SPb-tours - who was your guide?

[canadarocks]

I have been in touch with SPB Tours and they have confirmed that Heather will be our guide in Berlin and she will do the same pre-ordering of lunches for us as she did for CintiPam.

 

Our Helsinki tour with them is similar to the bus tour offered by the cruise line and it includes transport back to the ship, so hopefully that will be better than the walking tour Hal did.

 

Thanks so much to you both for your helpful and honest reviews! :cool:

[CintiPam]

Can I ask how you all coordinated paying for your Berlin lunch? Did you each pay the same amount, and did you decide that beforehand? :confused:

 

No, people ordered different things from the list Heather recited at our second stop in the morning so she could call in the order. For example, my husband does not eat pork products, so he had a pretzel, french fries and a local beer for lunch while many of us had brats. Some also had pretzels; some potato salad; most had beers; one had wiener shnitzel!

 

When each couple finished their lunch (we ate on a nice shaded deck/veranda outside the cafe/restaurant), they went inside to the cashier, told him (and Heather who stood there and translated to make sure all went smoothly!) what they had eaten, and then paid. Some went next door to buy some postcards, but I am a slow eater so took all the time we had before the bus was returning to enjoy my lunch.

 

This really all went easily and well because of the amazing effort Heather made to expedite our lunch. (I mentioned earlier that she even helped serve everyone; afterwards, she sat down at our table, and ate her lunch in what I estimate was less than five minutes!:eek:) She is a young woman with a lot of energy and a lot of personality.

[CintiPam]

I have been in touch with SPB Tours and they have confirmed that Heather will be our guide in Berlin and she will do the same pre-ordering of lunches for us as she did for CintiPam.

 

Our Helsinki tour with them is similar to the bus tour offered by the cruise line and it includes transport back to the ship, so hopefully that will be better than the walking tour Hal did.

 

Thanks so much to you both for your helpful and honest reviews! :cool:

 

You are welcome; I know that with Heather as your guide, you will have an amazing day in Berlin.

 

For Helsinki (which I had visited for a few days four years ago with my sister), we took the ship's shuttle to the top of the Esplanade, and immediately walked down to the Suomennlina (sp.?) fortress ferry dock for the beautiful 20-minute cruise out there. We spent our entire time on the beautiful day we had in Helsinki out there exploring and enjoying. (I knew that Mr. Military History aka my spouse would enjoy that the most for the short day we had in Helsinki. ) I used my Rick Steves' Scandinavia guidebook for my private touring on my previous visit.

[canadarocks]

Awesome! Thanks again CintiPam!! :D

[rdnpdx1]

My wife are I were on the NCL Sun June 22, 2011. We took the two day active tour and the evening canal ride. Victoria Pushel was our guide in St. Petersburg for the active tour. Victoria said that she had been a guide for seven years. She spoke excellent English and had been an exchange student living with an American family in Illinois. Without a doubt Victoria was the best guide that I have ever had, anytime or anywhere. For the evening boat tour we had Alexander, who also was very good. In Germany we had Holly. Holly also was outstanding. She is an American who married a German from Hamburg. If you take the Berlin tour try not to use up a lot of time eating lunch. Tell your guide you are willing to do someone quick. Avoid any sit down lunch, takes too long. We spent about an hour and a half because of slow service. This caused use to run late, missed sites and got back late to the ship. In Finland we took a three hour walking tour. I would recommend avoiding this. I would use the Hop on Hop off bus instead.

 

 

 

 

 

Hal

 

Hi Hal. Great meeting you on the cruise. I agree with everything you said. Our friends were on the Berlin tour with Holly and loved her but the restaurant's slow service caused the tour to run late. We used SPB for walking tours in Tallinn and in Helsinki. I would recommend it for Tallinn as the guide we had, Trin (pronounced Treen) was excellent. The guide in Helsinki was not as good - she seemed lessw experienced - and the six in our group agreed that the HOHO would have been a better choice, or the city bus and tram.

 

In St. P we had a private tour for six with Elena Ivanova as our guide. She was outstanding, full of information and great at getting us into places while avoiding long waits and lines,. We customized our tour to include the Grand Choral Synagogue and an operating Russian Orthodox church and she was very knowledgeable and informative about these. Her English is impeccable and our group was extremely impressed. The driver, Slava, was excellent and quite a nice fellow as well.

 

From what we saw, and CC members had eight tours with SPB, all of their guides are extremely well trained and I would not hesitate to use them. Nor would I be too concerned about which guide I got in St. P.

