St Petersburg - Private Tour Company

[phxbne]

Hi

Cansas.Pilgrim, my experience seems to match yours....
I am planning our 3 day stop in St Petersburg in June. As we are 5, with a child, I am looking to truly personalize the itinerary, and to do it privately. Best Guides seems willing to do this.
My replies from TJ and Alla just seemed to be their standard itinerary.
I was most surprised by TJ as they have kid tours on their site, but just sent me back a standard 3 day tour.
Cansas.Pilgrim, curious about what you are doing with Best Guides? Main thing my daughter wants to do is the doll painting.

[oceanlovinmama]

We are taking the 2 day Grand tour in SPB with Alla. This is a private tour for 8, but we recently lost 2 in our party due to the conflicts happening between Russia, USA and Ukraine. If anyone would like info or would like to join us, please respond and I'll send you some info. Thanks!

[PhilipHF]

[quote name='Captain Hughes']We have chosen to book a custom 2 day tour for the 4 of us through TJ Travel as they have been very helpful and accommodating. I emailed Alla twice and received no response, nor from my message to them via Facebook. Disappointing as I had seen good reviews for them.

Anyway really looking forward to our trip now :)[/quote]

I also tried to contact Alla several times and received no replies. I am trying to book tours for all of the Baltic ports with 1 tour agency. (Helsinki, Stockholm, Talinn, and SPB) Has anyone booked multi-city tours with TJ or any other of the top SPB tour companies? They all have good SPB reviews, just wondering about the other cities.

[dogs4fun]

[quote name='PhilipHF']I also tried to contact Alla several times and received no replies. I am trying to book tours for all of the Baltic ports with 1 tour agency. (Helsinki, Stockholm, Talinn, and SPB) Has anyone booked multi-city tours with TJ or any other of the top SPB tour companies? They all have good SPB reviews, just wondering about the other cities.[/quote]

Strange that you received no response. Did you check your junk mail? We used Alla and she was great in getting back to me within 24 hours.
Alla has a toll free number listed on her webpage. Why don't you call?
1-800-317-7060 :)

[MVPinBoynton]

[quote name='PhilipHF']I also tried to contact Alla several times and received no replies. I am trying to book tours for all of the Baltic ports with 1 tour agency. (Helsinki, Stockholm, Talinn, and SPB) Has anyone booked multi-city tours with TJ or any other of the top SPB tour companies? They all have good SPB reviews, just wondering about the other cities.[/quote]

That doesn't seem right, since Alla replies very quickly to info requests. You might want to contact her directly through her site.

Just saw the above post and phoning would be better. Edited March 10, 2014 by MVPinBoynton

[squadron]

[quote name='cflower04']Hi everyone!

Anyone know of a good private tour company in St Petersburg, Russia?! Will be there for two days in July while on Legend of the Seas. Is there anything else I should know about touring in Russia?!

Thanks I'm advance :-)[/QUOTE]

I know the major concern of everyone is St Petersburg but I'd like to hear the opinions of travellers who have done the "Pearls of the Baltic" packages by Alla and SPb and whether one should choose the 3 or 5 hr tours offered in most ports. I'm not interested in DIY.

[NancyIL]

[quote name='squadron']I know the major concern of everyone is St Petersburg but I'd like to hear the opinions of travellers who have done the "Pearls of the Baltic" packages by Alla and SPb and whether one should choose the 3 or 5 hr tours offered in most ports. I'm not interested in DIY.[/QUOTE]

I plan to DIY in most Baltic ports. However, if I were to book one or more tours with Alla in other ports, I'd want to spend as much time touring as possible.

[NancyIL]

[quote name='cansas.piligrim']Do Alla and SPb tours organize tours in all the Baltic ports or just the biggest of them?[/QUOTE]

You need to look at their web sites to see where they offer tours.

Alla Tours: [url]http://www.alla-tour.com/tours/[/url]

SPb: [url]http://www.spb-tours.com/[/url]

[prish]

[quote name='NancyIL']You need to look at their web sites to see where they offer tours.

Alla Tours: [url]http://www.alla-tour.com/tours/[/url]

SPb: [url]http://www.spb-tours.com/[/url][/QUOTE]

Have just booked the Silhouette May 28, 2015 sailing, with overnights in Stockholm, St Petersburg and Copenhagen. I have quotes form the top 4-5 tour operators most recommended on this forum and am leaning towards Alla, with SPB a close second. We'll almost certainly do Berlin with the same operator, the other ports are DIY.

Are there any specific dos and don't or check list I need to keep in mind while putting together the tours, what has been your experience? For the most part all the operators offer the same tours but am wondering if you have any specific tips for me to keep in mind? Look forward to your suggestions, thanks in advance:)

[Got2Cruise]

[quote name='prish']Have just booked the Silhouette May 28, 2015 sailing, with overnights in Stockholm, St Petersburg and Copenhagen. I have quotes form the top 4-5 tour operators most recommended on this forum and am leaning towards Alla, with SPB a close second. We'll almost certainly do Berlin with the same operator, the other ports are DIY.



Are there any specific dos and don't or check list I need to keep in mind while putting together the tours, what has been your experience? For the most part all the operators offer the same tours but am wondering if you have any specific tips for me to keep in mind? Look forward to your suggestions, thanks in advance:)[/QUOTE]


You are correct all the major players offer a quality product. There are a few differences in details and types of meals offered. Also some folks want to deviate from the standard tour and that's when your communication with the companies come into play

[stuck]

When is your stop in SPB? I am trying to find a group the two of us might join. We are there 17/18 May?

[stuck]

We are taking the 2 day Grand tour in SPB with Alla. This is a private tour for 8, but we recently lost 2 in our party due to the conflicts happening between Russia, USA and Ukraine. If anyone would like info or would like to join us, please respond and I'll send you some info. Thanks!

When is your stop in SPB?

[cricketts]

When is your stop in SPB? I am trying to find a group the two of us might join. We are there 17/18 May?

We're there the 18/19 on Legend of the Seas. Have you tried your ship's roll call on Cruise Critic? That is the best place to find folks wanting to partner on a tour.

[Blue Bonnet]

YOu may not have noticed but Alla Tours send you back a signin and a password and they communicate thru their own portal.

They do not use standard email, so they probably have replied on thier own site.

That may be a little quirky, but thats how they do business.

 

We had excellent tour guides in their 5 day package including the 2 day "Grand Tour" in St. P, in summer 2012 Prinsendam, and are booking them again for the Eurodam in July 2014.