Baltic Cruise May 19, 2017 Review

did you pay for the alla tours with a credit card or did you have to use cash and also what was the aprox cost for the tours for the 2 days, did it include the entry fees for all the places you visited? I never considered this cruise untill I saw your photos and read the review!

Sent from my SM-T900 using Forums mobile app

did you pay for the alla tours with a credit card or did you have to use cash and also what was the aprox cost for the tours for the 2 days, did it include the entry fees for all the places you visited? I never considered this cruise untill I saw your photos and read the review!

 

Sent from my SM-T900 using Forums mobile app

We paid for our Alla tours with a credit card. We did a 3 day tour in Russia. 2 days in St. Petersburg and 1 day in Moscow. We thought long and hard about going to Moscow instead of spending a 3rd day in st. Petersburg. The train ride round trip to Moscow from St. Petersburg was 8 hours, with about an 8 1/2 touring day in Moscow, making the day upwards of 18 hours. I just couldn't go all that way knowing I had an opportunity to go to Moscow, and not go. That was just me. Many spent the 3 days in St. Petersburg and had a wonderful time as well.

It was quite a bit more expensive to go to Moscow than to stay all 3 days in St. Petersburg. I think the cost for the 3 days was $650, which was a small discount, because I arranged a group that had more than 10 people. The max is 16. It was very easy to arrange this group. I just put it on our Roll Call and within a couple of days, we were full. Everything was included in these tours. All entry fees as well as lunch both days in St. Petersburg. The first day was in an event hall, that you saw in one of my pictures. The other was a very filling box lunch. No food was included in Moscow, but all of our entry fees were. We also tipped very well as our guides and drivers were excellent and they took very good care of us. We chose to tip in Rubles and I purchased them from my bank before we left, but they will happily take Euros or USD.

We did 2 other tours with Alla, one in Helsinki and the other in Tallin. Helsinki was done before we arrived in St. Petersburg, but if you don't pre pay before you leave for your cruise, you pay for all of your Alla tours, the first day in St. Petersburg.

This was a fabulous trip and I'm so glad we were able to do it. I will say it was a very tiring trip and certainly not a "vacation". If it was possible to have a sea day after our 3 days in Russia, that would have been great as we really were exhausted.

Really enjoying your review. We're doing Baltic Caps in August and I can't wait. We have been to Russia before on a river cruise but only had a photo stop at St. Isaac's and the Church of the Spilled Blood, so I've booked us the shore X, which has inside tours of both...I can't wait. I loved your description of Peterhof....it truly is jaw droppingly beautiful...what did you get to see in Moscow in your whirlwind tour and where did you stay? Were you as surprised at Russia as we were? I expected everything gray and drab and somber but it's really a beautiful country.

Were you as surprised at Russia as we were? I expected everything gray and drab and somber but it's really a beautiful country.

Our SPG guide, Luba, told us in 2015 that renovations are still on going. She, at that time, hadn't been in to the newly renovated church that is attached to Peterhof, but said she would be going at the end of September, as she taught the guides in the winter.

She asked me if I had seen a difference from our visit in 2002. Then many public buildings were covered in green netting as renovations were under way for the 300? Anniversary of the Russian Federation.

She also said that dual language on signs had been used since 2009, to encourage tourism.

Really enjoying your review. We're doing Baltic Caps in August and I can't wait. We have been to Russia before on a river cruise but only had a photo stop at St. Isaac's and the Church of the Spilled Blood, so I've booked us the shore X, which has inside tours of both...I can't wait. I loved your description of Peterhof....it truly is jaw droppingly beautiful...what did you get to see in Moscow in your whirlwind tour and where did you stay? Were you as surprised at Russia as we were? I expected everything gray and drab and somber but it's really a beautiful country.

Thanks for the kind words Hydrokitty! We were very surprised at what we saw in Russia. I expected drab too and it's certainly not that.

The train ride to Moscow was long, but beautiful as it's very green. We were surprised with how crowded Moscow was with people and cars and that will come up in the next few posts. We didn't stay in Moscow though. We left St. Petersburg on the Sapsan train at 7:00am and arrived in Moscow at 11:00am. Our guide was waiting for us as we got off the train and we toured until we were put back on the train at 7:30 that evening. We arrived back in St. Petersburg about 11:30 and by the time we arrived back at our ship and went through Immigration, we weren't back in our cabin until 1:00am. As I said it was a VERY LONG day.

Something else I wanted to mention that is not in my journal is that our guide in St. Petersburg was very concerned about pick pockets and had us leave all of our valuables except our cameras on the bus at almost every stop. Our driver stayed in the bus when we got off so we knew our stuff was safe.

The guide in Moscow was not as concerned although she did remind us to watch our things and would make a comment now and then to watch our things.

