hapicruisin

Had a private tour a couple of years ago.with SPB.  There were 4 of us for 3 days with a wonderful guide and driver with a van.   Everything was very well organised.   We didn't 

have to queue as all the tickets were purchased ahead of our tour.   Our guide

spoke excellent English and the driver had a fair grasp of English.   Though it would not have mattered as our guide was with us at all times.   Collection from ship and drop off

each day went very well.

Highly recommend SPB, they were so well organised and very friendly people.

On 22 July 2019 at 2:13 PM, dogs4fun said:

If you check their reviews on TripAdvisor there are many reviews of their private tours.

49 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

 The celebrity it team has apparently returned to celebrity....when I go to sign in on celebrity’s site, I just get a blank page.  I guess the best way to avoid complaints is to not allow folks to even sign on....clever.

What a terrible mess.   Leaving in 2 weeks and want to get onto Silhouette roll call.   Keeps telling me it is still under construction!!!!!

There seems to be a new ship called Carnival Shilhouette!!!!!     Please put the Cruise Critic site back to how it was.   I had no trouble with it before, now I cannot use it at all.

hapicruisin

Did you need your passport (I'm US) to get through the Russian immigration?

Yes, you do, at least for the first day in St. Petersburg.

Any subsequent days do should not need do take it because Russian immigration will have taken all the details they need on the first day. Be prepared for a fairly long wait as they seem to be inordinately slow in obtaining ones details. Last time we went in 2017 a printer malfunctioned. One just has to grin and bare it.

Have a great trip it is worth all the hassle.

Would never go on a cruise for anything less than 14 nights, preferably much longer. My first cruise was for 10 nights some years ago. Made sure that didn't happen again. My longest cruise was for 38 nights, which was bliss.

Only been on HAL once, a three week back to back from harwich with Ryndam a few years ago. We were very pleasantly surprised. We really enjoyed the cruise, though the ship was not in pristine shape but we knew it was an older ship. The food was very good and we found the other guests were very much like those on Celebrity. We have been on 25+ cruises with Celebrity. We prefer Celebrity but if I found a HAL cruise itinerary that suited us we would be happy to sail HAL again - though I would miss all our Celebrity perks.

Hapicruisin

There are actually VERY few items that I would trust sending. Socks or Tshirts and sturdy men’s underwear maybe. Don’t send anything of any value or slight fabrics as it will be destroyed.

Sorry to hear that. We have been on 20+ Celebrity cruises and never had any clothes damaged in any way from the laundry. I would never put delicate items in the bag. At the bottom of the laundry list I always write, "please wash at 30 degrees or less". So far it seems to work.

Hapicruisin

Have had balconies twice on Azamara and once on Oceania Riveria because they were good deals but have had inside cabins mostly with Celebrity, especially on S class ships as they are the same size inside as balconies.

We love the insides, have had 20 + on celebrity. We don't need balconies, out and about too much around the ship or on tours.

Would never consider anything other than insides, especially having to pay over the top for ov and above as we don't drink enough to warrant the high price.

Horses for courses.

Hapicruisin

Booked a Celebrity 2 day small group St Petersburg tour on Silhouette end of May at the start of the year and just had an email to say it has been cancelled. It doesn’t give a specific reason just a choice of reasons why this has happened. Has anyone else had a similar email. Is it that specific tour that is a problem or St Petersburg tours as a whole. I think Celebrity should have provided more information as to the exact reason this tour is cancelled.

hi Champagnelass, Celebrity is our favourite cruise line but not for their tours. We have used SPB and TJ travel in St. Ps. Both are equally good with wonderful guides and drivers who both spoke excellent English.

Do go on your roll call that is where we find people to meet up with and go on tours. Our last one was a wonderful three day tour with a couple from USA. An amazing tour with just the four of us. We saw so much, jumped the queues and I think you have been given a second chance to see so much more in St. P than you were going to do.

Hapicruisin

I've got a inside cabin booked for a ten day cruise this September. Will it come with a fully-stocked fridge? If so' date=' can I request that all of the alcoholic beverages be removed? I will be using a premium non-alcohol package, and I never saw the appeal of alcohol.[/quote']

 

Have always asked our steward to remove the little alcoholic bottles from the fridge when we first get onboard as we never use them.

 

The stewards are very busy the first day so they might not be removed until the second day. Ours have usually been packed in a Celebrity bag and put under the bed.

In 22+ cruises on Celebrity we have never been charged for any bottles. If you are charged for any just go to the desk and ask that they be removed.

 

Hapicruisin

So glad to read your review. We will be sailing on Silhouette in August and were dismayed to read how badly organised Select dining appeared to be. Never had problems with Select dining before, so pleased to hear your wonderful review. hapicruisin

Check out the July 11 2018 sailing on the Journey.

 

Sent from my ONE A2005 using Forums mobile app

Also see 17th July sailing. The itinerary mentions Douglas. That is the capital of the beautiful Isle of Man.

Well worth a visit.

