ctnurse

The one name that has long popped up on this forum (with constant excellent reviews) is Sylvie di Cristo. But keep in mind that French tour guides are somewhat costly.

 

Hank

Thank you. I have noticed that the tour guides are much more expensive than they were for our private tours in the Baltic this past summer.

Thanks for the information. Are there any tour companies that either of you would recommend?

We are on the Disney Magic this summer which is no longer going to Greece and Turkey, but instead is mostly focused on Italy and France.

We have stops in both Cannes and Villefranche. Is there enough different things to see to get off the ship at both stops? Thoughts?

Do you remember the price range of the sweaters. It helps me to be a little prepared ahead.

The sweater vest I bought for DD was 20 Euros. DH bought one and I think it was about 60-ish Euros. I also bought 2 scarfs for 9 Euros a piece.

I loved, loved Tallinn. It might have been our favorite port. :)

I bought items from 2 different vendors on the sweater wall. The first had a sign that said MC/Visa and when I asked she told me cash only, the 2nd didn't have a sign and took my card. I saw several signs up at the different vendors but didn't ask at any others. I know there was a ATM near the McDonalds because I asked just in case I needed money.

We just were in St. Petersburg a few ago and used a private company that had issued our tour tickets. I think the first day we waited in line for about 10 mins and we were at the "window" for about 2 to 3 minutes. Our family walked to the window together and didn't have any trouble getting through together. I saw all the families doing this. On our 2nd day we were through in about 1 minute after waiting for about 5 minutes.

We used them and were mostly happy with their services. They met us at the airport on time and had a sign with our name on it. Our only complaint was that the driver had to ask us if we had been to the hotel before and how to get there. DH had to get out his phone and enable maps and got us there.

Was Leena your guide?

No, Elena V. was our guide and we really enjoyed her tour.

I wanted to update this thread. We just returned and ended up using SPB tours and they were wonderful. We ended up doing the "comfort" tour, which was still exhausting. Our DD did great on tour and we ended up with 3 other families that all had children. They also provided us with a car seat which was a lifesaver for us. DD was able to nap while traveling, and slept the entire 3 hours while we were in the Hermitage for early admission.

We used SPB tours last week in St. Petersburg with our 2 and 11 year old. There were other children on the tour age 4,6, 8, 11, and 14. Our guide was great with the kids and the adults. ( She is a teacher during the school year.) They even provided a carseat for our 2 year old, which was a life saver.

We were on a Baltic Cruise from July 22- Aug 3 and it was chilly and windy. The highs of the day were only in the mid 60's, but add wind and some days were overcast, and it was cold. I wore a sweater and scarf most days, and several days I wore gloves.

OK, sounds like you want a car service rather than use public transport. All the following have been used by CC members in the past.

 

http://www.adelphiexecutivehire.co.uk/

 

http://www.coastalcarsairportservices.co.uk/

 

http://www.folkestonetaxi.com/

 

http://www.dovertaxis.com/

 

Sorry I can't be more helpful, but I'm sure someone will chirp in with better advice.

 

Simon

Yes, we want a car service, since we are traveling with 4 suitcases, 2 kids, a carseat and a pram. I will look into those links you posted. Thank you.

1) Whereabouts do you want to go sightseeing?

 

2) Depending on where you are in Germany, have you thought of using London City airport, which is much easier to get through than Heathrow and the right side of London for Dover.

 

Simon

Maybe Windsor or Dover Castle? Or any other suggestions between Dover and Heathrow. Unfortunately we have already booked our tickets from Frankfurt.

We are looking for transfers from the Dover cruise port to Heathrow with a stop for sightseeing, if that is possible. We arrive in Dover at 930am and have a 445pm flight out of Heathrow to Germany. Can someone recommend a company to transport us. It would be great if they could also transport us from Heathrow to our hotel in London pre cruise.

