St Petersburg with 8 year old

[KCinJH]

My 8 year old and I will be going on a 12-night Royal Caribbean cruise next summer out of Harwich England. I'd love to hear from other folks who have done this, or a similar trip, with kids this age.

 

My daughter is a great traveler, but she HATES tours. We took a "family tour" of Rome last year, and she broke down in tears until we left the group. Then we had a great time.

 

I understand that in St. Petersburg, we cannot go off on our own. So I've booked a 4-hour private car tour, via the ship, for day 1 in St. Petersburg. What do folks suggest in terms of the itinerary?

 

And what suggestion do you have for day 2? I suppose we could do 2 private tours. But I'm hoping that there might be something that does not feel like we are cattle being herded, that she might enjoy.

[kitkat343]

We took our 3 year old son to the Baltics this summer. In St. Petersburg, we booked a private 2 day tour since our son has limited patience, and our tour guide did a very good job of moving us quickly through the sites to accommodate my son's limited patience. A private tour gave us the flexibility to stop and eat whenever my son started to get cranky, and most importantly I didn't have to worry about ruining anyone else's once in a lifetime visit to St. Petersburg if my son melted down and needed to return to the ship (thankfully this didn't happen, as my son was entranced by St. Petersburg).

 

I would strongly recommend considering booking a private 2 day tour with one of the major operators in St. Petersburg, as this might not cost much more than the 4 hour private car tour through the ship, and will give you much more flexibility that a 4 hour ship tour. I would email all of the major tour operators (Alla, SPB, DenRus, TJ and possibly more - hopefully others can help by listing all of them) and see what they would recommend for your family based upon what worked for other families in the past. A private tour for just your family will not feel like a cattle tour - you will be able to customize going exactly where you want, and your daughter can even have some input into the itinerary and when she wants to stop and eat.

 

 

To prepare my son for the trip, we showed him some youtube videos of kid friendly highlights of the trip. Before we left, he was very excited about visiting the Moli steam train in Germany, and running through the fountains at Peterhof. For an 8 year old, I would actually recommend that you show her photos or videos of different attractions, and let her choose some parts of your itinerary.

 

In St. Petersburg, the highlights for my son were: running through the Peterhof fountains (if it is a cold day, bring a change of clothes since the trick fountain isn't close to the entrance, and the last thing you want is a cold cranky kid on your hands). My son loves trains, so the St. Petersburg subway was a huge hit. He also liked the paintings of the babies (Renaissance art) in the Hermitage. Early admission to the Hermitage is very important, since it gets quite crowded. With a child, I'd also try to either get priority disembarkation or disembark after 10 am on day 1, since Russian customs agents very thoroughly inspect passports and visa documents on the first day. It was our son's first trip to Europe, so we had no idea how he would handle the time change. We booked with a tour company that normally started tours at 8 am, but was willing to be flexible if we needed to disembark later due to our son waking up late and our inability to stand on line for an hour or two (thankfully, he adjusted easily to the time change and we were able to get off the boat quickly.)

 

Your daughter might like to eat at Stolle (the menu for their yummy savory and sweet pies is here, although not all items are available every day): http://www.stolle.ru/en/adresa . She also might like a canal tour of the city, or the hydrofoil ride to the Hermitage. I'd give her books and stories of the history of Russia, since even my small son was interested in the Romanov family's fate. The circus and ballet are also excellent in St. Petersburg, so those might also be options to consider.

 

The other recommendation I would give you based upon reading other cruise critic reviews is to try to take it easy in Tallinn, which for most cruises is the stop immediately prior to St. Petersburg. Tallinn is a beautiful medieval city, but one family reported that their kids were so tired after walking all day in Tallinn and all day for on the first day of St. Petersburg that their children refused to leave the ship and stayed in the kid center on the second day of St. Petersburg. In order to cut down on walking, we took a taxi to the top of the hill and walked down. We rode with our son on a tourist train from the main square in through Tallinn, and took a pedicab tour of the city.

 

This was our full review with a lot of info on ports with children. I hope you have a great trip!

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=263067

Edited November 15, 2014 by kitkat343

[KCinJH]

Hi Kitkat. Thank you so much for your helpful response!

 

I definitely want to prepare her for the trip, and you offered some great suggestions. Last year we read books on Pompeii, and she felt like the expert when she got there. She was so fascinated by the Leaning Tower of Pisa, that she created it in minecraft before our trip. I want to do the same with this trip! And of course, we will look stuff up on youtube.

 

I might take your suggestion of doing the private tours both days, but I think I'm going to try and keep it to 4 hours per day.

