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  #11  
Old July 22nd, 2012, 09:15 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Sandy[_5_]
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Posts: 22
Default Roll Call

Thanks so much guys.
The one tour we arranged through Oceania was to visit Peter The Great's
Palace. With the history of Russia and Westerners, I am a bit frightened
to step very far from the ship with out someone from the ship near by.
Maybe there are some gift shops right near the port where we could buy some
souvenirs. Or maybe there will be things on board the ship we could do.
Having lived through the 50s and 60s, I am still a bit frightened of just
being in Russia.
Sandy
"Tom K" wrote in message
...
On 7/21/12 6:18 PM, Jeff Gersten wrote:
I am not on face book, a little afraid of using
that, but I do check in here often and like the
rest of you who have commented, I miss the
old crowd as well.


Same here.

We are planning aBaltic cruise in June-July of
2013 on Oceania and have lots of questions
we would like to ask you guys. Such as with
the three days we will be in St. Petersburg, we
only have scheduled one Tour, what is there
to do near the port for the other two days, and
will we need any documents when we are on
our own besides our passports. I sure miss all
the posts.


St. Petersburg is not set up to do on your own. It's not a port where
you will find public transportation.

Plus Russian law is that you need a visa anywhere in Russia except for
St. Petersburg for 72 hours or less AND you use either a ship's tour or
a tour with a licensed tour guide.

We used Alla 5 years ago, and were very pleased with her service. If I
were you, I'd look at the Baltic port section of cruisecritic to see
what folks are saying about guides these days. Once you have a roll
call, you could see if others wanted to share tours.


We are going to St. Petersburg on Constellation this August.

Having been there before, one of my disappointments the first time was not
having nearly enough time in the Hermitage. We were there like 2-3 hours
which wasn't nearly enough. To me that is one of the treasures of the
world. I wanted more time there and was willing to give up time we would
have spent at churches or temples.

Charles read about TJ Travel tours in St. Petersburg. After looking at
various options that range from expensive tours with your own guide to the
standard tours, I contacted a rep from TJ. I explained my wishes and they
came up with a great middle option. We will be with a group the first day
going to Catherine's Palace and Peterhof Palace. The second day we will
be with the group for a boat ride in the morning, but then when the group
is taken to the Hermitage, we will get our own guide for the Hermitage
that we can keep for the rest of the day until going back to the ship.
And the increased price wasn't that much more than for the standard tour.
I was very impressed with their flexibility and willingness to work with
my wishes at a fair price. Hopefully their tour matches their great
service so far. We will know in a few weeks.

Tom



  #12  
Old July 22nd, 2012, 10:46 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Janet Wilder
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 439
Default Roll Call

On 7/22/2012 3:15 PM, Sandy wrote:
Thanks so much guys.
The one tour we arranged through Oceania was to visit Peter The Great's
Palace. With the history of Russia and Westerners, I am a bit frightened
to step very far from the ship with out someone from the ship near by.
Maybe there are some gift shops right near the port where we could buy some
souvenirs. Or maybe there will be things on board the ship we could do.
Having lived through the 50s and 60s, I am still a bit frightened of just
being in Russia.


Sandy,

Don't be afraid. The Russian people are friendly. Just smile.

Do be aware that many of the public rest rooms charge so keep some
Roubles in your pocket. We called it "potty cash".

Before you pay for the visit to Peterhof, make sure that it's the entire
palace. Our tour last summer from the river cruise only went through
the gardens. They are magnificent and rather startling and a lot of fun
especially if you are there on a week end in hot weather and the local
families are there with the children, but we did not get to see the
interior of the palace. That's one place we will visit with Alla next
summer on our private tour.

You need to visit Catherine's Palace. It's amazing. It makes Versailles
look like a dump. Other places to see are the Peter and Paul Fortress,
St. Isaac's Cathedral and, of course, The Hermitage. The huge
collection of Western art at the Hermitage had me in tears. I was so
overwhelmed by so much great art in one place. Blew my mind!

If you go to St. Isaacs, pay the fee and climb up into the rotunda. The
vistas of all of the city can be photographed. I was so glad I did as
some of my best photos were taken from up there.


--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.


  #13  
Old July 23rd, 2012, 01:28 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 375
Default Roll Call

On Sat, 21 Jul 2012 23:00:51 -0500, Janet Wilder
wrote:

On 7/21/2012 5:18 PM, Jeff Gersten wrote:
I am not on face book, a little afraid of using
that, but I do check in here often and like the
rest of you who have commented, I miss the
old crowd as well.


Same here.

We are planning aBaltic cruise in June-July of
2013 on Oceania and have lots of questions
we would like to ask you guys. Such as with
the three days we will be in St. Petersburg, we
only have scheduled one Tour, what is there
to do near the port for the other two days, and
will we need any documents when we are on
our own besides our passports. I sure miss all
the posts.


St. Petersburg is not set up to do on your own. It's not a port where
you will find public transportation.

Plus Russian law is that you need a visa anywhere in Russia except for
St. Petersburg for 72 hours or less AND you use either a ship's tour or
a tour with a licensed tour guide.

We used Alla 5 years ago, and were very pleased with her service. If I
were you, I'd look at the Baltic port section of cruisecritic to see
what folks are saying about guides these days. Once you have a roll
call, you could see if others wanted to share tours.


We are doing a Baltic next August. We were in St. Petersburg last
summer on a river cruise, but felt we didn't have enough time to see
everything we wanted so we contracted with Alla for a private tour for
just the two of us to see the places we want to go and a few others she
suggested.

