best tour company for private tour of st petersburg

Viking Star- July 15, 2017 - Stockholm to Bergen I have been doing some investigation regarding a 2 day tour of St. Petersburg.

SPB, Alla, and TJ Travel are all coming up with high marks. TJ While I have read the positive posts about Alla, any first hand info about SPB and/or TJ Travel?

Thank you.

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Viking Star- July 15, 2017 - Stockholm to Bergen I have been doing some investigation regarding a 2 day tour of St. Petersburg.

 

SPB, Alla, and TJ Travel are all coming up with high marks. TJ While I have read the positive posts about Alla, any first hand info about SPB and/or TJ Travel?

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We did SPB Tours. They respond to emails within 24 hours and we were also given a special discount for our group of 6. The tour guide speaks very fluent English and we were satisfied on how the walking tour of sites were conducted. We enjoyed the service and have no regrets.

Our friends who just returned from St. Petersburg enjoyed the private tour with RedSun Tours www.redsun-tours.com

I 've already contacted with them. They are quick in response and will customize a tour for us, very reasonable price. Actually I prefer smaller companies. We don't like to be with a company what has 20 groups a day.

If you tour with this company, please continue to post about your experiences with them -- not just after the fact but also the planning process. Posters on this board are always looking for a small company that is willing and capable of creating a wholly unique itinerary. Some of the most popular companies cannot meet this need.

You can be confident people will want to learn considerably more than you have posted about this unknown company and about yourself as a traveler. After all, selecting a company that is a bad fit for a visitor is a costly mistake in terms of both money and lost opportunity. Is this company a newly formed company by a tour guide with many years experience? How did your friends learn about this company in the first place? What are you looking for in your visit to St. Petersburg that the tried and true companies cannot provide?

Two years ago, my husband and I toured St Petersburg with White Nights Travel. At the time White Nights Travel was number #10 on Trip Advisor. Today, it is number #5. Despite my detailed and enthusiastic posts on this board -- and track record as a poster -- I'm not aware of another cruiser who has used the services of White Nights Travel. RedSun Tours does not have any current ranking on Trip Advisor.

On the positive side, here's what the company's web site says about providing the all important visa-free visit:

"PLEASE NOTE: According to the Russian Federation Law, all cruise ship passengers, staying in Russia for up to 72 hrs, do not need a Russian visa if they book the tour with us. We will legally provide you with an officially authorized document (Tour Ticket or Blanket Visa) which is considered a Russian visa equivalent."

[qu]Has anyone found a company that does private tours for ONE day? Sailing on Disney and we are there till 11pm. The major companies listed only state that they offer private 2 day tours...

Best Guides offer one day shore excursions!

I can really REALLY recommend RedSun Tours. Ask for Elena. Small bespoke company. Personal Service

http://redsun-tours.com mailto:info@redsun-tours.com

She will do one, two, three or more days and will do tours tailored for your timetable and tastes. She was brilliant. Warm, well organised, very knowledgeable, very good English, good fun. We found her via another visitor's recommendation. She will also organise your visa for you, pick you up from the port and drop you off.

A group of us from roll call got together (11 or 12 people) so she arranged a modern, clean and comfortable Mercedes with driver. However if there is just a couple of people I think she'll do a car pick up. I wouldn't have wanted a much bigger group than ours. As she is known at the various museums she was able to get us in through the back entrances a couple of times.

Every single one of us were very impressed with her. I hope you love St Petersburg as much as we did.

Our friends who just returned from St. Petersburg enjoyed the private tour with RedSun Tours www.redsun-tours.com

I 've already contacted with them. They are quick in response and will customize a tour for us, very reasonable price.

Actually I prefer smaller companies. We don't like to be with a company what has 20 groups a day.

Hahaha! I've just noticed your response. I've just recommended RedSun as well. Elena is excellent, isn't she?

If you tour with this company, please continue to post about your experiences with them -- not just after the fact but also the planning process. Posters on this board are always looking for a small company that is willing and capable of creating a wholly unique itinerary. Some of the most popular companies cannot meet this need. You can be confident people will want to learn considerably more than you have posted about this unknown company and about yourself as a traveler. After all, selecting a company that is a bad fit for a visitor is a costly mistake in terms of both money and lost opportunity. Is this company a newly formed company by a tour guide with many years experience? How did your friends learn about this company in the first place? What are you looking for in your visit to St. Petersburg that the tried and true companies cannot provide?