 

The Peterof Fountains definitely sound like a hit. And she does like architecture - especially ornate architecture - so I'm hoping to try and find maybe 4 spots to hit in 4 hours. If I could pick 4 places that are sort of close together, and plan to spend 30-40 minutes at each place, that would be perfect.

[John Bull]

All the local tour operators have great reputations, but http://www.bestguides-spb.com/ has built a particular reputation for touring with kids.

Click on the Childrens Page on that website.

No personal experience - we didn't tour with kids & we used Alla (excellent), but I've seen many posts on CC praising Best Guides for their child-orientated tours.

 

I think you'll also find that, like the other local operators, their tours will be very competitive against ship's offerings.

 

All the local operators' tours have the same visa-free status as ships' tours, and normally no deposit - or even card details - are required. You pay when you are there.

 

(the historic battle-cruiser Aurora was towed away from her berth in the last few days for renovation. I don't know how long that will take)

 

JB :)

[kitkat343]

Peterhof is usually a huge hit with children, but the main drawback is that it is located approximately one hour drive from St. Petersburg. The faster and more scenic option of transport is to take a hydrofoil from the Winter Palace (behind the Hermitage) to Peterhof which will take 45 minutes, although this is more expensive. Peterhof can be combined with Catherine's Palace, which is 20-30 minutes away, but I don't think you would be able to visit both in 4 hours due to the transportation issues. Some cruisers choose not to visit Peterhof or Catherine's Palace since they have limited time in St. Petersburg and don't want to spend a lot of it traveling. We greatly enjoyed both, but there is so much to see in St. Petersburg that each traveler needs to decide what their priorities are.

 

St. Petersburg has a lot of ornate architecture, so you will have a lot of options. The Hermitage itself has a lot of beautiful architecture in addition to the fabulous exhibits. Peter and Paul Fortress, the Church on Spilled Blood, St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Palace Square are all nearby.

Edited November 15, 2014 by kitkat343

[KCinJH]

You are a wealth of information. Thank you so much.

 

Maybe we could do two 4 hour days. One more in the center of town, and see the Fortress and the Church of the Spilled Blood and the Palace Square.

 

And then MAYBE we could fit the Peterof and a super quick visit to the Catherine Palace another day.

 

This is just the kind of information I was hoping to get here - because I don't have a sense of what is close to what. And it is really early, and there is lots of time to plan.

[kitkat343]

You have plenty of time to figure out what is best for your family. If you do decide to do two 4 hour days, I would recommend pricing out a private tour for two days with one of the reputable tour companies since I think they might be competitively priced to two days on a private car though the cruise ship (this was cheaper on our cruise but I don't know about on RC). Our two day tour cost a little over a 1,000 for our family of three (although our son was only 3, so he was free, and they may charge for an 8 year old). You know what is best for your daughter, and if a 4 hour tour is right for her, that's what you should do. But if they are similarly priced, you might want to consider hiring the private company since that would give you flexibility over choosing what time you'd like to start depending on how your child handles the time change on the cruise. We had no idea how our son would handle the time change from the East Coast, so we told the tour company we might be late and they were perfectly fine with our starting whenever we wanted. It would open up the possibility if everyone is happy of extending your tour beyond 4 hours - which you should only do if your daughter seems up to it - but it would be nice to have the option if it doesn't cost more.

 

One other factor you might want to consider is what day you are in each port due to closures. I wrote a blog post explaining how this will affect you here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2103883

[John Bull]

Subject to the advice of the tour operator and days-of-the-week when any of the sites are closed, can I suggest Peterhof, and mebbe Catherine Palace, and mebbe any other out-of town places on day 1, leaving the Hermitage & other city sights for day 2.

 

As kitkat's post, immigration is slow on day 1, so you need to be ashore pretty-well as soon as the gangway is open (probably about 8am) before ship's tour groups have gathered, or later in the morning when the lines have died down. If you are held up or encounter other problems out-of-town, you have no deadline to get back to the ship. Certainly aim to use the hydrofoil at least one way for Peterhof. Its berth is right at the Gardens.

 

On day 2, the immigration lines move much much quicker -- the paperwork has been done on day 1. General admission to the Hermitage I think is 10am, but tour groups (certainly local operators' tours, not so sure about ship's tours) have access about 30 or 45 minutes before general admission & we experienced no line. And because most folk move quite methodically thro the Hermitage, that buffer ahead of the crowds lasts pretty-well right through the visit. You will have a deadline to be back aboard on day 2, and if you stick with city sights a delay will not cause any anxiety - tho' local operators' guests have never missed a sailing. The Church on Spilt Blood is as ornate as any church I've seen anywhere, and Peter & Paul (resting place of the Czars) is in a fortress. Yes, include a ride on the metro. And mebbe a half-hour canal boat tour.

