free St Petersburg excursions

[gfranzen]

I'd like those returning from 2009 St. Petersburg shore excursions to comment on the Regent excursions. How many folks were on your free excursions? What was your impression - did you wish for a private tour?

[Mr Retired]

I'd like those returning from 2009 St. Petersburg shore excursions to comment on the Regent excursions. How many folks were on your free excursions? What was your impression - did you wish for a private tour?

 

 

We are just back from St P from our Voyager cruise - our first. We took 2 free Regent tours on Day 1; and on Day 2 we arranged a private car with guide & driver through Regent.

 

The free tours were fine without being spectacular. Much depends on the guide of course. There were around 20 guests on each excursion. There is an element of "hurry up and wait" but on the whole the organization of the tours is quite satisfactory. Our guide for the Yusupov Palace & Canals handed out individual earphones (connected to her personal microphone) which picked up her running commentary and instructions etc. These proved to be a boon in the throngs of visitors which made staying within normal earshot of the guide quite impossible. The evening excursion to the Russian Folk Song & Dance performance was also most enjoyable - a military band & male voice choir.

 

Our private tour on Day 2 - we took in the Hermitage and Peterhof - was naturally so much more individually tailored, allowing for an ongoing conversation with our delightful and very knowedgeable guide throughout the day. This added immeasurably to our enjoyment and I heartily recommend it. However, it was (I have to say) outrageously expensive - over $1000 for 8 hours! Since the free tours cover all admission fees, it's hard to know why Regent doesn't cover this cost on the private tour. Well over $100 in fees for a couple. But if you can afford it, and it is likely to be your one and only exposure to St P. as it was for us, do it! Lines are jumped and at the top museums like the Hermitage, where the lines are huge, this is a real benefit.

 

Mrs Retired concurs with my views but is slightly less concerned about the cost!!

[gfranzen]

I appreciate your comments. We have 3 days in SP and are leaning towards 2 days with Alla or Anastasia and 1 day with a free tour.

[alidor]

Are there any other responses for this?

[Host Dan]

Are there any other responses for this?

Someone expects instant gratification! (You're not on Regent!) LOL ;)

 

I'm sure others will chime in soon!

 

Host Dan

[Travelcat2]

I appreciate your comments. We have 3 days in SP and are leaning towards 2 days with Alla or Anastasia and 1 day with a free tour.

 

We used Alla, however, I believe any of them would be wonderful.

 

I believe the lack of responses to free excursions is that they only started this month. It may take another few weeks for people to return home, get settled and begin responding to questions about their cruise.

 

The idea of doing a "free" excursion as well as a private one sounds good to me. This way you'll have both experiences.

[trvlrs]

We will be on the voyager (july 31st) and after searching, reading and posting on forums, we have decided to book with Red October tours (a private tour) at $120.00 per person a day. We read many positive comments about them and all correspondances and phone calls with them have been timely, helpful and very courteous. We are hoping for the best.

We will do the canal cruise and the ballet performance with the cruise ship.

[Travelcat2]

We will be on the voyager (july 31st) and after searching, reading and posting on forums, we have decided to book with Red October tours (a private tour) at $120.00 per person a day. We read many positive comments about them and all correspondances and phone calls with them have been timely, helpful and very courteous. We are hoping for the best.

We will do the canal cruise and the ballet performance with the cruise ship.

 

That price sounds very low. . . . how many people will be on the tour?

[mako2992]

We were on the cruise in question and found the Voyager excursions quite enjoyable. In that they were free I was concerned that they may be way over crowded. As it turned out they ran a very smooth operation from a logistical standpoint. In the Hermitage groups were no larger than 15 people. We did a number of excursions on this cruise and found them ranging from very good to excellent.

[Travelcat2]

We were on the cruise in question and found the Voyager excursions quite enjoyable. In that they were free I was concerned that they may be way over crowded. As it turned out they ran a very smooth operation from a logistical standpoint. In the Hermitage groups were no larger than 15 people. We did a number of excursions on this cruise and found them ranging from very good to excellent.

 

That is really good to hear. Thanks for the report!

[trvlrs]

There's just 2 of us. It's a 6 hour tour. We're going to tour the city, take a metro ride, visit the markets, canal cruise, have lunch.... There are no museums involved (we didn't want any). If we change our mind, we will have to pay the entrance fees (extra).

I specifically asked for a day of wandering around the city... Do you really think it's very cheap?

[sea lover]

Mako 2992, would you please list the free excursions that you did on the Baltic cruise? I would be interested in getting more information about them from you. Thank you and glad you had a great cruise.