Two years ago, my husband and I toured St Petersburg with White Nights Travel. At the time White Nights Travel was number #10 on Trip Advisor. Today, it is number #5. Despite my detailed and enthusiastic posts on this board -- and track record as a poster -- I'm not aware of another cruiser who has used the services of White Nights Travel. RedSun Tours does not have any current ranking on Trip Advisor.

 

On the positive side, here's what the company's web site says about providing the all important visa-free visit:

"PLEASE NOTE: According to the Russian Federation Law, all cruise ship passengers, staying in Russia for up to 72 hrs, do not need a Russian visa if they book the tour with us. We will legally provide you with an officially authorized document (Tour Ticket or Blanket Visa) which is considered a Russian visa equivalent."

I'm not absolutely sure, but I think RedSun Tours is a new company (hence not featuring on Trip Advisor) but a very experienced tour guide.hitherto working privately.

I agree that if we don't post then they won't get known and little gems will be overlooked.

For that reason I've started posting more on Tripadvisor, especially is something is particularly good or particularly bad, but have discovered that if the company has not set itself up on Tripadvisor it can be hard to get a post accepted. I guess Tripadvisor has to be satisfied that it exists. It's easy once the first one is up. RedSun is on there now.

I have an idea that I did see another post for White Nights when I was going to St Petersburg, but Elena (RedSun Tours) had been used by a sister of one of our group previously so we were sure she was good.

If you tour with this company, please continue to post about your experiences with them -- not just after the fact but also the planning process. Posters on this board are always looking for a small company that is willing and capable of creating a wholly unique itinerary. Some of the most popular companies cannot meet this need. You can be confident people will want to learn considerably more than you have posted about this unknown company and about yourself as a traveler. After all, selecting a company that is a bad fit for a visitor is a costly mistake in terms of both money and lost opportunity. Is this company a newly formed company by a tour guide with many years experience? How did your friends learn about this company in the first place? What are you looking for in your visit to St. Petersburg that the tried and true companies cannot provide?

Two years ago, my husband and I toured St Petersburg with White Nights Travel. At the time White Nights Travel was number #10 on Trip Advisor. Today, it is number #5. Despite my detailed and enthusiastic posts on this board -- and track record as a poster -- I'm not aware of another cruiser who has used the services of White Nights Travel. RedSun Tours does not have any current ranking on Trip Advisor.

 

quote]

 

 

 

I am just a beginner in posting on this site. Wanted to share my good experience. Thanks for your hospitality!

So I asked them and now I know RedSun Tours was started last year by a woman who has been working for years in "incoming international tourism".

As for us ( my friend and me) , that will be our first Baltic sea cruise. I don't like group tours. When I looked at the itineraries what the first companies offer I understood we will be in a group with people who want to cover as much as possible. It is not for me. I love literature and music and asked them to show me a city of Dostoevsky and Gogol, the places where so famous novels were created. I want to see St. Petersburg what inspired Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. So the detailed description of the private tour was sent to me by RedSun Tours and I liked it so much.

As for Tripadvisor, we had bad experience with them. The hotel in Vienna what had so good reviews on Tripadvisor disappointed us very much. May be owners pay some money for good reviews, I don't know. Since that time I don't go on that website. I would trust my friend's recommendations.

 

 

WARBLE...your tour sounds wonderful. LEt us know how it goes. We were the same as you. We didn't want to pack it all in, moving around with a large group, but enjoy the days in a flexible way (much easier with a small group).

 

You have to be cautious with trip advisor. As far as I know people don't get paid for doing reviews (I certainly haven't, would not accept payment if it was offered, but would put the fact that I was offered in the review as it would be a sure sign the establishment et was not well enough.

 

I've learnt to 'interpret' reviews. So 5* in a cheap end establishment et won't mean the same quality, understandably as a 4 or 5* in a really high quality place. The more we pay, reasonably enough, the more we expect. I pay close attention to particular room reviews...so now I normally put my room number in the review. The more detail, the more I am inclined to trust the review.

