ABlueMoon

UPDATE: Thank you all for your information. We are now back from our cruise. For those that may be in the same situation, here's my thoughts:

We did a lot of research and ended up booking a private guide with a private car for 2 days for less than it was going to cost our family for a ship shore excursion and just slightly more than a group tour with a separate tour company. We probably looked at 20 different companies including costs, itineraries, and trip advisor reviews and found one that we were fairly confident would be great at about 40% less than average. The itinerary wasn't as ambitious as some, but we decided seeing more of a few things would make more sense than a little of a ton of things. We still managed to pack a lot of places in and toured from about 9am-7pm the first day and 9am - 5pm the second day. Passport control was breezy.

Our little man did great! He did get fussy, hungry, tired, etc, but we kept him in a carrier and made sure we had plenty of snacks for him and he napped as needed while we were still touring. I actually think he would have been just fine in a group tour, but it was so worth the little extra for the personalized attention and ability to move at our own (still fairly rigorous) pace. We were able to spend more time with him in the fountain areas of Peterhof when he was more interested and stop for a couple minutes in the Hermitage when he needed a minute to cool off (it was very warm and crowded), and go to a restaurant the was more suited to our family. It was also so relaxing not to have to worry about anyone else getting frustrated with us or us feeling like we were hurting someone else's experience. Our tour guide and driver were absolutely fantastic with us and our son. We really couldn't have asked for anything better of them. Even without the baby, I think the private tour was so worth being able to stop at the grocery store, go back to a shopping area, move easier at all of the destinations, and ask as many questions as we wanted.

That said, there were a ton of people with little kids on the group tours. I can't speak to how that went, but it seemed like a very popular choice. If you don't want a private tour, I don't think you should fear a group tour. If you absolutely want no children on your tour, I think you should definitely go the private route.

If you're looking for a private tour and are scared of the price, ask everyone! There were at least 3 companies that sent us quotes below their website. We ended up booking with a company that normally does walking tours, but they arranged a car. Just ask. It can't hurt. The reality is that visiting Russia is expensive no matter how you do it. A visa is expensive. Tours without a visa are expensive. This is not a place to plan to visit on a very tight budget. The cost of visas for 3 of us would have cost more than our tour price. Once you can make peace with that and if you can afford it, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity for most people!

We loved St. Petersburg! Feel free to let me know if you have more questions!

Thank you so much for the advice. It's very helpful. We have traveled pretty extensively with my son - Belgium, France, England, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, and Germany. His passport arrived at 5 weeks old, and we went directly to Copenhagen. He's a pretty great little traveler, but since we spent a lot of time traveling before him, I am hyperaware of every little noise he makes and everything he needs. We've never done any kind of tour with him, so we've had a lot of freedom to work through the kinks.

I will definitely take your advice to heart. The group tours aren't cheap as they are, so it's probably worth a bit extra for the tailoring.

Hello,

My husband and I and our 11 month old will be visiting St. Petersberg and don't plan on using the ship's tours. It's a dream trip for me, so I don't want to miss too much. However, with the little man, I'm a little worried about a big group tour. I don't want him to be a problem for other tourists or the pace to be an issue for us. I'm pretty confident we can keep up, but he's a bit of a wildcard - as they are ;)

Anyway, does anyone have any experience traveling there with a baby doing the group tours? Would a private tour be a much better option? My initial thought is to just get the private tour, but the price tag is a little intense - like more than I paid pp for the cruise. Thoughts?

Thanks!

I was wondering about this since we got water on an MSC cruise we took. We're Americans but booked through the German site because we couldn't finalize through the US site. I guess we'll have to wait and see? Did anyone call Costa to request?

Also, can someone tell me the actual disembarkation and embarkation times in Malaga? I'm thinking of taking a train from Malaga to Coroba. It takes about 1 hr. and it says it's in port from 9am-7pm. Just trying to figure out what that means in reality to see if that train would be a good idea... TIA

Can I please get them as well? Lindsay8262@hotmail.com

Looking at this one as well. Hopefully someone has some more info!

My husband and I just got off a cruise on the Celebrity Constellation. We are vegan but also avoid oil, salt, and sugar. Don't worry, we normally have plenty to eat :) This was our first cruise since switching to this way of eating, so we were incredibly nervous about our food options. We eat great at home, so 12 days of dry salads and steamed vegetables seemed a little depressing. We called ahead and were assured that our diet would not be a problem.

Immediately after boarding the ship, my husband went to speak with the dining room to be sure everything was good to go. When we got to the dining room on the first night, they didn't seem aware of our diet, but immediately went to the chef to have something prepared for that night. We had vegetable korma and it was delicious. From that night on, we met with the Asst Maitre'D each night to figure out what we would be eating the following night. There was not a vegan menu as we were lead to believe by the call center, but there was a vegetarian menu that occasionally had vegan options. We could order from either menu and modify the items to suit our needs (like we'll take the greek salad without the cheese and we'll use lemon juice for dressing), or we could have them surprise us. Dessert was a surprise each night. We ate 5 courses almost every night. Some of the courses lacked imagination on occasion, but the main was always fantastic! If we had any issue, our phenomenal wait staff was quick to correct it. They always offered to get us something we liked. When they realized we couldn't have butter, they started bringing us hummus (delicious by the way) for our bread. They made sure the bread on our table was vegan. They took great care of us, and we basically loved them!

For breakfast, we could pre-order the night before and eat in the main dining room. We ended up getting vegan pancakes and tofu scrambles with salsa most days as we felt pretty spoiled with that. They also offered us soymilk to drink or use in coffee or tea.

Most of our lunches were during port time, so that wasn't an issue. We could always call room service for a fruit plate, though vegan room service options were very limited. Maybe there could be more done by request?

If we needed to eat outside of the dining room (late afternoon usually), they always had a pizza and pasta bar. The pizza bar would make us a pizza without cheese (though be sure to check the dough ingredients). At the pasta bar, they were ready to saute with water and had lots of veggies. Mostly, we just asked for sauteed veggies without sauce or pasta and used that as a super healthy snack option.

Our dining staff would have done anything to make us happy. They were great! Instead of feeling stiffled by our diet, I actually felt like we had more personal service than ever before. It was more like having a private chef than any other cruise I've been on! So, if you go on a Celebrity Cruise, don't be afraid to ask for what you want or need. Insist if you need to. It's far better than leaving the cruise hungry and dissapointed!

We wouldn't hesitate to recommend our cruise to other vegans (nutritarians really). Thanks Celebrity!