Very interesting and beautiful pictures. Lucky you to have three days in Russia. On Silhouette in August we only have two, but will make the most of it[emoji106]

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Wonderful pictures. Thank you for posting them since they really made your thread pop because they were so well framed! I also got some very good information. Our Baltics cruise is in about three weeks on a sister cruise line.

..

A bike parking lot and the Doubletree in the background.

FYI for those that want to walk to ship, this pic shows the passage...The street that goes under that green bridge is the path to get from the central part of city to the waterfront.

Great review!

We are investigating similar itin for next year. Finding RCL has some interesting 2 and 3 day stops in St. Peters.

We will board Silhouette in a week! So exited to get back to AMS!

What a great review! So enjoying this as we are planning our 14 Baltic trip out of Amsterdam on May 1, 2018. So this is hitting home really good. If you don't mind me asking, if there is one thing you'd do different, what would it be? Thanks for the journal !

What a great review! So enjoying this as we are planning our 14 Baltic trip out of Amsterdam on May 1, 2018. So this is hitting home really good. If you don't mind me asking, if there is one thing you'd do different, what would it be? Thanks for the journal !

Hi Goodtime Cruizin,

I'm glad you're enjoying the review! Honestly, everything about this trip was fantastic. There were a few minor things we didn't care for on the ship, but were out of our control. The only thing I can think of is that I would try to find a tour in Copenhagen to North Zealand that was not a ship's tour. It was the only one we took with Celebrity and it was fine. We just don't like feeling like we're a part of the herd and they always have 40+ people on each bus and then often caravan together.

Other than that, I just wish we could have spent more time at some of the ports as there were things we wanted to see and do that we just didn't have time for, but I guess we'll just have to go back!

Kim

Hi Goodtime Cruizin,

I'm glad you're enjoying the review! Honestly, everything about this trip was fantastic. There were a few minor things we didn't care for on the ship, but were out of our control. The only thing I can think of is that I would try to find a tour in Copenhagen to North Zealand that was not a ship's tour. It was the only one we took with Celebrity and it was fine. We just don't like feeling like we're a part of the herd and they always have 40+ people on each bus and then often caravan together.

Other than that, I just wish we could have spent more time at some of the ports as there were things we wanted to see and do that we just didn't have time for, but I guess we'll just have to go back!

Kim

Thanks Kim,

So far we have booked Berlin and St.Petersburg w/ SPB. Working on some of the others. We're going to be doing 8-10 people max on the tours in an effort to keep things more personal & less waiting (down time). Thanks again, I'm looking forward to the conclusion!

Sunday, May 28 Moscow

We met as a group at 5:20 at the Martini Bar and went through Immigration together. It went much faster and took us about 15 minutes. There weren’t a lot of people up that early. We were out at the port gate by 5:45.

As we were leaving the ship, I was in front of DH and began walking to the port gate with another Mom. I realized there was a bunch of commotion behind me, so I turned to see what was going on. I saw several of the ship’s workers going to help someone on the gangway. I heard someone say, someone fell. Then I watched them help DH up. I went running to see what was going on. DH had hit his head on the low door frame at the doorway of the ship and had hit it so hard, that it knocked him down. His cabin card fell into the Baltic. Amazingly, they had another key card for him in under a minute!

The staff wanted him to go to the Medical office, but he said he couldn’t or he’d miss Moscow. He was a bit dazed for a minute but we walked on. Once we got to the train, I gave him some advil and other than complaining that his neck hurt, he was OK. He had a red splotch on his forehead, where he hit the door frame, but within an hour, that was gone. He was really lucky.

We were supposed to be picked up in the parking lot outside of Immigration 6:00. At 6:30, someone called Alla and we were told they were on their way.

We were picked up a few minutes later and were taken to the train station where the woman in charge was running through the train station to get us to our track. Someone finally yelled for her to slow down and she slowed to a fast walk. We arrived at our track about 6:55. The train was leaving at 7:00. We were all allowed to board the train after several of us began to rebel, when the young guide with us thought she was going to call everyone’s name and have them board the train as she called them. Someone came around and checked our passports instead of using tickets after the train had gotten on its way.

The train left on time at 7:00 and arrived in Moscow at 10:45. We dozed a bit, had a snack on the train, read and watched the landscape go by. Most of what we passed was forest with an occasional small village.

We were met by our guide Lena, as we got off the train. We boarded our 16 person van and began our day in Moscow. There were people and cars everywhere. We spent about 20 minutes in traffic and hardly moved, so Lena suggested we get off the van and take the subway to the Kremlin. She said our armory museum tickets were times and we were going to be late. We all agreed although that meant that we wouldn’t get a driving tour of the city. We thought that was OK as we’d get to spend more time at the Kremlin.

