Have not heard back from Denrus!!!

[MTemple212]

I have not heard of them before. But if you do use them, just make sure they are insured/registered with the government. Remember what happen to that bus down in Chile that had a load of passengers from a Celebrity cruise ship??

[dottiedef]

I finally got thru to Stan last night. You are right--he was very nice and could not find ANY of my 8 emails concerning my booking except the one where we sent our passport info. VERY fishy!!!! Just think they are TOOOOOOO busy to bother answering. An hour after my phone call, my tickets were in our original email(not the yahoo one). It took 5 phone calls before I got someone to answer-just got a recording that I was probably calling when they were closed---I called (their time )anywhere from 8AM to 3PM. The 3PM time is when I got thru. I even left a message on their machine(3 days ago)

that they could return my call AT ANY TIME. Not a great way to run a business, BUT I am still happy because of all the GOOD things that everyone says about the DenRus tours. Today is my birthday, so the arrival of the tickets was a great present! Asked Stan how may there were on the JULY 8-9 value tour and he told me there were 2 buses(vans??) with about 20 each. Busy now printing out the info booklet that came with the tickets.:) :) :)

[cherylakers]

I believe there are more than just 2 buses for the Denrus tours. We are booked as a party of 6 with a private van. There are lots of people doing the private 6 or 8 party vans. I think I read somewhere that there were around 200+ people getting off the ship for Denrus and Red October. I also read that you need to get down to the gangway very early like around 6:30 a.m. so you can beat the ships tours off. Stan said the ship should be cleared by 7 a.m. and get down there as fast as we can. I'm getting excited.

 

Is anyone meeting on the first sea day???

 

Cheryl

[dottiedef]

When I said there were 2 buses with about 20 each, I was referring to the 2 day complete St Petersburg value tour. I am sure there are MANY others using DenRus for their private tours tailored to their own desires. We were very happy with the set tour and are looking forward to doing it in a group of 20 or less as opposed to a group of 40 or more! As far as getting off, DenRus says listen for the Russian band to begin playing and that will be our signal that we can soon get off. We intend to be down there with the herds of others. Stan says do not listen if Princess tries to tell you to wait to get off. They can not stop you. They have a great information sheet with the tickets. Wow, am I getting excited now. Just praying for good weather. Stan said there was a steady rain all day yesterday, but today was supposed to be beautiful!:) :) :)

[brownmik]

We've been trying to get a hold of DenRus for 2 weeks. Emails, voice mails, private messages to Stan - nada.

 

Very frustrating! Hire a summer student to answer emails!

 

We really wanted to go with DenRus after all the glowing reviews, but we're now forced to open negotiations with Red October instead... :-(

 

Mike B

[cherylakers]

I finally sent an email to both Stan and the main Denrus one and finally got an answer. Be persistant and they should get back to you.

 

I will be listening for the band to play so we can head down and get off the ship. The tours with Denrus should be wonderful!!! We can hardly wait. We leave a week from Tuesday.

 

Cheryl

[dottiedef]

Brownmik---It took 3 weeks for me to get my tickets. Stan acted like they had never gotten my many emails and 2 phone messages. They obviously are not set up to be able to answer the many, many emails they must get. Keep calling--do it when it is the afternoon there and you will probably get through. They are 8 hours ahead of us on the east coast of USA. Not sure where you are calling from. I was also on the verge of changing to Red October, however we had entered our credit card into with DenRus and were afraid we might end up being charged by them too. As it was when I finally did get Stan, we were on their list--just had not sent our tickets yet. Thank goodness that nightmare is over now. Good luck. Keep us posted on what happens. Dottie

[MTemple212]

Good to hear your nightmare is over with. I figured Stan would come thru as he seems to be a very nice and knowledgeable person.

[juliedawg]

I'm new to this thread, but I've been corresponding on the site of our cruise and they suggested this site. I've had problems booking with DenRus. I'm now thinking of using Optima, but no one seems to know about them. Anyone heard of them or know anything about them. web site is (travelinrussia.com)

I'd appreciate any info anyone can give. gloria

Watersong--Optima is the same company as Travel in Russia. 6 of us are booked on a 2 day tour on June 24 and 25. They have been really wonderful in organizing a custom tour. I do not believe they sleep as it seems that my e-mails are always answered within a few hours whatever time I send them. Needless to say, they were checked out thoroughly and my only concern is that I did not find any complaints. They are charging $260pp for the tour which includes a longer day and some extra entrance fees.

Will let you know more when I return on the 2nd of July.