Anastasia Tours, St. Petersburg, russia

[simbahay]

Thanks so much for all the comments. It makes it so much easier if you can ask someone who has been there and done it. Sounds like this is the way we are going to go.

[Embracedbylife]

UPR - we were unsure what to do also, and after reading that we should tip 10% we tipped 10 % of the total tour cost. Now it sounds like more are doign 20% but we did 10% of the total cost.

 

We broke the 10% up between the guides and the driver. In the end, our total tour cost us about $550 for the two of us (there were 4 in our party - the other 2 paid seperately) and my husband and I tipped the guide on the 1st day $20 (8 hrs of touring), the guide on the second day $10 (she wasn't as good and only had us for 4 hrs) and tipped the driver $20 for a total of $50 in tips. In retrospect I wished we had of given our guide on day 1 at least $30, but we didn't have a lot of cash on us on day 1 becuase we thought we'd have the same guide for both days and could tip her on day 2. But she was only with us for 1 day and we gave her what we had!

[mbleackl]

We did a foursome from the Celebrity Constellation on May 22-23rd. There was no problem leaving the ship. Our guide (Katya) and driver (Dimitri) were terrific. This being our 14th cruise, it was certainly much more pleasant than the usual large busload of tourists; we had a new Mercedes van (2 passengers face forward, and 2 backwards, like a London taxi, but with very comfortable seats). Katya was an endless source of information. Because of flexibility, we never had to wait in line for anything. We especially appreciated that Dimitri was able to locate an old samovar that we wanted to purchase for a relative. Paid by credit card, no problem.

 

We just booked a Baltic cruise on the Eclipse next year and was wondering about the visa requirements for Russia. Did you obtain a visa before you went on your cruise, or did your tour company provide a tourist visa? We are concerned about information on the Celebrity website that says that they will not let you off the ship without a visa or a voucher and a confirmed documented itinerary. Did you get a voucher before sailing?

[Embracedbylife]

Not to worry. You actually do get a valid visa as you will be covered under a "blanket visa" from the tour guide. Anastasia tours required our passport information a month prior so they could register it and then they sent us a voucher via email before we left to bring along with a copy of our passport and anything else required to give to immigration. It was more than sufficient as you are under the tour company's visa. If you are not on a ship's tour or through a registered tour guide's visa you require your own.

[john2003]

We were on the Rotterdam and have now surfaced after returning home. Our two days in St Petersburg were June 15/16. There were five of us and we had booked with Anastasia. She was great at customizing our tour through the planning process, suggesting changes and responding to our suggestions. She was always prompt in responding to our emails. As HAL let the independents disembark first on day 1, we had no problem with getting through immigration.

 

I have to say that our entire St Petersburg experience was incredible, although we did have to work very hard. It is amazing what we accomplished in two days. Some minor changes in the schedule were made on the fly to avoid excessive crowds and seemed to be very successful.

 

Our guide was Alena (the native spelling is a little different). Her English was great and her explanations were always very clear. Her knowledge of architecture, art and history was simply overwhelming. We really appreciated her ability to share some insights into the art which made it very personal. The logistics could not have been better. A quiet phone call and magically our van and driver was always in the exact right place at exactly the right time.

[Albert Ross]

Thanks to those who gave advise:

A huge thumbs up from Australian uncle for Elena and Anastasia!.

They had a great time, even though the streets were closed for a marathon, they managed to get to each site on the list and had time for lunch in Stolle. They loved the private tour, and the going in the side doors to avoid the crowds, the loved going where others can't go, and had a very good driver.

 

One caveat - Anastasia sent one voucher which she said was good for both days but on the 2nd day the immigration lady wanted a separate voucher - so always print off a couple of copies.

[john2003]

Glad that you enjoyed the Anastasia tour. Interesting, I have just emailed Anastasia advising that people should print a second copy of the voucher. We went through immigation in three groups and had two different officers. Ours returned our voucher so we could use it again the next day. The other did not, luckily the next day my sister had a second copy but this was accident not design.

