Are We Planning Too Much-St. Petersburg

[AlaskaDay]

We are planning the two day Princess tour in St. Petersburg. Because the tour does not go to Catherine's Palace, we are also considering the night tour to Catherine's Palace with dinner and entertainment that doesn't return to the ship until midnight. We are in our late 50s/early 60s and I'm wondering if this is just too much in two days. I want to see as much as we can, but I don't want to be to tired to enjoy it. Any comments would really be appreciated.

[NVCLVR]

Don't miss the evening at the Catherine Palace..it is an absolutely wonderful tour and evening. There is so much to see in St.Petersburg that no matter what tours you choose, you'll be tired...but not too tired to enjoy and appreciate the city. I'm in the same age range and have gone 2x and my itineraries have been loaded. I "survived" quite nicely,so don't worry. Just go on your day tour, take the evening tour and set your alarm for early the next morning. Do have to warn you that you probably won't be crawling into bed until about 1am. The 2nd morning tour probably starts at 7-ish but you can tolerate the +/- 5hrs of sleep, knowing you'll be able to sleep in the next day when you've left Russia!;) Go and have a wonderful time!

[misskitty123]

We just got back from a Baltic cruise and did a 2 day private tour with a ballet excursion the first night and didn't get back to the ship till 11:30 ish...It was me (28) and my 70+ mom...It was tireing but doable...and Catherine's Palace is amazing....

[Giantfan13]

We are also a couple, late 50's early 60's, but those are just numbers. If you feel good, YOU know the amount of activity you can do in a day. Come on, I know WE are not ready to come back and sit in the old rocker and wait for some one to bring us a cup of tea after a day of sightseeing. Sure we can't do all the things we did when we were in our 30's and 40's, but just because numbers say we are getting older, that doesn't mean you have to cut back on things. If you feel OK and walking doesn't bother you, do wahtever you can. WEhahave friends who are our age, that feel they have to be in bed at 9:30 every night, while we love to stay up (if we can). Going to bed that early is for 'old people' . (LOL)

Yes, you don't want to over do things and ruin the rest of your trip, but if you feel good and are relatively healthy and outgoing, go for whatever you would like to do.

[DebbieS732]

On the other hand, running yourself ragged just for the sake of seeing 'everything' is not my idea of a good time. If it's something you're dying to see, then do it. If you are going to a late-night show just because you think you should, I would skip it. Personally, I operate much better on a good 7-8 hours of a sleep a night. I could stay out until midnight and then get up after 5 hours sleep and do another day of sightseeing but, honestly, I would not enjoy it nearly as much as if I were reasonably rested.

 

I frequently travel internationally with my mother, who has a heart condition and thus, we need to pace ourselves. And I have learned that it isn't necessary to cram in every sight possible in a 24 hour period. One more church, one more palace isn't probably going to make or break your trip. The trick is to identify what is important to you and prioritize.

 

My mother and father in law just got off the Noordam last week from a tour of Western Europe. They are in their early 70s and very active and in excellent health. The first thing my MIL said was the schedule was too hectic and if she had to do it over again she would have skipped the heavy touring schedule on a few days(they did all HAL shore excursions). The second thing she said was she wished they had done open seating. They are extremely sociable people and love sitting with a group but she said it was a real push to make it to their early seating each night.

 

By the way, I'm turning 47 during our cruise next week.

[Leejnd4]

I think there's excellent advice in all of these posts - on both ends of the spectrum!

 

In three weeks I'm going on a Baltics cruise with my 72-yr-old Mom who just recently had hip surgery. So this was a pretty big topic for us as we planned our days.

 

We tried to strike a balance between tour-filled days, and more relaxing ones. But we always kept in our minds that this will probably be the only time we ever get to at least some of these locations...so in certain ports, particularly Russia, we are cramming it in. We might regret this...but somehow I don't think so. ;) Also, we elected to go with a private tour operator rather than the ship excursions. By doing this, we have the option of changing our itinerary if anything proves to be too much. Worst case, Mom can always sit in the van while the rest of us go see something. I would MUCH rather do it this way, than be stuck on a bus, tied to the excursion schedule.

 

At some of our other ports, we decided to go less-hectic, even if it meant giving something up. For example, most people will probably visit Berlin during our port stop in Warnemunde...but it's hours away from the ship, and we just thought that would be too much, especially after our hectic St. Petersburg tours. So we're renting a car and will simply drive around to the lovely towns and villages in the local countryside.

 

By the way, when is your cruise, AlaskaDay? If you are going to be in St. P during the famous White Nights, I wouldn't MISS the night out. We're going to dinner and a folkloric show in the theatre district on one of our nights there, and I expect it will be amazing. :)

[abouna]

St. Petersburg is the most unique and probably most interesting place on the entire itinerary. The other ports are going to be similar in many respects. That is why they give you the extra time in St. Petersburg. So much--too much to see. Take full advantage of your time there and take it easy in some of the other ports.

[AlaskaDay]

Thanks for the advice and great words of encouragement to see as much as we can. We have booked both the two day tour and the evening at Catherine's Palace. We will be in St. Petersburg September 7 and 8th, so I think we are too late in the year for the White Nights.

 

We will probably take tours in all our other ports, with something really easy in Tallin which is our next stop after St. Petersburg. Too bad we don't have a sea day after St. Petersburg.

 

We are really getting excited. Based on advice on some other Post on Cruise Critic, we ordered John Lawrence's DVD on the Baltic Ports. Looks like it has tons of information.