Hermitage Gold Room - is it worth $$?

[CruiserRob]

For those who have visited the Gold Room, is it worth the $20-25 extra charge?

 

Robert

[dog]

I just checked my tour program and I will be paying $15 US per person to visit the Gold Room. To me this is worth it. I have an independent tour booked for the 6 of us through R.O. and it is mentioned that our time in the Hermitage is 30 mins. shorter if we do the Gold Room. We are at the Hermitage from 1:30-4:00pm, so this is fine with us.

[teacherman]

We did a 2 day tour with RO last summer. Enjoyed it very much. If I left off one thing it would be the Gold Room simply because it came at the end of the day when we were very tired, you have to have a Gold Room guide that goes in with you and explains so much detail about things, the guide gave info to our guide who then interpreted for us, etc. It has beautiful things to see, but I guess it depends on your interests. It probably is the only time most of us will have an opportunity to see it.

[dbh62ark]

I think it's worth the $$, especially considering the overall cost of a Baltics cruise. But the big question is whether or not it's worth your time in my opinion. If you do a search on these boards, you'll see that most board members felt the time there was well spent, but some did not.

 

Have a great trip,

Donna

[Italian Cruiser 1975]

The Gold Room in the Hermitage Museum is simply stunning. It's the experience of a lifetime, so you shouldn't miss a visit to this part of the Hermitage. The bonus is the fact that only very small groups are admitted inside, so there is plenty of space and time to admire the wonderful jewels. The Hermitage is a stunning Museum, but it's generally overcrowded. So there are long lines outside and in front of the most famous masterpieces.

[kneecap]

The tours of the Gold Room are done by the Hermitage staff, not your city guide (either from the ship tours or indy). So you might have an uninterested-barely speaks English guide or you might have an awesome guide. It's just a matter of chance.

 

I'm doing St Petersburg with Alla Tours and decided not to do the Gold Room because we'll be seeing the Tsars Palaces with rooms just as "golden".

[EGG]

We did the gold room with a Museum guide who spoke Russian. Our guide then translated to English. This involved standing in the same place for an extended period of time. I found this difficult since we had already been touring for hours. There was so much to do in St. Petersberg. If I could do it over again, I would skip the Gold Room.

[Scott Cyn]

I did the Gold Room last summer and wish I had not. As kneecap said, it is a function of which guide you happen to get. But I will strongly disagree with Italian Cruiser about the small groups leading to plenty of space and time. The day we were there, it is true that only small groups were admitted, but there were a bunch of small groups admitted. Small group means about 15 people.

 

Visualize a group of 15 people clustered around a display case looking at tiny Faberge eggs, etc., while a guide talks in strongly-accented English. There is a group at the display case you just left and one at the next display case. There are multiple other groups in the room. Your guide, as almost all non-professional speakers do, speaks not to the back row of her group but to the front row. Add in a middle-age hearing problem and I soon gave up. I spent my time in the Gold Room standing around, hands in pockets, slightly ticked off. Save your money.

[dbh62ark]

I'm doing St Petersburg with Alla Tours and decided not to do the Gold Room because we'll be seeing the Tsars Palaces with rooms just as "golden".

Actually, that's not correct. The Gold Room (it's actually more than one room) is different. It's a personal choice whether or not to spend the time and money to add this feature with so many options in St. Petersburg, but the statement that you'll see the same things elsewhere is not correct. If a tour operator told you that, you've been misinformed, and I would be concerned that other information that you were given was also incorrect.

 

Donna

[Peregrina651]

Forget the guides; I will bore very quickly of listening to them. I just want to SEE the amazing and imaginative work of very talented craftsmen of bygone ages. I want to feast my eyes on the work of their hands. I want to be amazed at how much they accomplished, at their creativity. I can learn about what I am seeing in guides books and at the Hermitage website but pictures aren't the same as seeing a piece up close and personal.

[dog]

Forget the guides; I will bore very quickly of listening to them. I just want to SEE the amazing and imaginative work of very talented craftsmen of bygone ages. I want to feast my eyes on the work of their hands. I want to be amazed at how much they accomplished, at their creativity. I can learn about what I am seeing in guides books and at the Hermitage website but pictures aren't the same as seeing a piece up close and personal.

 

I completely agree with the above quote.

 

This is for you to decide.

 

To me it is worth the money. It may be my only chance to do this.

[Scott Cyn]

Forget the guides; I will bore very quickly of listening to them. I just want to SEE the amazing and imaginative work of very talented craftsmen of bygone ages. ...pictures aren't the same as seeing a piece up close and personal.

 

I agree completely. It is very much a personal decision for each person. But do keep in mind that your "up close and personal" will be very rushed because you will only be able to get up close to the glass after your guide has finished talking and the group is moving to the next case. And your guide will soon scowl at you with that particular Russian scowl. Not to mention the guide with the next group will soon shoo you away.

[Peregrina651]

Oh, jeez! Then I am going to drive them absolutely crazy in the Gold Room. Culture clash! Thanks for the heads up.

[dog]

I agree completely. It is very much a personal decision for each person. But do keep in mind that your "up close and personal" will be very rushed because you will only be able to get up close to the glass after your guide has finished talking and the group is moving to the next case. And your guide will soon scowl at you with that particular Russian scowl. Not to mention the guide with the next group will soon shoo you away.

 

:D When someone scowls, we'll just be polite and give them a great big smile! :D

[Italian Cruiser 1975]

I have to say that I visited the Gold Room in the Hermitage as a part of an excursion booked with NCL. Everything was perfect during the visit. As a small group of just 12 persons we skipped the long lines outside the Hermitage Museum. In the Gold Room there was a lot of time to admire the wonderful jewels displayed inside. The russian lady of the Museum who guided our group gave us very interesting informations. The main problem in St. Petersburg is that all the major attractions are often overcrowded. The same thing occurs in the famous Amber Room at the Palace of Catherine at Pushkin. It's quite common to find long lines both outside and inside.

[land lover]

Can someone give a comparison of lines in Russia...worst than the Vatician Museum? Crowded, no breathing space? Are the halls/rooms wide?

 

Thanks

[Italian Cruiser 1975]

Can someone give a comparison of lines in Russia...worst than the Vatician Museum? Crowded, no breathing space? Are the halls/rooms wide?

 

Thanks

 

The main problem in Russia is the fact that the long lines are slow, so you have generally to wait for a long time before to be able to enter into the palace or the museum. The rooms are generally very large, but they are often overcrowded. Many parts of the Hermitage Museum are like the place where the Mona Lisa painting in the Louvre Museum in Paris is displayed.

[dbh62ark]

Can someone give a comparison of lines in Russia...worst than the Vatician Museum? Crowded, no breathing space? Are the halls/rooms wide?

 

Thanks

For the most part, the halls/rooms are wide. We found the worst crowding in the Hermitage (no big surprise there). The lines are not an issue if you are on a private tour. On our private tours, we had timed reservations for the palaces and museums and went straight to the front of the line. By comparison, the ship's tour passengers waited in lines as long as two hours, and some were required to wait outside in the rain.

 

Donna

[shoshona2]

We toured St. Petersburg several years ago and found that having a private tour meant not standing in long lines. You are paying these wonderful private guides and they do a great job of circumventing the lines. We were one of the first groups to enter the Palaces and my husband had no people in any of his photos in Catherine's Palace or Peterhof.

 

Sheila