St Petersburg excursions

[Collyjohn]

Will be taking another cruise on Celebrity Eclipse next year to Russia/Baltic area. Would anyone recommend the ships excursions? Also what sort of prices are we looking at paying?

[rhblake]

While I can not comment on the ships shore excursions I would definitely recommend SPB Tours. We used SPB Tours and they were fantastic.

[mskaufman]

You can find the ship's excursions on the Celebrity Web Site along with the prices. When I looked at them for my upcoming cruise there was not a package I could put together that included as much as a comprehensive two day tour from one of the vendors. That is not even taking the higher price into consideration. Celebrity offers a two day at about 10% more than the private companies, but the description is so bad that I have no idea what it covers to make a comparison.

[crusingnut]

While I can not comment on the ships shore excursions I would definitely recommend SPB Tours. We used SPB Tours and they were fantastic.

 

We also did a 2 day tour with SPB tours https://www.spb-tours.com/ excellent!! Highly recommend.

[jelayne]

We used Anastasia tours and were able to customize the standard tour so the 4 of us could see the things that were of interest to us. We highly recommend them.

[cozzello]

We also did their two day tour package, it was the highlight of our trip. There were six of us and everyone loved these two days.

Cheryl

[mandream]

We used Anastasia tours and were able to customize the standard tour so the 4 of us could see the things that were of interest to us. We highly recommend them.

 

Also recommend Anastasia very highly. There were 4 of us as well, and we were able to customize our tour on the fly. As I recall, it only takes a pretty small group to get the price comparable to the cost of a ship tour, but you get so much more out of it.

 

Whatever you decide - have a fabulous trip.

 

Mike

[Banjo]

It been about 4 years ago when we sailed into St Petersburg for 2 day stay and we used Alla. Found the itinerary and guide to be excellent.

 

http://www.alla-tour.com/

[spearmint]

Six years ago, we used DenRus tours,and were extremely satisfied with their online responses and the lady who escorted us around. I would highly recommend them. We took their basic tour which was great. I know that we missed some things (e.g. the Catherine Palace) but they cannot all be included anyway.

 

Bill

[plmesq]

Will be taking another cruise on Celebrity Eclipse next year to Russia/Baltic area. Would anyone recommend the ships excursions? Also what sort of prices are we looking at paying?

Three years ago we used Alla Tours - they were wonderful, much less expensive than ship tours and much much smaller groups. You must use a tour company otherwise you need a visa to get off the ship. They meet you at end of walkway off ships. And no matter what tour you use, if the ship personnel tell you to go somewhere on the ship before you disembark ignore them and walk off - they try to get the passengers using the ship's tour off first, if you wait you will lose valuable time - just go to gangway and leave ship. And when you go through Russian customs leaving and returning to ship expect New York City rudeness on steroids. You will love St. Petersburg!!

[RosieRoo]

And when you go through Russian customs leaving and returning to ship expect New York City rudeness on steroids. You will love St. Petersburg!!

 

This made me chuckle. It's so true.

 

For the most part, I think most people do the private tours because they are smaller groups and you are able to tailor them to your wishes. You also get to see more because it's not such a large group. All of the ones mentioned above get really good reviews here on CC. I used Alla when I was there and they were fine. If you go to the ports of call boards you will find lots of information regarding the different tour companies. Enjoy the Baltics. It was an amazing cruise and St Petersburg is an amazing city with so much to see.

 

As for price, it depends on how may people are in your group. We did small private tours with just the 6 of us and I want to say it was approximately $400 pp for the two days including lunches.

Edited February 16, 2015 by RosieRoo

[Banjo]

Three years ago we used Alla Tours - they were wonderful, much less expensive than ship tours and much much smaller groups. You must use a tour company otherwise you need a visa to get off the ship. They meet you at end of walkway off ships. And no matter what tour you use, if the ship personnel tell you to go somewhere on the ship before you disembark ignore them and walk off - they try to get the passengers using the ship's tour off first, if you wait you will lose valuable time - just go to gangway and leave ship. And when you go through Russian customs leaving and returning to ship expect New York City rudeness on steroids. You will love St. Petersburg!!

 

Funny thing when we used Alla and I guess we lucked out.