Thanks for my new word of the day - chuffed. It may be difficult to use in a conversation here in Florida.:D

Chuffed means pleased

Thank you to all those who so very kindly helped me to sort out my problem. It certainly makes sense if you are not getting off the ship in St Petersburg that you don't need a visa, but life is often not that simple.

I did try to find out from the UK and Russian visa sites but they don't expect people to travel to St. P and not get off the ship. We love St. P but we have been there many times, the last being a 3 day private tour with TJ Travel with a couple from USA we met on cruise critic - an amazing 3 days in May last year.

I don't see how they could check if you have a visa or not because many passengers will have their visa through buying private excursions. But, to be safe I would check as the other poster has suggested.

I agree with you. Just don't want to be stopped getting on the cruise. We have always had tours previously.

Many thanks for your reply. Hapicruisin

I know USA citizens do not need a visa if staying on the ship.

 

You may want to ask on the UK Cruisers Board at:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=683

 

And also on the Northern Europe & Baltic Board at:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=-1&f=192

 

Keith

Many thanks will do what you suggest. Hapicruisin

Does anyone know if uk passport holders need a Russian visa if not getting off cruise ship for the 2 days in St Petersburg.

Have researched but not found out an answer.

Do like St Petersburg, been there on many cruises, but just having a restful cruise this time.

Many thanks to anyone able to help.

We were extremely happy with TJ Travel in St Petersburg.

Can highly recommend them.

New bus, excellent guide, used them for 2 days.

Had wonderful 3 day tour with a couple we contacted on cruisecritic. We had all been to St. Petersburg before, seeing all the highlights so wanted to see things we had not been to before. TJ Travel's guide, Elena and driver Dimitrie, couldn't have been better. Excellent English, very knowledgeable and great fun for the whole three days. Felt like we were with 6 friends of long standing.

Could not possibly have been a better three days with TJ Travel. Can't recommend them highly enough.

Hapicruisin

No, we will be cruising the Baltics very soon. No thought of cancelling.

hapicruising

We do not take cruise tours. On a Celebrity cruise about 4 years ago with Cartagena a port of call. A very nice Columbian crew member suggested it would be very safe to hire one of the taxis within the port area as they and their drivers are all registered/licenced.

We had a 4 hour trip with the driver accompanying us all the time, walking, around a number of sites. It was a very good tour and not at all expensive.

At one stage the taxi driver said he would leave us to walk around on our own and meet back in half an hour. I was a little apprehensive about that and the driver was happy to stay with us. There were three of us, myself my husband and a friend from the ship.

Hapicruisin

Having almost exclusively sailed with Azamara and Celebrity since 2005 and emailed many, many times I have never been sent any promotional material.

Celebrity even gets my name wrong, though I have been on more than 20 cruises, mostly of 2 weeks or more and asked them repeatedly to correct their mistake. The last time after our last cruise that I mentioned it I had an automated email from Celebrity saying they would reply within 2 weeks. That was more than a month ago and still no reply.

So much for Celebrity customer care! At least the service on the ships keeps me returning!

Hapicruisin

DH and I are on September/October cruise Venice/Croatia/ Malta and have a late flight home. Checking excursion page out I have come acrosss Xtend Your Stay. Has anyone tried this option and if so could you update me on how it works? We would be very interested in this facility but I am unsure how booked transfers to airport would work, how luggage is stored, how long we are allowed to stay on ship and any other information available.

Thank you

Not heard of extend your stay but on many occasions with a late flight after the cruise we have taken a Celebrity excursion which drops off at named airport(s). We have only taken them when the excursion is interesting to us. One boards the coach at the disembarkation port, the luggage is loaded on the coach. We are driven on the coach with our luggage for the excursion then dropped off with our luggage at the airport for our flight.

We have never been disappointed in the excursion, the guide/driver and are at the airport in good time for our flight.

Yet another "ditto".

Murano in April had such small overcooked lobster. My husband was very disappointed. Would definitely not go again. Such a shame. Their loss.

We are off shortly for a 12 night cruise and I was thinking we would probably send some items to the laundry. My husband is not overly keen as he thinks the water will be too hot and ruin the clothes. I was wondering if anyone has a problem with this. Thank you in advance for any advice you may have.

We always make use of the laundry and dry cleaning vouchers. On the special instructions I put please wash at 30 degrees. We have never had any problems in all the Celeb. Cruises we have taken. (20+), mostly of at least 14 nights each, some much more. We often use the dry cleaning, recently a silk dress and a linen jacket. They came back in perfect condition. I have not needed to use the pressing vouchers, but when I do I am sure the items will come back with no problems, just as usual.

az tchr

 

I've seen this comment a lot and I even do this on a limited basis. My question is--where do you get all the towels you need for a lot of stuff? I can do a few things using towels in cabin but if you do several items, do you get extra room towels, take some pool towels, or what? This is a mystery I would like to understand :)

 

Thanks

ML[/quote

 

Prior to showering before dinner, I use the towels I dried myself with to roll the few 'delicates' I have washed in the towels. Hang them up on the line with pegs brought from home, and usually they are dry in the morning. So no extra towels needed as I leave the used towels in the bath/shower for the cabin attendant to change for clean ones. Hapicruisin