SPB tours for St Petersburg and Berlin

[Kruz Guys]

We had our own group from our roll call but SPb also added others. I like that you don't have to worry about getting the minimum etc. in order to bring the price down. If you check on their website, there are ways to post if you want to join a group or get others to join in if you are doing a personalized kind of tour.

 

 

That's good news. Thanks for letting us know.

 

Kruz Guys

Stephen and Tom ;)

[rdnpdx1]

We had our own group from our roll call but SPb also added others. I like that you don't have to worry about getting the minimum etc. in order to bring the price down. If you check on their website, there are ways to post if you want to join a group or get others to join in if you are doing a personalized kind of tour.

 

On our recent cruise we had eight tours with SPB, some were preformed, some recruited from the CC roll call, and another started separate from CC. SPB and the roll call combined to fill them all. You can start a tour group and limit the members below the 16 SPB typically has, and fill with a combination of the two to the maximum you have set. Anthony, Evan and Viktoria are very helpful and attentive in assisting you in filling the group to the size you want.

[str6]

We used SPB in June of 2011---We had a private tour with just our family and we were extremely disappointed with our tour. Our tour guide was Natalia. She was a very nice person--but had a canned speach for each place. She could not answer any questions that we asked and could not speak or understand english very well. She was not flexible and took us to a shop for souvenir's that was very expensive. We did have a night canal cruise with Sasha--and he was great! But based on spending two full days with Natalia--I would not recommend SPB tours. We felt like we did not get our money's worth on this tour!

[rdnpdx1]

We used SPB in June of 2011---We had a private tour with just our family and we were extremely disappointed with our tour. Our tour guide was Natalia. She was a very nice person--but had a canned speach for each place. She could not answer any questions that we asked and could not speak or understand english very well. She was not flexible and took us to a shop for souvenir's that was very expensive. We did have a night canal cruise with Sasha--and he was great! But based on spending two full days with Natalia--I would not recommend SPB tours. We felt like we did not get our money's worth on this tour!

 

I am sorry you did not enjoy your tour with Natasha. Did you express your disappointment and concern with Viktoria? If you have not, I would recommend that you do so. Though that won't change your experience, it will give SPB valuable feedback, and she will be sensitive to your concerns I am certain based on my dealings with her. SPB has been very responsive in my experience. Given the overwhelming positive experiences others have had with SPB, including eight groups on our sailing in June, it sounds as if you had a bad experience with one guide, not a problem with SPB in general.

[Got2Cruise]

I am curious as to what you mean by "not flexible". Since you were on a "private" tour I am sure Anthony sent you the day's itinerary. I can understand once that itinerary is set up that the guide has to keep to it because they have certain appointments they need to keep in order to get you into the various places without waiting on line. This would be a helpful point for others planning their tours in the future. Yes, the souvenirs in STP are very expensive. But the ship was more expensive. Again, there are vendors outside the big churches you can stop and look, but the quality is not the same as going to places where the guide feels the items are genuine. I also bought a beautiful necklace at the Hermitage. I am not doubting your experience, just trying to make it easier for others coming up. Did you fill out the survey at the conclusion of the tour?

 

We used SPB in June of 2011---We had a private tour with just our family and we were extremely disappointed with our tour. Our tour guide was Natalia. She was a very nice person--but had a canned speach for each place. She could not answer any questions that we asked and could not speak or understand english very well. She was not flexible and took us to a shop for souvenir's that was very expensive. We did have a night canal cruise with Sasha--and he was great! But based on spending two full days with Natalia--I would not recommend SPB tours. We felt like we did not get our money's worth on this tour!

[KirkNC]

We are seriously thinking of another Baltic cruise in May/June 2012 and have read great reviewed about SPB Tours. Is it better to go to the CC Roll Call and try to get a small group together for the SPB Tours or will SPB Tours help us (2 of us) join an existing group of up to 10 people or so?

