St Petersburg trips

[pockets57]

Hi

Going to the Baltics on the navigator of the seas i am looking to book a 2 day excursion with a local company as anybody any problems doing this

[paul929207]

We are booked with Alla-tours for the two days we are there on the Pacific Princess. Booked online. The sent me the tickets and visa waivers for my wife and I. No prepayment was required.

[jpsykes]

we also did 2 days with Alla tours and everything was great - like above no pre-payment.

[Essiesmom]

There are a number of companies just like Alla, all discussed on the Ports of Call board here. EM

[CruiserBruce]

The Northern Europe board, located here:

 

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

 

has tons of info and experiences.

[Armac]

Did 2 days St Petersburg tour with SPB tours last summer, very satisfied , booked on line

[jdvmd]

Used SPB a few years ago and we were very pleased.

[PROCRUISE]

We used Red October Tour Company for two days in St. Petersburg. They were fantastic!

[Travelingman52]

We used SPB tours 2011 and they were super. We certainly would use them again.

[John Bull]

I don't think I've heard a bad word about any of the afore-mentioned or any other local tour operators in St Petersburg.

They all have excellent reputations and they all offer the same visa-free facilities as the ship, and almost all are in 16-seat vans which are so much more personal & flexible than ships' big bus tours with the attendant low speeds, limited routes & parking, limited skip-the-line facilities, super-slow unloading & loading of passengers at each stop, etc etc ad-nauseum.

 

One thing to bear in mind - starting this season, those on ships' own tours have priority disembarkation.

Almost-certainly palms have been greased :rolleyes:.

Not a big deal on the second or any subsequent day (or the evening of Day 1) but first disembarkation is a slow & bureaucratic business at immigration. Consequently local operators all seem to have set their tours back an hour, so you get back to the ship later eg 6pm instead of 5pm.

Its early days yet, but check out reports on the Baltic forum linked by Bruce

 

JB :)