2-day St. Petersburg tour through RCCL or Alla 2-day tour?

Hi,

I have a Baltic cruise booked for next July and have a good recommendation from a friend who has been there to take the 2-day package that Royal offers. However, I've also been reading alot about Alla tours, especially on the roll call board. What appears a bit confusing is that RCCL says the duration of the 2-day package is 8 hours. I'm assuming this means per day rather than total. Any suggestions as to which would be best? RCCL also offers several separate tours of the Hermitage, Catherine Palace, etc.

Thanks for any advice.

We did Alla's two day comfort tour and had a wonderful time. It was paced very well.

With Alla's tour you will have a much smaller and more personalized group. Alla uses 16-passenger vans. We had a wonderful tour. On our cruise, we were able to visit the Church of the Spilled Blood (a highlight) - but the cruise ship's tour was not because their full-size bus couldn't find a place to park.

my partner and I did the Alla Comfort tour last September. We were lucky because there was only us and one other couple booked on the trip. We had the guide and a modern mini bus to ourselves, so just as good as a private tour.

I have limited mobility, but nothing was too much trouble. The only thing I didn't do, was the subway ride.

We hardly ever book cruise line excursions as they are vastly overpriced and we prefer not to be on a bus with 50 other people.

I can thoroughly recommend Alla Tours.

It all sounds good for Alla...thanks! Would I be able to book with them directly or must I correspond with the people in my roll call who are also expressing an interest in a tour with Alla? There is much chatter on the roll call about getting enough people for tours. If I contact Alla directly don't they then simply pair interested passengers together to fill their vans?

I guess one of the things holding me back is that I've always heard if you take a ship excursion they have to get you back to the ship on time, but not necessarily so with an outside independent operator. I'd hate to be stuck in traffic in an Alla van and get to watch my ship leaving port....

I guess one of the things holding me back is that I've always heard if you take a ship excursion they have to get you back to the ship on time, but not necessarily so with an outside independent operator. I'd hate to be stuck in traffic in an Alla van and get to watch my ship leaving port....

They have been arranging these tours for years and know exactly what they are doing. They do the further sites on the first day and on the second day they are in St Petersburg within easy reach of the ship. And you can be pretty sure that if Alla (or any of the other major local tour operators) allowed people to miss their ship, the Russian authorities would take their accreditation away from them. They're not going to risk that. You really don't need to worry about this.

We were in St. Petersburg for 3 days in June, and we used Alla Tours for St. P as well as Moscow (on Day 2). I arranged private tours through our roll call, but you can book directly with Alla if you're joining one of her group tours.

As far as the order of sites visited - we went to Peterhof and Catherine's Palace on our last day, because the latter was closed on our first day (a Tuesday).

We rarely do any ship excursions, but on the odd occasion that we have. we have always booked with reputable companies. If you do this, wherever you may be in the world, these companies have their reputations to look after. There is no way they are going to get you back to your ship late.

They have already checked the departure time of your ship and plan the day accordingly. I really never even worry about it.

Just a word. You are right to book a tour with a private tour company over any sort of ship's excursions. But before you book one, ALLA or another company, just do not go by what others tell you. ALL the major players in ST Petersburg, ALLA, SPB tours, TJ Tours, Best guides to name a few, all have great reputations and have many who will swear that the one they used was the ultimate best ever. As I said, they all do a great job, but each has it's own little differences and you should contact several of them to see which one you feel most comfortable with. Some take you to a sit down restaurant for lunch while others serve you a box lunch. Some offer subway rides, canal cruises. Again, they all will show you St Petersburg and you will probably be happy with any of them, but you shouldn't just go with one because some one recommended them. Contact 3-4 of them and see which ones make you feel at ease, and you seem to favor. It's your trip and you want to make the right choice.

Cheers

Len

we did the 2 day comfort tour with ALLA in june,11 in the group in a small bus,sit down meals on both days, which were very good.Didnt have much problem with traffic delays,though we may have been luck,and on the second day we were back at the ship with a lot of time to spare.As said above its your holiday check out the various operators see which one matches what you want and book it,what ever one you chose who will have a tiring but unforgettable time

We contacted Alla directly and they put together the tour group.

Whether Alla or the others put a group together or you have to do that yourselves depends on your ship - with an RCI ship I,m pretty sure they,ll be happy to take your individual booking and pair you with others cos they know they'll have sufficient demand.

I rather think RCI,s is 8 hours per day, not 2 x 4 hrs.

But absolutely use Alla or one of the other local operators rather than ship,s tour. Main difference is group size, the locals all use 16-seat vans. More personal, more flexible, quicker thro traffic, quicker boarding and alighting, the metro and hydrofoil aren't,t suitable for larger groups, etc ad infinitum.

We vere very happy with Alla, but as Len,s comment all the local operators have fabulous reputations and you can,t really go wrong with any of them. And there,s very little difference between their offerings or prices.

If you browse a few threads you,ll find that occasionally those not on ship,s tours are delayed disembarking. No worries, I don,t think that,s ever been a problem with RCI.

JB :)

Using IPad, errors aren,t mine ;)

Thanks so much for the replies! It does indeed sound like Alla or one of the other independent operators is the way to go. I have already contacted Alla for additional info regarding the 2 and 3-day group tours. I believe either of those is what I'm looking for.