 

This thread made me reflect how difficult it must be to start up a business like this and get known as it is not like walking down a high street and spotting a restaurant & giving it a go. As it is a holiday, one that many of us have had to save hard for, we don't want to risk making a mistake. I guess that is all the more reason for all of us to keep posting honest reveries both here and on Trip a

Advisor.

 

I expect you'll go ladened with Russian writers' books. I brought Anna Karenina with me to reread whilst there...but ended up having too little time! I hope the sun shines on you, as it did on us (June).

Hi there. We are also from Australia and going in May on the Baltics cruise, I am trying to organise some tours and I have just read your review and it sounds amazing. Do you remember what you paid for the tour and who was your contact at TJ? Many thanks

We also used TJ travel and the experience was close to perfect!! Our guide, Vika, was extremely professional and really knew the ins and outs of every place that we went! Our group was very small… Around 12 people in an airconditioned Mercedes van with a great driver. Someone above posted that most people have not used more than one tour company, which is true. We compared notes with people on our cruise who used SPB and it clearly sounded like we had a smaller group with a better guide. And our pricing was better, as well. I would highly highly recommend TJ Travel! Whomever you communicate with… they were all great and very prompt.

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In May this year we did a 2-day "Best of the Best" small group tour with Best Guides. They also do private tours but our small group was guaranteed be no more than 12 people, and in fact there were only 10 of us. We had an excellent, well organised and very knowledgeable guide (Elena) and moved around venues efficiently without any queueing - we had timed tickets for entry to the major venues, including early entry into the Hermitage before it got busy. We went to Peterhof by hydrofoil which was quick and offered some variety in transport, although the minibus was comfortable. In addition to visiting the sights Elena gave us a good insight into life in Russia today. We thoroughly enjoyed our 2 day tour and would recommend Best Guides for your time in St Petersburg.

We had Elena too! She was brilliant. Red Sun Toura. http://redsun-tours.com/

She was recommended by someone else on this site & we all said we couldn't have done better. If you book her say 'hallo' from Fionna.

you organise a small group through roll call, as we did, (about 10 of us) the price comes down. She'll also do private tours and if you have any particular interests she is happy to tailor them to your wishes.

As Ralphie's Mum says, in small groups you seem to skip past the large groups and big queues, and go at your own pace.

Let me know if you book and your itinerary. I'll be enviously!

Ciao. Fionna

I never heard of RedSun, no contact information on the web site except a cell phone number. I was just curious when seeing a number of rave reviews of tour operators who were not even working the season last year, and I have never seen at the port. Admittedly I am not there every day but enough to know all the tour operators who meet guest there. Maybe she is working as a guide for another company or goes by a different business name.

Basically, all tour operators in St Petersburg get high marks. Checking her prices on the web site, she sure is not cheap, about $40-80/per day per person higher than others. With the ruble weak now, should be bargains out there.

One key in having a great time is shopping for number of destinations. Most of the 2 day programs have pretty much the same items so those destinations are crushed with crowds. If you have any special interests, design the itinerary around that since there are real museums for any taste that are a lot less crowded than the big 3, Hermitage, Catherine Palace and Peterhof. Catherine places is the biggest variable, you might request it but not get it the day of the tour. I see that a lot, since it increased the number of entries allowed last year from 7,500/day to 15,000 but the number of visitors has increased a great deal, and the cruise ships coming are much larger and more in number so daily demand for Catherine Palace tickets is about double those available. It is not unusual to hear a guide telling their clients that "Catherine Palace is closed today because of some sudden event" because no tickets were available. Also, tour operators have to reserve their appointment times and prepay by the 20th of the month before arrival. But they can't reserve them before that date either. When there were 170 ship port calls and the largest ships were Star Princess, it was easy to get tickets but this year there are 263 port calls and the ships are getting gigantic. Norwegian GetAWay for example had 4,300 disembark this morning plus about 1500 of the crew, and there were 5 large ships in port arriving the same day. Everyone one of those passengers wanted to see Catherine Palace and a lot of them are not seeing it due to tickets.