[simbahay]

We have just returned from a wonderful trip to the Baltic on the Azamara Journey. The highlight of the trip was the three days we spent on private tours in St Petersburg using Anastasia. The guide we had was quite outstanding. She ( Alena) was a fine art major and gave us the most unbelievable guided tour. The wealth of her knowledge about ever aspect of St Petersburg was quite remarkable. Whatever we asked her, she knew. She kept us all entralled with a running commentry of the buildings, the people and the art. Everything we wanted to see she managed to arrange. We did tours of all the major attractions, the palaces, the churches and the beautiful gardens. We were also extremely lucky with the weather, and enjoyed a great tour of the canals on a boat, in the sunshine, sipping champaign and eating out lunch. If anyone is considering a tour company I would highly recommend Anastasia. She is extremly competent and will arrange and excellent tour for you.

[gottogocruisin]

I have emailed Anastasia for information. She has sent back a "basic tour" that seems fine, but is costly for the two of us. She has quoted us over $1000 for the two days. I keep reading that some did the two days for 2 people at $500+ What am I missing? I have not given her specific details of what we want to see, but her basic tour pretty much touches most of them. Any help with this would be appreciated.

[fun_seeker]

I have emailed Anastasia for information. She has sent back a "basic tour" that seems fine, but is costly for the two of us. She has quoted us over $1000 for the two days. I keep reading that some did the two days for 2 people at $500+ What am I missing? I have not given her specific details of what we want to see, but her basic tour pretty much touches most of them. Any help with this would be appreciated.

We toured with Alena of Anastasia's tour company in May. As with anything else, you get what you pay for and a lot of what you pay for are entry fees into the various sites. Anastasia's tour gave us entry into the palaces and museums when the visit could be the most informative, the beauty could best be appreciated, the crowds were the smallest and the pace could be set by us. A good guide is worth his/her weight in gold. S/he can give you more than just the history of the place, s/he can provide a feel for the people and the culture. If price is your criterion, you will miss much that we valued in our tour. Alena, for example, is knowledgeable in the many exhibits at each of the places you wish to visit. She is required to take examinations at each museum/palace to ensure that she is proficient as a tour guide. That is in addition to her excellent academic credentials. When you think of the cost, remember that you are getting expertise, an in-depth history and view of the city, entry to museums and palaces and a private car and driver to take you around for less than $100 an hour. That sounded like a good deal to us and we weren't disappointed. In the end it is your money, your choice. We enjoyed our touring and we hope that you enjoy yours.

[Leejnd4]

I have emailed Anastasia for information. She has sent back a "basic tour" that seems fine, but is costly for the two of us. She has quoted us over $1000 for the two days. I keep reading that some did the two days for 2 people at $500+ What am I missing? I have not given her specific details of what we want to see, but her basic tour pretty much touches most of them. Any help with this would be appreciated.

 

I don't think you've seen anyone say that they did two days for two people at a TOTAL of $500 ($250 per person) with Anastasia. That's just not possible. $500 per person for two days sounds about right, and that's what she's also quoting you.

 

The best way to bring the price down is to find others to do the tour with you. We found another couple in our roll call thread, and that brought our price down to under $400 per person. There was another couple who expressed interest in joining us, and so I asked for a quote for 6, and that brought the price down to about $325 per person - a GREAT deal for what you get!

 

To help you gain some perspective on the pricing, you might want to also take a look at the Denrus Value Tours. They offer a 2-day tour for $295 per person, but that's going to be on a bus, with as many as 30 other people, on their inflexible itinerary. For only $200 more you get your OWN van, your OWN guide, and you get to choose what you want to see, at your own pace.

 

You should also take a look at what your ship is offering. Using ship tours, to be able to see everything that you can with a private tour would probably cost you WAY more than $500 per person...and you'll be on buses with as many as 45-50 others.

 

As far as I'm concerned, there's just no better option than a private tour. And Anastasia does a fantastic job, for a better price than the other private tour ops.

