St. Petersburg Recommended Excursions

[kevinh100]

Hello.

 

My family and I are planning to take a Northern Europe cruise on the Constellation this summer. The major stop of the cruise is an overnighter in St. Petersburg. Does anybody have a recommended excursion, based on past experience? Thanks.

[Bruin Steve]

Well, you have but two real choices:

The Ship's excursions...

...or the local tour companies, most notably Red October, Denrus and Alla...all of which have been the topic of much discussion on these boards...

 

You pretty much must go with a tour since "on your own" requires specific visas and a much more difficult logistics situation.

 

My advice is to either pick a local provider and have them set you up with an itinerary over the two days...or...

 

Pick two full day shore excursions and one nighttime activity for that overnight (it does not help to leave free time in St. Pete since, without the special visa, they will not let you off the ship...

 

As far as what "not to miss", I'd say there are two musts: The Hermitage--simply the greatest art museum in the world...and housed in the old Winter Palace of the Czars...and the Peterhof--the Summer Palace of Peter the Great...

 

Other than that, there are several other wonderful sites such as Catheri9ne's Palace, the Yusopov Palace and a variety of interesting churches...Also, of special intert to some, the Great Choral Synagogue...

 

I'd say just make sure the Hermitage and Peterhof are in the mix somewhere...and then just see as much of the rest as fits into two days of touring...

 

As to the overnight, the choices are mainly the Ballet, a folkloric dance show or a river dinner cruise with entertainment...We did the Ballet last time, but this time, I think we might opt for that dinner cruise as being a bit more special (besides, the Ballet theater was a little hot and stuffy--though my wife and daughters loved the ballet)...

 

Good luck...

[friendship]

I know there are alot of threads on tours. Thought I would voice my experience after reading them all. I decided to avoid groups and long linesand get a private tour.I contacted Alla, Denrus and Red October. I found Denrus the most expensive and Red October the least. I choose Alla because she was so very helpful fitting in all that I wanted to do and giving me helpful advice. We have a very strenuous schedule as we have two 8 hour plus days and an ll hour one. We also are doing the evening at Catherine Palace only given by the ships tours. It is alot of money but my daughter took the tour and said I would never regret doing it. Also it fits in one more place I want to go. I hope this is helpful. We don't go until August. Good luck.