Azura A018 Baltic Sept 2020 - St Petersburg Advice

[BigSid1969]

Hello

 

My wife and I have booked a Baltic cruise on Azura for September 2020.

 

On our previous P&O Cruises we have taken a mixture of some official P&O excursions, as well as sourcing our own shore excursions on Viatour and TripAdvisor and sometimes we just like to have a mooch around when in port.

 

This will be our first time in St Petersburg, does anybody have advice or recommendations for St Petersburg shore excursions companies and the trips that they offer.

 

I know that there are several local operators in ST P. that offer 1-Day & 2-Day excursions, for example a company called Alla Tours operate a 2-Day "St Petersburg Must See Tour" for around USD 270 and a company called TJ Travel operate a "Standard St Petersburg Small Group Tour" for around USD 220.

 

The above tours go to slightly different places, the big question I suppose what are the absolute "must sees" and what would be the "nice to have seen" ?.

 

We would like to go on a boat ride and take ride on the subway, we are not overly religious people, but do like beautiful buildings.

 

Does anybody have a rough idea of the cost of the official P&O shore excursions in St P ?.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Sid & Pen 

[bee-ess]

Can't help with P&O prices but when we went 2 years ago they were about the same price as Alla etc. I would recommend Alla, we did a 3 day with them and it was excellent.

You will have to tour with a recognised tour company which includes P&O if that is your choice, otherwise you have to buy a Visa if you want to tour DIY. 

Our favourite places were the Peterhof, Catherines Palace and the Faberge Museum. 

[yorkshirephil]

The last time we went with P&O to St Petersburg we took a tour to the Hermitage museum with time on your own. This gave us the chance to mooch around and have a drink in local bars, we also walked around the church of the blood and visited a small market close by.

[kruzseeka]

Another vote for Catherine Palace, plus the Hermitage (including the Gold Room) and Church of the Spilled Blood.   Peterhof is good too especially the Gardens but if I were doing one of that and Catherine Palace, internally I prefer Catherine Palace - plus the history is very interesting and the restoration amazing.  

[Windsurfboy]

Local tour companies are better than  cruise lines. We did a private tour with STP tours on a Cunard cruise. But everyone on our ship who used a private company  , eg. Alla,  TJ were very happy. Of course a private tour for 2 is much more expensive but you can go where you want at your own pace, The tour companies will help you tailor it. The other approach is to set up or join  a roll call for your cruise and find another couple ( or two) to share tour with you. A small group of say six will be same price as P&O but much better than a coach load

[Tilly20]

We went to St Petersburg in July with P & O and loved it. We chose to do a small group trip with P & O, we are happy to do our own thing in lots of places but here we wanted the security of being on a ship excursion. When we researched we felt the prices comparable and we were in the same mini buses that the private companies use.

 

We enjoyed the whole 2 days, Catherine’s palace, Peterhof and the hydrofoil ride, St Peter & Paul Fortress and the Church on The Spilled blood all amazing.

 

Ive attached the snippet of info, there was a slightly more expensive trip that also went into St Isaacs Cathedral. We didn’t but walked past it on the way for the river cruise. We also went on the subway to a market. 
 

You’ll have a fantastic time!

[purplesea]

We visited St Petersburg last year and a group tour was organised through here with Red Sun Tours (redsun-tours.com) whom I highly recommend. Our tour was guided by the owner herself and we had a very enjoyable visit, we loved every minute. I do so want to go back!

[simonpjd]

In July we did the P&O organised 2 day small group tour in 14 person minibus

included

boat trip

church of spilled blood

peter and Paul cathedral where tsars are buried

peterhof palace including hydrofoil back into town

hermitage

catherines Palace

 

price same as alla.

 

Thoroughly recommended.

 

 

 

 

[belgica]

We used Alla tours in may this year, two days of great site seeing , all the major sites,  the guides were amazing , check out the reviews on cruise critic for this company,  5 star recommendation from us. trip includes good lunch on both days.   if you post on cruise critic site that you are using Alla tours they give you discount off your price,  two very full long days but great value for money. they supply your visas.

[lodge172]

Another vote for Alla it was a fantastic 2 days covered all the highlights including ride on subway and boat trip, lunch included. Excellent guide and very good value.

[BigSid1969]

Thanks everybody for your replies, we have booked the 2-Day St Petersburg Must See Tour with Alla Tour at 270 USD per person and have opened up a roll-call for this trip.

 

Regards

 

Sid & Pen.