St Petersburg Celebrity or RCCL ship excursions

[Al54]

I'm interested in three ship excursions in St Petersburg, offered by both X and RCCL. The first one is " Peterhof palaces and villas" (including the visit of the Palace cottage in Alexandria park), the second "Pushkin and city highlights", and the third "Catherine's palace and amber workshop" (of course I know Pushkin and Catherine's palace are the same, just hesitate between number 2 and number 3). Does anybody here already took those (or one of those) excursions, and would tell me if they were satisfied and what to expect? Any advice on others ship excursions in ST P. welcome. I read all the posts about private tours, but would like to learn more about those precise ship tours.

Thank you!

[4774Papa]

I'm interested in three ship excursions in St Petersburg, offered by both X and RCCL. The first one is " Peterhof palaces and villas" (including the visit of the Palace cottage in Alexandria park), the second "Pushkin and city highlights", and the third "Catherine's palace and amber workshop" (of course I know Pushkin and Catherine's palace are the same, just hesitate between number 2 and number 3). Does anybody here already took those (or one of those) excursions, and would tell me if they were satisfied and what to expect? Any advice on others ship excursions in ST P. welcome. I read all the posts about private tours, but would like to learn more about those precise ship tours.

Thank you!

 

Consider taking a private tour with a local company, you don't need a Russian visa and it is cheaper.

 

Red October is a very good company that my Son used when he did STP.

 

We did Russia on a Vantage river cruise and had three days in STP. Check to make sure your Peterhof tour includes the inside of the palace. Many ship's tours only include the garden and garden house.

 

Catherine's Palace is another must see. If you can see it and Peterhof that's great.

The Hermitage Museum (former Winter Palace) is great if you have time.

[vickykay]

We used Red October several years ago. They were great and we saw everything ( we wanted to go inside the Peterhof as previous poster suggested). We met a couple on the cruise, who.later became great friends) who did a couple of the ship's excursions and saw half of what we did for twice the price. Our van ha d only ten people, the guide was very knowledgable, and was able to,get us quickly thru the lines. I suggest looking on your roll call- you may find others putting together a group. There are three or four very reputable companies. Do some research. The Baltic cruise is terrific.

[Al54]

Thanks a lot but my question was not about private tours, I've read everything about it on this forum. Maybe I wasn't precise enough in my question. Living in Europe, It's my third visit in Saint Petersburg and I absolutely don't want to visit again "everything" in two days, but to make a more in deep visit to some places I felt frustrated to visit in one hour and a half during my precedent stays, or to visit new places (some museums were not opened last time). Unfortunately, the local small groups tours are tailored for people who stay in St P. for the first time, and I know they do a very good job, but none of their programs really suits me. Travelling solo, it's more expensive for me to plan a special private tour than to take a ship excursion and nobody in my roll call seems to be interested in what I'd like to see. Some of X excursions seem to be a good solution for me and I'd be happy to learn more from former passengers who had a real experience about it.

I don't want you to think I don't'appreciate your help, I thank you for taking time to answer me, but I really need an answer about those ship tours only.

I thank you again, and hope I was not rude, as you can see, English is not my mother language.

[vickykay]

Not rude at all! Yes, it does sound like you are more interested in specific places and I'm sure someone can give you the information you need. All three excursions sound good. Enjoy.

[QE2_Fan]

I can understand you wanting to have a more in depth visit this time around but seriously doubt you will gain that from the ships tours. I'd expect they will be just a superficial, if not more so that the private tours.

 

Shame no one on your roll call is in a similar position as that would surely be something that a private tour company could arrange - but yes as a single traveller it would be an expensive option. Good luck!

 

 

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[Al54]

I can understand you wanting to have a more in depth visit this time around but seriously doubt you will gain that from the ships tours. I'd expect they will be just a superficial, if not more so that the private tours.

 

Shame no one on your roll call is in a similar position as that would surely be something that a private tour company could arrange - but yes as a single traveller it would be an expensive option. Good luck!

 

 

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Thanks

[Al54]

Thanks a lot. I guess from your cruiser-name that you are, like me, a faithful cunarder : it's my first time on Celebrity, and I'm worrying about the great number of passengers who don't want to make ship excursions : does Celebrity make such a bad job? I've always been very happy with Cunard excursions, specially two years ago in Norway. I totally agree with you about more in deep visits, that's why I ask for an advice from past passengers. On the paper, Peterhof excursion seems to be very special with six hours there (+ two hours for the trip) and a very unusual visit of the private family palace of Nicolas 1er, but who knows.......

[4774Papa]

Thanks a lot but my question was not about private tours, I've read everything about it on this forum. Maybe I wasn't precise enough in my question. Living in Europe, It's my third visit in Saint Petersburg and I absolutely don't want to visit again "everything" in two days, but to make a more in deep visit to some places I felt frustrated to visit in one hour and a half during my precedent stays, or to visit new places (some museums were not opened last time). Unfortunately, the local small groups tours are tailored for people who stay in St P. for the first time, and I know they do a very good job, but none of their programs really suits me. Travelling solo, it's more expensive for me to plan a special private tour than to take a ship excursion and nobody in my roll call seems to be interested in what I'd like to see. Some of X excursions seem to be a good solution for me and I'd be happy to learn more from former passengers who had a real experience about it.

