SPB Evening Options

[jarand]

We are doing a 3 day SPB/Moscow excursion with SPB-Tours in June. I am looking for feedback from anyone who's had experience with the SPB evening options. Choices are:

 

~Go Out Like a Local (vodka, canal ride, Nevsky Prospekt)

~Russian Ballet

~Folklore Show (folk instruments ensemble and Cossack dancers)

~Night at Faberge Museum and Nevksy Prospekt

~Private vehicle and driver for 3 hours

 

Thanks!

[John Bull]

For info about ballet & folklore show, check this thread

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2456692

 

(ignore the thread title - you know what we're all like for wandering off the subject :D)

 

JB :)

[movc]

On your first night, I wouldn't be planning for a night out. If you leave from Southampton, you have 3 hour forwards and typically an early start and long first day. A good percentage of people that book the ballet as an evening tour don't show up.

[Hlitner]

On your first night, I wouldn't be planning for a night out. If you leave from Southampton, you have 3 hour forwards and typically an early start and long first day. A good percentage of people that book the ballet as an evening tour don't show up.

 

Trying to understand your post. The OP is taking the Serenade of the Seas from Copenhagen...and will have been on their cruise for a week before arriving at St Petersburg. So not sure what this has to do with Southampton or time zones.

 

We have taken a few cruises to St Petersburg and have never met anyone who did not "show up" for a pre-booked evening tour...although we guess there are always some who fail to show for any tour. Doing an evening tour is certainly tiring for some folks...but fine for many others. In fact, although we are seniors. we recently (this past August) spent a long day on a tour (with TJ tours), got back to the ship in time for a quick shower and dinner, and then we were off (at 7pm) to meet our transportation to get to the evening ballet performance of Swan Lake (it was excellent). Yes, it was a long day...but we loved every minute.

 

As to the OP's question about which tour, it is really a matter of personal preference. We love Ballet and Opera....and could not pass up a chance to see a full performance of Swan Lake...in Russia. Others on our cruise did the evening Faberge Museum option and told us they loved the experience. We have done a Folklore Show (on a previous visit) and it was OK....but a show designed for tourists...as opposed to seeing a full length ballet (attended by tourists and locals). Seeing a Cossack dance is fine....but we did find the Ballet more to our own taste.

 

For us, an evening tour is a better option then simply returning to the ship for a quiet early evening. We spend many nights on ships (over 100 in 2016) but are rarely in St Petersburg.

 

Hank

[John Bull]

On your first night, I wouldn't be planning for a night out. If you leave from Southampton, you have 3 hour forwards and typically an early start and long first day. A good percentage of people that book the ballet as an evening tour don't show up.

 

Trying to understand your post. The OP is taking the Serenade of the Seas from Copenhagen...and will have been on their cruise for a week before arriving at St Petersburg. So not sure what this has to do with Southampton or time zones.

 

We have taken a few cruises to St Petersburg and have never met anyone who did not "show up" for a pre-booked evening tour...

 

For us, an evening tour is a better option then simply returning to the ship for a quiet early evening. We spend many nights on ships (over 100 in 2016) but are rarely in St Petersburg.

 

Hank

 

Ditto, Hank.

Altho we sailed from Southampton that was about a week before we arrived in St P, losing an hour here and there en-route. Not the same as losing three hours on a direct flight, tho' even that wouldn't have dissuaded us.

 

Some folk reckoned it would be too long a day, so chose to spend the evening aboard.

But I'm not aware of any evening no-shows.

If that were the case, the tour operators would ask for payment with booking because they couldn't afford to pay for more than the occasional un-used theatre/ballet ticket.

 

JB :)

ps Hank - I bet you didn't find any Guinness in St Petersburg :p

[Pet Nit Noy]

We are doing a 3 day SPB/Moscow excursion with SPB-Tours in June. I am looking for feedback from anyone who's had experience with the SPB evening options. Choices are:

 

~Go Out Like a Local (vodka, canal ride, Nevsky Prospekt)

~Russian Ballet

~Folklore Show (folk instruments ensemble and Cossack dancers)

~Night at Faberge Museum and Nevksy Prospekt

~Private vehicle and driver for 3 hours

 

Thanks!

