Alla Tours for St Petersburg

[KevinTh]

Hi. We are sailing 1st September with NCL Getaway and Alla Tours have been highly recommended (by very good friends of ours) as the best option to tour St Petersburg. Any feedback appreciated. Kevin

[BostonGal35]

i have heard great things about them, SBP, and TJ Travel (who we used). you will def have a much better experience than thru the ship tours! enjoy, its a gorgeous city!

[KevinTh]

Excellent news... many thanks for your comments.... Kevin

[sandybee]

We used Alla tours when we visited St Petersburgh and the service was second to none. Picked up in a minibus at the harbour and all handed headphones. The guide was very good and when we visited anywhere we went straight in no queuing. When the guide was talking we did not need to be standing nevxt to them to hear the commentery. We saw more and did more in the two days than the ships tours and at half the price.

[coloradocruiselover88]

We used Alla tours as well in St. Petersburg. They were amazing! They hydrofoil was cancelled due to weather but everything else went smoothly. Can't blame them for the weather, right?

 

Enjoy!

[felis1]

We used Alla Tours for 2 full day tours in St Petersburg and we were very pleased with our guide and our excellent driver. There were eight of us in a new minibus. Our guide was friendly and informative. She made sure we all had a great experience. Particularly in the Hermitage, where she managed to dodge all the huge tour groups.

[money4me]

We used them in July 2014 when we did the Baltic on the Star . We saw Berlin and Saint Petersburg with them . Very efficient, on time and well spoken . Did not have to pay until the 3 rd day. We really liked them . There was a little confusion on the first day in Saint Petersburg as to which bus we were going to get on but it was quickly corrected .

 

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[joyy7403]

We used TJ Tours. Had a wonderful time! We highly recommend them. Have heard great things about Alla Tours also. I don't think you could go wrong with eater one. Enjoy!

[djacobson]

Hi. We are sailing 1st September with NCL Getaway and Alla Tours have been highly recommended (by very good friends of ours) as the best option to tour St Petersburg. Any feedback appreciated. Kevin

 

I booked with Alla Tours for Berlin, Tallin, St. Petersburg and Helsinki when I was on the Getaway in May. Fantastic tours each day. Highly recommend them- best tours I have ever had. Hopefully you will have Alexandra or Polina for the St. Petersburg tour.

[Velvetwater]

Another vote for TJ travel....very good and friendly and cheaper than some other companies.

 

We wouldn't book Alla tours based on them leaving a couple on their own in a restaurant after other people in the group had issues that meant they had to go back to Port. Now I know it seems like a small thing but you don't want to be caught out without a Visa if Police ask for one in Russia (Tour guides keep the group Visa on their person).

[Sauer-kraut]

You will find recommendations on the PORTS OF CALL board for EUROPE. Alla, DenRus, TJ, Red October are all listed highly by cruisers.

[easyboy]

We used SPB tours for its 2day Deluxe St. Petersburg tour. We enjoyed how the tour was conducted. Very professional and knowledgeable.

[terry&mike]

Just returned from a Baltic cruise last week. We used Alla for a 2 day Grand Tour with Faberge Museum on August 15 & 16. It was spectacular. I cannot say enough good things about the tour and the guide. We had a nice newer van with a competent driver, a charming and knowledgeable guide who spoke excellent English, the tour covered an amazing amount of sights. The lunches on both days were delicious. We were always well informed and well organized, and moved through areas with efficiency. Big thumbs up.

[deborahlynette]

Have booked the 2 day grand tour of St Petersburg with Alla. Also looking at doing Tallin, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Gdansk with Alla too[emoji2]

 

 

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[Cruisercl]

I used ALLA Tours in SPB in May 2017 also; it was excellent overall. It was A LOT of walking but I expected that.

 

A couple of thoughts;

ALLA added a couple of people on to our tour at the last minute so did not have tickets for all of us when we went to the places on the tour. We did have to wait while the tour guide stood in line to get to rest of the tickets; about 20 minutes each time which added up to the time missed on our tour.