We took the subway to the Kremlin stop. We went through security which took some time, as the crowds were huge.

State Historical Museum

We walked into the Kremlin grounds through the Nikolskaya Tower

The armory is not a military museum, but rather where clothing of the Tsars and Empresses are housed, where past crowns are exhibited, there’s a collection of carriages and a large room of gifts that had been given to Russia from other countries.

I took one illegal picture.

It was such a pretty throne!

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier along the Kremlin Wall

When we left the Armory, we went into the Cathedral Square and went into the Church of Dormition. It was a beautiful church.

There were several churches in the Kremlin and we went into two of them.

Annunciation Cathedral

Sunday, May 28 Moscow

 

As we were leaving the ship, I was in front of DH and began walking to the port gate with another Mom. I realized there was a bunch of commotion behind me, so I turned to see what was going on. I saw several of the ship’s workers going to help someone on the gangway. I heard someone say, someone fell. Then I watched them help DH up. I went running to see what was going on. DH had hit his head on the low door frame at the doorway of the ship and had hit it so hard, that it knocked him down. His cabin card fell into the Baltic. Amazingly, they had another key card for him in under a minute!

Wow, I did not realize that you had this happen as well as the problems that we shared with the Alla pick-up ... that was a really rocky start to your day in Moscow! Glad it all worked out well and your DH was OK to enjoy the day. I agree with you that it was well worth the very long day and extra expense to have that time in Moscow.

Wow, I did not realize that you had this happen as well as the problems that we shared with the Alla pick-up ... that was a really rocky start to your day in Moscow! Glad it all worked out well and your DH was OK to enjoy the day. I agree with you that it was well worth the very long day and extra expense to have that time in Moscow.

I guess we were on that same bus. I actually talked to someone at Alla about it because I did a Tripadvisor review and said what had happened to us and Alla reached out to me. I found out that the red head girl was a newly certified guide and was kind of full of herself over it. The lady I spoke to was very PC in her comments but just said the girl had a lot to learn. The reason our bus was late was because the one they had planned to pick us up in had broken down as they were leaving and they had to wait for another bus. If the girl had only told us that, all would have been well. I really felt bad for the older people that were trying to keep up with her at the train station. Some were really huffing and puffing.

We actually had another issue with her at Catherine's Palace.

I was glad all ended well!

We walked down to the Tsar’s cannon and the Tsar’s bell and walked through some of the gardens.

Tsar's Cannon

Tsar's Bell, Hubby and Me!

Kremlin Gardens

We went to a Ukranian restaurant for lunch. We had chicken noodle soup, some beef dumplings with sour cream and a scoop of raspberry ice cream.

We left there and after going through the long security line again, we walked into Red Square. We were given a bunch of information about the area and were given about 15 minutes to wonder around and take pictures.

We all wanted to take pictures in front of St. Basel’s Cathedral so that was how we spent most of our time.

Oh my Oh my!

I didn’t wander too far away from that area and was really sorry that I didn’t as there were other things to see in Red Square. I saw Lenin’s tomb on the way out and was able to take a picture of it, but wasn’t able to get up really close.

Lenin's Tomb

The tomb had already closed for the day, so I wouldn't have been able to go in anyway.

Red Square was quite large and there were probably other areas that I didn’t get to see. Lena pointed out buildings around Red Square and we soon left the area.

We walked a couple of blocks and into GUM Department store. The ceiling looked much like the ceiling is the shopping mall in Milan. It was quite beautiful. We all stopped at an ice cream kiosk and had an ice cream.

Lena then took us to the subway station and we boarded a train and went down past several stops. Once we got off, we looked around the station then got back on the train. We then got off for a few minutes at 4 stations to see the subway art as each one was different.

We saw very little Lenin statues or memorials and Stalin has been removed from any public displays.

Our last stop was at the train station, and we had a few minutes to grab something to eat to take on the train. I got us 2 stollie pies and a merinque.

Lena took us to our train platform and helped us to all get aboard. The train attendants put in our passport numbers on the platform this time, so we were checked in with them.

The train left promptly at 7:40pm. We ate our dinner, DH had a couple of beers and we dozed on the way back. The train arrived at 11:30 and we were met by the same red headed girl that led us to the train this morning. We walked quite a way to our bus, so far that someone muttered under their breath that we could have walked to the port. We boarded our bus and drove first to the Eclipse to drop off 4 passengers and then back to the Silhouette. After going back through Immigration, and boarding our ship, we got back to our cabin about 12:45. After showers and getting ready for bed, we had our lights out about 1:30.

It was a wonderful day, but boy were we tired!

Monday, May 29 St. Petersburg

Today was beautiful and sunny.