 

Do you expect to ever get back to St. Petersburg? If the answer is no, you might want to think about going ahead and splurging. I would rather spend more money and have an incredible experience, and memories (and photos) to last a lifetime, then scrimp and save, and end up with a less-enjoyable, less-memorable experience.

[gdayhoff]

I echo the comments of Fun Seeker.You get what you pay for.We booked a two day tour July 10-11 with SPB-Tours in St Petersburg.Our guide was Elena Skidan who was outstanding and a joy to be with.She was also qualified to do all the museums.Our group of five conisted of my family ages 15-79 and Elena was able to communicate to each of us beautifully.She was fantastic. We were gone from the ship 7:30 AM to 9:30 PM the first night and from 8:00 to 5:00 PM the second day.We had a ball and saw a lot of St Petersburg.

Like Fun Seeker said it cost us about $100.00 per hour for a party of 5 with a guide,driver.and auto.I don't think the ship tours can beat that.

[tally10]

I don't think you've seen anyone say that they did two days for two people at a TOTAL of $500 ($250 per person) with Anastasia. That's just not possible. $500 per person for two days sounds about right, and that's what she's also quoting you.

 

The best way to bring the price down is to find others to do the tour with you. We found another couple in our roll call thread, and that brought our price down to under $400 per person. There was another couple who expressed interest in joining us, and so I asked for a quote for 6, and that brought the price down to about $325 per person - a GREAT deal for what you get!

 

To help you gain some perspective on the pricing, you might want to also take a look at the Denrus Value Tours. They offer a 2-day tour for $295 per person, but that's going to be on a bus, with as many as 30 other people, on their inflexible itinerary. For only $200 more you get your OWN van, your OWN guide, and you get to choose what you want to see, at your own pace.

 

You should also take a look at what your ship is offering. Using ship tours, to be able to see everything that you can with a private tour would probably cost you WAY more than $500 per person...and you'll be on buses with as many as 45-50 others.

 

As far as I'm concerned, there's just no better option than a private tour. And Anastasia does a fantastic job, for a better price than the other private tour ops.

 

Do you expect to ever get back to St. Petersburg? If the answer is no, you might want to think about going ahead and splurging. I would rather spend more money and have an incredible experience, and memories (and photos) to last a lifetime, then scrimp and save, and end up with a less-enjoyable, less-memorable experience.

 

I just wanted to add that we have been to St. Petersburg on cruises twice before and only took the cruise line's tours (2004 and 2006). We saw a bit of this and a bit of that. This next May, we have a private tour with Anastasia and at least we will see all of what we want to see and have the flexibility to say when we want to move on and see something else. I was disappointed in some of the ship's tours and happy with others. But being crammed on a bus with a large amount of people and having to wait on people who don't look at their watches and get back to the bus on time, is a real pain. Plus no flexibility to say "enough, lets go on to the next place to see."

[KnoxvilleSam]

As others have noted, the price depends greatly on the number of persons in your group. We were with SP-B/Viktoria in late June and had a group of 11 for a total of $375 pp for 3 full days. That works out to $125 pp/pd, which I think is in the ballpark of most of the tour agencies mentioned on this board. Eleven was a great number for us - on a minivan, easy in and out of sites, etc. and a great guide (Elena) and driver (Yuri).

 

Sam

[Leejnd4]

One more comment that I think is important to note: all of the major private tour ops in St. P use the same guides. They draw from a pool of expert private guides, all of whom will work for any of these tour ups. Our guide, Irina, told us that she has worked for basically all of them at various times - whomever happens to have work for her, and is willing to pay her premium price, she'll work for.

 

Hence, since you're getting the same product (same guides, same drivers, etc.), the real differences between the top private tour operators ultimately come down to two things: price and service.

 

Re price: they all charge the same amount for entrance fees, because that goes to the venues. So the only variance is what they charge for the guide and car/driver. Anastasia had a slightly lower price than any of the others that I priced out, so we went with her.