Packing a tour with must sees means a rushed tour, it has to be, with little or no flexibility to linger in a place you like more than others. It is precision timing running from place to place to get in all the destinations on the more comprehensive tours.

Before booking a cruise, check the cruise port calendars to see which days do not have 5-9 large ships in port. It can make a very significant difference in the enjoyment of the tour. This year, after sever overcrowding in June last year, most of the cruise lines shifted their port calls to later in the summer thinking they could avoid the crowds that generate fights between tourist in the Hermitage a few really crowded days. So they made it worse, while thinking they were moving to less crowded days. They all ended up on Tuesday and Saturday arrivals, resulting in even more crowding. The Confederation Cup Championships that just ended brought hundreds of thousands of additional visitors in June.

So design a tour about your preferred pace, pick arrival dates with fewer events or other ships in port, for example a Thursday arrival arrival will mean any place you went to visit will have less crowding and ease of ticket reservations.

By focusing on sites and topic of interest to you, like concerning a hobby, or photograph or architecture you can have an unhurried uncrowded authentic experience without the cattle herding, or come in September when the weather is great, kids are in school and crowds are not a problem at all. The cookie-cutter 2 day excursions, essentially identical between the companies, are not the only choices, indulge your interests. If, for example you love art...there are real options that will please you and no one else on the ship will have experienced it. If contemporary culture and life is of interest, again, great options and low costs which are not crowded. Be a bit more creative. And don't forget evening activities, when the real fun is found: pubs chatting with outgoing fun locals, exploring the 11,000 quality restaurants opened in the last 10 years, a river dinner or blues cruise, ballet, opera, classical music, parks, shopping, people watching in the hundreds of outdoor cafes meeting locals who speak English to compare lives and experiences. You can have a lot of free time in the evening. Some museums are open late, and better seen at night like Faberge Museum and palace, St Isaac Cathedral, or just walking to streets and exploring. That is when the city reveals itself most.

On a sad note, this might be the last year you have any choice in tours. The independent tour operators day's are numbered. The passenger port has been turned over to Inflot, a old Soviet era port operator company that owns Arktur, the company that has almost all the ship contracts in St Petersburg and it has been a goal for years by them to stop access to the port by independent tour operators and now they have that ability for the first time and have announced plans to drive out the "pirates" as Arktur calls all tour operators conducting tours. They want all tours to be sold through the ship alone so the tour available will be large bus tours for a lot higher prices. The ships have wanted that for a long time but had no legal way to stop federally registered tour operators from hosting visa free tours. They seek to return it to the days when 95% of passengers were herded into 55 passenger buses. More will be known towards the fall but Arktur's director was pretty happy about the changes in an interview in the paper recently. Their plan apparently is to simply not permit tour operators to come to the secure port and receive guests, and guests can't just leave the terminal unless received by an authorized tour operator. But that does not impact this year, 2018 likely however.

...On a sad note, this might be the last year you have any choice in tours. The independent tour operators day's are numbered. The passenger port has been turned over to Inflot, a old Soviet era port operator company that owns Arktur, the company that has almost all the ship contracts in St Petersburg and it has been a goal for years by them to stop access to the port by independent tour operators and now they have that ability for the first time and have announced plans to drive out the "pirates" as Arktur calls all tour operators conducting tours. They want all tours to be sold through the ship alone so the tour available will be large bus tours for a lot higher prices. The ships have wanted that for a long time but had no legal way to stop federally registered tour operators from hosting visa free tours. They seek to return it to the days when 95% of passengers were herded into 55 passenger buses. More will be known towards the fall but Arktur's director was pretty happy about the changes in an interview in the paper recently. Their plan apparently is to simply not permit tour operators to come to the secure port and receive guests, and guests can't just leave the terminal unless received by an authorized tour operator. But that does not impact this year, 2018 likely however.

Yikes! This is important and disturbing news. It certainly deserves its own thread rather than as the conclusion of a lengthy, detailed post under a generic title about the best tour company for St. Petersburg.

I hope you'll stay on top of this development and continue to post.

