St. Pete Tour Cost Comparison Spreadsheet - FYI

[celem]

My wife and I are deciding on how to tour St. Petersburg. Most other groups have formed and we may end up on a tour with just the two of us. The upside of that is that we can change the tour to suit specifically us. The down side is extra costs. To get a better understanding on just what those costs would be, I did a spreadsheet comparing our options given what information I had available. Since I found the result interesting, I am posting it for others to review and comment.

 

--------------------------------------Spreadsheet Output--------------------------

2 Quantity of people on tour

10% Tip amount for Guide

 

DenRus Tour Costs

$174 Per Person Excursion cost for day 1 (excluding Gold Room's $15) assumes the "cheaper car"

$21 Per person Lunch cost

$11 Per Person share of Guide's Lunch (Celebrity indicates customary for private tours)

$180 Per Person Excursion cost for day 2

$17 Per person Lunch cost

$9 Per Person share of Guide's Lunch (Celebrity indicates customary for private tours)

$35 Per Person Tip for Guide

$18 Per Person Tip for driver (half as much as guide's tip)

 

$464 Per Person Total cost for DenRus 2 day excursion $928 Per couple with 2 people on tour

 

Red October Tour Costs

$241 Per Person Excursion cost for day 1 (excluding Gold Room's $15)

$21 Per person Lunch cost

$11 Per Person share of Guide's Lunch (Celebrity indicates customary for private tours)

$235 Per Person Excursion cost for day 2

$17 Per person Lunch cost

$9 Per Person Tip for Guide

$48 Per Person Tip for Guide 5% of tour (read on message board as standard amount)

$24 Per Person Tip for driver (half as much as guide's tip)

 

$604 Per Person Total cost for Red October 2 day excursion $1,209 Per couple with 2 people on tour

 

Celebrity's comparable Tours (~50 people)

$162 Per Person Excursion cost for day 1 (excluding Gold Room's $15) (PZ1)

$0 Per person Lunch cost - estimate

$0 Per Person share of Guide's Lunch (Celebrity indicates customary for private tours)

$165 Per Person Excursion cost for day 2 (Peterhof PZ19)

$0 Per person Lunch cost - estimate

$0 Per Person share of Guide's Lunch (Celebrity indicates customary for private tours)

$16 Per Person Tip for Guide 5% of tour (read on message board as standard amount)

$7 Per Person Tip for driver 2% of tour (read on message board as standard amount)

 

$350 Per Person Total cost for Celebrity 2 day excursion $700 Per couple with ~50 people on tour

 

American Express private van rental Tours Costs (15-16 people)

$150 Per Person Excursion cost for day 1 (excluding Gold Room's $15)

$0 Per person Lunch cost - estimate

$0 Per Person share of Guide's Lunch (Celebrity indicates customary for private tours)

$150 Per Person Excursion cost for day 2

$0 Per person Lunch cost - estimate

$0 Per Person share of Guide's Lunch (Celebrity indicates customary for private tours)

$15 Per Person Tip for Guide 5% of tour (read on message board as standard amount)

$6 Per Person Tip for driver 2% of tour (read on message board as standard amount)

 

$320 Per Person Total cost for Amex 2 day excursion $640 Per couple with ~16 people on tour

[Andee]

Although I don't have the amounts anymore, when I compared the prices of Red October, DenRus, and Palladium for a group of four last year, the prices were all quite close, and were cheaper than the ship's tours.

 

It had never been suggested to us that we pay for the guide's lunch. She and the driver ate separately from our little group. Because we don't like a big lunch, we asked if the four of us could share two lunches. Red October readily agreed, and the lunches were quick (because we had selected from the menu in advance), delicious, and just the right amount of food.

 

From what I read on the boards last year, we tipped 10% for the guide and driver combined, about a third for the driver and two-thirds for the guide.

[cannonball]

celem,

Where did you find the information about American Express tours?

 

Thanks!

 

Grand Princess 5/29/2004

Dawn Princess 3/7/2004

Dawn Princess 3/10/2003

Golden Princess 2002

Sea Princess 2001

Carnival Fastasy 1997

[melodyis ashore]

Celem:

 

Wow you sure did a lot of work!! But my computations came up with a different variable.

 

We just booked 3 somewhat unusual custom tours with Denrus for June 30-July 1st. Day 1: 8am-3:30 pm, a white nights tour from 10 pm to 2 am, and a day 2: 11am to 5pm. The costs for car/driver & guide for just the 2 of us for this was originally quoted at just over $600, then I started to add entrance fees, which are very costly.

 

It's impossible to compare these custom or private itineraries directly to ship tours, as there are no combination of ship tours that cover all the sights we're seeing (more sights-higher entrance fees). We are touring inside the palaces of Peterhof, and Pushkin (Katherines palace) the Hermitage with Gold Room, Peter & Paul Fortress, St. Isaacs, Church of the Spilled Blood, as well as the Fountain park, entire city tour, etc... In order to compare, add all the ship tours you would have to take to see the same things: Peterhof $165 + Exclusive Hermitage $89 + Pushkin $56 + Cathedrals $69 + City highlights $40= $419 per person total. Of course this number would include excess transportation fees, but it gives you another perspective.

