality of cruiseline excursions. I will be on the 8/29/05 Westerdam cruise.

[ekerr19]

We did one excursion through the cruiseline (HAL) in St. Petersburg - we went to the Hermitage. Our second day in St. Petersburg we spent on our own which was really unique.

 

When we return to St. Petersburg, I think we will look into the Red October tours, rather than the Shorex excursions through HAL. While ours was "ok" - it was not the best we've been on. The guide wanted to rush everyone through and we wanted to look - she got a little irritated at DH as he had a tendency to wander off, a "no-no" in her book.

 

The best thing about the shorex excursions (and this happened on our sailing) is if anyone is stranded in town - the ship will not leave. However, we also learned from the ships security Officer that evening that they can't leave anyone behind in St. Petersburg anyway - all pax and crew must be aboard before the ship is allowed to depart.

 

We had gotten stuck in traffic (on a bus) along with one of the dining stewards - we were all anxious, knowing we were cutting it very close and the steward told us we'd be better off getting off the bus and walking the 2 miles to the harbor entrance, which is what we did - but it was quite scary going through the pier checkpoint. We ended up making it back about 10 minutes before "all onboard" only to find that many officers were being dsipatched into town to retrieve stranded pax.

 

The Cheif Security Officer ended up dining with us that evening and we got to hear all about their adventures in St. Petersburg. It was not only very informative, but quite entertaining.

 

At any rate, I have heard wonderful things about Red October Tours and would certainly check them out.

[smoosh21]

Never been to St Petersburg on a cruise, but visited for a few days back when it was still Leningrad. You do need to visit the Hermitage, if not for the art, for the architecture of the building. You can also visit the Aurora since the ship is right there by the Hermitage.

 

I seethey offer a trip to Petrodvorets (the Summer Palace) I would also visit that. Hopefully their trip is as good as the one I took back in 1990

[2forTravelin]

We were on the Westerdam last year on a Baltic cruise and took the Red October tour in St. Petersburg. We had a great time and our guide was very experienced. We spent no time waiting in lines and got to see so much in just the 2 days. This was the highlight of the trip for us.

You might check out the Baltic board for more info.

[RuthC]

I was in St. Petersburg two years ago on a Rotterdam cruise and was fortunate enough to hook up with Red October for the two days and overnight.

It was well-worth the extra cost over HAL tours.

I believe I saw everything that was on all the HAL tours; if you were to take HAL tours you would have to leave some things out. My "group" of two (groups can be up to six) had our own guide. We could see while we were hearing the explanations.

I went to the Hermitage and Summer Palace. At the Summer Palace we were able to advance to the front of very long lines. There were more churches than I can count, and drive-by's with explanations of many other important sites.

The great thing with Red October is you can plan the itinerary you want. I recommend them highly.

[yes2sail]

Gee, we went to St.Petersburg within the past two years on another cruise line. We were not allowed off the ship unless we had a visa or were part of a cruise excursion. We had booked quite close to the departure and had no visa so the excursions were our only option. Others on the cruise had worked for 9 months to get visas ... without luck!

 

We did the Hermitage and though I'm not a real art afficianodo ... I do wish we had done the full day tour rather than the half day. We also did the summer palace, lunch and visit to churches. Our tour guide was also nervous each time she couldn't find each of us, truly the regime hasn't lost all of their power. "She would lose her job if she lost the tourists". And we were clearly informed that the dollars in your pocket can keep the poorer residents fed for quite some time, so tour guides are responsible for making sure no harm comes to the group.

[obriendan]

We were on a GCT tour that spent four days in St. Petersberg in 2002. The highlight of the tour for us was Catherine's Palace. Of course we were lucky to be there at the beginning of October. It was just getting chilly and the trees were turning. Most importantly, we were one of only tours there that day, so there was little crowding and we could take our time.

[ColoradoJen]

If you end up wanting to do a private tour, I already have a group of people together for a two-day private tour with DenRus for the Westerdam leaving August 29th. From all of the research that I did, the private tours end up being an absolute joy and cheaper than the huge group tours through Holland America. If you are interested, you can contact me at jennifergrafton@hotmail.com

[ekerr19]

Gee, we went to St.Petersburg within the past two years on another cruise line. We were not allowed off the ship unless we had a visa or were part of a cruise excursion. We had booked quite close to the departure and had no visa so the excursions were our only option. Others on the cruise had worked for 9 months to get visas ... without luck!

 

Our TA arranged our Visas through an agency in NYC - we had them within 4 weeks. They cost an arm and a leg, but were worth it. :)

[wander]

I certainly have read good things about Red October tours, but have only been on either HAL or MIR tours in St. Petersburg. In our four trips to St. Petersburg, we have never had to wait in the lines to enter any of the buildings. The tour guides were always able to get us either to the head of the line (ugly stares thrown our way) or there are special tour doors for guide led tours.

 

On one cruise to St. Petersburg on of our days in the city was a local Holiday and no one, even private tours, got into the buildings, except for the HAL tours. My were we hated, particularly by folks on the ship who had set-up private tours. It was also one of the best trips that day as we were then only people in these places and we could see things up close and personal, but wandering was a no-no as they had limited "guard ladies" who moved with us from room to room. On other HAL tours of the buildings we could go off on our own, with very, very strict instructions of when to be back on the bus.

 

We love to visit St. Petersburg and have enjoyed watching the drastic changes in the city and lifestyles over the past 10 or so years.