[mako2992]

In Warnemunde we did the Streets and Canals of Berlin. Although it was a long day (12 hrs) it was well worth the time, especially so as we had not been to Berlin before. In St Petersburg we did Catherine's Palace on the morning of day 1 and the Yusupov Palace and Canal Cruise in the afternoon. The ride to Catherine's Palace was special as you leave St. Petersburg and are able to view the countryside. Just the approach to the palace is worth the trip. The exterior is breath taking and the treasures inside are equal to the exterior. The afternoon excursion was also enjoyable. And as boaters we enjoyed seeing the city by water. On the second day we did the Hermitage and Gold Room in the morning. The Hermitage was more than I could have imagined. To say that you could spend weeks there is an under statement. The only regret is that you had so little time there. In the afternoon we did the canal cruise and shopping because, as you might have guessed, the ladies wanted to do some shopping. The canal cruise was largely a repeat of day one's cruise but the weather was nicer and as I said the ladies got to shop. The last site I will mention is Stockholm. The Vasa is a must see. We have seen the Mary Rose in England, a ship with a similar story but sunk a 100 years before the Vasa. The Mary Rose is a must see but the Vasa is visually much more impressive. We did more excursions and all were very good but these were the most memorable.

[sea lover]

MAKO2992,thank you so much for your input. By any chance did you go to the ballet in the evening or hear any reports about it? Also would like to know if you or anyone you knew went to the Grand Imperial Evening of the Tsars? Glad you had such a wonderful time and thank you for all your help.

[Travelcat2]

There's just 2 of us. It's a 6 hour tour. We're going to tour the city, take a metro ride, visit the markets, canal cruise, have lunch.... There are no museums involved (we didn't want any). If we change our mind, we will have to pay the entrance fees (extra).

I specifically asked for a day of wandering around the city... Do you really think it's very cheap?

 

Now that you hae explained it. . . . yes, it is absolutely cheap and a wonderful way to see St. Petersburg. Our very expensive tour guide (around $500 for half a day) drove around the Spilled Blood Cathedral -- we loved seeing it (no need to go in). We were outside of the Hermitage -- again, not even a desire to join the hoards of people.

 

We did Catherine's Palace mainly because it was so far out of town -- it allowed us to see some of the countryside. Also, my DH was born before WWII and wanted to see the destruction that had occured at this site during the war. They did a magnificent job (I do not typically like WWII "stuff" -- but found this very interesting).

[trvlrs]

Thank you travelcat2... We hope we made the right decision. I am with you on the hoards of people subject.

 

We left our options open with Red October for the next 2 days. They were very accomodating and said that it would be no problem booking the next day if we were satisfied with our 1st day.

 

We'll post about Red October when we get back...

 

Looking forward to our upcoming cruise:)

[TravelingMan47]

We will be on the voyager (july 31st) and after searching, reading and posting on forums, we have decided to book with Red October tours (a private tour) at $120.00 per person a day. We read many positive comments about them and all correspondances and phone calls with them have been timely, helpful and very courteous. We are hoping for the best.

We will do the canal cruise and the ballet performance with the cruise ship.

I too am on the 31 July Voyager trip and the matter of private vs free tours in St. P is truly perplexing daunting. I'll check out Red October and wait for others who are sailing now to give me/us their input.

[TravelingMan47]

How are you handling arrival in Stockholm? Going straight to the ship or touring a bit in that city before we sail?

[trvlrs]

We were at a loss when we found out how cumbersome it was to get a visa for Russia and how complicated the decision was becoming (free tours, guided tours, private tours, visa vs no visa...). I think we are finally happy with the decision we made. I hope you will be too.

 

We are arriving in Stockhlom on the 29th. This will give us time to visit the city for a couple of days. The port is a 10 or 15 mn taxi ride from the hotel.

 

Good luck and see you on the ship!

[HomeLover]

Hi trvlers,

hope to meet you onboard

[trvlrs]

Thank you all for the very helpful information. We are off to Stockholm tomorrow, before boarding our ship on July 31st.

We'll report when we get back. Looking forward to our Baltic cruise...:)

[TravelingMan47]

Indeed, if my flight gets in on time, I will see you on board on Friday the 31st.

[trvlrs]

Hello Everyone - Its a few month since our July 31st 2009 Baltic cruise but I had to find time to write a few words about our fantastic trip.

Everything was great once we got over the original glitch when we boarded the ship. I was upset and the restaurant manager as well as his staff when out of their way to accomodate us (I had to get upset before it happenned).

In short, they had a computer glitch and most of us couldn't book the restaurant of our choice ahead of time. When we got on board, you had to wait on a very long line to get your reservation if any. It was very poorly handled but it finally got sorted out well. I will not bore all of you with the details but if anyone is taking this cruise and is interested let me know and I will explain to you what to do.

 

Regarding the Free excursion vs the private tours, I recommend hands down the private tours.

We booked red october tours for our first day in St Petersburg and it was so good that we booked more tours on day 2 and 3. We have no regrets for doing so and would not do it any other way.

We walked the city, local markets, ate at the local restaurants as well as visited all the major attractions without ever waiting on any line. We felt like VIP's the entire time. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE RED OCTOBER TOURS. They were professional from the moment I started e-mailing them, to the tour guide and all the way until we arrived to their office for payment.

 

Another great reason for taking a private tour is you don't have to be part of the mad rush every morning. Get up early, eat breakfast on the run and head to the bus with everyone.

 

We took the 3 hour cathedral tour with the ship and regretted doing so.