[canadarocks]

We used SPB for walking tours in Tallinn and in Helsinki. I would recommend it for Tallinn as the guide we had, Trin (pronounced Treen) was excellent. The guide in Helsinki was not as good - she seemed lessw experienced - and the six in our group agreed that the HOHO would have been a better choice, or the city bus and tram.

 

Thanks for the review of the walking tour in Tallinn. Good to hear that you enjoyed it! :)

 

I'm wondering if anyone has done the SPB Tours bus tour in Helsinki?

[Hal Bennett]

Bob

Great meeting you on the ship and for all of your advice. Hope your trip to Paris was enjoyable.

 

Hal

[Got2Cruise]

It seems that whomever you have as a guide from SPb tours, you will be happy. Our group of ten had Maria (Masha) as our guide, and Pasha as our driver. They both rate a ten. Masha spoke excellent English, she studied in London when younger. Pasha was a very friendly and helpful driver. For the Fun tour, we hope you get Alex.:D Please, if you are on the fence about this, and want some good laughs, you need to experience this. We took the walking tour in Tallinn, and Trini was wonderful! Kudos to Vika for making sure the groups were not too large and calling Trini from her vacation that day. Our group had eight people. Tallinn is such as fascinating place, with such a wonderful culture. The 19 Euros we paid was well worth it. The Cruise Critic members who took the Berlin tour with SPb were very pleased with the guide and driver.

[rdnpdx1]

Bob

Great meeting you on the ship and for all of your advice. Hope your trip to Paris was enjoyable.

 

Hal

 

Hal,

 

Had a great time in Paris. It was a perfect finish to an excellent vacation and cruise.

 

Now am busy planning the next cruises. Alaska in 2012 and Canada-New England in 2013.

[tropicalkerry2002]

I have booked SPB for a 2 day tour of St.Pete for Sept 2012.

 

From everything I have read from them, I understand that the fee includes the required Visa.

 

Will SPB ask for passport info for the people on the tour before we go? Do they need photocopies of passports? Do we get the Visa when we disembark in St.P?

This is not the "invitation" for a visa that I have read about, it is the actual Visa, correct?

 

I am asking for replies from Canadians just in case the process is different than for Americans. Thanks for your help!

 

Marian

[CintiPam]

I have booked SPB for a 2 day tour of St.Pete for Sept 2012.

 

From everything I have read from them, I understand that the fee includes the required Visa.

 

Will SPB ask for passport info for the people on the tour before we go? Do they need photocopies of passports? Do we get the Visa when we disembark in St.P?

This is not the "invitation" for a visa that I have read about, it is the actual Visa, correct?

 

I am asking for replies from Canadians just in case the process is different than for Americans. Thanks for your help!

 

Marian

 

Not Canadian, but toured with one in St. Petersburg last month. Yes, SPB-Tours will ask for your passport information, but it does not need any photocopies. SPB then will generate a tour ticket by email as they receive this information for each member of your party. You present this to the officer at the immigration booth window, together with your passport and the immigration card your ship supplies you. Those three items are all you need; the immigration officer will keep the immigration card, stamp your passport and return the emailed tour ticket to you.

 

Unlike my land visit four years ago, where a visa was permanently pasted into my passport, this is just an email which you can dispose of after your visit. The Russian government created this blanket visa exception for shore visits for up to 72 hours, and last year added a special exemption for a particular ferry line from Helsinki as well.

[rdnpdx1]

I have booked SPB for a 2 day tour of St.Pete for Sept 2012.

 

From everything I have read from them, I understand that the fee includes the required Visa.

 

Will SPB ask for passport info for the people on the tour before we go? Do they need photocopies of passports? Do we get the Visa when we disembark in St.P?

This is not the "invitation" for a visa that I have read about, it is the actual Visa, correct?

 

I am asking for replies from Canadians just in case the process is different than for Americans. Thanks for your help!

 

Marian

 

One of our group was Canadian. Process was the same. SPB will ask for specific passport and other information from you well in advance and, as Cintipam indicated, will issue a tour ticket. Be sure to take it with you as one of our group forgot and had to return to get the right form. It is not the tour confirmation, it is a separate tour ticket. As CP indicated, no other visa is needed.

[rdnpdx1]

One of our group was Canadian. Process was the same. SPB will ask for specific passport and other information from you well in advance and, as Cintipam indicated, will issue a tour ticket. Be sure to take it with you as one of our group forgot and had to return to get the right form. It is not the tour confirmation, it is a separate tour ticket. As CP indicated, no other visa is needed.

