St. Petersburg tour company recommendations?

[MikefromToronto]

We are taking a Princess cruise to the Baltic in July. Can anyone recommend a good small-group tour company for St. Petersburg. We are worried about the visa issue and want to make sure we get a company that takes care of that. Help?

[CruiserBruce]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

If you look on the Northern Europe portion of Cruise Critic, here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=192

 

You will see several companies recommended. They all know the visa requirements and will take care of you.

Edited April 14, 2016 by CruiserBruce

[Essiesmom]

You should also join the ROLL CALL for your cruise. The ROLL CALL is where you can 'meet' and converse with other Cruise Critic members who will be on your sailing. They will be discussing independent excursions and may be looking for others to join them. To find your ROLL CALL, go back to the main boards page, scroll down to ROLL CALLS, click on your cruise line, then your ship, and look for a thread with the dates for your sailing. EM

[Barrheadlass]

We used SPB tours. They were great.

[dolittle]

There is no visa issue, any of these tour co. will handle it (they do it every day)most of them have both small group and larger groups.

[Gilllizzie]

WHITE NIGHT TOURS

 

We returned today from our BALTIC cruise on Celebrity Eclipse. We used White Night Tours in St Pete's and found them breathtaking! Our guide Anna was the same person with whom I corresponded when I arranged the 2 day tour, and she was incredibly knowledgeable, & the vehicle air conditioned and comfortable. Our tour was for five guests, and incredibly cost LESS than the ships tours for this personal service.

Anna seemed to have inside knowledge and in the Yusopov palace for example, she arranged for the choir to sing for us in the palace's Theatre. All tickets were emailed to us before the tour, and the price for the two days, for our personalised itinerary, (we had visited before, and wanted to see new sights) was less than $1000 for the group

 

The trip was not just the highlight of the cruise, but two of the best days of my life!

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited June 5, 2016 by Gilllizzie

[Langley Cruisers]

Alla tours is also very highly recommended.

[Quilting_Cruiser]

We toured with Alla and I would definitely recommend them. Our group was only 16 and was made up of people from our roll call. They also offer tours in other cities on the itinerary, so you can get a price break by booking multiple excursions with them. .

[Ashland]

I emailed all the major tour provider's and the first to respond back was TJ Travel...amazing communication and a VIP private tour..so glad I used this company...Just go with whoever you seem to click with...you'll know ;)

[southerngirloutwest]

Last summer, we used SPB Tours. They were fantastic! We had Valery and Igor (guide and driver, respectively). Before you choose any guide company, check out their reviews on travel sites.

[Naomigruis]

Used TJ Travel last year

 

They where amazing. Small group of 10, driver and guide Alexander and Nina where fantastic.

 

Paid second day of two day tour, meet us at the port, on time each day and had us back on time.

 

Bus was new with free wifi which was good given we where a week without at this point.

 

Great excursion and tours.

 

Another person used them on a private tour with their two young kids, the tour was in a black Town car, cost about double per adult but kids where free and they had car seat ect and they customised the tour taking into account their kids, they loved them as well.

 

Sylva

Edited June 6, 2016 by Naomigruis

[kenjo]

We are taking a Princess cruise to the Baltic in July. Can anyone recommend a good small-group tour company for St. Petersburg. We are worried about the visa issue and want to make sure we get a company that takes care of that. Help?

 

No problem, use Alla Tours they are great. Once booked, you print off tickets.

These are also your visas for the excursion. Two day tour is best. No deposit is required. We paid in US dollars at the end of the tour. Fantastic itinerary.

They also organise tours for other ports in the Baltic. Just google Alla Tours for full details.

[donaldsc]

All tour companies will handle the Visas. We used Alla tours. They were both excellent and flexible. For example, we wanted to visit the Great Synagogue which was not on the tour schedule. They modified the schedule so we could visit it. Highly recommended.

 

DON

[ontheweb]

All tour companies will handle the Visas. We used Alla tours. They were both excellent and flexible. For example, we wanted to visit the Great Synagogue which was not on the tour schedule. They modified the schedule so we could visit it. Highly recommended.

 

DON

 

We used Alla in 2007, and had the same experience. We also had a synagogue added at the request of one of the participants in the tour.

 

Our guide was wonderful, and she confided in us that she was opening her own tour company the following year. I am not surprised that her company, SPB Tours, also seems to get overwhelmingly positive reviews.

[Hlitner]

I emailed all the major tour provider's and the first to respond back was TJ Travel...amazing communication and a VIP private tour..so glad I used this company...Just go with whoever you seem to click with...you'll know ;)

 

We have also decided to use TJ on a cruise, next month, and were also impressed at how responsive they have been to my e-mails. Although DW and i normally prefer to do our own thing (the last time we were in St Petersburg we got our own visas and went off on our own for 2 days)...but when you consider the price (and hassle) of obtaining individual visas...the private tours really make sense and darn near pay for themselves. We are really curious to compare doing the area with a professional tour guide....versus when we just did many of the same things on our own.

 

Hank

[ontheweb]

We have also decided to use TJ on a cruise, next month, and were also impressed at how responsive they have been to my e-mails. Although DW and i normally prefer to do our own thing (the last time we were in St Petersburg we got our own visas and went off on our own for 2 days)...but when you consider the price (and hassle) of obtaining individual visas...the private tours really make sense and darn near pay for themselves. We are really curious to compare doing the area with a professional tour guide....versus when we just did many of the same things on our own.

 

Hank

 

I think a major difference that you will find is that the tour companies will be able to bypass the lines at the major attractions.

[GolfMom321]

Another vote for SPB. They were outstanding! Even arranged a side trip to a supermarket so some in our group could buy vodka. It was great fun!

[robert32asp]

I also used TJ Travel for 2 couples in a small van. It worked great. The main reason I choose them was that I wanted a non-standard tour and they were the most willing to accommodate us in what we wanted to see.

 

We all wanted to see the Hermitage, but we wanted more time there than standard tours. My wife and I wanted to go to a ballet and have dinner before, but the other couple didn't. We wanted to see some of the monuments and museums devoted to the WW2 siege of Leningrad. And we wanted most of the rest of the typical tourist sites.

 

TJ was willing to give us what we wanted. I highly recommend them. Enjoy!