 

Only you can figure whether the kids are up to an evening ashore. But I think they'd enjoy the "think yourself Russian" folklore show. Very varied song & dance including Cossack dancing etc, very well performed & the cast interact with the audience. Lots of humour. Highbrows might consider it touristy - but hey we're tourists.

 

On most cruise itineraries there's no welcome sea-day break either side of SPB. With Helsinki & Tallinn either side that's four straight days in port.

 

JB :)

Edited November 17, 2014 by John Bull

[Giantfan13]

If you are thinking of booking TWO private tours thru your ship, I would definitely contact a couple of the major private tour operators in St Petersburg. I'm sure they would match the ships price and probably do better.

 

Maybe I missed something, but are you just looking for a 4 hour day tour or is that what the ship is offering? As was said, 4 hours severely limits what you can and cannot see. Is your daughter only able to do, say the 4 hour thing before she gets restless and stuff?> If she is capable of sight seeing for a good part of the day, If so, I would definitely recommend you doing your tours thru a private company.

She would most likely love the fountains, the hydrofoil ride, the subway ride, the canal boat ride. Even in the Hermitage, there are many things to see other than artwork, They have an entire room dedicated to Mummies.

 

Don't know if money is a concern, because any private tour will cost more than going out with a group, but that is something you need to be aware of. At least contact some of the private operators and see what they have to offer and what they can do for you. It costs nothing to email them about it.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[CrazyJess]

We were on a 9-night Norvegian cruise. It was 2 years ago and Nic was 3 at the time. It was the first cruise for all of us. Initially I planned to book tours via ship. After reading some posts on this forum I decided to choose a private company. I sent mails to 5 or 6 companies and we stopped at Best Guides. First of all we wanted to join one of their mini groups. Then we decided that Nic is too young for it. We were thinking about children friendly tour but it turned over that Nic was too young for such tours as well. After all we booked a private tour for grown-ups. The Best Guides has special guides who mostly work with children and we asked for one of them. Our guide was Svetlana Starkova and she was excellent. Just ask for her. Yes, it was a tour for grown-ups but obviously with some elements of children tours. For example – in the Hermitage Nic got a small beautiful mirror as a present from Russian empress. She was really happy! In the “secret” underground pass of Peter and Paul fortress Nic found a small treasure – a toy key. It was a real fun! Svetlana obviously did great job.

Peterhof was a real pearl. There are some funny fountains children run through and there are no ways to stop them :):):) Don’t forget to bring some cloth to change…

Jess :):)

[nmg85]

I went to St Petersburg when I was in my early teens and I am now 29 and still remember going to peterhof. It wasn't my favourite port of call because our family like yours usually do their own thing but I still have very fond memories :-)

[John Bull]

There are some funny fountains children run through and there are no ways to stop them :) Don’t forget to bring some cloth to change…

Jess :)

 

I object to that remark, Jess. ;)

I too enjoyed pitting my wits against the trick fountains.

And I'm a 67-year old child. :D

 

No I didn't bring a change of clothes.

Yes I should've :rolleyes:

 

JB :)

[CrazyJess]

I too enjoyed pitting my wits against the trick fountains.

And I'm a 67-year old child. :D

 

No I didn't bring a change of clothes.

Yes I should've :rolleyes:

 

JB :)

 

Hi! John Bull

You are right:) I have to say that I also tried to find that “magic” stone… and I also didn't bring a change :D As you probably know there are no magic stones. I hope we will return this summer. I can’t wait! Just can't wait!

 

Jess :)

[spbstan]

Some much depends on your child and whether you have any interests other than just accommodating her. If she liked exploring Italy, she is going to get a kick out of St Petersburg. She might prefer getting out on the streets and seeing the real city and its people and every neighborhood has so many interesting historic sites that are not on tours. Tours focus on history, museums, a couple palaces and a few cathedrals but the city is much more diverse and only a fraction of the museums are ever covered by cruise tours.

Fist order of business is cancelling the ship tour, it is way over priced, inflexible and 1/2 of your time will be riding in a car/van. 4 hours per day is just not realistic. 1 hour plus is needed just to get from the ship to the southern palace estates...each.

If you want such limited time, and to argue with your daughter who will definitely not be happy leaving so early to return to the ship, you might have to use the ship however because 1/2 is going to be the same price otherwise.

The tour operators do not own the cars/vans, they use a transportation company and 8 hour booking is the norm, in a busy season the transportation companies would not bother with a 1/2 booking. There are more calls for vehicles than there are vehicles available on days with more than 3 ships in port, which now is about every day in the summer.

