Princess Scandinavian Cruise Inquiry

[mczarnecki94]

Im going on my first ever princess cruise (11 day Scandinavian cruise), in May of this year. I know there are many people on here that have more knowledge on these cruises than I could ever accumulate so I wanted to see if I could ask a couple questions. 

1. On the 2 day stop in St Petersburg, Im interested in going to Moscow for one of the days. Any thoughts/experiences on who offers good 1 day tours from St. P to Moscow besides the cruise line? Im struggling to find options. 

2. On some of the other stops, I was looking at booking through Viator. Is that a decent option or do you recommend going through other companies like Alla?

3. Any information that may be useful going forward for this cruise in particular?

Thank you guys in advance for you help and knowledge.

[JF - retired RRT]

Try checking the "ports of call board" AND join your roll call in addition to seeking advice here.

[Sailingpeace]

Lucky you ! 

Had the chance to cruise the Baltic when we had John Lawrence on board as our cruise director !! If you can get a copy of his Baltic Treasures dvd, or any of his talks ,  it is really useful. Some things may have change, but Tallin walls are still in the same place as are all the Churches in Russia ...   https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Baltic-Treasures-by-John-Lawrence-DVD-New-/323769582152

 

Also Rick Steves more recently   published a guide  https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/northern-european-cruise-ports ( 2018 edition, next one in august 2020) 

 

Mr Lawrence told us at the beginning of the cruise to try to get as much rest as possible on sea day before we started the port day as it would get to be very intensive. And it was ! There is so much to see and do and you will want to get the most out of your days. I recommend to friends doing this cruise, to arrive to embarkation port a few days earlier to adjust to time zone changes and get some rest.

 

Usually not a big fan of bus tours outside the city , but in St-Petersburg , going to Catherine Palace and Peterhof  are something I really enjoyed , the wonderful animated meal we had in a restaurant along the way beeing also a beautiful souvenir. We did that with Princess tours.

 

It is a cruise I would do again and again.  I read on some posts to be careful about some people MUST do things, I agree. There are so many aspects to every port , you have to choose what is of interest to YOU. 

 

The only thing I would do differently next time is to not stay on the ship at night . I would go back into the city for a night at he Ballet or a museum visit or just a nightly  sightseeing. We decided to rest but it was the ok thing to do as I was with my mom.  

 

It  has been years and I still enjoy the wonderful wool sweaters I baught in Tallin and Norway. 

 

Have a great cruise 

 

Edited February 7, 2020 by Sailingpeace
spelling

[John99]

Hi mczarnecki94

I see you’re new to Cruise Critic with only one post.  Welcome!

 

I agree with JF – retired  RRT-- The Port Of Call forum will provide a more robust functionality for your questions.  Fellow cruisers often provide anecdotal information about their experiences.   Many topics are covered like: Hotels suggestions, transportation, excursions, theater tickets, interesting things to do, etc.  This forum will be specific to that travel destination.  In this case The Baltic.

 

The Roll Call forum could be helpful with ideas to your specific Princess cruise ship.  What ship are you on?  Fellow cruisers often make suggestion and/or ask interesting questions.

 

We have been on many cruises with The Baltic cruise being one of are favorite .  You’ll have a great time.  Enjoy!

John

[snoozecrooze]

Hello and welcome! Like many others, I will echo their advice and also provide some links for you to follow through. I don't have personal experience with Baltic cruises, but I do want to try and help you navigate the site and get the info you might need here.

1) You mentioned a 11-day trip, so I'm assuming you're on the Sky Princess. The ship's roll calls are here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/833-sky-princess-roll-calls/ 

All you need to do is click on the one with your sailing date, make a post introducing yourself, and you're in! You can browse through all of the info others have shared and get a feel for what they are planning. You can also ask more specific questions there. If you want even more info, you can click on other sailing dates visiting the Baltic (sailing dates range from April to August), and read the entries there, but just take your questions to your own roll call date. 

 

2) The Ports of Call forum for Northern Europe & Baltic Sea is here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/116-northern-europe-amp-baltic-sea/ -- you have a breadth of info that discuss the area you're cruising. You can also ask your question specifically there and cruisers beyond just Princess can answer you there. For Moscow, specifically, I've narrowed it down for you from this forum: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=moscow&type=forums_topic&nodes=116&search_and_or=and&search_in=titles

 

In terms of tours, Alla & SPB have a very good reputation in this region, but if you find a tour operator from Viator that you're interested in, ask in these forums that I've linked, and also find them on sites like TripAdvisor to get a feel for them. 

 

3) Lastly, if you have time to read and go all in on research here on CC, you can read this here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=baltic&type=forums_topic&nodes=119&search_in=titles

These are topics started by other Princess cruisers on the Princess forum who've written reviews and asked other questions you might be interested in, specifically about Baltic cruises. 

