Red October in St Petes for families

[kool kruiser]

We have received a suggested 2 day tour for our Summer cruise, which seems to be more or less their standard package. As any parent will know, if the youngsters are happy, then so are we...but if they're not, then...!!! There will be 8 of us, 4 parents, 2 13 year olds and 2 12 year olds.

Should we add or take away anything? Any thoughts re lunches? What else do we need to consider? I know from these boards that RO are very flexible, so any views, especially from those who can share their own experiences, would be very welcome. Thanks folks.

[msiowa]

We didn't have children with us when we toured with Red October but I'm sure they can plan an itinerary that will work for you if you ask. I'd think you'd want shorter days and maybe some play time - there must be some parks or other attractions in St. Petersburg that are good for kids. Many of the palaces have great lawn areas where kids can run around without bothering people.

You might want to see if you can do morning tours, go back to the ship for lunch and down time, and then afternoon tours.

I think if you ask Laura at red October, she'll have some ideas for you.

Good luck! And have a great cruise!
Joanie

[olderpilot]

Last year we toured with RO and a family of four (two boys about 7 and 12) joined us. They got a little tired toward the end of the day but really seemed to enjoy everything. We stopped for lunch at one of RO's recommended restaurants. That provided everyone time to recharge.

Jerry

[Andee]

The kids will love Peterhof. There's lots of room in the gardens to run around, and the trick fountains are a hoot.

[AZ Boomer]

How about the museums? Is the Gold Room at the Hermitage something to excite a 10 year old?

[dlutz]

What is the best way to contact Red October? I tried the e-mail listed on their web and it was returned as undeliverable. We will be there on a Princess cruise early August and are looking for a tour for our family with two young boys.

[kool kruiser]

Hi dlutz

We heard from Laura at RO from her email address [email]redoctober@peterlink.ru[/email]. Try this but be a little patient, due to the time differences involved.

Are you on the August 7 sailing? If so, it will be good to have you along. There is a separate thread on the Princess Roll Calls board. Why not take a peek.

[dlutz]

Kruiser,

We are on the Grand Princess which departs July 28. We get to St. Pete on day 4. Thanks for the e-mail address and the tip on the Roll Call board. I'm new to this board and appreciate the help.

-David

[westielvr]

I would think kids would enjoy lunch in a Russian home -- especially if Red October can arrange for lunch to be with a family who has children about the same age as your children.

[jewels95]

I will be going on the Grand Princess on August 7th and I am trying to find out info on Red October. Do they have a website?

Thanks
Sharon

[scubadiver77]

Sharon, we are an older couple on the August 7th Grand Princess cruise. I have been in contact with Red October about a day and a half tour. We would like to have another couple or two to share the cost. If you would like to see our itinerary please e-mail me at [email]edcutrer@earthlink.net[/email] The itinerary could be changed Ed

[nny92825100]

Just coming back from the Baltic, go with RO for St. Petersburg. I seen how crowded everyplace is and trying to keep track of children would be a nightmare. The church of spilt Blood was packed like sardines with a two hour line. Hermitage was elbow to elbow even during off season May 23-24. I met Laura and I know she would arrange a great tour for you. Try keep it under 10 people, we had 7 which was perfect. As for lunch with a Russian family, make sure your children will eat everything even mystery meat. We opted to grab food from the ship and eat while driving so we had more time. This worked out well. Another thing....Very important.....bring lots of US one dollars and toilet paper as you have to pay for the toilet and most did not have paper. I also wish I would have had a can of Lysol at Peterhoff. It was absolutely horrible, I made a mask of the tp so I could breath, then made a seat from it, then you throw tp in trash as tp does not flush in Russian toilets. Most were plugged as people tried to flush them with tp. I had read before to bring your own paper so thank goodness I did. Also bring along sanitizer wipes as the faucets are horrible.

Jewel of the Sea May 2004
Serenade of the Sea August 2003
Splendour of the Sea August 1999
Legend of the Sea August 1997
Rotterdam May 1989

[kool kruiser]

Dear nny92825100

Thanks for your kind post. I presume you went with RO and your party was 4 adults and 3 youngsters. If so, then how old are the youngsters, please?

Did RO sort out the long queues for you?

Who was your guide and would you recommend them?

We also do not fancy the formal lunches and would prefer to graze en route. Did you have to provide for guide and driver....how did this work? Also, is it possible to buy snacks along way?

Did you deviate from the suggested 2 day RO itinerary? If so, what did you cut out and what did you put in?

Sorry to ask so many questions and thanks in advance for your continued kindness

[nny92825100]

If you send me an email address, I will send you the itinerary that we had for RO. For the seven in our tour there were 6 adults and 1 16 year old teenage boy. I noticed that most families that had kids did use RO or someone as they did not get on the buses. I wouldn't take children on a bus tour as it is so hard to keep up with the guide with so crowded attractions. If you get lost, you can not get back to the ship and you become a Russian detainee (?) according to our port director. I did a ship tour alone the 2nd day (by myself to Peterhoff) and lost the guide and had to stand by the bus and wait for the group to come back. After 10 minutes there were over 10 of us waiting, all adult, so you can see how difficult it is to follow someone.

