St Petersburg Tours with Children

[BigJH]

Hi, hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year... With Christmas now over, it's time for me to put some serious effort into planning what we are going to do at each of the ports during our cruise on Eclipse to the Baltic at the end of July. I've done this itinerary once before on Eclipse and thoroughly enjoyed it - as did my kids who were 6 and 11 at the time. They will be 8 and 13 this time and we were thinking of expanding our horizons a bit when in St Petersburg this time with perhaps longer tours on each day. I'm a bit weary about joining an tour with only adults, not because I would be concerned about Their behaviour, far from it, but more to do with the tours being a bit long and possibly less child friendly.

 

I know we are not going to get tours that are based around children, but if we did an "afternoon" and / or "morning" van where essentially we could tailor what we see, and then link up with another family with children of a similar age - in my mind, that might make it more interesting for them.

 

Has anyone done this before and what have your experiences been? Are there places to see that lend themselves more to younger adults / children (perhaps less of a que etc)?

[smtcan]

We cruised to St. Petersburg two years ago with our extended family which included grandchildren 9, 11, 12 and 14. We were concerned about tours and approached several companies to discuss their private offerings. All the companies were responsive, but we decided on SPB and were very happy with their service. We chose a private tour so we could tailor the time at each site to suit the attention span of the children. Our guide was a teacher who conducted tours during the summer vacation and she adjusted her commentary to the interests of the children as well as the adults.

 

I would suggest going on the roll call for your cruise and seeing if another family is interested in sharing a private tour with you. We were ten people, so the cost was quite a bit lower than the ship's offering, but for a smaller group it would be more expensive per person. We did two days of tours, and visited the more distant places on the first day so we were closer to the ship on the second day.

 

Sheila

[alcpa1]

BigJH,

You definitely do not want to use ship's tours.

I agree with smtcan. Post on the Roll Call to see of there are other families who wish to join you.

Any of the reputable tour operators found on the Ports of Call boards will customize an itinerary for you. What you do need to take into consideration is your suggestion for multiple tours each day. That would not be very user friendly. If I understood your post you would prefer to return to the ship mid day and rest and have lunch and start out again. Considering the distance of the port to some of the sites you will waste some golden opportunities for the children too.

What are their interests? Would they like to climb aboard an old ship? Would they love to jump into the mini gysers at Peterhoff? Would they like a tour of a theatre? Woud they enjoy a canal cruise or a visit to a park? I'd imagine palaces and churches are not too high on their list.

We used SPB too on one of my trips because they could tailor the itinerary to the desires of someone who had been there before. But any of the recommended tours can offer the same services. These companies have been in the business a long time and can customize something that would work for your family.

[upwarduk]

I would go on to the SPB or Alla web site first to get an idea of the tours that might suit you. There are day tours, although we choose the 2 day de luxe.

Queues were avoided, as the tour was tailored to avoid rush hours and the guides pick up tickets for pre arranged times.

 

I would suspect that your children would enjoy the hydrofoil ride to Peterhof.

Also the canal ride which we did on the second morning or maybe even the underground visit ( on the first evening, which was a Friday- St Petersburg workers finish early, to join their families in the country, so 5pm was not rush hour)

 

Evening tours include visits to the theatre. When we visited in 2002, we went to a cultural show of Russian dancing, but in 2015 the 2 day deluxe tour was exhausting, so we missed out on the evening tour. However a dance troupe were invited on to the ship, but they only gave one performance, which was at 10.30pmp

[BigJH]

Thanks for your suggestions. I've posted on the roll call so will wait and see if I have any luck there. I think full day tours will be out question for us, as he children's (13 and 8) attention span wouldnt be up to that, so probably looking at a maximum of 4-5 hours each day.

 

I like the idea of the hydrofoil and canal trips and having only been outside the Church of the Saviour of the Spilled blood 2 years ago, my daughter and wife are keen to go inside this time.

 

Am I right in saying a private car will only take 3 people, and as such, if we want to do it privately we will either have to

[BigJH]

Sorry, clumsy fingers pressed the wrong button...

 

....pay the premium for a van and use it ourselves or share to cut the cost?

 

With a private tour, do you get to choose yhe locations

[BigJH]

....and again, I must stop doing this on my phone!

 

What I meant to ask was do you get to choose the locations and time spent there with a private tour?

[morbihan]

You need to go with a guide so that they can organise the visa's.

 

They have to be with you at all times.

 

So I am led to believe!

 

We are there in May and I have booked a guide. She will take us where we want to go and has sent different itinerary's for us to decide upon.

[OhioDogLover]

We did a private tour in St. Petersburg with a large family group, including grandparents and kids. They worked with us to tailor the tour to what we wanted. I agree with teaming up on the board for your trip to see if you can find a group. Things the kids liked a lot were the fountains at Peterhof and the Yusapov Palace. Kid reviews of the Hermitage were mixed.:rolleyes:

Due to the visa issue, I think you need to have your guide with you all time.

Ohiodoglover

[upwarduk]

A very extensive review of St Petersburg here, P51 details the underground. I would concentrate on pages close to P50. You will find plenty of pictures. The reviewer used a mixture of guides and DIY, so I assume they had their own visas.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2213388

Edited January 16, 2016 by upwarduk

[smtcan]

An addition to my earlier post.

 

We did two full day tours, but took quite a long break for lunch each day. As others have said, the children enjoyed the hydrofoil ride, the fountains at Peterhof and the subway ride. In the Hermitage the girls loved the costumes and the boys enjoyed the armour and weapons. This provided a break for them in the middle and allowed us all to spend more time in the art galleries in two shorter sessions.

 

Our guide suggested a mix of quiet and more active venues, and the children were fully engaged all the time. They are all experienced travellers, although this was their first cruise and the sightseeing in St. Petersburg was the most intensive any of them had experienced.

 

Sheila

[phxbne]

When I researched our July 2014 trip, I found that TJ Tours and Best Guides had kid friendly activities. We did a Matroshkya doll painting session which was a lot of fun! The hydrofoil to Peterhof and trick fountains there were a big hit too!