 

I hope some of this can help you out in some way, and wish you the best with your planning and your cruise!

[Jezabel2924]

We did the 11 day cruise last year on the Regal.  It was a wonderful cruise.  We also thought of adding a Moscow day and then decided to spend all of our time in St. Petersburg.  We did a 2 day tour with TJ Travel and were extremely pleased.  There was so much to see that we are thinking of a future river cruise between Moscow and St Petersburg.  We also used TJ to book in several of the other ports for tours and each one was perfect.  We really loved our tour in Tallin.  Enjoy your trip!

[BarbinMich]

It's 440 miles (7.5 hrs) from St. Petersburg to Moscow so no way could one do a one-day excursion to Moscow.

Edited February 7, 2020 by BarbinMich

[wheezedr]

There is more to see in St Petersburg than even 2 days will allow.   I would spend your whole time there rather than spending lots of travel time getting to Moscow.  As to Viator it is simply a third party booking agent.  You are much better off booking directly with one of the local tour companies.

[trinitygirl]

You can do the one day trip to Moscow with Alla, but my understanding was that it was an add on only available if you are on the three day SPB port visit because it has to be a day when you’re already in port and not leaving that day.  It has you leaving the ship at 4am to catch the train to Moscow, and back about midnight (from memory).  I ended up visiting on the Regal Princess which only had the two day stop, so it wasn’t possible.  FWIW, those two days in SPB were incredible, and incredibly full, I wouldn’t have missed a second of it.  The first day went from 8am (off ship at 6.30am) til 10.30pm, and the second day was 7am til 4.45pm!

[leck57]

5 hours ago, wheezedr said:

There is more to see in St Petersburg than even 2 days will allow.   I would spend your whole time there rather than spending lots of travel time getting to Moscow.  As to Viator it is simply a third party booking agent.  You are much better off booking directly with one of the local tour companies.

 

As above Viator is usually more expensive and is just a booking agent. Alla Tours gets excellent feedback.

[LeeW]

I seem to recall that there was a Princess option to do this but it has been over 5 years since we went.  The problem was that you missed time in both St Petersburg and Tallinn and it was VERY expensive since it included hotels.  More than two days of sights to see in St Petersburg so unless you have been there multiple times I wouldn't recommend cutting your cruise short to do this.  

 

Also seem to recall that some of the cruises actually started and ended it St Petersburg, so in that case you could do it at the start or end of the cruise.

[Joywrk]

Have done this cruise twice and it is fabulous.. we used Alla tours and have recommended them to others with good reviews. There is so much to see in St Petersburg that you wouldn’t want to miss ant time there.

[Torfamm]

You have gotten a lot of great advice here about maximizing your time by focusing on St. Petersburg rather than trying to fit in a very long day trip to Moscow. We had a three day visit and didn't feel it was a minute too long to spend in St. Petersburg.  As other have suggested finding a smaill group on your Roll Call and organizing a private tour is the best way to see as much as possible. 

 

We used Dancing Bear Tours and could not have been more pleased.  A highlight was a concert at the Vladimir palace on one evening that was recommended by the owner of Dancing Bears https://rmseasons.com/en/grand-duke-vladimir-palace/  She also made arrangements for us to go to the ballet at the Mariinsky which was a bucket list item for this former ballet student. 

[JoRoy218]

We were on the Regal as well last September for the Baltic cruise. I agree with everything mentioned above, especially the need to be well rested for this very busy itinerary. We used ALLA tours in St. Petersburg and we thoroughly enjoyed the guide, the quality of the transportation, the timing of our visits and various stops. We toured the Hermitage on Monday which is normally their closed day. I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like on a regular business day. We had a leisurely tour and were able to see everything and were not shoulder to shoulder the way they say it usually is. ALLA tours is also available in several of the ports.

We got on the ship the day we landed in Copenhagen, which in hindsight was a big mistake. It’s always difficult to get any amount of sleep on a red eye (despite the never ending wine ha ha) as we only managed to get an hour or two. By the time we got on the ship, unpacked a little bit, went to the Muster drill, and thought about getting a little something to eat, we were ready to go to bed for the night at around 7 PM. But as a result of going to bed so early we were up and ready to go at 4 AM. We went down to the Piazza, visited the International  café and enjoyed an almost empty piazza. It was a beautiful morning and walking around the Regal at sunrise with very few others around was a rare experience. So I guess you have to weigh your pros and cons. As an aside, we did stay an extra couple of nights in Copenhagen at the end of the cruise. Had a wonderful time and especially enjoyed Scandinavia. Would love to do it again soon. Have a wonderful trip. (Sorry for rambling...)

Edited February 9, 2020 by JoRoy218

[TravelingEA]

We were on a Baltic cruise last summer. There were people who did do the 1 day round trip to Moscow. It was a very long day. I think they left before 6 am and return sometime around midnight. I don't know if it was a princess tour or through an tour company such as Alla Tours.

