Alla "comfort" tour

I'm interested in doing Alla's "Comforty" tour and wonder if anyone else has done it and what were your thoughts? Did you feel you saw enough important venues? Was the pace of the tour slow enough that people with small mobility issues could enjoy it? Thanks so very much for any information you can give me.

Judy from SW Florida :cool::cool::cool:

I'm interested in doing Alla's "Comforty" tour and wonder if anyone else has done it and what were your thoughts? Did you feel you saw enough important venues? Was the pace of the tour slow enough that people with small mobility issues could enjoy it? Thanks so very much for any information you can give me.

 

 

Judy from SW Florida :cool::cool::cool:

Hi Judy

I took that tour in 2010 and from memory it was at pace such that people with small mobility issues would enjoy it all. There is quite a bit of 'slack' in the schedule and plenty of opportunities to sit down for a few minutes. In addition to seeing the underground train system and doing a bit of shopping (or not as the case may be :)) we went to 6 big "attractions" which are videos 1, 3,4,5,6 & 7 in this video playlist

One more option to consider if it is financially feasible is a private tour for just your family. We needed this kind of tour, since we were traveling with a 3 year old and the ability to control the itinerary and give him breaks whenever necessary allowed him (and us) to enjoy the tour.

According to forum posts, there may be issues with disembarkment in St. Petersburg (the ships now are allowed to let their tour passengers off first, and delay passengers on private tours. If people get stuck and are very late disembarking and clearing customs, the tour operators need to decide if they want to wait or leave without all of their passengers. It's a tough call, and if they wait it isn't easy on the passengers who got up early to get the earliest possible departure group for independent travelers (but it is important to note that sometimes people get stuck in lines with really slow customs agents on day one. They don't let families go together, and separated my husband from my 3 year old and I. And some families are separating to stand on different lines and then merge together thinking they'll save time, when each needs to go through individually and they're just making a line really long when they all join together.).

Also, SPB has advised that due to crowding they are cutting Catherine's Palace. Our group of 3 was allowed to skip all lines, and groups of 16 might also I don't know you'd need to check with the tour companies to see if that's the case. But a smaller group can skip the lesser rooms and move more quickly than a larger one, which will give you time to take more breaks without losing out on seeing the highlights of St. Petersburg.

I took the comfort tour in May. I wanted a slower pace, but because that tour does attract people with mobility issues, it was a slower pace than I would have preferred. For example, the guide often had to retrieve wheelchairs for members of the group and then return them at the end of the tour (this happened at the Hermitage and at Peterhof), so the group was left waiting several times for her to accomplish that.

If you have mobility issues, I'd recommend this tour. If you don't, you may find yourself getting frustrated. I figured this might be my experience, so I made the best of it. I also met a wonderful couple on the tour and provided them with assistance when I could.

We did the Comfort Tour in 2013 - famly of 4 with 2 teenagers, no mobility issues (no others in our group had mobility issues), We liked the pace of the tour. The only sites we missed that were included in the other tour were St. Isaac's Catheral and Yusupov's Palace. Sons weren't sorry to miss one church and one palace.

We did their 2 day comfort tour and loved it. We saw pretty much everything over the two days including a canal boat ride and a subway ride. There is so much to see in this beautiful city it can get overwhelming but well worth it. Pace was fine, guide was excellent and we would definitely use them again.

Just did the Grand tour with All and it was excellent. We got back early each day. We ended up as 12 guests from our ship on a 20 passenger Mercedes Van. Everything was as advertised 100%. Best of all there was no silly "shopping stop" or "pearl factory", "carpet factor" visit. We saw everything, had 1 nice sit-down lunch, and one on the go box lunch with soft drinks and beer. We hardly waited in any lines.

Be warned... even with early admission etc... the Hermitage is PACKED.

I wouldn't hesitate to book with them again.

Mike

We have been to SPB twice. Five years ago and this July. On both occasions we booked the Alla Comfort Tour. The itinerary had changed this year to the first one we took.

On the first tour there was only one other couple with us. This time we were a total of 13 in a mini bus.

No problems at all getting off ship and guide there at 08.30 to meet us.

We also booked the evening trip to the Faberge Museum, which was excellent and museum was closed to general public.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We did their 2 day comfort tour and loved it. We saw pretty much everything over the two days including a canal boat ride and a subway ride. There is so much to see in this beautiful city it can get overwhelming but well worth it. Pace was fine, guide was excellent and we would definitely use them again.

We are booked with Alla for the Baltic cruise out of Amsterdam next May on Brilliance of the Seas. So glad all the reviews here are positive. Looking forward to exploring SPB. Thanks for the info.