Questions on the canal ride, hydrofoil, White Night's cruise with concert in St.Pg

[Live the good life]

(1) Wondering whether the view of St. Petersburg when taking a hydrofoil from Peterhoff would be different than the view of this city when taking a canal ride. We would be interested in learning about your experience with either...Would there be a canal ride in the day time with a concert/music on board? We are debating whether to do both or only one to save time for an evening in St. Petersburg.

 

(2) For those of you who have taken Celebrity's "White Night's cruise with concert" evening tour, did your tour guide take you walking around the city at night after the cruise? We are still undecided whether to do the White Night's cruise with concert (the music/concert should make a very good background music for our videotaping of St. Petersburg scenery) or spend an evening having dinner with the locals, ballet at the Marinsky and strolling the streets...

 

Thanks, Kim

[stanj]

(1) Wondering whether the view of St. Petersburg when taking a hydrofoil from Peterhoff would be different than the view of this city when taking a canal ride. We would be interested in learning about your experience with either...Would there be a canal ride in the day time with a concert/music on board? We are debating whether to do both or only one to save time for an evening in St. Petersburg.

 

Hi Kim

The canal cruises are on smaller boats for an up-close view of the cities water ways. It is completely different in views and perspective than Neva River cruises. The hydrofoil takes off from docks across from either the Hermitage or in front of the Bronze Horseman and heads out toward and into the Gulf of Finland, passing some interesting areas on the main fork of the Neva River called Bolshaya Neva ( Big Neva) as it passes Vasilievski Island ....but it is not terribly interesting compared to the normal river cruises that head up river for a couple of miles following the River as it flows around in a horseshoe path around the old part of the city.

The view at night is very pretty since most buildings have accent colored lighting as do the bridges.

The canal cruises are about 1 hour and criss-cross between several main canals, including the Fontanka, Moika and Gribeodova canals. The canals are narrow (except the Fontanka which is wide enough for larger boats to turn around mid stream). It is beautiful intimate view of the city's water ways.

 

(2) For those of you who have taken Celebrity's "White Night's cruise with concert" evening tour, did your tour guide take you walking around the city at night after the cruise? We are still undecided whether to do the White Night's cruise with concert (the music/concert should make a very good background music for our videotaping of St. Petersburg scenery) or spend an evening having dinner with the locals, ballet at the Marinsky and strolling the streets...

 

Thanks, Kim

 

If you consider that video tapes and DVDs of the city and rivers are available in the museum shops and books stores, maybe you would prefer ballet and walking around if you really want to experience Russian ballet in the best ballet venue in the world. But on the other hand, I've taken the regular concert and dinner cruises on the river at night and it is really nice. Tough decision. I would suggest doing the one that allows the most "free" time before or afterwards to explore the streets and strolling along the canals or river plus having a great meal in one of the many top restaurants in the city center. I've posted a lot on restaurants if you look back a couple of months.

If given the choice I always side with the plan that gives the greatest freedom to react spontaineously with what you find in your wanderings, it is that kind of city where something every block will distract you and make you want to modify your plans.

Have a great visit and hard choice;.)

[Live the good life]

For those of you who have taken Celebrity's "White Night's River Cruise & Concert" evening tour, did your tour guide take you walking around the city at night after the cruise (the cruise is from 07:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. according to the shore excursion brochure)??? How was the performance by the folklore group and the experience in general? What monuments did you cruise by? Did you cruise both the River and canals?

 

Stanj, again, thanks for your very detailed reply...We booked the White Night's Cruise with Concert for evening of Day 1; booked lunch Day 1 at Sadko at Grand Hotel; and lunch Day 2 at Demidov. Will pass Marinsky this time because An American Dance company will be playing when we are there the evening of July 09...BTW, we always buy tons of souvenirs including the touristy DVD's , local music CD's, etc...but also take pride in making our own photos and videos (with our family in it...) Will have to return to St. Petersburg at another time for a couple of evenings at the Marinksy, Folklore at the Pulkovskaya Concert Hall, Troika or Demidov (in the evening), and all other fun things!

 

Thanks, Kim

[gopackgo]

Kim,

 

What all do you know about the folklore show at the Pulkovskaya Concert Hall? Is that supposed to be one of the best ones? Also, what do you know about the restaurants? Are the 2 you mentioned highly recommended? I am also trying to decide what evening excursions to plan with Red October for one night. I am just trying to gather information.

 

Thanks,

 

Ginny

[Live the good life]

gopackgo,

 

Denrus recommended about 15 good restaurants in St. Petersburg to us...Above 2 are pricey but has live folklore shows in the evening... If you go to "all previous posts" by Stanj, you will find lots of good infos on St. Petersburg..Good luck...

 

Kim

[Live the good life]

Just got back from our Celebrity Constellation cruise. We really enjoyed the White Night's River Cruise & Concerts experience, offered by Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. We were first taken to the Academy of Fine Arts, where we listened to a chorus concert that included Russian folk songs and Orthodox music. We were then taken to a store for souvenir shopping. The last part of the evening which we enjoyed the most was the River cruise. We listened to a folk group named Zabava performing Russian folk songs on the main floor of the boat. During the later part of the experience, we got carried away and were on the dance floor dancing with the performers. The only thing we were disappointed about was that the performance was not on the top floor of the boat (understandably), where we could make videos of the scenery along the Neva river, and have the background music at the same time. However, we did manage to shoot videos and photos of some of the very nice scenes/monuments during the cruise (Hermitage, the bridges, St. Isaac cathedral, etc...). We really enjoyed the popular Russian songs, and purchased the CD by sold by this Zabava group.

 

Kim

[NancyIL]

I also did the White Nights River Cruise and Concert excursion with Royal Caribbean, and it was very enjoyable. We cruised along the Neva first. There were tables and chairs inside the boat on the lower level, with a small glass of vodka, a larger glass of champagne (I think), and a bottle of mineral water for each guest. There were also 2 plates per table: one with small pieces of bread covered with caviar, and the other plate had slices of bread with salmon. It was VERY warm inside the boat, so I went up on deck while one of the travel guides was talking. The views along the banks of the Neva were lovely. There was a small group of about 6 entertainers that performed the second half of the cruise, and though they were good - I was too hot to sit and listen to their entire program. After the cruise, we stopped at Babushka to shop. The store was very warm inside, especially with several busloads of tourists! I picked up one large stacking doll...$980!!! Needless to say, I didn't buy anything there. The 40-minute concert was at the Composers Club, and we heard an excellent a capella group called "The concert chorus of the Saint-Petersburg State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre by the name of Mussorgsky" (I kid you not!). We arrived back at the ship at 10:50 p.m., as did just about everyone else who had an evening excursion!

[gopackgo]

Thanks Nancy and Kim for your reports of the evening excursions in St. Petersburg! It sounds like you both had a fantastic time! I am not sure we will end up doing any evening excursions since we have 3 full days there, but at least I have a good idea of what to expect should we change our minds!

 

Ginny