Three days in St. Petersburg

[rosie#1]

I am doing a B2B on the Vision of the Seas. We decided to do this so we could have three days in St. Petersburg. We want to spend one of the days doing a ship tour to Moscow. I am now getting worried that the Moscow tour may get canceled due to a lack of participants. I have no idea what we would do with the extra day if it gets canceled. Any ideas? I listed what we have planned for the other two days.

Thanks,

City tour, metro ride, Catherine Palace with Amber Room, Peterhof Fountain Park, Hermitage Museum, St. Peter & Paul Cathedral, museum of the Siege of Leningrad, boat ride, Yusupov Palace and the Church on the Spilled Blood

[TLCOhio]

I am doing a B2B on the Vision of the Seas. We decided to do this so we could have three days in St. Petersburg. We want to spend one of the days doing a ship tour to Moscow. I am now getting worried that the Moscow tour may get canceled due to a lack of participants. I have no idea what we would do with the extra day if it gets canceled. Any ideas? I listed what we have planned for the other two days. Thanks,

City tour, metro ride, Catherine Palace with Amber Room, Peterhof Fountain Park, Hermitage Museum, St. Peter & Paul Cathedral, museum of the Siege of Leningrad, boat ride, Yusupov Palace and the Church on the Spilled Blood

 

Glad you've got the three days in St. Petersburg. That is what we had in late July 2008. About 90 some of the 800+ passengers on our ship did the trip to Moscow. It was wonderful to see that contrast of BOTH Moscow AND St. Petersburg. Very interesting and different cities. Both so historic!!! Below are some of my visuals from Moscow to get you excited. Most of these tours use regularly schedule airlines and they don't need a massive group to make it possible. Hopefully, everything will work out fine.

 

Are you doing a private tour to see St. Petersburg? Looks like you've got most of the must-sees covered in St. Petersburg. If you see the subway in Moscow, you might not need to do that in St. Petersburg. Let me know any questions. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For lots of interesting details, great visuals, etc., from our July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. Don’t be shy and feel free to ask any questions of interest. This posting is now over 37,850 views. Appreciate those who have “tuned in”.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

 

 

One of the Kremlin Wall Towers in Moscow:

 

 

 

Walking on the famed Red Square of Moscow:

 

 

 

St. Basil's sits on Red Square and dates back to its 1555-61 construction on the orders of Ivan the Terrible (Ivan IV). It commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan and marks the geometric center of the city. This location has been the hub of its growth for Moscow since the 14th century. It was the tallest building in Moscow until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600. This church was near destroyed in the 1930’s when Stalin was in control.:

 

 

 

The domes of the historic church inside the walls of the Kremlin:

 

 

 

This is the interior for Moscow's most historic church, Assumption Cathedral or the Cathedral of the Dormition, inside the Kremlin walls. It is the mother church of Muscovite Russia. The church stands on Cathedral Square and was built in 1475–1479 by the Italian architect Aristotele Fioravanti. It was erected on the spot of an older 14th century cathedral of the same name:

 

 

 

Young Military Officers with Soviet "High Hat":

 

[cruiselen]

We also had three days in St. Petersburg. As far as I can remember we visited the palace in Pavlovsk (not far from Catherine's palace) and St. Isaac's cathedral, which is magnificent, on top of your itinerary. And also - the Russian museum.

[Mrs_Duffy]

We're thinking of doing an independent tour to Moscow on our cruise later this summer - that might be an option if you're worried about your ship's tour being canceled. It looks like most of them have you take the high speed train from SP to Moscow early in the morning, and return late at night. Obviously, we haven't gone yet, so I can't recommend any tour, but I've been researching and it seems that Alla, SPB Tours and Red October (all that have gotten good recommendations for SP tours on the boards) have Moscow day trips.

[rosie#1]

Yes we are doing private tours for the two days in St. Petersburg. Per RCI they need 15 more people for the tour to go. The cruise is in Aug.

Thanks for the other suggestions.

 

Mrs Duffy: Do you need a visa for the the tour? When will you be going on your cruise? I am not sure I am comfortable doing a Moscow private tour.

[jamessemaj]

rosie, you don't need a visa for a tour booked from the cruise line or from a properly licensed tour operator. In just the short time of a cruise stop in spb, I would recommend just touring there. Moscow is wonderful but given the time, it is too much of a stretch, in my opinion.

[Giantfan13]

Yes we are doing private tours for the two days in St. Petersburg. Per RCI they need 15 more people for the tour to go. The cruise is in Aug.

Thanks for the other suggestions.