 

Re service: I attempted to obtain quotes from several of the private tour ops. Both Anastasia and SPB Tours (Viktoria) were extremely responsive, flexible, and very pleasant to communicate with. I did not have the same experience in trying to communicate with some of the others. So when it came down to making the choice, it was between Anastasia and SPB - and Anastasia was lower.

 

We had an AMAZING time, so we have no regrets! I'm sure we would have had just as great a time with SPB (and may even have ended up with the same guide). :D

[longislandfamily]

I have emailed Anastasia for information. She has sent back a "basic tour" that seems fine, but is costly for the two of us. She has quoted us over $1000 for the two days. I keep reading that some did the two days for 2 people at $500+ What am I missing? I have not given her specific details of what we want to see, but her basic tour pretty much touches most of them. Any help with this would be appreciated.

 

The price goes down when you have a larger group. We had 9 people and paid just over $300 each. Even if you are traveling as a couple, you could join your Cruise Critic Roll Call and seek others to form a group based on the itinerary you prefer.

[gottogocruisin]

Thanks so much for all the input. I guess I originally started to dwell on the price only because Anastasia said it was just the basic tour. Price is not a factor with us for St. Petersburg, as we will never get back to Russia I am sure, but I just needed to get a feel for how others got the prices they did. We are not opposed to joining another group and will let Anastasia know that. I read a post from lisacollie that stated there were four in their group and they paid $550 for the two of them. I made an assumption it was for the two days. Sorry if I miss interpreted. Just getting my ducks in a row with all of your help. Thanks again.

[TLCOhio]

The best way to bring the price down is to find others to do the tour with you. We found another couple in our roll call thread, and that brought our price down to under $400 per person. There was another couple who expressed interest in joining us, and so I asked for a quote for 6, and that brought the price down to about $325 per person - a GREAT deal for what you get! Using ship tours, to be able to see everything that you can with a private tour would probably cost you WAY more than $500 per person...and you'll be on buses with as many as 45-50 others.

 

As far as I'm concerned, there's just no better option than a private tour. And Anastasia does a fantastic job, for a better price than the other private tour ops. Do you expect to ever get back to St. Petersburg? If the answer is no, you might want to think about going ahead and splurging. I would rather spend more money and have an incredible experience, and memories (and photos) to last a lifetime, then scrimp and save, and end up with a less-enjoyable, less-memorable experience.

 

Agree strongly with Lee Anne on all points. Sharing with another couple makes the economics work so super well, plus with just four people you can really see and do what you most want to experience and enjoy. We used Anastasia and it worked out wonderful. We saw the large groups in "forced march" through the Hermitage and it would not have been a fun feeling to be a part of that tour. Below are just two picture examples of us in the Hermitage with an early admission being able to fully enjoy DaVinci's great art there, etc.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

 

 

[gottogocruisin]

Thanks Terry for the nice pictures. We are definitely going to send another email to Anastasia and ask if she can "hook us up" with another couple or two. Your pictures make me excited to see the 289 days go quickly! Many thanks.

[Leejnd4]

And that is just a small sampling of the amazing photos Terry has of his tour of St. Petersburg! :)

 

gottogocruisin, I'd encourage you to also check the roll call for your cruise. That's a great way to connect up with people for a private tour - and then you'll have a chance to get to know them in advance, and even meet them on the ship prior to the tour. That's what we did, and we found new friends-for-life!

[gottogocruisin]

I agree with you LeeAnne, but our roll call is really sick at this time. Not much doing and I guess it is just too early. Our cruise is not until the end of May. I will keep checking and thanks for all of your special help. I tend to do the year long planning and love all of it. For me it is so much a part of the wonderful cruise. Again thanks.

[jbkimsey]

I agree with you LeeAnne, but our roll call is really sick at this time. Not much doing and I guess it is just too early. Our cruise is not until the end of May. I will keep checking and thanks for all of your special help. I tend to do the year long planning and love all of it. For me it is so much a part of the wonderful cruise. Again thanks.

