Shopping with SPB tours

For those of you that have taken SPB deluxe 2 day tour, I want to make sure that there was some shopping time so I could get some souvenirs. Where do they generally stop for that? Also did you get plenty of chances for pictures? Thank you.

For those of you that have taken SPB deluxe 2 day tour, I want to make sure that there was some shopping time so I could get some souvenirs. Where do they generally stop for that? Also did you get plenty of chances for pictures? Thank you.

On our 2 day SPB deluxe tour, we only had one shopping stop. However, were were on a private tour instead of a group tour, and we told our guide we didn't need to do a lot of shopping. The group tours may make additional stops. Hopefully someone else will comment.

The store we stopped at was clearly a tourist shop. It had a wide variety of items, ranging from cheap trinkets to expensive amber. Complimentary refreshments (coffee, vodka, etc) were available.

I should also point out that there is a fairly extensive shop located right at the cruise terminal, with prices which seemed comparable (or even cheaper) than the tourist shop in town. We ended up buying a couple of trinkets there instead.

You'll have plenty of chances to take lots of pictures. The 2 day tour will be fast paced, but you'll have ample opportunity to take pictures.

Have fun!

We won't get back from our tour until 6pm or 7pm at night. Do you know if the shop in the port stays open until later in the day so I can shop when I get back? Thank you.

We won't get back from our tour until 6pm or 7pm at night. Do you know if the shop in the port stays open until later in the day so I can shop when I get back? Thank you.

On day 1 for us, we went straight to the evening folklore show after the last tour stop, so we didn't get back to the ship until around 9pm. I don't think it was open that late, but sorry I can't tell you if it would still be open at 6-7pm. It certainly was open late afternoon on day 2, because that's when we bought our things.

Yes, we were on SPB tours for the two day and we stopped at three different places. Very touristy, but nice, clean and the staff was very helpful at all three. I bought a hand painted Santa at our first stop and they had a very good selection.

Enjoy!

Carol

On our 2-day deluxe SPB tour, we had at least 4 shopping stops. They double as the restroom breaks, so the less you drink, the more time shopping. The selection was good at all the places. There was also plenty of shopping time at the Hermitage gift shop. At the Hermitage, shoppers were really snapping up the paintings reproduced on canvas.

At some of the tour stops, you can run away for a few minutes for more shopping. There were opportunities at Catherine's Palace, outside the Hermitage, and at the vodka tasting.

As mentioned, the shops at the port are an excellent option, both for pricing, and not to cut into your tour time. They do stay open until the normal tour ending time.

And yes, plenty of picture stops.

On our 2-day deluxe SPB tour, we had at least 4 shopping stops. They double as the restroom breaks, so the less you drink, the more time shopping. The selection was good at all the places. There was also plenty of shopping time at the Hermitage gift shop. At the Hermitage, shoppers were really snapping up the paintings reproduced on canvas.

 

At some of the tour stops, you can run away for a few minutes for more shopping. There were opportunities at Catherine's Palace, outside the Hermitage, and at the vodka tasting.

 

As mentioned, the shops at the port are an excellent option, both for pricing, and not to cut into your tour time. They do stay open until the normal tour ending time.

 

And yes, plenty of picture stops.

Good point about the shops at the museums! I forgot to mention that in my earlier posting.

I will also add that we didn't feel any pressure to make purchases, neither from the store employees nor our SPB guide.

Thank you. I know that I want to get things to bring home to the family. That is part of the fun of traveling. I also have a curio cabinet and I put something in it from everywhere that I go.

I do the curio thing as well. Just a little something to remind myself of where we have been. Spb also took us to a market with traditional food etc. That was fun.

in St. P? How will the cruise line get a kickback?:D

in St. P? How will the cruise line get a kickback?:D

Good one! :D

If you are on any sort of group tour, there will be ample bathroom stops, and those are done at , WHAT, the souvenir stores. (OMG). It's fine though, the ships offer a very wide variety of Russian things and their prices are comparable with anywhere else. (except for the vendors at the pushcarts). At these stops, they usually also offer cold or hot drinks and vodka tasting.

If you want to use the shop at the ship's pier, do it on the 2nd day. They will bring you back in plenty of time, before the ship leaves, so that will give you ample time to shop and grab those last minute things.

As for pics, bring extra memory cards, as you will be taking pics all the time. Every stop is a Kodak moment.

Cheers

Len

Hi

What currency do the shops accept when out on the tours and back at the port.

Thanks

Thank you. That is very helpful. We love to bring back souvenirs.

Hi

 

What currency do the shops accept when out on the tours and back at the port.

 

Thanks

Our experience was that every place accepted euros, rubles, or dollars. Even the street vendors didn't seem to care. We asked our guide if she had a preference, and she said no.

Our experience was that every place accepted euros, rubles, or dollars. Even the street vendors didn't seem to care. We asked our guide if she had a preference, and she said no.

Thanks for that, good to know we won't have to bother with rubles for any souvenirs we buy.

Thanks for that, good to know we won't have to bother with rubles for any souvenirs we buy.

We didn't get any rubles either. We used credit cards to buy souvenirs, and tipped in USD. One thing others have mentioned though... Rubles were required for those wanting beer at some of their lunch stops.

We didn't get any rubles either. We used credit cards to buy souvenirs, and tipped in USD. One thing others have mentioned though... Rubles were required for those wanting beer at some of their lunch stops.

Well that's good to know!

We are there in June 2014. Thank you all for the great advice!

If you are shopping in a regular shop, it would be wise to charge everything on a credit card like the CapitalOne card which doesn't charge any foreign transaction fees. This way, if anything goes wrong you have some recourse with the credit card company, PLUS you do not have to carry around cash when it isn't needed.

That said, if you shop at any of the street vendors, there you will need some sort of cash. You will be able to negotiate with them and their prices are better than any of the shops. But, several of the tour companies do not like stopping for them as they probably get some sort of kick back from the shops they do bring you to. These shops are very nice and prices are comparable with most other shops.

Cheers

Len

We were taken to buy a few rubles to pay for our lunch and drinks. The guide knew how much we should change up. Anything else you can pay for in other currency.

We did the 3 day Comfort Tour with Alla in September and there was only one other couple on our tour, which was great. Neither us or the other couple were particularly interested in shopping stops, so we only stopped in one shop. It had very nice items, but nothing that we wanted and quite pricey.

Our drinks were included on our lunch stops (water and coffee), but if anything else is ordered you would have to pay.

We paid for our trip with CC, but left the tips in USD which we had over from a previous holiday.

We bought a couple of small souvenirs at the port shops where we paid in Euros. We also found the Duty Free shop cheap and bought litres of good vodka for 7 Euros, but they also had cheaper.

We did our entire Baltic cruise without changing any currency, but we did pay in Euros in a number of places.(We always have Euros as we frequently visit the Eurozone) and used our CC a couple of times.