Catherine's Palace?

[zaban3]

We had planned on taking the Princess Grand Tour of St. Petersburg which does not include Catherine's Palace. Is this a "must see"?

[dbh62ark]

These itinerary decisions in St. Petersburg are always a tough call because time is limited. We loved seeing Catherine's Palace. The sheer size is awesome, the amber room is amazing, and we enjoyed strolling through a lovely park in the area. I'm a big fan of the private tours in most ports, especially St. Petes. Have you considered checking your roll call board or contacting a private tour operator? You will see so much more in a private tour group.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna

[2dogcarol]

I just got off a Baltic Cruise. Our group spent three whole days with Denrus. My favorite sights were 1. Peter's Palace and grounds in Peterhof 2. The Church on the Spilled Blood and 3. Catherine's Palace in Pushkin. I have never seen three such amazing structures anywhere.

[Katy P.]

Do they allow photography inside Catherine's palace? How about the Hermitage? Is there a fee? If yes, how much in RUR? I also like buying DVD's of the places that I've been , do they sell these at the palace gift shop? Do these DVD's usually work in the US? Thanks for any info.

[Tisha]

Just back from our Baltics cruise and this is only my opinion. We spend 2 days in St Petersburg - the 1st on a private tour (just the 3 of us) and the 2nd on a ship's excursion. Although the private tour was a bit more expensive than the ship's excursions we could not have made a better choice - we saw far more on our private tour as we were taken to the front of the line and could "move" much faster than with the group. Also, with the ships excursion we wasted lots of time waiting for others. In my opinion Catherine's Palace is an absolute must - so is Peterhof, St Isaacs Cathedral & Church of Spilled Blood. I would advise you to look into the option of taking a private tour with no more than 6-8 people. Even if it costs a little more it really is worth it!

Most of the sights charge extra for camera's and Video equipment - $2-3 for cameras and $5-8 for video. I made the mistake of taking only 1 of the 2 to St Isaacs and was very sorry afterwards.

Enjoy every moment your there - it's all over far too quickly!

[BaltiGator]

Very interesting thread. A few weeks back, there were a couple of other threads in which several people commented that if they had it to do over again, they would have skipped Catherine's Palace (on a 2-day itinerary, not 3). Not that they didn't enjoy going there - they did. But each of those posters said something to the effect that it was too many "palaces" and that Catherine's Palace, while beautiful, was the most logical to scratch off the list because of the extra driving time.

 

Based on that info, and my own tendency to become easily "palaced out" and "churched out" I constructed a custom tour with one of the private companies in which we aren't going to Catherine's Palace this August.

 

Now this thread makes me wonder about that decision...

[Scarlotte]

We did a June Baltic cruise. We were quite peeved that: over-and-above the regular tour price we were charged a camera fee. Our fee was $5/ venue (catherine, peteroff and hermitage); and they wanted it paid in $$$ - not Euros, not rubles. When we went to Peteroff, the guide asked those who paid the camera fee to step aside and be counted. One of the representatives from Peteroff counted us and then put a sticker on our guide's sign. Whether anyone cared beyond that point, I don't know. But we considered it a rip off.

 

Regarding choice of venues. I strongly recommend both Catherine's and Peteroff. They were both awesome and magnificent - each in different ways. As mentioned in another post - the amber room in Catherine's palace is beyond belief. The gardens of Peteroff were magnificent. BTW pictures were NOT allowed in the Catherine's amber room. Also not allowed in the Chinese decorated rooms in Peteroff. Go figure.

 

The other fun aspect of the two palaces was we had to put on cloth booties over our shoes. If you have bad knees or ankles - beware - not easy to walk.

[mcca2]

Just returned from the Baltics in June. I agree with all of the above but if you have not seen Yusupov's Palace you have really missed the jewel of St. Petersburg. Yes we saw the Amber room and so on and it all is fantastic, but this palace is on level of it's own. It even has it's own Theater where they still perform Ballet and Opera.

[2dogcarol]

Catherine's palace was the only place that didn't charge for taking pictures. The Hermitage and Peter's Palace both charged 100 rubles. I only took pictures inside if I didn't have to pay.

[Katy P.]