 

Our package totals $880 for just 2 of us, for all 3 tours, including the "white nights" tour, which I think is an excellent price for the amount of sights we are seeing (and the number of entrance tickets that are included). Plus we have all the advantages of small group travel. If we add others, our price will come down

 

Anyone interested?

[celem]

Thanks for the input.

 

Regarding "paying for the guide's lunch", since this was Celebrity's suggestion, I kept it all comparisons. As far as the amount to tip, several postings indicated that they tipped far more than 10% for both guide and driver, so I upped it a bit to 10% for the Guide and 5% for the driver. Not a large portion of the total cost, in any case.

 

Regarding "Where did you find the information about American Express tours?", I booked my cruise through American Express' Cruise Division and they offer a private tour for their customers. They verbally say that the vehicle only hold 15-to-16 passengers but it isn't in writing on their promo sheet so if I use them it will involve more trust than I would like to commit.

 

Regarding the lower DenRus price quoted by "melodyis ashore", I used the figures sent to me by DenRus. What can I say - that was their quote.

 

I have all of this in a spreadsheet wherin I can change the Quantity of passangers variable and all of the tours adjust to reflect the appropriate price. As soon as you go to 4 people, DenRus and Red October are within two dollars of each other.

[celem]

Hmmm! - MelodyisAshore - I just read your post again and it raised the question to me regarding entrance fees. I was under the impression that the entrance fees for the sights listed in their standard itinerary were included. I can understand that if I made a change that additional entrance fees would be involved, but I didn't plan any changes that involved new entrance fees. The Red October information specifically states that their price includes the entrance fees. I re-read the documents sent to me by DenRus and they don't mention entrance fees but given comparable pricing as Red October I assumed that they also included the entrance fees.Could you please elaborate on your statement about paying entrance fees with DenRus and Red Cotober?

[Andee]

When I priced tours last year, DenRus and Red October were "all inclusive", with entrance fees and visas. Palladium was "a la carte", with entrance fees and visa support priced aeparately.

[cannonball]

melodyis ashore:

 

What does the "White Nights" tour include? I haven't heard of this one before.

 

Grand Princess 5/29/2004

Dawn Princess 3/7/2004

Dawn Princess 3/10/2003

Golden Princess 2002

Sea Princess 2001

Carnival Fastasy 1997

[japiscopo]

We are using Red October for our 2 of 3 days in St. Pete in August. I'm glad its only the two of us because the original itinerary Laura sent was 10 and 11 hours respectively for the two days. I worked on the itinerary with Laura and cut it down to 8 hours both days. We don't want to be exhausted that we won't enjoy the end of the day. One of the ways I cut down hours and cost, was to tell Laura that we would bring lunch for ourselves and the guide and driver from the Voyager. She had no problem with this. We can either eat in the car while traveling to another site, or eat in a park and rest for awhile. I purchased two small fold up coolers to keep food fresh and drinks cold. I can't remember the exact price of the 2 days, but it was somewhere around $950 for 2 of us, not included extra fees for early entrance or the gold room at the Hermitage. I feel having a private tour, where we can change things around is worth the money. Getting a driver and guide from the Voyager was around $750 for 2 days for 2 people.

 

Hope you have a great cruise. We're looking so forward to ours, the days can't go by fast enough.

 

Mary Lou

[maryland]

**Japiscopo** Am curious about your tours w/RO. We also got a quote from them for our stop in Aug and thought the 2 days they suggested were too long. What does your new itinerary look like (if you don't mind sharing). We're trying to make plans. RO will customize, so I'm looking for suggestions. Thanks

[melodyis ashore]

Celem & CannonBall:

 

What I'm trying to say, is to compare what inside visits are included in the price very carefully. I have the same proposed tours from Denrus and RO, and they seem comparable, but if you look closely, RO's visit to Peterhof tours inside "Catherines Block" and not the Grand Palace. Denrus offers Yusupov (which I'm not real interested in) instead of the Church of the Spilled Blood, which is a must see on my list. They do custom itineraries. I think it all comes down to what things you want to pay to see inside and how many places you can get to in your alotted touring time. I have read that during "White Nights" there is a street festival type of atmoshphere, with musical performances, folk dancing, food kiosks, etc. We're basically just going down to Nevesky Prospeck with a driver and guide, and wandering around. Maybe some shopping, a boat ride, taking photos, check out the Metro Stations, or a night club. Whatever strikes us. We also hope to be out when all the bridges in town are raised (about 2am) to let commercial boat traffic pass. We're only touring a total of 18.5 hours in 2 days, so I eliminated "inside visits"in the proposed itinerary I wasn't interested in, and asked for tickets for specifically what I wanted to see, and I still have to figure in a tip, but for the hours I requested, I'm happy. I think Ilya did a great job!