Our guide on RO was Dimitri and he was excellent. I would highly recommend him. He is a linguist with a passion for art and history. His English was fluent with no accent. He greased palms and we flew into places when there were two hour lines. He was very cautious about keeping us with him and was always counting heads escpecially in Hermatige and Spilt Blood. Both were so hot and so so so crowded. No backpacks, charge for camera's, and no strollers.

I did not see where you could buy snacks unless you bought from street vendors where they were also hawking their substandard wares. I won't eat mystery meat so did not buy any of the mostly sausage type products they were offering. I did not see any places that had water (I would have been leary anyway), but a few places had warm soda. Note, ice is very American and in Europe, for the most part, soda is considered a dessert drink, is a lot sweeter than here and served room temp. Diet Coke is called Coke Lite. We took water and fruits, a sandwich, and some cookies from the ship. We did not provide lunch for our driver or guide, but did tip them. All the tours even the ships, the guides and drivers expected tips. We tipped 30 to our guide and 10 to the driver. I am not sure if we under or over, but us three couples decided ahead of time that is what we all would evenly tip, even though we had three in our family. The RO folk lore festival (really a dance and singing show with cossack dancers in an air conditioned hotel with good seats) was excellent. If you have children, this is a must. We all had a good time, laughing as it was so funny. It is all in Russian, but you can figure out what is going on. They came in the audience and got three people on stage, one being our son. He was a little stiff at first, but suddenly he got into it and had a great time. He really enjoyed the show with all the fancy dancing. Street dancers have nothing on these guys.

If you have children, I would hesitate to tour the prison part of Peter and Paul Fortress, however, the cathedral where the Romanovs are buried is a must. I found the prison upsetting, especially the isolation chamber and the details of how they were treated. My son just breezed through, I think he did not quite grasp the details as he has never had to deal with Vietnam, WWI or WWII or really Gulf war so war crime and political prisoners are a vague idea to him. He did go fast so I don't think he really looked at the strap down clothes, isolation chamber or go in the cold, dark rooms.

So I hope I answered your questions, and yes we did suggest a deviation of the RO tour, ours being 6 1/2 hour long which is still a long day. The ships tour was 9 hours and we did the same for faster and cheaper including the tip.

One other must is a canal tour in St. Petersburg. I did this with the ship the second day and again wish I had done this with RO. It was relaxing seeing all the palaces (over 2000) from really their front. The guides were good about telling us what was what and who and how they died. Lots of murder over there of their czars and their friends.

Personally of all the cities visited, I found Oslo, STockholm and Helsinki the nicest. Everything clean, lots of flowers, outdoor cafe's, felt safe and and ice cream shop on every corner. My son said Stockholm had the best icecream he has ever had, after 4-3 scoop cones he should be a pretty good judge. This is the only cheap thing in these cities though. One place in Olso, a little mall, wanted $6 to use the bathroom. I bought a warm soda at McDonalds and used theirs for free. Copenhagen rained the whole time we were there so my Colorado Springs desert umbrella fell apart after 2 minutes, we were drenched and went into pub had lunch and back to the ship.

We did make a mistake in Oslo and walked through a needle park if you know what I mean. A police man came and walked us through and told us not to go there again and showed us how to go around it. Note this park is very near the information center and you can see if from the McDonalds. Our son seen a stack of needles and was a little shocked. This was the only place we seen any undesirable people in the Scandanavian countries. All others were fine and so was the rest of Oslo. I suppose everyplace has its type.

Ask away on any questions as I could never get good answers on children when we were looking. I made a mental note to notice all of that so I could help others traveling with younger or ever handicap people. Again, don't forget the sanitizing wipes, tp and $1 in Russia. I felt quite dirty from the places, not sure if it was the crowds or what. Like I said the bathrooms were horrible, so keeping the drinks to a minimum will be nice. Also the guides don't like waiting for people to use the bathrooms. It took 15 minutes in Peterhoff and then I thought I would die of the fumes and filth.

Jewel of the Sea May 2004
Serenade of the Sea August 2003
Splendour of the Sea August 1999
Legend of the Sea August 1997
Rotterdam May 1989

[kool kruiser]

Thanks so much for all of this information

My email is [email]colinsteph@hotmail.com[/email]

We will comprise 4 adults, 2 13 (nearly14)year olds and 2 12 year olds. Interestingly, they have all studied wars in their history lessons so could probably cope with the prison's gorier features.

We will definitely be using RO, including their optional canal trip.

We don't get to Oslo on our cruise, which sounds as though it will save us money.We do go to Stockholm and Helsinki though. Never mind the youngsters, the ice cream seems rather appealing to me too!

By the way, here in London, although our beer would probably seem a bit warm, we do take ice in our sodas which are served however is required and not as a dessert beverage. We also call it Diet Coke. Perhaps that's why our countries enjoy their ''special realationship''...LOL!!