There was a couple with some disability issues on our tour. From what I understand, they communicated this to ALLA before they booked and was told it would not be a problem. Well, it was a problem from what observed. The couple with the disability issues were made to think they were a bother; for example, the guide did not know where the elevators were to accommodate them. It was difficult to watch at times; I myself do not have a disability. She appeared to be a experienced tour guide but certainly did not have experience with people with disabilities. It was a 2 day tour; the couple asked ALLA if they could get a refund for the 2nd day because the tour was not accommodating and difficult for them, but ALLA said no. They were there on the second day struggling on to see SPB; I was very happy to see them giving the rest of the tour a try. I hope they enjoyed it.

 

JMHO and observations :)

Edited August 30, 2017 by Cruisercl
added thoughts

[djacobson]

I used ALLA Tours in SPB in May 2017 also; it was excellent overall. It was A LOT of walking but I expected that.

 

A couple of thoughts;

ALLA added a couple of people on to our tour at the last minute so did not have tickets for all of us when we went to the places on the tour. We did have to wait while the tour guide stood in line to get to rest of the tickets; about 20 minutes each time which added up to the time missed on our tour.

There was a couple with some disability issues on our tour. From what I understand, they communicated this to ALLA before they booked and was told it would not be a problem. Well, it was a problem from what observed. The couple with the disability issues were made to think they were a bother; for example, the guide did not know where the elevators were to accommodate them. It was difficult to watch at times; I myself do not have a disability. She appeared to be a experienced tour guide but certainly did not have experience with people with disabilities. It was a 2 day tour; the couple asked ALLA if they could get a refund for the 2nd day because the tour was not accommodating and difficult for them, but ALLA said no. They were there on the second day struggling on to see SPB; I was very happy to see them giving the rest of the tour a try. I hope they enjoyed it.

 

JMHO and observations :)

 

Were we on the same tour? I do remember Alexandra having some difficulties with tickets to some of the places and we had quite a wait.

[terry&mike]

Alla doesn't buy the tour tickets in advance for several of the sights, nor do the other tour companies. They buy them when the group arrives at the Peter and Paul Fortress, at the Spilled Blood. They have them in advance for The Hermitage Museum, they have them in advance for the boat ride, and they meet their "handler" at Catherine Palace and are handed them on arrival.

This was not problem for us. We'd arrive at a site, the tour guide would place us in the line to get in, she'd run to get the tickets in the tour guide line with the other tour guides, and then be back in 10-20 minutes. By this time we had made it close to the entrance of the site.

[Cruisercl]

Alla doesn't buy the tour tickets in advance for several of the sights, nor do the other tour companies. They buy them when the group arrives at the Peter and Paul Fortress, at the Spilled Blood. They have them in advance for The Hermitage Museum, they have them in advance for the boat ride, and they meet their "handler" at Catherine Palace and are handed them on arrival.

This was not problem for us. We'd arrive at a site, the tour guide would place us in the line to get in, she'd run to get the tickets in the tour guide line with the other tour guides, and then be back in 10-20 minutes. By this time we had made it close to the entrance of the site.

 

Nope, not at all what happened with our group.

It was the pre-bought ticket places that were the issue; there wasn't enough so she had to wait in line because she was missing 1-2 tickets. It was at The Hermitage & Catherine's Palace; some were let in but a few had to wait outside until she got the tickets.

[Missaims]

We used alla tours for a three day tour two years ago and couldn't fault the service at all. Having said that there were similar reports of other companies I don't remember anyone on our cruise having complaints about their tours!

 

I do remember asking our guide abut her background and she told us how tour guides in St Petersburg have to study and pass exams in order to receive their accreditation - I assume that all guides working for these companies follow the same process and tours end up quite similar??