 

We didn't use Celebrity for this cruise and we were late getting off the ship. When we got to the Alla folks in front of the terminal it was just us and another couple. The other vans (which was about 4 or 5 of them) filled up with 10-12 passengers and left. We waited for about 10 or 15 minutes more for others on Alla's list but they did not show up. So it was just us, the other couple, Alexander our driver and Elena our guide. Because of the small group we moved much quicker with no extra bath room breaks, no need the whispers, etc.. Elena showed us everything. From a metro ride, boat tours to St Catherine's Palace. I was totally fascinated by the city. Elena did a fantastic very personable job of explaining, helping avoid long lines and just making the tour enjoyable. I have to say, out of all the tours I taken when getting off cruise ships (both privately arranged and with the ship), this was probably the best with weather cooperating. It was actually hot and very sunny for mid September and I wore shorts.

Also, maybe its changed, we did not have any trouble with Russian customs coming or going. As I recall, they did not even look at the documentation that Alla gave us.

[Onelung]

We used SPB a few years ago and had good service. The only ship tour we did was an Evening visit to Catherine's Palace which gave us exclusive access, including the Amber Room. We had a music & dancing display with Champagne followed by dinner accompanied by singers & dancers from the Kirov. It was quite pricey but absolutely magical and I would highly recommend it. Generally, though you get more for your money with private tours and can tailor them to your needs.

[Bruin Steve]

Derfinitely don't use the ship's shore excursions. We did that our first visit to St. Petersburg and...never again. With a private tour you will see more, move quicker, have access to more, have closer contact with your guide and not be herded on and off a big bus with 40 others.

 

Last visit, we put together a private tour for a small group we put together on our Roll Call with SPB tours. They werte excellent. We were able to customize our tour, adding sites and options that wouldn't have been possible with the shorexes (For example, a visit to the Great Choral Synagogue...and a ride on the St. Petersburg Subway). We did a hydrofoil ride back from the Peterhof to save time. For our night in-between, we did a night tour on a canal boat through the waterways of the city--lots of fun. We got a surprise extra--It turned out that we were there on the date of the anniversary of the execution of Czar Nicholas II and family...and while we were at St. Peter and Paul, they ushered everyone out for a time during a small memorial service. Our tour guide managed to get us admitted.

 

SPB can work on a precise itinerary with you taking into consideration whatever pace you'd like to tour.

[A Sixth?]

I wonder if the price of a local tour is down since the Ruble is at all time lows.

 

Last summer a ruble was worth about 3.2 cents and today it's only 1.6 cents.

 

Seems to me tour prices should decline as well.

[julia]

Another vote here for DenRus. They were very easy to work with, and the prepayment was made here in the US. Out tour highlights were the beautiful Peterhof grounds/fountains and the amazing Hermitage Museum.

 

I agree with the comment above "be prepared for Russian rudeness when exiting and entering ship area".... OMG! The guard in the cubicle took both our passports at the same time. He opened mine, and stares at it for a full minute, and then stares at me, my eyes, my blonde hair, etc, for a full 2-3 minutes. By now, I am shooting daggers at this jerk, refusing to blink or look away. My DH whispered WTH?? He then opens husbands passport, and barely glances at it. I'm fairly certain he heard me refer to him by the nickname for Richard as we walked away.....

[HelenREMfan]

Last year I arranged a tour of St P with SPB tours and I can highly recommend them. We had an extremely comfortable bus, competent driver and excellent guide (Diana) The bus had WIFI which was an unexpected bonus.

We had a wonderful 2 days of customised tours which my party of 8 arranged so we got to see what we wished to see or that the company recommended. It simply could not have been easier. As others have said the company arrange the visas. The cost was good and we had early entry to the Hermitage. Highlight for me also was the ride on the underground.... the escalator to descend took 3 minutes !

The company took great pains to respond to any query emails. We were 2 British couples and 2 American couples in my group of 8 and we all agreed that it was a great experience.

[GeorgesGal]

Funny thing when we used Alla and I guess we lucked out.

