Musical Evening at The Hermitage. Marina 5th July 2017

My husband and I have not cruised for many years. We booked the Baltic cruise as we reckoned we no longer had time to visit all the ports individually, he is 80 and I am 72. We have booked private tours for St Petersburg, but would really like to do the musical evening at the Hermitage, which is only available through the boat. Two issues. The description of the tour emphasises the walking. We are both fully mobile and can walk well but my husband, who has several replaced joints, finds standing very tiring. We have ascertained that there are chairs and benches in the rooms where my husband could perch if necessary. Any feedback from recent punters?

Secondly we are hoping to use our on board credits to book and pay for this cruise as soon as we board. We are not in a concierge suite so will have manage this ourselves. The tour is expensive so we are very reluctant to book and pay at home, plus we do not want to drink £800 worth of alcohol and we are not interested in shopping, gambling or however else we might spend that amount of money on board. Does anyone know if that tour is likely to be booked out before we board, how we can find out about availability and will be it be easy for us to manage ourselves once on board?

Thank you .I am excited about cruising again after many years, having done so with my parents as a child and being serenaded on the Canberra for my 16th birthday.:)

We've done the Baltic cruise three times and the Hermitage evening had sold out three months in advance on all of them.

We were traveling with three Octogenarians at that time, and found the Russian people, particularly in the Museums to be very solicitous of them (a marked difference from Germany where the Anne Frank House was a disaster for us).

We did find, however, that after a long day of touring, our older compatriots simply were not up to a second round of activities on the same night.

I won't get into the unpleasantness which "pushing them" engendered, or the embarrassment of Artists playing to snoring patrons, but I will say that if you intend to book a night activity, it might be advisable to trim the daytime touring.

At a certain point in life, burning the candle at all is quite a struggle, never mind both ends. :o

Thank you so much. That is really helpful. Considering your reply I think we will take up the suggestion of our lovely private guide and ask her to book early entry one day to the Hermitage. That means we will skip the musical evening.

Cheers

Patricia

 

We were traveling with three Octogenarians at that time, and found the Russian people, particularly in the Museums to be very solicitous of them (a marked difference from Germany where the Anne Frank House was a disaster for us).

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Perhaps your problems at the Anne Frank House was because you were in Germany when the House is actually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Perhaps your problems at the Anne Frank House was because you were in Germany when the House is actually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Thanks for the correction Dave

My mind was elsewhere when I posted that

but I can always count on you to keep me on the path to righteousness.

C, You might want to consider booking an evening at the Hermitage on your own. The ballet or concert is in the private theater of Catherine the Great. Seats are on a first come first serve basis. I was able to sit in Catherine's seat for the first act and my wife for the second. We saw Giselle and it was terrific although not at the level of the Mariensky.

I would caution you on the Museum. It was very crowded and hot-no ac- the day we went. I am not sure a perch is always going to be available for your partner.

We enjoyed the music more.

Thank you again. Reading through CC I am amazed at the interaction and how informative everyone is. I understand that the Hermitage evening programme will be published in April and our private guide can help with arrangements. However still think we might go for the early entry option, hopefully before it gets too hot.

Cheers

We took that tour 2 years ago. It was a quick walk through the Hermitage, not really much time to view the artwork. I would think if you had some type of walker with a seat or something like that you would enjoy the tour. I would hate to think you would miss out on this experience. There were some stairs as I recall, but not sure if there was elevator access. Oceania is used to dealing with mobility issues. The info on the tour recommendations is usually very accurate.