We got up at 7:00, ate a quick breakfast and were at the Martini Bar at 8:00am to meet our group of 16. We walked off the gangway together and went pretty quickly through Immigration and we were waiting for our bus at 8:15. We weren't sure how long Immigration would take and didn't want to be late.

Irina told us we wouldn’t leave until 8:45, so we stood and waited for 30 minutes. They came right on time at 8:45 and off we went for our canal ride at 9:30.

The boat ride took us up and down the river and into some smaller canals. Irina and another guide pointed out buildings of interest on each side of the river. The ride lasted an hour and we were back on land by 10:30.

Nevsky Prospekt

We reboarded our van and headed to Peter and Paul Fortress.

Peter and Paul Fortress from the boat on the canal.

We first went into the church where all of the Tsars and Empresses are buried. It was a very pretty church and was quite crowded. There were many places on the floor that were taken up by crypts, making it difficult to move. There was a small room at the back where Tsar Nicholas II and his family’s remains have been interred.

We left the Fortress and headed to the Hermitage. We spent about an hour and a half walking through some of the Great Masters exhibits. We saw some DaVinci’s and Raphael’s. We also got to see the Faberge eggs. We didn’t have time for a whole lot else. The crowds were really bad and Monday’s are reserved only for groups.

The Hermitage was also one gorgeous room after another.

This was a gold peacock that had moving parts. The wings opened and beak moved.

We left the Hermitage and went to the Church of Spilled Blood, which was a fantastically beautiful church all of mosaics.

One of very few depictions on Christ as a boy

Having trouble with my photo sharing site, so will try later today.

Have a good day everyone!

The interior of the church is all mosaics and is another beautiful building inside and out.

We saw three bridal couples in the two times that we were outside the Church of Spilled Blood. I don't know the significance of the two people in costumes, but all three grooms were wearing the same blue colored suit, so we wondered if this color was customary.

We spent about 30 minutes there and then headed out to St. Catherine’s Palace. We were given a really nice box lunch that we ate on the way there. It had a savory and a sweet stollie pie, a bag of nuts with raisins, a bottle of water and a candy bar.

When we arrived at Catherine’s Palace we stood in a large group of people waiting to get inside. Irina went to get our ticket and came back and told us that we had to wait for another group that wasn’t there yet. We rebelled. We didn’t have much time left in our day, and we told Irina we were not going to wait for the other group and we were using the ticket to go inside. She went and got the red headed lady that had done such a poor job the day before, and was the one who bought a ticket for 52 people and told her she was going to follow us to the gate, the 16 of us were going to go through using the ticket, and then Irina was going to pass her the ticket and let her wait for the other group. That was fine with all of us and we went inside.

As we entered the building, we had to put shoe covers on our shoes as they didn’t want the floors scuffed, but they are worried that the dust from the covers may damage the exhibits. Right now the shoe covers win out.

One in our group used his shoe cover in a very imaginative way and was wearing it as a hair net. Since I didn't have his permission to post his picture, you'll have to use your imagination!

The Palace was exceptionally beautiful. Everything was very ornate inside and out. We were taken through several of the rooms in the Palace and into the Amber Room. We were allowed to take photographs everywhere inside the Palace except for the Amber Room.

A doll that belonged to one of the Romanov princesses. This gave me chills.

We headed back to the ship and were back on board about 4:45. We went back to our cabin and cleaned up and went for a drink about 5:30. We met another couple at the Martini Bar and chatted until about 6:00.

We went to dinner about 6:15 and sat in our same seats. If you have select seating and go to dinner about the same time every night, they will seat you in the same seat if you request it. We really liked our waiters, so we requested to sit there each night that we ate in the dining room.

We got back to the room about 8:30 and we were in for the night. We were really exhausted after 3 wonderful, but very busy days.

What a shame that your photos are no longer visible after all your hard work.

I agree it is a greedy shame. Those were GREAT pictures. But Photobucket changed their policy July 6th that now wants $40/month to be able to host on 3rd party sites like CC. As if someone who posts pictures of a cruise is willing to pay that EVERY month.

This is a recent thing so they can monetize their service but I think the site is shooting themselves in the foot. I won't use them any more and am looking for an alternative.

Oh my gosh!!

Quite honestly, I really didn't like the site and all of the continuous pop up ads.

Well, I'll be figuring something else out and I hope to re-post my pictures!

Kim

I will not be deterred!! I am going to re-post my review using a different 3rd party website. So you will find a Baltic Review II!

I have found using Shutterfly is MUCH easier than Photobucket once I figured out how to do it!

Kim

Did you start another post, if so can you share the link

Sent from my STV100-2 using Tapatalk

Did you start another post, if so can you share the link

 

Sent from my STV100-2 using Tapatalk

I did start another post.

The link is:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2520932

I've been out of town so I haven't caught back up yet, but I'm going to start working on it again.

Thanks for asking!

Kim