St Petersburg Ultimate 2 day Tour thru VIKING

[Maryloubusby]

This is what I wrote up after our VH cruise last Summer and posted on another forum (can't remember which). Hope it's useful and what you were looking for:

 

4. Ultimate St Petersburg (2 day) - Chose to do the Ultimate because of how Viking had the individual tours arranged. No matter how Steve tried, he couldn't create a good mixture of individual tours that didn't conflict/overlap/etc. Couldn't schedule one for the morning and one for the afternoon; some tours were plopped in the middle of the day. This drove him to say we should just do the Ultimate. So we did. We were both pleased and overwhelmed with the result. A lot of stuff jammed into two days. Our tour guide -- Alexsey -- was great. Knowledgeable, an old hand at the "trade", knew how to take care of "his people", flexible, etc. Even came equipped with a big bag of coins for anybody who needed to visit a pay for use toilet facility (rarely needed tho).

* Day 1 started with Catherine's Palace and then an excellent lunch (good food, vodka, and entertainment). The afternoon was spent in the Hermitage .. ALL of it which is HUGE (my legs gave out towards the end so I and a few others retreated to the lower level waiting for the rest to finish the final 30 min push). Alexsey's knowledge here and ability to take care of "his people" (e.g., clear out people ahead of us) was amazing. In the evening we returned for a performance of Swan Lake -- not the St Petersburg Ballet but a good local troupe nonetheless. The venue -- The Hermitage Theater -- was great. Steve is still annoyed with their interpretation of the story .. doesn't agree with who died at the end (sigh...).

* Day 2 hit a number of places in the morning followed by lunch at a huge, must have been built by one of those Russian oligarchs we hear so much about, monstrosity but with good food anyway and then the Peterhof Palace in the afternoon. My comment of "flexible" refers to the start of the day. Some folks requested a visit to a Starbucks so they could pick up a Starbucks travel mug (collectible apparently). Thus our day started parked by the Kazan Cathedral (not part of the published tour but he was knowledgeable about it anyway) just across from a Starbuck's. The Peterhof was fantastic, especially when you realize that it, along with much of St Petersburg, was in ruins at the end of WWII. May not agree with the priorities that drove the Soviets to expend so much time, energy and money to restore it and other such national treasures (while committing outright travesties to churches and general building architecture elsewhere) .. but the end result is certainly awe inspiring. Our hydrofoil ride back to the bus (parked by the Hermitage) and then back to the Star would have been great except for the rain that started after we'd finished our tour inside the Peterhof.

* Overall -- we were happy with the excursion altho agree that traveling with a smaller group would have been better.

 

 

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We are on Viking Sea 8/21/18. Who did you do your tour through? How many people were in tour. Thank you!

[pineapple1176]

I am hoping to hear from you all who have done the Homelands Cruise already and who bought the Ultimate 2 day St Petersburg through VIKING. Would you recommend it? What were the highlights and low lights?

 

I know a lot of you use the private tour companies but I would really like to hear about the experience through the Viking Shorex.

 

Thanks.

We are booked on the Homeland tour in May. Very disappointed that the Ultimate 2 Day tour is not even an option on our Viking excursions. Not sure why, but wish it was! What month is your cruise? We’ve chosen a few separate excursions to fill up the 2 days in port. We’re not usually fans of trusting independent tour companies, especially in certain countries. Have been on a few cruises where independent tours were late and missed the sail away.

[SantaFe1]

I can’t understand why you don’t have the two day tour. We are on Homelands in May also and we have it. It is $509 pp. we are taking a two day tour with Faberge with TJ travel for $225 pp. many, many folks on CC have used and praised both TJ and Alla. You might want to check them out. I know our tour on the second day arrives back at the ship two hours before sail away, so I’m not worried.

[helenandfrank]

We are booked on the Homeland tour in May. Very disappointed that the Ultimate 2 Day tour is not even an option on our Viking excursions. Not sure why, but wish it was! What month is your cruise? We’ve chosen a few separate excursions to fill up the 2 days in port. We’re not usually fans of trusting independent tour companies, especially in certain countries. Have been on a few cruises where independent tours were late and missed the sail away.

 

SantaFe1 is right ... check out Alla Tours and TJ Tours. We used Alla in St P last year. Max group of 16 compared to 40 or more on Viking Tour (which is important in crowded places) and half the price. Obviously I can't compare as I didn't do both ... from from conversations on board we (ie the Alla group) saw more / did more over the 2 days. The Alla guides are in constant contact by radio and are aware of traffic incidents etc, they will not let you miss the ship. I encourage you to at least consider the option. It was a fantastic 2 days in an amazing city. Enjoy.

[suspaul]

Has anyone included the Faberge Museum with the tour and did you feel it was worth it?

 

 

 

We did a 2 day tour with Alla and also visited the Faberge Museum, we felt it was very well worth it, even my husband enjoyed it. Actually it was one of the high lights for us as many others didn’t get the choice to visit the FM. We had 14 in our group, began with 16 but 2 dropped out after day 1 due to the long day. Just to clarify, we didn’t travel with Viking on that cruise. Enjoy your travels.

 

 

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[stretchcruz]

We loved the 2 day Alla tour. Booked private for 6 of us.

[philw1776]

Although TJ, Alla etc. get you back to the ship hours before it sails, there are frequent hydrofoils between St Pete and Helsinki such that you might make it to Helsinki before your ship. :) Also, the drive between cities is a few hours, but way longer than hydrofoil.

Seriously, that is why TJ etc. guarantees that they will get you to your next port if they are late and you miss your ship (won't happen).

 

I do not know why anyone would take the 2 day Viking ultimate vs an agile private tour at just over half the price. The private tours let you see all the Viking stops and more. For example, TJ gets you into the Hermitage ahead of all the long cruise ship lines. TJ also took my wife to Swan Lake where she sat with the Viking folks but she paid less.

[jiminyC_fan]

We took Alla Tours for SP. They did a wonderful job and the pace was perfect. We were fortunate to only have 6 in our group.