We have just returned from an Oceania cruise of the Baltic. We organized our tours with TJ Tours. They were very responsive and flexible during our planning stages. And we were not disappointed. Furthermore, they were much more economical that using the ship's tours. We had Irina in St Petersburg. I can't imagine a more perfect guide. We could not believe how much she knew about the history, architecture and art of this city!! Our van ( there were 6 of us) was clean and modern. The itinerary superb - and based upon our interests. We avoided all line ups wherever she took us. Overall TJ provided a terrific experience. Bravo!:D

We have just returned from an Oceania cruise of the Baltic. We organized our tours with TJ Tours. They were very responsive and flexible during our planning stages. And we were not disappointed. Furthermore, they were much more economical that using the ship's tours. We had Irina in St Petersburg. I can't imagine a more perfect guide. We could not believe how much she knew about the history, architecture and art of this city!! Our van ( there were 6 of us) was clean and modern. The itinerary superb - and based upon our interests. We avoided all line ups wherever she took us. Overall TJ provided a terrific experience. Bravo!:D

So glad to hear this, we are on a Baltic cruise in September & I have arranged a private tour for a bunch of CC Roll Call members thru TJ. They have been great thus far (my only hiccup is that a different person seems to respond to my emails each time which gets a little confusing). Any particular suggestions you have for the day tour? Did you do a night tour?

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"I never heard of RedSun, no contact information on the web site except a cell phone number. I was just curious when seeing a number of rave reviews of tour operators who were not even working the season last year, and I have never seen at the port. Admittedly I am not there every day but enough to know all the tour operators who meet guest there. Maybe she is working as a guide for another company or goes by a different"

Hallo SPBStan

You mention being at the port nearly every day. What do you do? It sounds as if you may be working in the tourist industry there. Maybe you work with a particular company or offer small group tours yourself?

I was surprised and concerned to read the planned squeeze on small tour operators. I wonder if that is for the whole of Russia? I really hate large group tours and, generally, would rather not go than go with one.

You sound suspicious of RedSun. I can only say that Elena from Red Sun was clearly very professional and experienced with a deep and rich knowledge both of St. Petersburg and the arts. I believe she specialised in small bespoke tours as she came strongly recommended to another passenger on toll call by someone who travels and cruises a lot using bespoke guides. I went with the flow and was very impressed best guide I have had on any holiday or tour anywhere.

She organised our visas in advance which only an official licensed tour guide can do. We paid after the whole tour was complete. In fact we thought she was very reasonable given the quality of the tours, the speed of managing queues, flexibility, and good quality transport. The driver was delightful too.

I never heard of RedSun, no contact information on the web site except a cell phone number. I was just curious when seeing a number of rave reviews of tour operators who were not even working the season last year, and I have never seen at the port. Admittedly I am not there every day but enough to know all the tour operators who meet guest there. Maybe she is working as a guide for another company or goes by a different business name.

Basically, all tour operators in St Petersburg get high marks. Checking her prices on the web site, she sure is not cheap, about $40-80/per day per person higher than others. With the ruble weak now, should be bargains out there.

One key in having a great time is shopping for number of destinations. Most of the 2 day programs have pretty much the same items so those destinations are crushed with crowds. If you have any special interests, design the itinerary around that since there are real museums for any taste that are a lot less crowded than the big 3, Hermitage, Catherine Palace and Peterhof. Catherine places is the biggest variable, you might request it but not get it the day of the tour. I see that a lot, since it increased the number of entries allowed last year from 7,500/day to 15,000 but the number of visitors has increased a great deal, and the cruise ships coming are much larger and more in number so daily demand for Catherine Palace tickets is about double those available. It is not unusual to hear a guide telling their clients that "Catherine Palace is closed today because of some sudden event" because no tickets were available. Also, tour operators have to reserve their appointment times and prepay by the 20th of the month before arrival. But they can't reserve them before that date either. When there were 170 ship port calls and the largest ships were Star Princess, it was easy to get tickets but this year there are 263 port calls and the ships are getting gigantic. Norwegian GetAWay for example had 4,300 disembark this morning plus about 1500 of the crew, and there were 5 large ships in port arriving the same day. Everyone one of those passengers wanted to see Catherine Palace and a lot of them are not seeing it due to tickets.