[shoshona2]

HI everyone,

 

We did St. Petersburg with Red October last August and it was a fabulous experience. Please make sure that your tour says you will tour INSIDE the Catherine Palace and Peterhof. Some tours will only tour the grounds. If you go to St. Petersburg and do not tour INSIDE these two Palaces, you will miss the true highlights of this city. They were the "jewels" of the 300th Anniversary Celebration last year. A lot of money had gone into beautifying St. Petersburg for this anniversary. The famous Amber room has been redone in the Catherine Palace. The Germans had stripped both palaces of their gold and all the amber in the Catherine Palace. They have before and after photos there also. Red October got us into the two palaces which were closed to the public the two days we were there last year.

[celem]

Melodyis Ashore, could you possibly email me a copy of your itinerary - it sounds interesting and you seem to have really thought it out. You can mail to:

remocmail-cruise@yahoo.com

 

Thanks

[cannonball]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by melodyis ashore:

Maybe some shopping, a boat ride, taking photos, check out the Metro Stations, or a night club. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

melodyis ashore,

I wanted to recommend a great night club we went to in St. Petersburg, the Magrib, its on Nevesky Prospetk across the street from the Radisson SAS. It has a really interesting atmosphere and the evening we were there it was packed, but so much fun!

[canyousayvacation]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by melodyis ashore:

Celem & CannonBall:

 

... We're only touring a total of 18.5 hours in 2 days, so I eliminated "inside visits"in the proposed itinerary I wasn't interested in, and asked for tickets for specifically what I wanted to see, and I still have to figure in a tip, but for the hours I requested, I'm happy. I think Ilya did a great job!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

We also just completed booking 2 days with DenRus (and Ilya). I have been most impressed with his responsiveness to our deluge of questions and requests. I like their flexibility (we can substitute a canal tour while we are there - weather permitting). Our cost is approx. $612/person (including Gold Room, lunch in restaurant one day, lunch with Russian family the next, tips, etc). I can't wait!

 

Jewel of the Seas 8/20/04

[melodyis ashore]

Cannonball

 

Thanks!!! We'll check it out!

[Crusin-Suzan]

Could someone please post the web sites for there tour groups. Will be on NCL Dream leaving 5/25

[shoshona2]

We used Red October last August and had a wonderful tour. www.redoctober.spb.ru

We would most definitely use them again. Put Red October in the search mode on this cruisecritic message board and read all the comments from last year's Baltic cruises.

[LindaF]

If you can get a group together the price is quite a bit less. Friends of mine got 2 full days of touring from Palladium for $150 (12 people) including entrance fees. They did have to get a visa but if they want to get off the ship on their own they can.

I am using them for my river cruise. A group of friends and I are going 3 days early and they are taking care of everything ,hotel, tours and getting us to the ship.

[alpal1993]

Several groups were being formed on our cruise.None of them were to my liking either too short no lunch or things we wanted to do not included.We are going with Celebrity Package A which includes everything we want to do including the Ballet.Taking the package deal saved us $48 pp and came to an exceptable amt for us.$670 for the both of us.That is why there are enough options to make everyone happy.

[LorieKeith]

We will be touring St. Petersburg in late May. I found similar information to Celem. DenRus for two people was quite a bit cheaper than Red October. With larger groups the price was about the same.

 

DenRus would cost us around $1220 for two people for two days, including all costs, tips, meals, etc. We were able to get our group up to 8 people. Now the two days will cost us around $750 all inclusive. Our ship excursions were going to cost us $700. We feel we have the best of both worlds - small group tour with all the sights we can cram in plus a decent price. DenRus has been extremely easy to work with. They quickly and patiently answer tons of questions and customize the itinerary to your desires. I highly recommend working with them.

[jayslater]

Hi All,

I just found this thread that is 5 years old. My wife and I are sailing on the Emerald Princess in August of 2009. We will spend 2 days in St Petersburg.

I can not believe how difficult it is to deal with the tour companies.

Can anyone give me any simple advice?

Thanks

Jay

Baltimore, MD USA

[KnoxvilleSam]

There have been MANY more recent threads dealing with the major private tours groups in St. Petersburg. The tour company websites provide much information. I found that a simple email to each one specifying what you'd be interested in resulted in prompt replies with costs.

 

What has been your specific difficulty?

 

Sam

[Onelung]

You do know that Denrus offers a "Complete Value Tour" which is only $295 for the TWO days?

[Grannycb]

Hi All,

I just found this thread that is 5 years old. My wife and I are sailing on the Emerald Princess in August of 2009. We will spend 2 days in St Petersburg.

I can not believe how difficult it is to deal with the tour companies.

Can anyone give me any simple advice?

Thanks

Jay

Baltimore, MD USA

 

Hi Jay,

I started out doing the spreadsheet thing with the different tour companies. That was way too much work. I then went to the library for travel guides, decided what sounded most interesting and then went back to see which companies offered what I wanted. It turned out that the easiest to book and the least expensive was exactly what I was looking for - the Denrus Complete St. Petersburg Value Tour for $295. My thought is these tour companies know the best routes and places to see so I'll go with their judgment. I haven't read any negative comments by people who have taken the tour we booked.