St. Petersburg plus

Old May 10th, 2015, 10:05 AM
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St. Petersburg plus

Planning a family vacation for summer 2016. St. Petersburg seems to be a must among some of the family. A Baltic cruise has been suggested, and some hit Helsinki, Copenhagen etc. which do appeal to us, more so than moving farther into Russia.
However, we haven't done the cruise thing and the idea of having to be back on the boat by late afternoon (no late night strolls) seems odd, plus I have heard of long bus rides to major cities such as Florence (though these are mostly ports and maybe not applicable). I guess I'm asking for some logistical help: If you've explored St. Petes what did you do from there and how'd you get there? Is a river cruise more appealing (I researched danube cruises years ago and they iseemed explorer friendly)?

I've done a little cruise research so far and the results are strangely stilted. I wonder if they prefer you talk to a cruise representative, or maybe I'm just not hitting the right websites. Please advise. Thanks.

FWIW we have traveled independenty over the years by train in Italy, Germany, paris, Netherlands, Belgium and/or the UK. This is a bit of a new frontier for us and are trying to accomodate a larger family group, so I'm intentionally being a bit vague on what we want to see because I'm sure that is different for each of us right now, so I'm more focused on transportation/logistic/experiences. Please/thanks.
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Old May 10th, 2015, 02:41 PM
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Have you visited cruisecritic.com?

I am very much not interested in cruises - too many people in a small area, and too little time in port - but a lot of people love them. I often see claims that you get a "taste" of places on a cruise. Personally I prefer something a bit more nourishing. From St. Petersburg I took a train to Novgorod and then to Moscow, and had a car and driver to visit some of the Golden Ring towns. I preferred Moscow to St. Petersburg because I found it more diverse, but I am not a fan of baroque.

If you really don't want to go further into Russia there are ferries between St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Tallin, Stockholm etc. etc. Also, if you go to Tallinn I highly recommend taking a bus to Riga. See http://www.directferries.co.uk/ for ferry routes.
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Old May 11th, 2015, 04:47 AM
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I have done the Baltic cruise and would highly recommend it. Helsinki and Riga are easy to see from the boat. You'll need to book a guide and get a one-day visa on the boat to visit St. Petersburg but you can do that all the on the boat. Gdansk was a bit far away from the port but the rest was fantastic.
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Old May 11th, 2015, 05:26 AM
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Thanks both of you. I have typically done independent travel and usually planned the details of the European trip for a max of 2 families. This area is/was not at the top of my to do list, but that may be out of ignorance, so I'm game.

This would be 3 families and due to my current ignorance and logistics, there is some value to a floating hotel/tour. That said, I don't want the cruise requirements to be so strict as to cut into the experience.

I'll take a look at the ferries and research some of the cruises.
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Old May 11th, 2015, 05:50 AM
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Note that there is also a good train between Helsinki and St. Petersburg:
http://www.seat61.com/helsinki-to-st...m#.VVCwt5MWJko

For my last trip to the Baltics, start here:
https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...ain-and-shine/

The one advantage to doing a cruise to St. Petersburg is that, IF you are willing to only take the cruise tours on land, you don't have to fuss with a Russian visa. However, I believe there are "ferry" cruises out of Helsinki that work the same - I think there was a thread here on that.

On Russian visas, see:

http://waytorussia.net/RussianVisa/

or: http://www.seat61.com/Russia.htm#Visas
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Old May 11th, 2015, 06:24 AM
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Several cruise lines, Oceania notably among them, have Baltic Cruise itineraries that include two night nearly 60 hours stays in St.Petersburg. With a group of 3 families, you can arrange your own tour with an independent operator. I have had good small group experience with Dancing Bear Tours. In the other cities, you can find independent tour operators on Cruise Critic or Tours by Locals, and for a day trip to Berlin from Warnemunde, we had a very good experience with Berlin Walks.
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Old May 11th, 2015, 08:45 AM
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When we took our Baltic cruise it included an overnight stay in St. Pete.

If you go that route here is what I suggest you consider doing:

Get yourself a guide who will be waiting when you dock and the ship is cleared. These folks/companies can also arrange for the usual visa stuff as part of the deal.

Then: cram as much as possible into every waking minute. Listen, it is not going to kill you to go, go, go and unless you know absolutely you are going to BE back in that city it is, IMO, worth losing a little sleep, etc.

There is so MUCH to see and do including the various restored palace interiors, the Church on the Spilled Blood, the Peter and Paul Fortress, and then there is the Hermitage with its millions of works (many stored in the basement) as well as the decoration in the rooms themselves; this s NOT some "ordinary" museum, believe me.

