St. Petersburg Tours

[sunnybrian]

Hello My wife and I are

Visiting St.Petersburg for first tme in July on Azura .

I have looked at the available tours and I am a little overwhelmed by the choice

Does anyone have tips or recomendations? Have you used P&O or gone with an outside company. Any and all help appreciated.

Ps we are reasonably fit and active:)

Kind Regards

Brian

[Janet-]

Hi

Last year we had a 2 day trip with a company called Alla Tours. It wasn't much cheaper than P & O but a lot more was included. There were 10 people in a new merc minibus, so no waiting for 40 people to get off and on at every stop. We paid on the second morning. Would certainly use them again.

[sunnybrian]

Thanks Janet

That is very helpfull :)

Regards

Brian

[Wavebreakers]

Hi,

We also used Alla Tours in June 2011, they were outstanding - we actually went with 8 others we met on Cruise Critic, we put a message on the Roll Call for anyone interested. Organised direct with Alla - Very easy and they arrange all visas.

Paid on the second morning and for us, for a two day tour that covered everything, we even added in the Church of the spilled blood by popular request and paid a dollar or two more each it was far cheaper than P&O. Its a fantastic city and worth seeing all you can :)

[Gilpet]

.....and it's a third vote for Alla lol. I'm sure it's ok for me to post a link to their website as I originally heard of them through the Cruise Critic Ports section http://www.alla-tour.com/tours/2

 

We also did the two-day tour and can't recommend it highly enough. My highlights were the Fountain Park at Peterhoff and Yusupov's Palace but everything was amazing.

 

Gill

[sunnybrian]

Thank you everyone who has replied so far:)

[Host Sharon]

Whichever company you use I can recommend the tour of the Hermitage at night. It was wonderful wandering this magnificent building and feeling as if you were the only people there. All finished off with a short music recital and Russian champagne!

[Antmadmanda]

Hi, I believe we're on the same cruise. We've booked the Grand Tour with Alla. It does work out cheaper than the ship tour, but it's an earlier start. I think this is to avoid the crowds. We did a lot of research first, and this was the most appealing to us! :)

[BRACEWELL]

We have only done P&O tours/cruise ship tours and found them all fine. As others have said St Petersburg is a stunning city and is a real highlight of a Baltic cruise. Assuming you have a full two days it is worth making the very most of your time. We have enjoyed a general half day city tour which finished at the outside tourist market by the Cathedral of the Spilt Blood, A canal tour and the Yusupov Palace. The Peterhof & another palace trip. We also did an interesting trip using the underground which took in churches and a traditional food market. We have found the guides to be very good (but strict/ a bit stern) often university lecturers earning extra money as guides. The Hermitage Museum is also a real must see, we have only done it by day but have also heard rave reviews about the evening trip, as we have about the ballet performance excursion.

As a side issue we have done two Baltic cruises and on both have had some heavy rain showers in St Petersburg on one of the days, so I would definitely go armed with an umbrella! Have a superb cruise; it is a beautiful region to cruise in.

[kevinyork]

Try checking the roll call section for your cruise. Others may have already set up tours with local agents and may have spaces left.

 

We used TJ Tours based on Tripadvisor recommendations. They were excellent.

 

 

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[gosport11]

WE used SPB tours,very well organised tour,2 long days and hectic,included a ride on the hydrofoil,subway ride,and a vist to a local market along with a lot more must sees:)

We wil do a land trip to St petersburg as there is so much to see and do

[sunnybrian]

Many thanks to all who replied you have been a great help.:)

. It looks like we will use Alla Tours on the comfort tour as the grand tour seems very hectic

Kind regards

Brian

[FLUFFY01]

On the two day tours do we return to the ship at night. Certainly Alla seems to be well recommended, so may go with that also. thanks Jo

[gosport11]

WE did on ours, the 1st day started at 6.30 to get off the ship the tour started at 7.30 and finished at 18.00 so a long day :) ( had breakfast at 5.30 )we was on a celebrity cruise so cant really comment on PO timings

[Gilpet]

Yes, it is two separate days so you do return to the ship in plenty of time to get ready for dinner...........though all we had the energy for was a trip to the buffet lol. Alla also do evening tours e.g. ballet, if you think you'll have the energy for that.

 

Gill

[pauladora]

use SPB great 2 day trip. visa included . pay by card/cash on the morning of the 2nd day.

[World Traveller 2008]

use SPB great 2 day trip. visa included . pay by card/cash on the morning of the 2nd day.

 

 

SPB Tours definitely! They were fantastic. We were on a Princess ship last year and their tours were much more expensive. We saw so much more with SPB Tours and their tour guide (Eugene) was brilliant. Definitely recommend SPB, can't fault them! A hectic but wonderful two days! :D

[KirkNC]

WE used SPB tours,very well organised tour,2 long days and hectic,included a ride on the hydrofoil,subway ride,and a vist to a local market along with a lot more must sees:)

We wil do a land trip to St petersburg as there is so much to see and do

 

We did aswell, excellent time.

[Sea Green]

We did P&O Splendour of St Petersberg two day package, which is essentially the same as the grand tours offered by Alla and SPB. Cost about £20 more but as first time in Russia decided not to risk going independant.

 

It was very well organised, maximum 16 people per minivan, as I recall departure times were 08:30. Very little travel or waiting around, majority of time was spent at the places of interest themselves, Our guide was very informative and spoke for the whole two days without using a single note or prompt card. I really felt I got to see everything I wanted in St Petersberg and didnt miss out or rush on anything

[Invincible]

We used Guide-Guru they were great and significantly cheaper than the Cunard tours

 

 

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[Growler5010]

We went with Alla in August 2012 & have recommended them to everyone who asks. Our group got together through the P & O Community Forum (alas no longer with us now) & we had a brilliant time.

[amajaa]

Just got off the Adventure of the Seas and we also went with Alla Tours. Heard about them on the roll call forum but just booked separately ourselves. We were on a bus with 11 others off our cruise and enjoyed the two days. We met some others the next morning waiting for Alla but they had 4 of them from our ship and others from the ship docked next door, they didn't have any problems though.

[Scriv]

We did one of the P&O small group tours which was excellent. 14 of us in the group. It was a fascinating and action packed day.