 

We didn't use Celebrity for this cruise and we were late getting off the ship. When we got to the Alla folks in front of the terminal it was just us and another couple. The other vans (which was about 4 or 5 of them) filled up with 10-12 passengers and left. We waited for about 10 or 15 minutes more for others on Alla's list but they did not show up. So it was just us, the other couple, Alexander our driver and Elena our guide. Because of the small group we moved much quicker with no extra bath room breaks, no need the whispers, etc.. Elena showed us everything. From a metro ride, boat tours to St Catherine's Palace. I was totally fascinated by the city. Elena did a fantastic very personable job of explaining, helping avoid long lines and just making the tour enjoyable. I have to say, out of all the tours I taken when getting off cruise ships (both privately arranged and with the ship), this was probably the best with weather cooperating. It was actually hot and very sunny for mid September and I wore shorts.

Also, maybe its changed, we did not have any trouble with Russian customs coming or going. As I recall, they did not even look at the documentation that Alla gave us.

 

I agree 100% with this posting. We used Alla for our trip (also had Elena as our guide). We were three days in SPb and took the two day tour. It was excellent! We skipped the lines at the Hermitage and Catherine's Palace, did inside tour of St Basils Cathedral, the boat ride, everything went very smoothly. The only thing we missed was Peterhof, but that would have meant going out on the third day - two days was tiring enough! :o

 

And as stated above, we had NO problem with the Russian customs people.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I would absolutely recommend using one of the highly recommended private tour companies over a ship's excursion. We used Alla and were very happy with our small group. In addition, Alla arranged for tickets to a ballet we had selected (not the tourist one) the first night and sent us and picked us up in a cab.

 

An example of why not to take ship's excursion: we got to the Hermitage, driver dropped us at the door and we went right in, bypassing the Celebrity gang queued up waiting to enter with all the other big groups.

 

[We're The Groupnors]

We used Anastasia Tours, and had a great experience. We had booked a small group tour with them, and as it turned out we were the only ones from our ship that booked that particular tour with them, so we ended up with a private tour with a guide and driver for two days for the price of a group tour. Our guide, Katia, and our driver, Sergei were both excellent, and Katia also made many recommendations for us for our day in Tallinn, all of which we're spot-on!

[uncle-b]

We did a private tour with SPB & it was great. We cruise a lot & this was the best tour we have ever taken. The tour guide was wonderful. It was a 2 day tour & was $300 per person although we got a discount because we belonged to cruise critic.

[shoreham01]

We have taken SPB two day tours both times we have cruised there. Wonderful, try and arrange it through your roll call. We took them for 8 people which made it really easy to get around. Make sure your party are waiting at the gate before it opens to get off the ship first. Then you clear customs really quickly before the Celebrity tours get off. Don't wait on the ship for the rest of your group, SPB will meet you all as you come out of customs. Celebrity may tell you to stay in the lounge areas, but just find out where you will disembark and stand around there. If you don't get off early it will delay your tour and the places you visit will be more crowded.

[Atwell]

While I can not comment on the ships shore excursions I would definitely recommend SPB Tours. We used SPB Tours and they were fantastic.

 

We also would highly recommend SpB Tours. However, any of the major private tour companies would be excellent. You definitely will see more than on a ship's tour and costs less, too. Do not worry about getting back to the ship on time. These tour companies have their reputations at stake and if they ever fail to get a tour back on time, they will be done with cruise ship business, so they will get you back - you can be sure of that.

[hichachoc]

While I can not comment on the ships shore excursions I would definitely recommend SPB Tours. We used SPB Tours and they were fantastic.

 

I agree.

 

We took the 2-day tour with SPB.

 

Great guide, great tour, only asked for the money on day 2. :D:D

 

Better to take a private 12-16 people SPB tour than being on a 50-seated Celebrity bus. :(

[fleckle]

We also used SPB tours and were very pleased.

 

It seems that just about everyone on Cruise Critic who has used any of the recommended private tour operators for St. Petersburg has been happy with the company they chose.

 

Although they all offer similar tours, there are some minor differences between them.

If you contact the tour operators in advance to describe any special wishes or needs you have, you can compare their responses to select the company that will be the best fit for you.

 

For more detailed information, here is a link to the

 

Northern Europe & Baltics - Cruise Critic Message Board Forums

 

which is a great place to check out the threads for St. Petersburg tours.

 

 

You may also want to check out and compare the reviews of the various tour operators on

 

- TripAdvisor St. Petersburg