St. Petersburg in June

My wife and I are doing a Baltic cruise in June on Royal Caribbean. Does anyone recommend either the 1.5 day or the 2 day ship tour. I'm new to the site and we are not super adventurous so we figure we need to stick with the ships offerings. But one of our party wants to eat dinner in a castle. Any suggestions?

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My wife and I are doing a Baltic cruise in June on Royal Caribbean. Does anyone recommend either the 1.5 day or the 2 day ship tour. I'm new to the site and we are not super adventurous so we figure we need to stick with the ships offerings. But one of our party wants to eat dinner in a castle. Any suggestions?

 

 

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Most of us on these boards avoid ship excursions. You would have better luck in getting an answer to your particular question on the RCCL boards.

Thanks. I figured someone may have experienced either already and would be able to point. I'm sure the cruise will tell me it's up to me.

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Do not pay the expensive charges associated with a ship's excursion of St. Petersburg. You will get a better deal pricewise and go with a smaller group if you book one of the many reputable private tour companies, e.g. ALLA, SPB or TJ Travel. (Just read about them on this forum or read their rave reviews on Trip Advisor).

We did the 2-day Grand Tour with ALLA last summer and it was fantastic. They arrange for the visa, meet you at the port and take good care of you all day. They were very responsive to the emails I sent with questions about their tour.

There are several large well established tour companies that have existed for many years, and provide a cheaper alternative to the ship tours. More importantly, since they have smaller buses they have an easier time avoiding awful traffic in St. Petersburg, and you can avoid waiting in line outside the major attractions (there were ship groups on line at every one we passed by since our tour guide told us only so many ship tours were allowed in at once to prevent overcrowding), and you won't have to wait for a large number of people to line up and get on buses. The private tours aren't that adventurous - we took our 3 year old on one 2 years ago and he had a great time.

I don't think the ship tours involve dinner in a castle, but you need to check with the excursion office. The private tour companies can arrange any sort of dinner experience you want, but it might be expensive if it is just your family and not one of their standard group tours at night.

Thanks. I figured someone may have experienced either already and would be able to point. I'm sure the cruise will tell me it's up to me.

 

 

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Welcome to Cruise Critic. I would look at your roll call to see if you can get or join a group with one of several recommended private tours.

If you want to make the two days "complete" tour, I agree with all the posts, St Petersburg TO are better and cheaper than the ship's excursions, but personally, I'd never say "never" to the ship's tours, because some of them are very special : for example, RCCL and Celebrity have an Evening at Catherine's palace, with dinner (or snacks, depends on the cruise) and a visit to the stables, with imperial carriages museum; they also propose a full day excursion in Peterhof, with an unique visit to Nicholas the first's family house; HAL proposes the only real "freetime" excursion in St Petersburg and a private evening at the Hermitage. So it's important to keep an open mind, and do exactly what suits you. If you want some advices about ship excursions, you may go on the cruiseline website, because some passengers leave a commentary : on Celebrity (same tours as RCCL) there are about 20 reviews (some good, some bad) about the two days tour, you might read it, read the reviews about St Petersburg tour operators on Tripadvisor, and do exactly what you want to do!

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We did the 1 day Celebrity Tour. About 5 hours (of 10) in we had hit saturation point - added to getting up at 5.30am (which was 3.30am because the clocks had gone forward two hours). It was average - St Catherine's Palace is a must, Peter and Paul's Cathedrals were nice to see too. The tacky tourist shop they took you to for an hour- eh, No! The market by Church of the Spilled Blood was good too. We didn't go into the church as there was a large queue, beautiful from outside.

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My wife and I are doing a Baltic cruise in June on Royal Caribbean. Does anyone recommend either the 1.5 day or the 2 day ship tour. I'm new to the site and we are not super adventurous so we figure we need to stick with the ships offerings. But one of our party wants to eat dinner in a castle. Any suggestions?

 

 

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Let me also welcome you to Cruise Critic and our little corner of it.

I understand your trepidations about doing a tour not associated with the ship, but your best value for your money would be with any of the private tour companies that come so highly recommended here and on any of the other travel sites.

Your only concern with a private tour company would be not getting back to the ship on time. Let me reassure you. I have been on this board well over 6 years and some much longer and I have never even heard of anyone even come close to missing their ship. The chances of that are basically nil. Almost all the tour companies do the furthest parts of the tour on day one and the second day you are usually around town, so getting back to the ship is a given.

As was said, you should go to your ship's roll call (on the forum page of Cruise Critic) and meet some of your fellow cruise mates. See what they are doing and then decide if you want to join some on a group private tour. If you decide you do want to do a tour with a private tour company, use any of the top 4 or 5 companies, don't always look for the cheapest price. AND then contact several of them. They will put you so much at ease that you will think you know them for years.

It is the way to go to really see St Petersburg. Usually it is a trip of a lifetime so you want to get the most out of it. Don't cheat yourself by thinking you need to play it safe. We all have done it, so can you.

Cheers

Len

Yes, you'll find a LOT if info here on doing private tours, especially in SPB. You can go totally private, or you can get on your cruise's roll call and find a group that you can split costs with. We have 8 people in our family, so we were able to "fill" a small bus and the cost/person was cheaper than what the cruise line offered, by far. We were also able to add stops that appealed to specific people in the group, and add dinner out in town. The company, TJ Tours, was very easy to work with, though you will find recommendations for several of the big name tour companies here that all seem very comparable.