 

 

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[Regguy]

I've traditionally held my tongue when good reviews of Alla show up, because it's clear that our experience was unusual. But I would rate our guide to be about 2 out of 10. He was horrible. One of us uses a wheelchair, and I had several e-mails back and forth with them about whether they could accommodate and was assured we'd be in a group with a knowledgeable guide who would be able to navigate the group with a wheelchair. Not so. It was chaos when we got through immigration, and the Alla coordinators were just filling buses with whomever came along. We expect not to be able to do everything, and we're very cool with it. This was not our first rodeo with the wheelchair. But it was awful.

 

Our first tour stop was some church in town -- a small one. It seemed weird and we sat there for nearly an hour, until we realized the true reason we were there -- we had two empty seats in our van and two people were brought there by car to join our group.

 

Language was an issue for our tour guide. When we got to Peterhof, the second tour stop, he took the 11 of us to the top of the stairs that lead down to the garden. He started to head down, and I had to say, "umm, excuse me, should we just wait up here until you come back"? He got annoyed, even though I can't imagine how anyone could possibly have forgotten that there was someone with a wheelchair in an eleven-person group, and then pointed to where there was a ramp leading down, and then using hand gestures, he told us to meet back with the group at the "yacht," except he was saying it "yakat," and I had no idea what he was talking about. Finally, I said, "yacht," and he said, "yes." So, anyway, we go over to the long switch-back ramp to get down to the gardens, which was quite far away, and then we got down to the bottom and our group was nowhere to be seen, and only then did we realize the massiveness of the place. So, we started wandering around, looking for a "yacht." After about an forty minutes or so we started to panic, given that we did not have visas, and decided that the best thing to do would be to go back up and wait at the top of the stairs and hope they came back up the same way they went down. (Our bus had dropped us off and left, so we had no idea where to find that.) Anyway, as we're wandering around trying to find our way back to the bottom of the ramp, this kid who was in our group comes running up to us and leads us back to the group. They had sent him out to find us -- he was probably 12 and here he was wandering around the gardens by himself looking for us. Anyway, he was a good, smart kid -- and he got us back to join the group. It turns out "yacht," or "yakat" was was our guide thought was English for "boat house." So, he gets angry at us for not meeting where he told us -- which was like a quarter or half mile from where he left us -- and clearly is annoyed that it's our fault.

 

So, after that experience, you'd figure he'd maybe remember that there is a wheelchair passenger in his group, but sure enough, at the Hermitage, he leads us right to the bottom of the stairs. The other people in the group decided that his indifference to a child in a wheelchair was too much, and so some of them started taking matters into their own hands by helping us carry her places (which greatly embarrasses her, but we had no choice) or reminding him we needed elevators. The second day, I went by myself and everyone else stayed on board.

 

He was otherwise awful, as one might expect. Very political and opinionated about the greatness of the current Russian administration, and opinionated about the causes of the Russian revolution, etc. He also was on autopilot much of the time, repeating the same thing about places multiple times as we drove by them in the bus. He was pleasant enough, and I got to see some great stuff in St. Petersburg. But, in the end, I do not have very good feelings about Alla tours.

[Lucky999]

We are sailing with Norwegian Cruise Line On September 10th.

We booked excursions with Alla Tours for St Petersburg and Berlin.

The prices were excellent and the service was very professional.

 

Lucky999

[Cruisercl]

We are sailing with Norwegian Cruise Line On September 10th.

We booked excursions with Alla Tours for St Petersburg and Berlin.

The prices were excellent and the service was very professional.

 

Lucky999

 

I also had great service while booking; they were very responsive to all of my questions.

Our guide was also very knowledgeable.

 

It was the logistics while on the tour that were the issues and there were several. No way to tell there would be any issues beforehand.

 

I hope you are issue free on your tours. :cool:

[deborahlynette]

I booked with Alla Tours for Berlin, Tallin, St. Petersburg and Helsinki when I was on the Getaway in May. Fantastic tours each day. Highly recommend them- best tours I have ever had. Hopefully you will have Alexandra or Polina for the St. Petersburg tour.

Hi just wondering which Tallinn and Helsinki tours you took. Can't decide on which ones to do

Thanks