Value Tour vs Private tour in St Petersburg

[merlot101]

I have been checking with Red October, Denrus and Alli. The last two have value tours for about 30 people. Who has taken those vs the private tours for about 6 people? I can't make up my mind.

 

I am sure that after your trips, some of you have talked to others on the ship about their experience. Help please!!!

[Len3]

We put together a mini-group of 8 people for a private tour with Alla. We selected the "moderate" tour and changed day 2 so that we will have early entrance into the Hermitge. The price came to $270pp for 2 full days. 30 people in a group is just more than we wanted - think of the bathroom stops, etc.

[belle907]

I have put together a group of 12 thru Anastasia and it's going to run us about $260. a person. We chose the places we wanted to visit and she put together the itinerary for us.

[smokey01]

I have been looking into these for myself and mother, we are going on the Queen Victoria leaving on 27th May. However I have emailed both Denrus and Alla tours and neither is running the value tour for this cruise. They can only offer me a custom tour. So first check whether the value tour will actually be run for your cruise.

[I&MsMom]

For our family of 4 (kids 5 and 9), Denrus' value tour is about $300 less than the tour put together for us by Anastasia. My thinking was that it is worth paying $150 more per day to have a guide and driver for just our family - we were able to completely customize the tour, we can decide what/where/when we want to eat, need a restroom break, etc. without worrying about inconveniencing others, and we can be flexible up to and including the day of the tour.

[SeaCCruiser]

Why not book Alla's "Complete St Petersburg tour"

I am sure it's available, because we arrive in SP on Oceania the day before Queen Victoria, and 4 of our friends have already signed up for the 2 day Complete SP tour, which limits the number per group to a max of 20.

The rest of us are doing a custom tour, and Alla could not have been more accommodating, or pleasant to deal with.

The "Complete" tour looks like a good value, and seems to cover all the highlights in the city, St Isaac's, Church on the Blood, SS Peter & Paul, as well as the Hermitage, Yusupov Palace, Catherine's Palace, and Peterhof.

 

(I am so glad Queen Victoria will overlap with our visit in SP, so we can get a glimpse of Cunard's newest liner)

[Peregrina651]

For our family of 4 (kids 5 and 9), Denrus' value tour is about $300 less than the tour put together for us by Anastasia. My thinking was that it is worth paying $150 more per day to have a guide and driver for just our family - we were able to completely customize the tour, we can decide what/where/when we want to eat, need a restroom break, etc. without worrying about inconveniencing others, and we can be flexible up to and including the day of the tour.

 

 

Mom, you are so right!! The savings is not worth it. In the end, you will have some very fine memories (not nightmares) of your two days in St. Petersburg.

 

BTW if you are taking the kids to the Peterhof Gardens, bring a change of clothing for them in your day-bag. There are a couple of fun 'water features' for the kids but having to stay dry takes all the fun out of them.

[I&MsMom]

Mom, you are so right!! The savings is not worth it. In the end, you will have some very fine memories (not nightmares) of your two days in St. Petersburg.

 

BTW if you are taking the kids to the Peterhof Gardens, bring a change of clothing for them in your day-bag. There are a couple of fun 'water features' for the kids but having to stay dry takes all the fun out of them.

 

 

I'm really looking forward to the Peterhof Gardens for just that reason (I'm keeping it a secret from the kids though - want them to be surprised!) :D

[California Native]

My DH and I are EXTEMELY thrifty people...some might call us cheap..

but that's how we manage to travel the world ...

with that said ...there are times to be cheap and St. Petersburg isn't one of them.

We actually did a tour for just the 2 of us through Red October.

This was the best money that we have ever spent. 19 hours of immersion with just our guide and us.

If you haven't already seen our website and webpage dedicated to the

Baltic Cruise (i've been 3 times)

Here is the link.....

http://when.do.we.leave.googlepages.com/balticcruiseportinformation

There's tips about the planning, packing and how to do ports on your own versus shorex.

Also, follow the link back to the home page for pictures of St. Petersburg and our 2 day itinerary. You will see photos of the other ports...

Wander into the Journal for other tips including the money page,

inside you will find locations for Tiger which is Copenhagens version of the dollar store...

I did say we were thrifty!!! :) :) :)

If the pictures are slow to load, just back out and re enter it's a googlepages issue.

If you have any questions, let me know!

Bon Voyage!

[breakiron]

Last year we put together a group of 11 people using cruisecritic for our own private tour of St. Petersburg. We were picked up by an airconditioned van and tour guide at 6:30 in the morning on the first day, we were the first ones off the ship. We paid $360 a piece which included lunch both days along with the hydrofoil ride from Peterof Palace back to St. Petersburg which saved both time and gave us a whole new prospective of the city going across the Gulf of Finland. All I can say is it was money well spent! There are 3 or 4 tour companies you can use. Good luck with your planning. Ken...