 

We were on the June 22 sailing of the Eurodam, and I set up a custom tour with Anastasia. It varied it a bit from the standard itinerary (we included a canal cruise, for example), and received pricing back very quickly - broken down by category, etc. I used our roll call page to see if any other parties would be interested in doing the tour with us, and we quickly went from 2 to 4 to 7 to 9, before cutting it off at a party of 11. As we brought new people into the tour, they had a vote on accepted more people or limiting the size.

 

As the group size grew, the cost came down. Also, with Anastasia they are making suggestions all the way through on how to improve the trip, and sometimes those suggestions reduce the costs. For example, Anastasia had been hearing consistent reports that groups signed up for early admission at the Hermitage were waiting for long periods of time to get in. Everyone is doing early admission, it seems. So, she suggested we arrange our day, and arrive at the Hermitage mid-morning. We walked right in with no line, and saved the early admission cost.

 

A party of 11 seemed about right for the two day tour. We heard horror stories of large groups held up by one missing person. Plus, the logistics of getting 40 or more people on and off a bus, into restrooms and back, etc. are very difficult. You also have a much better chance of actually hearing what your tour guide is saying.

 

The communications that HAL put out about private tours had us all on edge. They were basically saying we could either be the first ones off (way before the time we had agreed upone with Anastasia) or leave after all the ship's tours left. In the end, we did have to get up earlier than we should have had to, and were "quarantined" in a lounge for half an hours or so with other private tour groups. We were then led off the ship by one of the staff before the ship's groups. Had HAL tried to hold us on the ship we were all prepared to just march to the gangplank and leave. Luckily it did not come to that.

 

Interestingly, on the second day HAL made no such attempt to hold us hostage!

 

The benefits of a private tour very much outweigh any of the inconveniences like the one mentioned above though. I'd recommend Anastasia, and our guide Irina and driver Andrew, in a heartbeat.

 

You can see the pictures of our St. Petersburg tour, if you have tolerance for a lot of photos, at:

 

http://www.tripfolio.com/balticsea/stpetersburg/album/index.html

 

For those with low tolerance, here are a few photos, I'll try to figure out how Terry in Ohio inserts his pictures at such a great size. So far I can only get thumbnails to load...

[gottogocruisin]

Thanks so much for your post and the pictures. I did reconnect with Anastasia Tour today and know I will go with them. The more I read the more I am convinced that her tour covers almost everything we want. I just don't want to take time to do a sit down lunch and told her so. That just takes too much time when there is so much to see. I am truly excited and thank everyone on this CC that helped me to know how I should go in St. Petersburg.

[Leejnd4]

The benefits of a private tour very much outweigh any of the inconveniences like the one mentioned above though. I'd recommend Anastasia, and our guide Irina and driver Andrew, in a heartbeat.

 

 

Hey, you had our guide, Irina! I saw her on photo #155 of your photos. Wasn't she FABULOUS? And such an encyclopedic knowledge. We loved her!

 

GREAT photos - you got some shots that I was unable to get - like a great image of the many gilt-lined doorways telescoping through Catherine's Palace. My shots just didn't come out as good.

[simbahay]

Hi, I saw your request for info. We have just returned from the trip and used Anastasia. They were outstanding. I would highly recommend them. Our guide was just the very best. We were 8 people and when I booked the three days in St Petersburg I was very worried since I had never hear of this company( Anastasia. All I can say, you do not need to worry. Helen our guide was the best guide we have every had and we have been on many many trips. Her knowledge was amazing and she was so nice to be with. Have a wonderful trip, Do some reading before you go so you know where you are going and what you will be seeing. If you want to buy gifts ask her to take you. She took us to a gift shop which had lots of items at all kinds of prices, and they were all very reasonsable for the quality.

We requested a Canal tour and took a box lunch from our ship which we enjoyed while on the water. Have a great trip.