 

Mrs Duffy: Do you need a visa for the the tour? When will you be going on your cruise? I am not sure I am comfortable doing a Moscow private tour.

 

Rosie

 

Why would you feel uncomfortable taking a private tour to Moscow???. If you are in St Petersburg for more than one day, the tour to Moscow is always on day one so there is absolutely no chance of you ever missing your ship. And, if God forbid, anything ever went wrong, you have plenty of time to get back and still have time to see St Petersburg. We did not go to Moscow when we were there, but if we ever got back to this region we will definitely be doing it.

Same as the tours to Berlin, they are all day affairs, but I have never read of anyone not making it back in time to catch their ship. It is as safe as can be.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[TLCOhio]

I am not sure I am comfortable doing a Moscow private tour.

 

Agree with Len! Nothing to feel "uncomfortable" about in doing the Moscow tour. It worked fine for us. They have done this one-day tour many, many times and they have the timing/logistics down well. Whether with a ship or private tour, they will have the visa and you don't need to get one on your own. It was a long day, but worked extreme well for us. We would not want to have missed that visit to Moscow.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

For lots of interesting details, great visuals, etc., from our July 1-16 Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. Don’t be shy and feel free to ask any questions of interest. This posting is now over 37,945 views. Appreciate those who have “tuned in”.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[Mrs_Duffy]

Mrs Duffy: Do you need a visa for the the tour?

 

I asked SPB about this and they said that as long as you sleep on the boat, you're covered by their blanket visa, even for Moscow.

 

When will you be going on your cruise?

We're going at the end of July. From what I've read you need to book the private excursion 1 month in advance.

 

We have no concerns about a private excursion to Moscow. We're planning to go on our second of 3 days in in SP. That way if, God forbid, something happens and we get stuck in Moscow, we have an extra day to get back to the ship.

 

I think as long as you do your research and book with a reputable tour group you should have little to worry about. We've done private tours in Cairo (a few years ago, not recently) and last year used private guides for a close-to-3 week tour of China. I have nothing but good things to say about any of the private guides/tour companies I have used. They always got us where we needed to be on time, showed us what we wanted to see, and I always felt safe.

 

But that's just my opinion -- you should do what makes you feel most comfortable.

[rosie#1]

Thanks for the info. I found out a private tour of Moscow will not work in our case since our three days are not in a row. We will be in St. Petersburg one day on the first cruise and two days on the second. The private tours require you to leave at 6am and we will not dock until 8am.

Final payment is not until June so hopefully we will be able to find out if the tour has enough participants by then. If not we will cancel and try again next year.

[onespots]

I asked SPB about this and they said that as long as you sleep on the boat, you're covered by their blanket visa, even for Moscow.

 

 

We're going at the end of July. From what I've read you need to book the private excursion 1 month in advance.

 

We have no concerns about a private excursion to Moscow. We're planning to go on our second of 3 days in in SP. That way if, God forbid, something happens and we get stuck in Moscow, we have an extra day to get back to the ship.

 

I think as long as you do your research and book with a reputable tour group you should have little to worry about. We've done private tours in Cairo (a few years ago, not recently) and last year used private guides for a close-to-3 week tour of China. I have nothing but good things to say about any of the private guides/tour companies I have used. They always got us where we needed to be on time, showed us what we wanted to see, and I always felt safe.

 

But that's just my opinion -- you should do what makes you feel most comfortable.

 

Would be interested in the tour company you used in China. Please contact me ( John ) at sfaigle@aol.com

Thank you, John

[Mrs_Duffy]

Would be interested in the tour company you used in China. Please contact me ( John ) at sfaigle@aol.com

Thank you, John

 

You've got mail!

[jtamchay]

I asked SPB about this and they said that as long as you sleep on the boat, you're covered by their blanket visa, even for Moscow.

 

 

We're going at the end of July. From what I've read you need to book the private excursion 1 month in advance.

 

We have no concerns about a private excursion to Moscow. We're planning to go on our second of 3 days in in SP. That way if, God forbid, something happens and we get stuck in Moscow, we have an extra day to get back to the ship.

 

I think as long as you do your research and book with a reputable tour group you should have little to worry about. We've done private tours in Cairo (a few years ago, not recently) and last year used private guides for a close-to-3 week tour of China. I have nothing but good things to say about any of the private guides/tour companies I have used. They always got us where we needed to be on time, showed us what we wanted to see, and I always felt safe.

 

But that's just my opinion -- you should do what makes you feel most comfortable.

could I also have your China information...jtamchay at yahoo dot com

thanks