If you decide to use the 4 hours to get the most out of the time, stay in the city center, there is more than enough to fill the time. There are fascinating walking tours for around $40 that are a mix of historic and contemporary culture and interaction with locals. You can hire a private guide for $25/hour or less to do as you wish. If your daughter liked the architecture in Italy many of the main historic buildings were designed by Italian architects in the Baroque style such as the interior of the Winter Palace and Catherine Palace. If interested in art, the Russian Museum is excellent and less crowded than the Hermitage. The Hermitage for cruise passengers is most crowded early in the morning since they all go through exactly the same rooms at about the same time. There are 1000 other rooms which will be empty however and can be seen if you go later in the day. Meeting other 8 years on the street might be of interest to your daughter, many kids here speak English and would be interesting to talk with.

With the Ruble weak right now, it is possible to get a 2 day full tour with 8 or 9 ticketed entrances for well less than $200 per person that cost $300 in past years. I am sure the ship is not lowering their prices despite the 40% difference value. Because of the high windfall profits(they pay their local operator based on costs which are in Rubles, but charge you in dollars), there will be a big push for convincing passengers to only take ship sold tours. Actour, the port agent for most of the ships will only make $6-12 /per passenger on tours the ship sells for $385. Of that, they will retain 40% more than before.

Maybe it would help if you would tell us why you only want to be off the ship for 4 hours, is there a mobility or health reason? For a kid, it would like going to DisneyLand and only being there for a couple hours. Usually the complaint was that not enough time was available in 8-12 hours/day.

[DipBrat]

Some much depends on your child and whether you have any interests other than just accommodating her. If she liked exploring Italy, she is going to get a kick out of St Petersburg. She might prefer getting out on the streets and seeing the real city and its people and every neighborhood has so many interesting historic sites that are not on tours. Tours focus on history, museums, a couple palaces and a few cathedrals but the city is much more diverse and only a fraction of the museums are ever covered by cruise tours.

Fist order of business is cancelling the ship tour, it is way over priced, inflexible and 1/2 of your time will be riding in a car/van. 4 hours per day is just not realistic. 1 hour plus is needed just to get from the ship to the southern palace estates...each.

If you want such limited time, and to argue with your daughter who will definitely not be happy leaving so early to return to the ship, you might have to use the ship however because 1/2 is going to be the same price otherwise.

The tour operators do not own the cars/vans, they use a transportation company and 8 hour booking is the norm, in a busy season the transportation companies would not bother with a 1/2 booking. There are more calls for vehicles than there are vehicles available on days with more than 3 ships in port, which now is about every day in the summer.

If you decide to use the 4 hours to get the most out of the time, stay in the city center, there is more than enough to fill the time. There are fascinating walking tours for around $40 that are a mix of historic and contemporary culture and interaction with locals. You can hire a private guide for $25/hour or less to do as you wish. If your daughter liked the architecture in Italy many of the main historic buildings were designed by Italian architects in the Baroque style such as the interior of the Winter Palace and Catherine Palace. If interested in art, the Russian Museum is excellent and less crowded than the Hermitage. The Hermitage for cruise passengers is most crowded early in the morning since they all go through exactly the same rooms at about the same time. There are 1000 other rooms which will be empty however and can be seen if you go later in the day. Meeting other 8 years on the street might be of interest to your daughter, many kids here speak English and would be interesting to talk with.

With the Ruble weak right now, it is possible to get a 2 day full tour with 8 or 9 ticketed entrances for well less than $200 per person that cost $300 in past years. I am sure the ship is not lowering their prices despite the 40% difference value. Because of the high windfall profits(they pay their local operator based on costs which are in Rubles, but charge you in dollars), there will be a big push for convincing passengers to only take ship sold tours. Actour, the port agent for most of the ships will only make $6-12 /per passenger on tours the ship sells for $385. Of that, they will retain 40% more than before.

Maybe it would help if you would tell us why you only want to be off the ship for 4 hours, is there a mobility or health reason? For a kid, it would like going to DisneyLand and only being there for a couple hours. Usually the complaint was that not enough time was available in 8-12 hours/day.

 

This is all great advice!

 

Also think about tailoring your visit a bit for an 8 year old. There are hundreds of musuems in the city and some your daughter might like are not on the normal list for tours. There is a nice Doll Musuem for example. Also there is a new Aquarium (Oceanarium) that while probably not world class, might be a nice break.

[Kryssa]

For an 8 year old girl, I would recommend watching the movie Anastasia before you go. It's not historically accurate but it will likely peak her interest in the city! The music is great, too!

 

http://www.amazon.com/Anastasia-Meg-Ryan/dp/B00005UW9T