Pre-reserving lunches/restaurants in St. Pete, Russia

[CJcruzer]

when booking with private tour company, Denrus, RO, etc...do you usually pre-pay for your lunches - or just "wing" it as you go....

 

CJcruzer

[JodiBB]

If I remember correctly, we arranged what type of meal we wanted for each day ahead of time. We paid for the lunches with the rest of the tour and extras on the 2nd day of the tour (this was on a 2-day tour with RO).

 

Hope this helps!

[spearmint]

when booking with private tour company, Denrus, RO, etc...do you usually pre-pay for your lunches - or just "wing" it as you go....

 

CJcruzer

 

Last week, with the DenRus Value Excursion Tour, lunches were included. The first was at a restaurant on the grounds of the Peterfof Palace -- salad, cabbage soup, chicken with rice/vegetables, and I forget dessert. The second was at "The Chaikovsky Restaurant"-- our small group, and a larger group, both DenRus tours-- and it was salad, borscht, beef stroganoff, and ice-cream over fruit for dessert. Both times, a shot of vodka and glass of sparkling wine were included. If you are taking a more private (and therefore more expensive) tour, I believe that there are a number of restaurant possibilities, and these may be at your expense. My advice is to e-mail the company. They are extremely obliging in sending sample menus, and restaurant choices etc.

[Juliadlf]

Prepaid for everything and they selected the restaurants and also provided menus prior to our visit for selection of what we wanted to eat.

 

One restaurant they took us to called The Cellar on the first day was charming. If you like expresso coffee, then get the coffee otherwise bypass it. I can't remember the name of the second restaurant but it was also very nice.

 

Have fun.

 

Julia

[Dbedros]

I think this depends on the company and the size of your group. We decided each day with recommendations from our guide while there at the end of August. We used Alla and there were only 11 of us which did not create a major problem for restaurants. The first day we ate at the Hermitage because of time and location. The second day we ate at a restaurant on Nevsky Prospect that sat in a courtyard with other shops, fountains, benches, and had people strolling past. Each time we were able to order what we wanted and it did not take that long to get our food.

[CJcruzer]

We are a group of 8 on private 3-day Denrus tour......Denrus is setting up a "custom" itinerary - and recommended that we pre-pay and pre-reserve our lunches to save time???

 

We don't want to spend a lot of time with the lunches, nor any elaborate expensive lunches.....so any suggestions from past visitors would be appreciated...Denrus did send an attachment of some restaurants/menus/prices - any specific recommendations would be welcomed!

 

CJcruzer

[crzn4fun]

CJcruzer, when are you going? We will be on the JOS beginning June 30, 2007. I have been working with Olga at DenRus for about 3 weeks now planning our tour with them. She has been wonderful and quick to respond. We are doing a private tour with 6 people the youngest of which are two 16 YO's. We should be able to get around and see everything. My teens want to work in some shopping time, so we are trying to see where best to fit it in, but still see all the major sites. I also am trying to decide whether or not to do any evening entertainment. Three of the four girls that are going have taken ballet for years. We may consider that.

[CJcruzer]

We will be on the June 16 Oceania sailing......we are a group of 8 - and I've been e-mailing back and forth with Olga for probably more time than you!!! hahahaha

 

A few of us may take in a folkloric show one evening...we are there for 3 days.

 

CJcruzer

[Boo's Mom]

With Denrus, it was built into the prepaid tour price.

 

One day was in a restaurant. (menu items were picked out weeks ahead of time, too)

One day was in a home of a Russian Family.

[crzn4fun]

cjcruiser, I envy you your 3 days. Maybe next time for us. We only have 2 days on JOS.

 

Enjoy!

[sglenc]

We pre reserved and prepaid for lunch on one day and tried to pick up a quick lunch on the other day of our two day tour. The pre reserved lunch worked out better. On the "pick up lunch day" some of our party decided to skip lunch while some ordered lunch and ate it. It wasn't quick. The real problem seemed to be Russian currency. We didn't have it and our guide took us to a more upscale buffet because they accepted credit cards; and some of our party decided to skip that lunch. It was awkward, not a disaster.

[dileep]

We are a group of 8 on private 3-day Denrus tour......Denrus is setting up a "custom" itinerary - and recommended that we pre-pay and pre-reserve our lunches to save time???

 

We don't want to spend a lot of time with the lunches, nor any elaborate expensive lunches.....so any suggestions from past visitors would be appreciated...Denrus did send an attachment of some restaurants/menus/prices - any specific recommendations would be welcomed!

 

CJcruzer

 

We were in a group of 12 with RO last year and we decided to skip the lunch stop both days. We brought some fruit and rolls (or some had room service sandwiches) from the ship and ate during the 30 minute drive back from Peterhof and Catherine's Palace. This was pre-arranged with RO.

 

This allowed us to add one more stop each day.