Scarlotte, what cruise ship did you use during that trip to the Baltics where they had asked you to pay in USD for your camera fees? Thanks.:)

[dbh62ark]

I've written about this before, but please note that in 2005, Red October charged a huge mark-up (3-4 times the cost of the photo fees) to obtain the permits but Denrus did not. It would have been about $50 difference for us since we shot camera and video. I believe those on Red October tours have the option of paying in Rubles at the site, so that is an option if you don't want to be overcharged.

 

Donna

[dbh62ark]

Very interesting thread. A few weeks back, there were a couple of other threads in which several people commented that if they had it to do over again, they would have skipped Catherine's Palace (on a 2-day itinerary, not 3). Not that they didn't enjoy going there - they did. But each of those posters said something to the effect that it was too many "palaces" and that Catherine's Palace, while beautiful, was the most logical to scratch off the list because of the extra driving time.

I'm sure opinions vary on rating all of the sights in St. Petersburg because they're all spectacular, so how do you rate the difference between a 9.5 and a 9.75? I'm glad I got to see both but as you said, time is limited and tough choices have to be made. I would not miss the fountains at Peterhof for anything on a St. Petersburg itinerary, but I'm really into design and landscaping, so that's just my cup of tea. It's really all personal preference.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna

[BaltiGator]

I'm sure opinions vary on rating all of the sights in St. Petersburg because they're all spectacular, so how do you rate the difference between a 9.5 and a 9.75? I'm glad I got to see both but as you said, time is limited and tough choices have to be made. I would not miss the fountains at Peterhof for anything on a St. Petersburg itinerary, but I'm really into design and landscaping, so that's just my cup of tea. It's really all personal preference.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna

 

Thanks for your reassuring comments.

[Scarlotte]

Katy P:

 

We were on the NCL Dream and we took the ship sponsored tours. Based on what I've read, it sounds like different groups paid different fees. We're still thinking a few palms got greased.

 

S

[Kumarrr]

We had planned on taking the Princess Grand Tour of St. Petersburg which does not include Catherine's Palace. Is this a "must see"?

 

It is wonderful! Try to see it.

We did a private tour with Alla Tours. Our 2 days in St. Petersburg were the highlight of the 2 week trip!

[cakamhi]

Catherines Palace and Peterhof are must see's. They are so beautiful. Make sure you have plenty of time to walk around the grounds at Peterhof. The Hermitage was a disappointment to us. There were so many people there that we were unable to see anything except our tour of the Gold Room. We went in the afternoon and I have heard that the morning is much better. We went to Yusopov with the ships tour at night and saw the opera plus had a tour of the Palace. Of the three palaces Catherines and Peterhof are by far the best. Spilled Blood and St. Issacs are also very interesting and beautiful.

[Willsot]

My wife and I agree that Catherine's Palace and Peterhof were our favorites.

The Hermitage was also a disappointment for us due to very large crowds and higher temperatures. The Hermitage is not for the claustrophobic. I understand from a friend who has visited St. P. often that we should not have missed the Russian Museum.

[sealover155]

We just returned from the Baltics on Constellation. We arranged 2 private days with Elena from Alla Tours and it was the smartest decision we made. It gave us the flexibility we wanted. On day 2, we decided to spend more time at the Hermitage rather than to travel out to Peterhof. Elena scheduled our time at the Hermitage so as to avoid the large tour groups. We had a relaxing experience there and saw everything we wanted to see and spend as much or as little time in the most popular galleries. Sure enough, just as we were leaving the masses were arriving. We adored the Hermitage. If you have a private tour, you can decide what galleries you want to focus on. The Hermitage has a terrific website, so you can see, floor by floor, gallery by gallery, what is of interest to you. The malachite room and the Rembrandt gallery are both spectacular, as are the 114 staircases! Remember, it was a palace.

 

We visited Catherine's Palace on day 1. I would have died if we had missed it. The exterior architecture and the gardens are amazing as well. It's also in a pretty village. We drove a short distance to the next village and had a Russian feast. If you look at the Constellation reviews, my review is now posted.

 

But, next time, Peterhof! Have a wonderful trip.

 

Mary Anne

[simba3]

I have the same problem. I was told about DenRus a tour group that my brother in law used. You can make your own tour. I'll be in St Pete on 8/28,29 on the Star. What about you.