I don't want you to think I don't'appreciate your help, I thank you for taking time to answer me, but I really need an answer about those ship tours only.

I thank you again, and hope I was not rude, as you can see, English is not my mother language.

 

Red October will create a tour for you, if you ask them.

[Bruin Steve]

I'm interested in three ship excursions in St Petersburg, offered by both X and RCCL. The first one is " Peterhof palaces and villas" (including the visit of the Palace cottage in Alexandria park), the second "Pushkin and city highlights", and the third "Catherine's palace and amber workshop" (of course I know Pushkin and Catherine's palace are the same, just hesitate between number 2 and number 3). Does anybody here already took those (or one of those) excursions, and would tell me if they were satisfied and what to expect? Any advice on others ship excursions in ST P. welcome. I read all the posts about private tours, but would like to learn more about those precise ship tours.

Thank you!

 

I think I can, somewhat, answer your question. I, also, have been to St. Petersburg multiple times...all as cruise ship port stops.

 

Our very first visit--on a Princess cruise (BTW, in most ports ALL of the cruise lines use the SAME local tour providers. Cruise lines do NOT have their own infrastructure in each port. There are local providers who contract with all of the cruise lines. So, no matter which cruise line you take, almost anywhere in the world, the tours offered are the same.), we booked ALL cruise ship shore excursions. If I recall correctly, the ones we took in St. Petersburg were called "City Highlights", "The Hermitage", "Peterhof Palace" (which included gardens and villas), "Yusopov Palace" as well as the evening Ballet...

 

We were extremely disappointed in the tours. All of the tours were given in large buses with around 40 persons per bus. With so many on the bus, we could rarely get close enough to our guide to hear much of what the guide had to say. Every stop we made was a logistical nightmare, spending far too much time loading and unloading the bus. At each stop, we were always waiting for stragglers in the group. Once, a ten-minute rest room stop turned into almost an hour stop as 25 women all lined up for one small rest room.

 

But, more importantly, all of these tours seemed rather rushed and were just not very good--clearly not worth the money spent.

 

So, the next time we visited, we booked a private tour with Red October...and, this last time, we booked a very personalized tour with SPB Tours. We were able to precisely craft our itinerary, visiting sites we wanted to see and allowing the proper time for those sites. Our guides also were able to arrange some things that most tours and most tourists never see...For example, we were there on the anniversary of the assassination of Czar Nicholas and family...and our guides arranged for us to be permitted into a private memorial service at St. Peter's and Paul's that was not otherwise open to the public.

 

We had eight of us on all of our tours so we were able to walk through the grounds at the Peterhof and at Catherine's Palace and in the Hermitage close to our guide and at whatever speed we were comfortable with.

 

Though those ship's excursions MAY sound like they satisfy your needs, I am afraid you may otherwise find them disappointing. They feel like you are being herded around like cattle and not really getting to see much of anything on the itinerary. And, sometimes the stops turn out to be external photo stops only as the large groups are often not allowed into many sites.

 

I would strongly suggest that you contact one (or more) of the tour companies and tell them precisely what you want to see and see what they might be able to customize for you. If the prices are steep, then check your Roll Call here on Cruise Critic to see if anyone might care to join you--likely there are others in the same position as you who might want to share...

 

Good luck...

[Al54]

Thanks, That's probably what I'll do.

[Desertbelle]

When we were in St. Petersburg we took the Moscow tour (through the cruise line, it was amazing) on the first day, so we were having a similar problem the second day when we wanted to see St. Petersburg and none of the tour companies wanted to commit to a one day tour, preferring to schedule people on two day tours. Finally we decided to hire a car and tour guide through the cruise line for the day. It was about $600, and it was well worth it. We had a car with a driver and a tour guide at our disposal who would take us wherever we wanted and we could stay as long as we wanted. It was perfect. You might want to look into that.

[Al54]

Glad to hear some people are happy with cruiseline tours! I agree with you, to book a car with a guide would probably be the best for me, but travelling solo, I can't afford it.

Thanks, I feel better about ship tours!

[Desertbelle]

Glad to hear some people are happy with cruiseline tours! I agree with you, to book a car with a guide would probably be the best for me, but travelling solo, I can't afford it.

Thanks, I feel better about ship tours!

There were three of us, so the price was better. Perhaps you could find someone on your roll call who would like to join you and share the cost.

 

We do a mix of cruise line tours and private tours, depending on what we are looking for. The Moscow tour was only offered by the cruise line, and it was worth it since I have no doubt I will never have the chance to see Moscow again. Cruise line tours can be a mix bag, for sure, but sometimes what they offer is hard to get from private tour companies. For instance, on our upcoming cruise when we stop in Villefranche we only wanted to go up to Eze for a few hours and walk around....we've been to Monaco, Nice and all the other areas before. Our choices were to train or bus it on our own or take an inexpensive cruise excursion that was Eze only, 3 hours. Exactly what we wanted.

[Al54]

I think it's very sensible! That's why I would learn more about those excursions.

Thanks (Eze is a very nice village).