Packing a tour with must sees means a rushed tour, it has to be, with little or no flexibility to linger in a place you like more than others. It is precision timing running from place to place to get in all the destinations on the more comprehensive tours.

Before booking a cruise, check the cruise port calendars to see which days do not have 5-9 large ships in port. It can make a very significant difference in the enjoyment of the tour. This year, after sever overcrowding in June last year, most of the cruise lines shifted their port calls to later in the summer thinking they could avoid the crowds that generate fights between tourist in the Hermitage a few really crowded days. So they made it worse, while thinking they were moving to less crowded days. They all ended up on Tuesday and Saturday arrivals, resulting in even more crowding. The Confederation Cup Championships that just ended brought hundreds of thousands of additional visitors in June.

So design a tour about your preferred pace, pick arrival dates with fewer events or other ships in port, for example a Thursday arrival arrival will mean any place you went to visit will have less crowding and ease of ticket reservations.

By focusing on sites and topic of interest to you, like concerning a hobby, or photograph or architecture you can have an unhurried uncrowded authentic experience without the cattle herding, or come in September when the weather is great, kids are in school and crowds are not a problem at all. The cookie-cutter 2 day excursions, essentially identical between the companies, are not the only choices, indulge your interests. If, for example you love art...there are real options that will please you and no one else on the ship will have experienced it. If contemporary culture and life is of interest, again, great options and low costs which are not crowded. Be a bit more creative. And don't forget evening activities, when the real fun is found: pubs chatting with outgoing fun locals, exploring the 11,000 quality restaurants opened in the last 10 years, a river dinner or blues cruise, ballet, opera, classical music, parks, shopping, people watching in the hundreds of outdoor cafes meeting locals who speak English to compare lives and experiences. You can have a lot of free time in the evening. Some museums are open late, and better seen at night like Faberge Museum and palace, St Isaac Cathedral, or just walking to streets and exploring. That is when the city reveals itself most.

 

On a sad note, this might be the last year you have any choice in tours. The independent tour operators day's are numbered. The passenger port has been turned over to Inflot, a old Soviet era port operator company that owns Arktur, the company that has almost all the ship contracts in St Petersburg and it has been a goal for years by them to stop access to the port by independent tour operators and now they have that ability for the first time and have announced plans to drive out the "pirates" as Arktur calls all tour operators conducting tours. They want all tours to be sold through the ship alone so the tour available will be large bus tours for a lot higher prices. The ships have wanted that for a long time but had no legal way to stop federally registered tour operators from hosting visa free tours. They seek to return it to the days when 95% of passengers were herded into 55 passenger buses. More will be known towards the fall but Arktur's director was pretty happy about the changes in an interview in the paper recently. Their plan apparently is to simply not permit tour operators to come to the secure port and receive guests, and guests can't just leave the terminal unless received by an authorized tour operator. But that does not impact this year, 2018 likely however.

It just occurred to me after I replied to your post: From your tag "SPB Stan" and the reference to being in the port most days that you must be associated with SPB tours! Is that right?

No, I am not associated with SPb Tours, nor would I want to be. That is my old nickname from 15 years ago I have used in forums all that time. I am an American living full time in St Petersburg 17 years, 18, in a month. I have worked with various companies, as a consultant or even contracted for software development for 3 companies for internal office automation, such as ticket generation and port documents filed before every port call that is the actual visa free entry process. The tickets sent are really just to show the passport control officer which logo to look for to consult the correct list for all the tour operator sponsored guests. Each tour operator submits details of the tour and the passport information, dates and timing and a copy is placed in each passport control booth, 32-36 duplicates for each tour operator, for each ship.

I know a lot about all the companies who go to the port regularly and as I mentioned, never seen the signs or port lists for that one new company.

I see a lot come and go, predating all the companies except Red October and arriving about the time Denrus was started. As independents those were the only two but Denrus was a ship contractor also as their primary focus. I was not until Denrus created the first small independent group tours that more than 5% of the passengers booked with independents. Guides who worked for those two split off over the years and started little startups out of their apartments and with only cell phone. Now there about 130 companies. The companies mostly split on who their customers are. The US based visitors primarily use a few that started in the late 2000s, 3 of them primarily they started with the intense promotion by forum spamming in the period around 2008 with fake referrals and one had a full time staff to just do that. It was pretty successful, generating millions in profits, but the spamming hurt credibility of the forums so a little effort was put on cutting it out. Notice any time a question comes up about a tour, the same 5000 post people pop up and push one company? If one had been to 50-100 ports, why 90% of all their posts concern recommending one tour operator in just one port? It made no sense, still doesn't.