By contracting with her for St. Petersburg, she sill discount tours you
book with her in three other Baltic ports.

I found her extremely personable and easy to work with. You don't pay
her until the second day of the tour and, unlike some other companies,
does not add an upcharge to your credit card.


We did a tour with Alla in St. Pete in 2009 (but we paid on the first
day). We did the easy tour for two days. On the second day, they got
us early admission to the Hermitage before the rest of the crowds are
admitted, and we had two or more hours there with our guide. My
granddaughter was interested in Van Gogh and they had eight of them,
and our guide took us to see all of them. I could take photos of the
rooms (she got us a camera pass too) before there were so many people
that you couldn't see the floors.

The only problem I had was that the cruise director tried to make us
think that we could not get off unless we were on a ship's tour and to
block anyone with an in dependant tour from leaving the ship.

  #14  
Old July 23rd, 2012, 02:50 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Janet Wilder
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 439
Default Roll Call

On 7/22/2012 7:28 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 21 Jul 2012 23:00:51 -0500, Janet Wilder
wrote:

On 7/21/2012 5:18 PM, Jeff Gersten wrote:
I am not on face book, a little afraid of using
that, but I do check in here often and like the
rest of you who have commented, I miss the
old crowd as well.

Same here.

We are planning aBaltic cruise in June-July of
2013 on Oceania and have lots of questions
we would like to ask you guys. Such as with
the three days we will be in St. Petersburg, we
only have scheduled one Tour, what is there
to do near the port for the other two days, and
will we need any documents when we are on
our own besides our passports. I sure miss all
the posts.

St. Petersburg is not set up to do on your own. It's not a port where
you will find public transportation.

Plus Russian law is that you need a visa anywhere in Russia except for
St. Petersburg for 72 hours or less AND you use either a ship's tour or
a tour with a licensed tour guide.

We used Alla 5 years ago, and were very pleased with her service. If I
were you, I'd look at the Baltic port section of cruisecritic to see
what folks are saying about guides these days. Once you have a roll
call, you could see if others wanted to share tours.


We are doing a Baltic next August. We were in St. Petersburg last
summer on a river cruise, but felt we didn't have enough time to see
everything we wanted so we contracted with Alla for a private tour for
just the two of us to see the places we want to go and a few others she
suggested.

By contracting with her for St. Petersburg, she sill discount tours you
book with her in three other Baltic ports.

I found her extremely personable and easy to work with. You don't pay
her until the second day of the tour and, unlike some other companies,
does not add an upcharge to your credit card.


We did a tour with Alla in St. Pete in 2009 (but we paid on the first
day). We did the easy tour for two days. On the second day, they got
us early admission to the Hermitage before the rest of the crowds are
admitted, and we had two or more hours there with our guide. My
granddaughter was interested in Van Gogh and they had eight of them,
and our guide took us to see all of them. I could take photos of the
rooms (she got us a camera pass too) before there were so many people
that you couldn't see the floors.

The only problem I had was that the cruise director tried to make us
think that we could not get off unless we were on a ship's tour and to
block anyone with an in dependant tour from leaving the ship.



Most tour companies will get you into The Hermitage before it is open to
the general public.

Alla sent me printed directions of where to find her tour guide and how
to get off the ship.

I have heard that some cruise lines try to scare the pzx into only doing
tours with the ship, but most of us are savvy enough to know that if we
have privately booked, the proper paperwork will be there.

Alla now charges you on the second day. I think she works rather hard
to keep on top of things. She is rated third highest on Trip Advisor.
To be honest, I did not have such good experiences with number 1 rated.
They were arrogant and downright nasty. Number 2 would not
personalize. Alla was perfectly willing to make a tour for just two
people.

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.
  #15  
Old July 23rd, 2012, 01:46 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Gadget World
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 274
Default Roll Call

The only way to see St Petersburg is with a private guide.

I had been there many times and wasted valuable hours on lines with
thousands of other cruise passengers.

Finally I hired a guide and got to see everything in two days non-stop.
Palaces-all of them! River cruises. Restaurants, night clubs, ballet,
Hotels.

With all the ships over in Europe in the summer it's a very competitive
game when you get off the ship in any port in the med, or Northern
Europe.

The only civilized ports are the ports between the north and the south,
in German, Holland, Belgium, France and Portugal. As for the med , you
might as well save the money and go to Coney Island.




  #16  
Old July 24th, 2012, 05:07 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
linnie
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 23
Default Roll Call

On 7/20/2012 12:12 PM, Brian K wrote:
It's been a while since I checked this NG. Who's still here or has
everybody migrated to the other Facebook Group?


I still check in.
-linnie
  #19  
Old July 26th, 2012, 12:48 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
RayC
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 242
Default Roll Call

On 7/20/2012 12:12 PM, Brian K wrote:
It's been a while since I checked this NG. Who's still here or has
everybody migrated to the other Facebook Group?


I do go to Facebook but, while free from troll posts, it is also free
from spirited conversations between members. I keep coming here in
hopes that the old TAs that helped here would come back and help again.
I think the drama here made it all that more fun.

--

Ray
+++++++++++++++++++++++
www.CompressorStuff.com
  #20  
Old August 17th, 2012, 04:18 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Steve[_10_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 46
Default Roll Call

On 7/20/2012 3:12 PM, Brian K wrote:
It's been a while since I checked this NG. Who's still here or has
everybody migrated to the other Facebook Group?


I still check in here once in a while. I'm in the facebook group but I
don't go there all that often either. I like the newsgroup format a lot
better. Too bad newsgroups are sort of fading away.

Steve
 




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