St. Pete, June 12 & 13 Grand Princess

[hyuall]

Is anyone else on this cruise doing a private tour with Red October and/or anyone else in Saint Petersburg?

[mek]

Yes, yes, yes. We have a 2 day tour with Denrus and would love to add another couple(s) to our group.

[WillieB]

Yes!

 

My family and I (eight of us)would be interested in having another couple join us on a two day Red October (Best of St. Pete's). We have contacted RO and they have sent itinerary details but are entirely flexible on what people want to see. They do not require any payment until the day of the tour but will require document info (passport #, etc.). Their tour groups accommodate about 10 people and of course the more people in the group the lower the cost per person.

 

The Canuck Cruiser

[hyuall]

Actually, we have a group of six with Red October, but could add another couple if anyone is interested in doing our itinerary.

[mek]

Sorry folks, but my itinerary is one that I customized from Denrus. I love Russian history and have always wanted to go to St Petersburg to see places associated with the last imperial family. My tour is spending time at the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo, (Puskin)which is a palace not included on most tours. Also, Denrus goes to the Yussouppov palace where Rasputin was murdered and this was not paert of the Red October tour. I would love to get others to join us, but I want to stick with my itinerary. This should be a great trip!

[mek]

WillieB - I noticed you are flexable with the itinerary. If you haven't already committed to Red October, my "group" is only my husband and myself and it would be great if your group could join us. There is a significant difference in price between 2 people and a group.

[WillieB]

Mek

 

Thanks for the kind offer but we're pretty well committed to RO. We can't wait to visit St. Pete's. I know this is going to be a great cruise!

 

WillieB

[sailormom]

Wow - there are actually other people on this cruise - LOL. Not too many on this itinerary have posted on Cruise Critic but we have gleaned info posted by cruisers on other ships/dates to the Baltics. Just received the name of our guide from Red Oct. so we are locked in with a very full 2 days for the 6 of us. The Stockholm cards arrived in less than a week. Princess has us signed up for 3 excursions and, with less than 30 days to go, we are getting excited to fly away. Hope it's the same with all of you.

[mek]

My TA just called me - he has my tickets and I should receive them Monday!!! We're leaving 4 weeks from this Sunday. I need to get on the ball with a few loose ends,(bought a digital camera and need to figure it out) - the cruise will be here before we know it. It is nice to know there are a few Cruise Critic members on our sailing. We should get together.

[sailormom]

Hi mek -- many Cincinnati Reds fans within the family. My brother is in the new stadium now with some weekend games. Will probably come across you during our cruise.

[mek]

What are all of you doing for dinner? We have early, traditional. This is a compromise, since we were on the Star in October and did PC, which I loved but my husband did not. We're doing a family cruise in November on the Caribbean Princess and will go for PC again. I guess when we're on Princess, we'll take turns to keep both of us happy.

[Jane110]

HI all,

 

We're on this cruise too. We're using Red October with another couple for the two days.

 

Anyone have any insights on the ballet at the Marinsky Theatre. RO wants to charge an obscene amount for tickets. Is there anyway to purchase our own and just use RO for transport to & from the theatre? Since we won't have regular Visa's I guess we can't hire our own taxi service, can we?

 

Sailormom.....Or anyone,

What is a Stockholm card?

 

Where do we dock in Stockholm?

 

Does Princess ever host cocktails parties for Cruise Critic members?

 

Thanks,

Jane

[Jane110]

HI All,

 

We're not on this Baltic cruise, we're on the June 18th one.

 

However, I'm still interested in the answers to my questions about the Stockholm card and the ballet at the Marinsky.

 

Jane

[juliejoe]

Jane,

 

It is my understanding that if you do not have your own personal Visa (other than the group Visa which covers you when you tour with RO or ship's excursions) you can not move freely about St. Petersburg. You must be escorted by the "group" that has taken responsibility for your Visa. This would leave your options to see the ballet with RO or with a tour offered by the cruise line.

 

As to the 24 hr. Stockholm card - you will find a thread just a short way down this page. The subject is 24 hour Stockholm Card? and it was originally posted by hyuall. I think you will find all the detail there - along with a link to more information.

 

Several folks who will be on the Grand this summer are planning to get from Nynashamn to Stockholm on the train. You will also find information about that on the thread I mentioned. Here is a link that might work:

 

http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=8463082432&m=887101661

 

It takes quite awhile to read thru everything here on the Baltics Ports board but there is a wealth of information here that I have been so grateful to have.