You could possibly take in some sort of arts performance at night as well.

It's up to you and a boat is one convenient way to visit that city. Allowing some preconceived travel restriction doubts to get in the way of this opportunity seems foolish IMO, but to each their own.
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Old May 11th, 2015, 08:50 AM
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Amsterdam and St. Petersburg on my list so I'm saving this for future reference. Thanks, bitter and please let us know what you ended up doing.
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Old May 11th, 2015, 09:51 AM
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We, too, wanted to visit St. Petersburg ... ended up on a Baltic cruise last June (2014) round trip from Southampton, England.

You do get to stay overnight in St Petersburg on most cruises. Unless you are planning to get your own Russian visa, you will need to be on an officially sanctioned tour. There are a few tour companies that offer two-day tours for cruise passengers. SPB and Alla seem to be the most popular. You will need to book ahead to ensure there is space on a tour on the day(s) you desire.

We used SPB, and had a really great experience - we were able to book a guide for ourselves and two other couples for two days, so it wasn't a large group. We had to be back on the ship each of the two days after about 6 p.m. - but we could have booked an additional evening tour, if we had wanted to.

We were really on the go for the entire two days - we saw the majority of sights; of course two days in never enough to really see a grand city, but our guide was very knowledgeable and efficient at getting us from place to place.

The down side was that - we were in Russia, on a sanctioned tour, and there was no real freedom to wander about on our own. I would have liked to have been able to stroll the streets and have some interaction with the local people, but there was no deviation from the tour schedule and the places we went. It was almost as if our guide would have liked that for us too, but it was not allowed. (The only other country where I have had a similar experience was about six years ago in Albania - still that hold-over from the cold war days, maybe?)

My reason for going to St. Petersburg was to visit the Hermitage, and we spent a half day there. It's an impossibly huge collection housed in stunning buildings ... I was glad we had our guide to steer us to the more important rooms and art pieces, along with sharing the history of Catherine the Great, who was the initial collector of this amazing art.

In the end, I was happy we did the entire Baltic cruise, as there were other aspects of it that surprised me - I thought the morning spent going into Stockholm through the archipelago was seriously one of the most beautiful water journeys I have ever experienced. We also loved visiting Wernemunde, Copenhagen and Helsinki. We had a small taste of Bruges, and a visit to Estonia (that I could have passed on).

One of the best things about cruising (in my opinion) is traveling from one destination to the next at night while you're asleep, and only having to unpack your belongings one time. Makes travel life so much easier. The pitfall, of course, is the limited time you have to see each destination - you never really get a feeling of "knowing" a city or port.

If you do decide to visit St. Petersburg, I highly recommend that you read Robert Massie's biography of Catherine the Great. It illuminates so much of the history of St. Petersburg, as well as all of Russia. I was so glad I had read it prior to my visit.
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Old May 11th, 2015, 10:38 AM
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"The only other country where I have had a similar experience was about six years ago in Albania - still that hold-over from the cold war days, maybe?"


Were you on a tour in Albania? I was there solo in 2011 and had no trouble moving around. Of course, I was in St. Petersburg in 2004 and had no trouble there either, but I had a regular tourist visa.
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Old May 11th, 2015, 12:14 PM
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Thanks everyone. I have no problem with going going going! I'm one of the posters here that enjoy fast pace European itineraries. (Some of my extended family members might be less so, though).

I guess I'm just used to doing my own thing and hopping on a train to the next location, so this isn't a bad option, but a little against my grain.

I remember someone once saying they had to take a bus for an hour or two just to get to Florence from their cruise ship and that has made me nervous (that sounds insane!)
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Old May 11th, 2015, 12:22 PM
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If you do decide on a cruise (totally not my thing, but...) you might look for Rick Steves' "Northern European Cruise Ports" which tells you which ports need tours, and how to do others on your own.

http://travelstore.ricksteves.com/ca...tId=163&id=553
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Old May 11th, 2015, 02:12 PM
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I am not a "cruiser." I would never consider trying to see most of the places I want to see in Europe via a cruise ship - especially inland destinations such as Rome or Florence. Some people on our Baltic cruise went all the way in to Berlin for the day from the north coast of Germany - sounded awful ... that's insane.

We did the Baltic cruise after having spent two weeks in a rented flat in London, because I really wanted to see the Hermitage, and we were already going to be in England (much closer to Russia than California). Also I don't have a desire to explore any other parts of Russia.