[trinitygirl]

On 2/10/2020 at 1:32 PM, TravelingEA said:

We were on a Baltic cruise last summer. There were people who did do the 1 day round trip to Moscow. It was a very long day. I think they left before 6 am and return sometime around midnight. I don't know if it was a princess tour or through an tour company such as Alla Tours.

And this does mean you can only do it on a 3 day port visit - on our 2 day port visit we couldn’t disembark until 7am on day 1, and all on board was 5pm on day 2.

[bookmama22]

My friend did this cruise about 2 years ago and the 2 days in St Petersburg were the highlight of the entire trip.  Could have easily had another day in St. Petersburg to see more. This is a cruise that I would like to take some day. She also had a few days in Copenhagen on both ends of the trip.

[dog]

I used red October ru for a 2 day tour st Petersburg custom tour for 6 of us loved it.  Others flew to Moscow. The ports of call forum was a great resource

[Adventures ahead]

We used SPB Tours. Perfect, including an extra evening tour.

[ontheweb]

On 2/7/2020 at 2:19 PM, Sailingpeace said:

Lucky you ! 

Had the chance to cruise the Baltic when we had John Lawrence on board as our cruise director !! If you can get a copy of his Baltic Treasures dvd, or any of his talks ,  it is really useful. Some things may have change, but Tallin walls are still in the same place as are all the Churches in Russia ...   https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Baltic-Treasures-by-John-Lawrence-DVD-New-/323769582152

 

Also Rick Steves more recently   published a guide  https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/p/northern-european-cruise-ports ( 2018 edition, next one in august 2020) 

 

Mr Lawrence told us at the beginning of the cruise to try to get as much rest as possible on sea day before we started the port day as it would get to be very intensive. And it was ! There is so much to see and do and you will want to get the most out of your days. I recommend to friends doing this cruise, to arrive to embarkation port a few days earlier to adjust to time zone changes and get some rest.

 

Usually not a big fan of bus tours outside the city , but in St-Petersburg , going to Catherine Palace and Peterhof  are something I really enjoyed , the wonderful animated meal we had in a restaurant along the way beeing also a beautiful souvenir. We did that with Princess tours.

 

It is a cruise I would do again and again.  I read on some posts to be careful about some people MUST do things, I agree. There are so many aspects to every port , you have to choose what is of interest to YOU. 

 

The only thing I would do differently next time is to not stay on the ship at night . I would go back into the city for a night at he Ballet or a museum visit or just a nightly  sightseeing. We decided to rest but it was the ok thing to do as I was with my mom.  

 

It  has been years and I still enjoy the wonderful wool sweaters I baught in Tallin and Norway. 

 

Have a great cruise 

 

We were also lucky enough to have John Lawrence as our cruise director when we did a Baltic cruise. He was wonderful as he not only told about Princess cruise tours, but also how to do ports on your own.

 

We did an Alla tour set up in our roll call. There is so much to do and see in St. Petersburg that I don't know why someone would miss it to spend hours and hours travelling.

 

In Talinn, which is definitely a gem, we did a walking tour from Rick Steves' Scandanavia book.

 

 

 

 

[zogrand]

With only 2 days in Russia I would not attempt to get to Moscow.  There is more than enough to see in St. Petersburg.  Trips to Moscow should be overnight, not one day.  In the past we have spent 4 days in Moscow and 4 in St. Petersburg on a river cruise.   Both are wonderful but they are too far away to attempt both in only 2 days.  Alla and SPB are both excellent companies offering great tours.  I would recommend either one.

[charlie murphy]

You CAN do Moscow on a 2 day lay over It was offered on our cruise by the ship, I believe. we did have some on our ship do this. However, I believe that they had already been to SP before and felt they had done SP. If you leave early and arrive late like an itinerary to Moscow would require, I would suggest you pick a lighter trip in SP on day two.  SP is a massive place, distances are Big. We did SP independently with Visas, when looking at tours x 2 days verse visa cost  the independence out weighed the costs of the tours. money wise not much difference.  There was a LOT of planning that went into setting up our days, I am sure the tour guide had a lot more to say than the tour books and the tour bus never got lost. But , every trip i look forward to getting a little lost that is when a lot of adventure begins.  we were off the ship early and back late. We tried to organize our day reverse of tours and saw the Hermitage with little waiting and small crowds.   I can not say that there was not a bit of apprehension getting of the ship without a tour bus waiting but there is a surprising number of ship crew going to SP by the bus and they were helpful.  7 hours or whatever transit is nothing! If you go to Germany it is like 6 hours to Berlin each way. I would go for it If that is what you want to do. It would be an incredible experience, YOU CAN DO IT!