 

Any advise you can share would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Kruz Guys

Stephen and Tom

stephenandtom@att.net

:D

 

I think it depends, for our Berlin piece, SPB filled all of it, for SP we filled it via our roll call.

 

Kirk

[CintiPam]

Did you fill out the survey at the conclusion of the tour?

 

I was about to mention that also, a great opportunity to provide immediate feedback and one I never had on any other private tour we have arranged.

 

BTW, we enjoyed our two days with Natalya and appreciated her efforts to stick to the schedule I had arranged with Anthony, which basically sought to fit three days of sightseeing into two. Perhaps a different Natalya? Whatever, everyone has different perceptions, but I hope you made your views known to Viktoria, either in the questionnaire, or just by sending her an email now. She really wants the feedback.

[LAN41]

Hi Everyone,

I just booked our Baltics cruise for 2012 and am starting to plan for the ports. :D

Just wondering if anyone has had any experience with SPB for St Petersburg and Berlin? They have been very prompt with their emails and seem to be on top of it.

Thanks!

 

Was in St. P July 15 and 16 off Eurodam and participated in the SPB Baltic Pearl tour. Valeri was our guide and Vasili our driver. Wonderful experience in every way. I would highly recommend to anyone. Have a great trip!

 

Leslie

[crusingnut]

Our group of 10 did a 2 day tour with SBP 2 yrs ago, it was the highlight of our trip. I can't say enough good things about our guide, Elena Levchenko and driver (Andre). Viktoria altered our tour to our desires with no hestiation. I'm very happy to read that Viktoria is expanding her tours and wish her the best. If anybody happens to get Elena as their guide please tell her the "10 from Miami" send a warm Hello.

[Atwell]

We had a private 2-day Deluxe Tour with SpB Tours just last month for the two of us. Our guide was Maria Fadeeva and our driver was Andre. They could not have been nicer or more flexible. They were happy to make any adjustments to the itinerary to accommodate my DW who uses a wheeled walker for extended standing or walking. Maria always knew how to skirt the lines so we got immediate entry into every location.

 

Maria's english is excellent and she is very knowledgeable about the history of St. Petersburg and the various sites and collections, especially in the Hermitage which can be overwhelming. (Maria is marrying a young man from Finland this month and will be moving to Helsinki. She says she will be doing Helsinki tours for SpB Tours.)

 

At the end of our tour Viktoria came to meet us and asked for feedback on what they could do better. We were very impressed with the tour and all the arrangements.

 

We paid in USD and never had a need for Russian rubles. SpB Tours paid for the lunches as part of the tour package.

 

One of the places we loved was the Yusupov Palace. We knew it was famous as the site where Rasputin was murdered but we had no idea it was such a beautiful building rivaling the royal palaces.

 

Just so you know, photography is generally allowed at all the sites but there are exceptions and in some places the restriction is just for "no flash".

 

There is absolutely no problem with the visa requirement as long as you book through a licensed tour operator (such as SpB Tours) or book a ship tour. We were on the Celebrity Eclipse and were off the ship in the first wave around 7:30 a.m. We needed to provide our tour information to Customer Relations several days prior and they assigned us a disembarkation time based on our tour arrangements.

 

Below is a photo of one of part of one room at Yusupov Palace.

 

[1Toronto]

My husband my daughter and I are going on a 10 day Baltic Jewels cruise on Eurodam July 31/12- August 10/12. After checking the cost of shore excursions on the ship we decided to check other options and were very lucky to find on the ethernet SPB Tours. All the reviews we read were great and we requested some information from this company.

We received immediate response and all of our questions were answered.

We booked a special package that includes a Baltic Pearl Deluxe - Two day St Petersburg, Berlin, Tallinn & Helsinki shore excursions.

As well we booked an evening tour in St Petersburg. By booking all these shore excursions with SPB Tours will save us a lot of money. Looking forward to see more fellow passengers from our ship on these shore excursions.