 

I don't see a visit to the Faberge Museum as an activity equivalent to the other choices. The museum is in a converted palace and the Faberge objects are things of beauty and imagination. We listened to the audio guide for each of the eggs, some of room descriptions, and strolled slowly through the displays of the Faberge decorative object in somewhat more than an hour. We really enjoyed the visit, but I think a one hour visit can be worked into another one of your days rather than making it the centerpiece of an evening.

 

Here's a link to the things to see/do on Nevsky Prospekt: https://blog.parkinn.com/nevsky-prospekt-st-petersburg/

 

Here's another web site with photographs along Nevsky Prospekp taken by tourists accompanied by several sentences of explanation.

https://www.virtualtourist.com/564323-2039208/Saint-Petersburg-Tips/nevsky-prospekt

 

I don't know how many of the Nevsky Prospekt palace/museums are open for evening visits. Ditto for the stores.

 

My recommendation would be a ballet performance IF you will be seeing the show in the historic Mariinsky Theater. If not, the ballet or the folkloric show is a personal decision.

Edited February 16, 2017 by Pet Nit Noy

[Hlitner]

Ditto, Hank.

Altho we sailed from Southampton that was about a week before we arrived in St P, losing an hour here and there en-route. Not the same as losing three hours on a direct flight, tho' even that wouldn't have dissuaded us.

 

Some folk reckoned it would be too long a day, so chose to spend the evening aboard.

But I'm not aware of any evening no-shows.

If that were the case, the tour operators would ask for payment with booking because they couldn't afford to pay for more than the occasional un-used theatre/ballet ticket.

 

JB :)

ps Hank - I bet you didn't find any Guinness in St Petersburg :p

 

Funny you should mention that :cool:. On our 2nd day in STP, our small group (TJ Tours) walked around Nevsky Prospekt and then decided (as a group) to have lunch at a decent looking restaurant/cafe that had some nice outdoor seating. I joked with DW that maybe they had Guinness on Draught...but alas it was not to be :(. Had to settle for a Carlsberg.

 

Hank

[sassy12]

My dh and I have signed up for Out Like a Local for our first night after touring all day. My thoughts were that we would be less tired after the first tour day than the second. We felt we could rest the second night. However, since booking I have read that the ship sometimes has a folkloric dance Troup come on board for a performance the first night which we would miss. Oh, well. Can't do everything and I really wanted to see the city at night.

[John Bull]

Funny you should mention that :cool:. On our 2nd day in STP, our small group (TJ Tours) walked around Nevsky Prospekt and then decided (as a group) to have lunch at a decent looking restaurant/cafe that had some nice outdoor seating. I joked with DW that maybe they had Guinness on Draught...but alas it was not to be :(. Had to settle for a Carlsberg.

 

Hank

 

Can't imagine you were fun to be with, Hank. Guinness withdrawal symptoms can be traumatic :D

 

My dh and I have signed up for Out Like a Local for our first night after touring all day. My thoughts were that we would be less tired after the first tour day than the second. We felt we could rest the second night. However, since booking I have read that the ship sometimes has a folkloric dance Troup come on board for a performance the first night which we would miss. Oh, well. Can't do everything and I really wanted to see the city at night.

 

One regret was that we didn't arrange for our driver to take us for a little drive round the city after the folklore show - I've since seen many reports about the city by night, especially with the bridges all lit-up

 

JB :)

[Hlitner]

Can't imagine you were fun to be with, Hank. Guinness withdrawal symptoms can be traumatic :D

 

 

 

One regret was that we didn't arrange for our driver to take us for a little drive round the city after the folklore show - I've since seen many reports about the city by night, especially with the bridges all lit-up

 

JB :)

 

 

Those bridges would look a lot better after a few pints of Guinness! :o

[SightCRR]

Don't forget what time "night" is. June sunset around 10 pm and sunrise 0400.

https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/russia/saint-peterburg?month=5

sightcrr