 

Julie

 

 

<')))><

Grand Princess 8/17/04 Baltic B2B with 8/27/04 Transatlantic & 11/27/04 Western Caribbean

 

 

[Jane110]

JulieJoe,

 

Many thanks for your reply.

 

Yes, you're right. We can't enter St. Petersburg without Visa's, unless with a tour group like RO or the ship's tour.

 

I'm really annoyed at the price they're charging for the ballet. When I was in Moscow and bought them on my own, the cost was $2.25 per ticket. That the cruiseline and RO charge about $70. pp is insane. Well, I guess they "have us by the....", so I'll decide on the ship. I always see the company when they come here to NY and the prices are cheaper and can wait to do it again.

 

I'll look for the thread about the Stockholm Card. Thanks for the info. I don't mind taking the train, I was just a bit nervous about time since it's a short day in a port and we have to be back at the ship by 5:00PM and thought a private car service might be good.

 

Thanks again for your response.

 

Jane

[hyuall]

Is anyone interested in the RO folklore show on Saturday evening, June 12? We have a group of 2 to 4 and would be happy to have someothers join in for the evening performance. I beleive if there are more than 4 then cost would be the same, if not less than Princess is charging for their excursion and it is a different show than one would see on the Princess tour. you can e-mail at phylspharm@yahoo.com - thank you.

[gdayhoff]

Last August we did "Giselle" performed by the Kirov ballet at the Mariinsky Theater.We had what I would call second trier box seats.The seats where good and the ballet was great.The theatre is not air conditioned so it was very warm.We had about one hour between the end of our day tour and when we departed for the ballet so it was a full day.

We booked thru RO for $110.00 pp.We had the same driver and guide as we had for our two days with RO.Our guide went into the theatre with us to make sure we were seated.They were waiting for us after the ballet.Again, they were great.RO is superb.

If you are really into ballet you probably won't see any better .If you realy not into ballet I would to the folklore show.Again,the theatre was warm and it is expensive.Don't know anything about the folklore shows.

For info on prices and playbill check:http://www.Mariinsky.ru/en

[Hulagirl]

We are also on this cruise. Sailormom, I posted a roll call on that board but basically gave up. Nobody posted to it, so I figured I wouldn't bother bringing to the front again. Glad I found a few people here that are going.

 

We had originally planned on doing RO, but with only 3 of us it was pretty expensive so we booked the 2 day tour with Princess. I was there un 1986 when it was Leningrad and I'm looking forward to going back.

 

We fly into Copenhagen 6 days before the cruise. Looking forward to going. Surprised that tickets are all ready in for some on this cruise. That is really early. Wonderful!! Means our should not be far behind.

 

Hopefully we will meet some of the CC's on the Grand. I love this ship.

 

Hulagirl

 

Grand Princess Baltic Cruise

 

Star Princess Eastern Caribbean

 

Diamond Princess Northwest Cruise

 

[aloha*grl]

Red October will modify any tour to suit your interests. Two years ago I contacted them specifically asking to see the places that were significant to the last Tsar and his family. We toured many sites in St. Petersburg including Yussopov Palace. Our guide Alla and driver Vladimir gave us a fabulous tour in Tsarskoe Selo that not only included Alexander Palace but also the Imperial train station and St. Theodore church where the family worshipped. I consider my time in St. Petersburg as two of the best days of my life.

[sailormom]

I agree with juliejoe: there has been much good info on this site. Time is scarce enough to waste time spinning wheels looking for help. We booked the ballet with Princess as the RO price was a little higher and after a full day in St.P I thought we would leave the driving to someone else. I expect some mentally and physically tired people in our group of 6. Our traditional early seating will suffer some nights, too. Thanks aloha*grl for the tip on seeing a few more interesting places. Red Oct. was chosen for just the flexibility you mention. Good sailing all. Cecelia

[loriaj]

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

WillieB - I noticed you are flexable with the itinerary. If you haven't already committed to Red October, my "group" is only my husband and myself and it would be great if your group could join us. There is a significant difference in price between 2 people and a group.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

My husband and I are considering using Red October on these dates. What have you found?

 

Looking forward to it!

 

Lori