 

Also, follow the instructions to the letter to be safe. Print the tour ticket in color, as our instructions stated. We were also to ld to have color copy of picture page of passport available if requested.

[Stelladoro]

Hi, I'm Canadian - not to worry, the process is exactly the same, including payment in US $s. Just remember, to take along a coloured photocopy of your Tour ticket, once you receive it from SPB by email.

Russian Customs only wanted to see Passport, Immigration form (provided by ship for both days and kept by Customs on first day), and the coloured Tour ticket.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[caribbeansun]

Is there some significance to the "coloured" photocopy? Wouldn't B&W be okay?

 

Hi, I'm Canadian - not to worry, the process is exactly the same, including payment in US $s. Just remember, to take along a coloured photocopy of your Tour ticket, once you receive it from SPB by email.

Russian Customs only wanted to see Passport, Immigration form (provided by ship for both days and kept by Customs on first day), and the coloured Tour ticket.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[Stelladoro]

Is there some significance to the "coloured" photocopy? Wouldn't B&W be okay?

 

I don't know, but I would rather follow the instructions to a tee, rather than risk having Russian Customs deny me entry.

[rdnpdx1]

Is there some significance to the "coloured" photocopy? Wouldn't B&W be okay?

 

The significance is that a color copy is what SPB and other tour companies direct you to bring. I would follow the instructions. We did, and had no problems.

[caribbeansun]

Thanks, I'm not that far into the process so I was surprised to read that colour was specified.

 

The significance is that a color copy is what SPB and other tour companies direct you to bring. I would follow the instructions. We did, and had no problems.

[CintiPam]

Is there some significance to the "coloured" photocopy? Wouldn't B&W be okay?

 

No, I questioned that in my SPB instructions, simply because the only color on the tour ticket was the SPB logo, and Anthony said B&W was fine, and it was fine!

[burchan]

Just returned from Celebrity Baltic cruise. St Petersburg was the highlight and we toured with SPB tours for 2 days. Our guide was Catherine and she was wonderfull.

[dsw39]

Hi: Our guide was Victoria not the owner who was fabulous. We did a 2 day active tour and the evening tour. Our guide provided a continuous dialog of St Petersburg as we toured informing us in detail of the thing we were seeing and providing history of the town and Russia. We saw everything on the itinerary and had plenty of time to enjoy the town. The evening tour was enjoyable as they provided entertainment and refreshments on the canal ride. Be aware that St Petersburg has quite a bit of rain which we experienced on and off for the two day tour. Lunch was excellent at small restaurants and the cost was in the range of $15. We were taken to an ATM machine to secure Rubles to repay the guide.

All in all this was a fantastic tour. Yes you can print the tickets in black and white if you don't have a color printer, but everyone had the color ticket. Customs was slow the first morning and easier in the evening and next day. You will only need your passport after the first clearance.

Have a wonderful cruise.

Dave

[Got2Cruise]

Our experience was that we needed to show our passport each time we left the ship and each time we wanted to get back on the ship. I would not leave my passport on the ship while in Russia. jmo

Hi: Our guide was Victoria not the owner who was fabulous. We did a 2 day active tour and the evening tour. Our guide provided a continuous dialog of St Petersburg as we toured informing us in detail of the thing we were seeing and providing history of the town and Russia. We saw everything on the itinerary and had plenty of time to enjoy the town. The evening tour was enjoyable as they provided entertainment and refreshments on the canal ride. Be aware that St Petersburg has quite a bit of rain which we experienced on and off for the two day tour. Lunch was excellent at small restaurants and the cost was in the range of $15. We were taken to an ATM machine to secure Rubles to repay the guide.

All in all this was a fantastic tour. Yes you can print the tickets in black and white if you don't have a color printer, but everyone had the color ticket. Customs was slow the first morning and easier in the evening and next day. You will only need your passport after the first clearance.

Have a wonderful cruise.

Dave

[marylizcat]

You will only need your passport after the first clearance.

 

Dave

They insisted on seeing our tour ticket on the second day. I had read that they didn't, so it was lucky I had it with me. So be prepared to show the tour ticket every time you leave the ship.

[rdnpdx1]

They insisted on seeing our tour ticket on the second day. I had read that they didn't, so it was lucky I had it with me. So be prepared to show the tour ticket every time you leave the ship.

 

One of our group forgot his and he had to return to the ship for it.

[tropicalkerry2002]

for answering my visa questions.

I can relax and forget about it, till further info required by SPB.

 

Marian