ST. Petersburg is fairly stroller friendly (minus the Subway system) with generally smooth sidewalks. If your toddler is a "stroller" kid I wouldn't be afraid to take it. Inside some of the sights you will need to lug it up some stairs, but otherwise even there it could be preferable to a carrier, especially given the general lack of air conditioning.

Thanks for the info on the strollers, we still haven't decided which one we will take, but thanks for the heads up about the A/C. I don't know why I didn't think of that.

We've booked a one day private tour with spb for mid-August. They've been accommodating so far - I'll let you know how it goes if it won't be too late? We have an almost 6 yoand almost 2yo.

No, it won't be too late, I look forward to hearing about your tour with spb.

Hi! We been to St. Peter a year ago. We traveled with a child of 3, so we had the same problems. Initially I planned to book a mini group tour, than I decided a private tour would worth the money. We found special children friendly tours organized by the Best Guides. The problem was that such tours are intended for kids of 5 and more. I guess it will be a perfect choice for a kid of 11. Any way I wasn’t able to find any tours for a 3 year old kid so we book a normal itinerary for grown-ups which was just adopted for the needs of our family. To tell the truth I was quite nervous, it was Nic’s first real trip and the first cruse for both of us. The itinerary we chose was really good – we been to Peterhoff and Nic just loved it! It’s fantastic, I’m sure your kids will love it. We been to the Hermitage, Nic got a “magic mirror” as a present from Russian empress. She was really happy!:) The second part of the Hermitage tour she peacefully slept in the carrier. I also remember St. Peter Fortress with the underground pass where Nic found a small treasure – a toy key, which was a real fun!:):) We had a very good guide Svetlana who used to work with children. She was really great - extremely knowledgeable and very nice to communicate with. Nic just loved her. I can recommend Svetlana to everyone who travels with kids. She also provides regular tours for grown-ups and I’m sure she does it in the best way possible.

Have a great trip!

Jess :)

We will look into Best Tours, it sounds like they did a great job with your kids.

If you can lug the 2 year old, I don't think there will be much difference in terms of which group you use. If you have a stroller/pushchair, you will definitely want to talk to the operator first, in the hope that they will put you together with others in the same situation. There are a lot of stairs involved in a St. Petersburg tour. You might not want a tour, for example, with a metro visit. Or at Peterhof, having a tour guide who knows in advance to use the ramp down to the fountains instead of the stairs, would probably be helpful. Otherwise, just be prepared for lots of lifting and carrying, and you should be fine. It's not going to change much depending on what tour guide you use.

 

For the 11 year old, I might look for a tour that takes slightly less time at various places -- 4 hours in the Hermitage would be rough. Most of the itineraries are the same, but if you can find a tour that breaks it up into one and two-hour visits to various places, the 11 year old might be happier. We just did a 2-day tour with a 13 and 8 year old, and it was grueling. They elected to skip the second day, and much as I wanted them to push on through, I couldn't really say no. Coming on the heels of a pretty exhausting day in Tallinn, the second day in St. Petersburg was just too much for them, so they stayed behind with mom and I did the second day of the tour myself.

 

I hadn't seen the Best Guides company before our trip, and I sort of wish I had. That looks pretty good.

We plan on using a carrier for the time off the boat for DD. We are all too familiar with using a stroller on cobblestone, since we live in Europe, I can't imagine pushing a stroller on cobblestone for more than 15-30 minutes before my head would fall off from bouncing so much.

Thanks for all of the great ideas.:)

I posted this on Tripadvisior and didn't have any responses, so I am hoping that I will have some here.

We are planning a cruise with a stop in St. Petersburg for two days, and our children will be 11 and 2. They are use to traveling, and I don't think they would have any trouble with the long days, and we will have a carrier for the 2 yr old. When I look at several of the companies, I see that they have specific tours for families with children or decreased mobility. Am I crazy to book a standard tour with the kids? What companies have you used and would you recommend using them?