St. Petersburg or Moscow

One of our ports of call is St. Petersburg and we will be there two days. We have an opportunity to take a shore excursion into Moscow on the first day.

For all you knowledgeable folks out there, please give us some advice - should we spend both days in St. Petersburg or take the opportunity to head to Moscow on the first day (which would be a Saturday) and then plan to see St. Petersburg on the second day (which would be a Sunday, ship departs at 5:00 PM). We probably will never be back to visit Russia again.

One of our ports of call is St. Petersburg and we will be there two days. We have an opportunity to take a shore excursion into Moscow on the first day.

 

For all you knowledgeable folks out there, please give us some advice - should we spend both days in St. Petersburg or take the opportunity to head to Moscow on the first day (which would be a Saturday) and then plan to see St. Petersburg on the second day (which would be a Sunday, ship departs at 5:00 PM). We probably will never be back to visit Russia again.

I would personally suggest you spend the entire 2 days in St Petersburg..much more to see and do there than you probably expect...Adding on Moscow would be best with a 3 day port stop...Many on our cruise were sorry they spent the time it took to do this...Having a private guide & driver with TJ Travel for our 2 day active tour luckily helped us to get the most out of this amazing city in such a short time...We also have no idea if we will ever return..but we know we saw and did as much as we possibly could without turning it into a "Blur"..and it ended up being a trip of a lifetime...Enjoy !!!

Ashland is right on this one, we have been very lucky to go to many ports and both of our favorite is Saint Petersburg. And you will need two days, and they will be two of the best of your life.

One of our ports of call is St. Petersburg and we will be there two days. We have an opportunity to take a shore excursion into Moscow on the first day. For all you knowledgeable folks out there, please give us some advice - should we spend both days in St. Petersburg or take the opportunity to head to Moscow on the first day (which would be a Saturday) and then plan to see St. Petersburg on the second day (which would be a Sunday, ship departs at 5:00 PM). We probably will never be back to visit Russia again.

Agree with Ashland and dolittle. Visiting Moscow during a three-day visit to St. Petersburg works very well. We did it in 2008 and it worked super well for doing BOTH great and historic cities.

If you had been to St. Petersburg previously and seen its top highlights, then your potential plan could work well. BUT, after a long, long day and night going to Moscow and back would leave you little time to do the St. Petersburg part very well or even close. An option is to consider a cruise that does three days in St. Petersburg. That might cost more than your current plan/cruise. Trade-offs to consider!!?? Moscow is worth it to see. Below are a few of my visual samples to prove it!!

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 70,503 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

For details and visuals, etc., from our July 1-16, 2010, Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise experience from Copenhagen on the Silver Cloud, check out this posting. This posting is now at 63,945 views.

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

One of the Kremlin Wall Towers in Moscow:

Walking on the famed Red Square of Moscow:

St. Basil's sits on Red Square and dates back to its 1555-61 construction on the orders of Ivan the Terrible (Ivan IV). It commemorates the capture of Kazan and Astrakhan and marks the geometric center of the city. This location has been the hub of its growth for Moscow since the 14th century. It was the tallest building in Moscow until the completion of the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in 1600. This church was near destroyed in the 1930’s when Stalin was in control.:

The domes of the historic church inside the walls of the Kremlin:

This is the interior for Moscow's most historic church, Assumption Cathedral or the Cathedral of the Dormition, inside the Kremlin walls. It is the mother church of Muscovite Russia. The church stands on Cathedral Square and was built in 1475–1479 by the Italian architect Aristotele Fioravanti. It was erected on the spot of an older 14th century cathedral of the same name:

Here is a small sampling of the Kremlin Royal Treasures of the Czars: Eggs & Jewels inside the famed Armory.:

Actually, even two days in St. Petersburg are not nearly enough to see just the highlights. On the other hand, if one only gets a general idea of the city anyway, it might make sense to visit Moscow as well, especially, if one's been dreaming about it. We only did St. Petersburg tours with Palladium Travel, didn't want to lose any time getting to Moscow and back. I suppose, we'd like to come back one day to do both cities.

I lived in St Petersburg for 2 years, both as a student and working there.

I brought my family back to St Petersburg in 2005.

I avoided going to Moscow for an entire year. Only went when necessary.

Although I'm going to be in Moscow next month I suggest spending your time in St Petersburg.

Here is the itinerary you should do in St Petersburg:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=691174

- CWipes

Thank you everyone for the informative tips. Perhaps seeing as much of St. Petersburg as we can is the way to go. We will be making a decision in the next few weeks and certainly all of the perspectives provided here will help us make our decision. Thanks again.