The cruise seemed like the easiest way to get to St. Petersburg - and I confess, seeing the other Baltic ports was like icing on the cake. Many of the Baltic cities were easily walkable from the pier, while the others were a five minute shuttle away. We read guidebooks and looked online for things to do and see, and even though our time was limited, we enjoyed it.

If you really are a complete spontaneity freak, I think you wouldn't like being on any kind of tour - or cruise. But there are possibilities within the structure of a cruise that allow for some self guidance.

What I really did NOT like was that there were two "sea days," in which we were just sailing on the Baltic Sea. That was just plain dull to me, although I understand there are many people who live for those kinds of days.
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Old May 11th, 2015, 07:29 PM
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I< agree with Dukey1 when you are in St.Petersburg maximize your time.

I think a Baltic Cruise is a good way to go depending on other places you want to see.

These were my port of call

I was on the Star Princess and the ports of call were as follows:
Copenhagen
Stockholm
Helsinki
St. Petersburg
Tallin Estonia
Gdansk Poland
Oslo Norway:

Here is a brief excerpt from my Trip Report on St. Petersburg:

"If you are planning a Baltic cruise and going to St.Petersburg, then you either take the cruise ship tour , a private tour or you need a Visa.

I had a private guide Alla Tours.


I guess most cruise ship tours start at 8 AM and later because here is what happened to me :

I got off the ship at exactly 7 AM walked right into the Customs place ( not a single person in line),she took the copy of my passport and handed me a red card and off I went.

Alla Tours was waiting for me( 4 of us ) on the other side of the building.
We got into the van and were off at 7:11 AM ( Wow!!!)

I also had a list of all the places I wanted to see and KNEW where they were.

This is helpful when you are travelling from one place to another because you can ask the tour guide to make a short diversion.

For example:

After touring the Peter and Paul Fortress we were waiting at the lights to cross the trinity Bridge to go to the Field of Mars and Summer Gardens.

I said to our drive Boris,

"Could you just make a left turn here at the lights and go down a few blocks to Peter the Great's original Log Cabin and then to the Aurora Cruiser.?"

Boris just smiled and said sure.

Alla had a great tour but I saw more and extra by just asking for it.

Alla wanted us to have about an hour and a half for lunch.

I told her no , a half hour lunch is good enough.!

She agreed and said , good then on the way to Peterhof we can stop off at:

Chesme Church
House of soviets
Lenin statue
Victory Square

and just before Peterhof ,I asked to drive into the Konstantinovsky Palace.

Yep it is go go go ... but it was fun also.

I had a private guide at every port, I had time with the guide and time on my own, so as to maximize getting from point A to point B
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Old May 12th, 2015, 05:07 AM
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thanks again, that is reassuring that the travel time from the ship isn't too lengthy (unless one chooses an inland city like Berlin). I did see Berlin on one itinerary and thought "I didn't think Berlin was near the coast." Did a google map search and reaffirmed it is not!
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Old May 12th, 2015, 06:03 AM
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You know we all go on holidays in different way and have different preferences.

But if you are thinking of a Baltic Cruyise then I would pick a cruise with ports of call that you might never go to again.

I included in my ports the places Gdansk and Oslo.

I did not want Berlin because to me my chances of going to Berlin in the future were greater than my going to Gdansk or Oslo.

Sure enough, the following year I wound up in Berlin, Dresden and many other parts of Germany.

if you do not take a Baltic Cruise then thursdaysd idea if a train from Tallinn to Riga is a good one.


You have a year to plan and will change your mind several times I am sure.

Happy planning
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Old May 12th, 2015, 09:46 AM
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Train from Helsinki to St. P. Bus from Tallinn to Riga, unless the rail situation in the Baltics has improved since I was there last. Loved Riga, but I am an Art Nouveau fan.
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Old Jul 1st, 2015, 02:12 PM
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Old Jul 3rd, 2015, 05:20 AM
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What company, PhillyFan, please? 3 days in St. P. is good.
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Old Jul 5th, 2015, 02:58 PM
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Yes, 3 days in St. Petersburg was wonderful - we did a tour and every day was very full, but I really feel like we got to see the highlights of this amazing city.

We were on a cruise on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas. They have different Baltic itineraries, and this summer, our cruise was the only one (of Royal Caribbean's) that stayed 3 days in St. Petersburg. Our itinerary was: Copenhagen, Berlin, Klaipeda (Lithuania), Visby (Sweden), Helsinki, St. Petersburg (3 days), Tallinn and Stockholm.
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