I was the first one to develop the Trip Advsor presence in St Petersburg, the forum had 1 post per week or less until they had someone who answered all the questions and it became the main go-to place for visitors wanting information about St Petersburg. That was about 2004-5. So I imaging some have read my posts answering questions there at the first designated Destination Expert. I post a lot less there now that there is a large self sustaining community there now, with lots of guides posting and using to seek clients. I got a lot of hate mail when I caught spammers posting fake reviews, same here. One of the big three was caught using the same text, and link back to the site, and glowing reports of the owner.....and nothing about the "tour" supposedly taken. She does not do that any more but that is how she got going and now is probably the most reputable of the big companies now.. One is the least reputable of all the tour operators, most are in the middle, small 1-2 person businesses started by a guide, and perfectly capable of a highly personalized quality tour. I usually recommend the small guide services,although shoestring operations, that is how to get personal service. My GF is a lawyer and young lawyer and I see how much effort she puts into making it personal.

I hate to see that all shut down when Arktur cuts off access to the port for independent companies. With no competition the ship tours just get more expensive, more crowded and less personal. 44 Countries now have visa waivers with Russia so those citizens are coming a lot more, particularly from South America, and just getting off the ship and hopping the bus at their terminal and heading to the metro station, and in 10 minutes standing on Nevsky Prospect. I use the bus myself and every single day I go there, there are a few families or groups of friends doing just that, so I have given the same instructions on how to get the bus, buy subway tokens, and where to go once we arrive in the city center. The number of countries with visa waivers has increased by 10 in just the last year, and despite the record poor relations with the US and UK, much of the rest of the world looks very favorably on Russia and trade agreements and closer ties with many countries has resulted in much more tourism. First visitors are reporting back how great it is to visit and how well they were treated, which just generates more visitors.For land tours, Chinese visitors outnumber Americans now. If Arktur shuts down independents, it will hurt the passenger counts but increase the profits, with people who can't get the personalized tours anymore will be more favorably inclined to just come by air.

But the real miking goes on in the roll calls where you see someone, a new member post a comment about a great deal they got for a group and there was still a couple seats left. Dozens of people jump on it. These posts start about 10 months before the arrival date, and often means 10-15 vans are filled by the arrival date and the original poster has drift off or reported their father in-law was ill so had to cancel. I know a woman who created that and had a number of people working for her doing that. There were a lot of roll calls to cover, but it represent millions in extra profits per year.

But Americans, as the total share of the market has decreased yearly since 2010 or so, with a 2015 where where they represented only 35%of passengers down from 85% replaced by Asians and southern Europeans. Now the ships are filled with a united nations of nationalities. This year, despite the wall to wall negative fake news about Russia, Americans are back, up to about 55%. That is still a lot because the ships have gotten so much larger, many are twice the capacity and they are full. India and the Middle East represent a big growing segment. The explosion of the middle class in so many countries in Asia and Central Asia means the cruise lines have tapped into an almost unlimited market. The middle class in China now it the largest in the world, and ironically also has the most English speakers of any country other than India. These people have entirely different channels of communications so the spamming of forums that focused on US and Canadian travelers had no impact on sales to these new groups, and new tour operators who specialize in those languages, particularly Spanish are getting a lot of business. Much of the new cruisers are using large booking agencies instead of tour operator web sites, and one of the biggest is Viator which was purchased by the company that owns Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor. So the biggest competition for the regulars pushed on CC happens now to be CC's parent company's new division.

It is interesting to watch, and see both behind the scenes and the public side. Sometimes they do not match much;>)

Would it be possible to schedule a tour geared to young people? My granddaughters are 11 and 17 and I wonder what would be of particular interest to people of their age. I spent two days there ten years ago with DenRus and saw most of the major sights, so I'm open to seeing something different.