I emailed several companies and chose the one that seemed the most responsive both in communication and suggestions for our group. It seems daunting, but honestly, they do this so often that it all went very smoothly.

My husband & I used Anastasia Travel for two days of private tours in St. Petersburg, which we wrapped around the middle day of our ship's excursion to Moscow. It was a terrific way to see as much as possible in a short amount of time. I did a couple of blog posts last week on St. Petersburg that might be helpful and give you an idea of realistic itineraries for each day:

http://www.themodernpostcard.com/?p=727

http://www.themodernpostcard.com/?p=770

St. Petersburg is a fascinating city...Happy planning & traveling!

Mary

Travel Blog: http://www.themodernpostcard.com

Hi!

As it was already told here – don’t book with the ship. It’s the main suggestion. Check private companies. There are planty of them, many have very good reputation. Just write to 3 or 4 of them and compare the replays. It’s really very easy. After first mails you will see which company matches you better.

Have a great cruise!

Jess :)

My husband & I used Anastasia Travel for two days of private tours in St. Petersburg, which we wrapped around the middle day of our ship's excursion to Moscow. It was a terrific way to see as much as possible in a short amount of time. I did a couple of blog posts last week on St. Petersburg that might be helpful and give you an idea of realistic itineraries for each day:

 

http://www.themodernpostcard.com/?p=727

http://www.themodernpostcard.com/?p=770

 

St. Petersburg is a fascinating city...Happy planning & traveling!

 

Mary

Travel Blog: http://www.themodernpostcard.com

Thanks for the link to your blog, Mary. Very interesting and lovely pictures. Will be following in your footsteps next summer.

Anne

Thanks. I figured someone may have experienced either already and would be able to point. I'm sure the cruise will tell me it's up to me.

Sorry, but that's the last thing your cruise line will tell you. When it comes to port calls in Russia, the cruise lines are notorious for using intimidation and lies of omission to get passengers to sign up for a ship's tour.

On this board, as others have said, the preference in this group is to take small group tours with licensed St Petersburg companies. Dozens and dozens of posters have done this. While we understand your early reluctance, you'll see the same comments repeatedly, "The well known tour companies are safe bets for a better experience touring St. Petersburg."

We have booked two days private tour with SPB Tours. From what I can see on cruise planner our private tour is less than ship tour, which of course would not be private.

We figure we will only be doing this once.

We are doing this itinerary in June. It is quite port intensive and from previous experiences of doing everything possible in limited time and ending up exhausted, we have decided not to do the 2 day tours in St Petersburg either with the ship or privately. What we have done is pick and choose from available excursions and what interests us and we have allowed ourselves time to breathe. We have a long excursion first day, then ballet at night. Second day two shorter excursions. Hope it works

We are doing this itinerary in June. It is quite port intensive and from previous experiences of doing everything possible in limited time and ending up exhausted, we have decided not to do the 2 day tours in St Petersburg either with the ship or privately. What we have done is pick and choose from available excursions and what interests us and we have allowed ourselves time to breathe. We have a long excursion first day, then ballet at night. Second day two shorter excursions. Hope it works

From what you've written, it appears that you have not made final arrangements, at least for your first day. In addition, I don't know where you stand in your timeline for canceling any ship's tours you've already booked. While I understand your issues with the exhausting pace of a St. Petersburg visit, I'm gently suggesting you can find a more satisfying way to solve that problem.

I'll make a pitch for you to arrange those two shorter excursions with a private tour company for the simple reason that you'll have more time to devote to seeing what you want to see. If you take a tour with the ship, you'll have to begin from the ship. The port itself is easily a half hour drive from city-center destinations, and St. Petersburg traffic typically means you'll need even more time to get back and forth. That means that at the end of one ship's tour you'll commute back to the ship and then, commute to your second destination to begin your second excursion. If, however, you arrange a custom tour with a private company, you can move from one destination to another without returning to the port.

If you need a break, schedule lunch at a restaurant where you'll be allowed to order for a menu. That will be a more leisurely experience than sitting down to a pre-determined meal or snacking on the run.

Anther way to minimize the intensity of a port call in St. Petersburg would be to take a river cruise. You have lots of options including a circle route through the history city center or a tour around the more distant islands of the Neva River. (Very scenic)

If you book a private tour company for the set itinerary (including a night at the ballet) plus a one-day custom itinerary the combination may cost more than the pre-set private tour, but I doubt the custom second day price will exceed two ship's two-excursions. Besides, you're not the only cruiser who wants a somewhat more relaxed pace. I believe you'll find others to join you if you advertise your plans on your roll call.

I went on 4 ship's half-day tours and would do so again. Though a full day may cut some of the travel out, as has been suggested. On holiday, I didn't mind paying a bit extra for having someone else arrange it all, and I'd never been before so didn't have any strong opinions on where to go.

We are travelling on Celebrity Eclipse at the end if May this year and have booked a private 1 day tour with TJ Travel in St Petersburg. I emailed them and explained that we did not want a two day tour because of health issues and they tailor made a tour for us. I would recommend going onto their website and take a look and email them. Hope this helps

Sue

I think it’s just normal. When you book an individual itinerary - not a group tour - you expect a tailor made tour.

Jess:)