Only choose Tzarina Tours if you want someone special!!! Nina is just about the best tour guide we have ever had! A 3 day tour with Nina and her drivers Serge and Stass was like visiting with a friend. We communicated via email regarding the sights we wished to see, and settled on the price before we came. Her price was very fair, as I had checked with some other guides. She arranged our tour tickets and emailed them to us after we had sent her our passport info. Nina was waiting for us with our name on a sign and a smile and a hug, and she swept us up and away to where Serge our driver was waiting. Off we went to Peterhof gardens and castle which were magnificent. She showed us all of the trick fountains and we had a tour of the inside of the palace as well. Lunch was at a local place in the city that served dumplings (I forget the Russian word.) Then we were back to the ship as we had a ship tour of Katherine's Palace in the evening. Day 2 we saw Peters and Paul's, Church of Spilt Blood, Grand Maket museum, and ate at a local Russian chain for lunch with meat and fruit pies. We then visited 3 souvenir shops that were out of the way with better prices than the ones near the tourist sites and drank free vodka at every stop! We were invited to see Nina's apartment for vodka and snacks, and we stopped at a large supermarket before hand. She prepared lovely snacks with herring and caviar and bread and pickles and tomatoes and taught us to drink vodka!! So much fun. Back to the ship. Day 3 we visited Hermitage and the Impressionist museums. I have visited the Uffizi in Florence and there were many more paintings by Renoir, Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso at this museum and not nearly the crowds. Off to a local hidden Russian cafeteria for an inexpensive lunch. Then we saw St. Isaacs Cathedral and back to the ship. So, I am sure you are saying, what's so special about Nina? Surely any tour guide would do as well?? 1. Nina was extremely flexible from the original email communication throughout our 3 day tour. We had a choice of her driving us in her car or hiring a private driver. We chose to use Serge and his son Stass as it would be easier to drop us at the sights and then the driver could find a parking place. We stopped several times along the way for impromptu concerts and the police graduation in front of the Hermitage. We never felt rushed. 2. Nina has the cutest personality, always smiling and laughing. 3. Nina was able to get us around the long entry lines and we would quickly go towards the most popular rooms in the palaces and then walk back to see the things we had missed. 4. Nina treated us like family. My husband loved to tease her about anything and everything and particularly her pronunciation of vodka. Since I had broken my right kneecap about 9 weeks ago she took special care of me, pointing out hazards in the road and steps. Also, seeing a large supermarket was great and we compared prices with home (about the same). And the highlight for us was being entertained in her apartment with drinks and snacks and seeing pictures of her family and meeting her cat. 5. Nina knew all about everything ! Her brain is stuffed with history and anecdotes and she had a very patient way of reminding us of important people who popped up in several places (this is a picture of Elizabeth who wanted her palace painted blue to match her eyes and didn't like her son.......etc.) Personally I want to go back to St. Petersburg just to see Nina again! As another reviewer stated, she is pretty spectacular. She made the whole 3 days that we were visiting St. Petersburg beyond terrific.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g298507-d10072993-r499850679-Tzarina_Tours-St_Petersburg_Northwestern_District.html#

I'm hoping more people join the roll call with kids.

I'm hoping more people join the roll call with kids.

Hallo Estebofar

You will see from this thread that many of us have had good experiences with small tour guide providers. Just to add to the thread Elena at Red Sun Tours was a really terrific guide, creating a bespoke tour for us...and flexible about itineraries. She has a daughter, a lovely sense of humour and fun, so should be able to think of age appropriate activities. http://redsun-tours.com/

What I would suggest is to identify to the tour guides the ages, sex and interests of your grandchildren, timescales, and ask them to suggest (& cost) a fun tour for you. There are some 'alternative' areas in St Petersburg with more off-beat art and markets. There are sports activities. The more information you give them the more likely you are to get something fun.

If you then post on roll-call the intended programme and indicate a bit of flexibility you are more likely to get takers, especially if you explain that the price per person tends to reduce as the group size grows.

Personally, I'm not sure I would want a group size much more than a dozen as you lose valuable flexibility. We did really well with a group of 12 both with price and with pleasure.