Hi all

Can anyone give me any idea of the cost of shore excursions that Regent do from the Navigator . We are trying to plan ahead for our Baltic cruise in July and unless we can team up with anyone else for Red October/Denrus then we are probably better doing the ship trips.

Do they do a 2 day tour - and how many are in the groups? What is the approximate cost? Does anyone know anything about the trip to the Armoury/Artillery museum with the Kalashnikov shooting (my husband is very keen!)

Really any info anyone has on the cost of any Baltic trips or must do trips (I know Moscow is a favourite but as we are in the UK and could get back fairly easily we won't do that)would be appreciated - I don't like the fact that I can see the potential trips but not the cost until a lot nearer the time and it a makes it hard to decide what to do

Thank you!

Little bump! Anyone have any info - or even just your thoughts on Regent shore excursions generally would be welcomed. Are the good value? Overpriced? Too crowded? About right?

Hi Geranium, I have taken many RSSC excursions and have been pleased. Don't know about any two day tours in St. Petersburg that Regent does.

Last summer, I took the Hermitage excursion and the one to Peterhof. Both were great. My brother and family really enjoyed the St. Petersburg Daily Life trip.

Some around here have taken the Red October excursions and have good things to say about them. Keep looking on the Regent site for the first St. Petersburg cruise for pricing. It should be up in a few weeks. Hope this helps some.

Geranium,

These are the St. Petersberg tours & prices Regent is offering on the Voyager 6/19 cruise

- DAY 1
Novgorod - 10 Hours AM $140.00
Peterhof Palace - 3¾ Hours AM $81.00
Peterhof Palace and St. Petersburg - 9 Hours AM $175.00
Russian Shopping - 4 Hours AM $35.00
Experience Daily Life in St. Petersburg - 4 Hours PM $74.00
Jazz at the Street Life Club - 3 Hours PM $70.00
Neva River Cruise - 2½ Hours PM $45.00
Panoramic City Tour - less walking - 3½ Hours PM $42.00
Russian Shopping - 4 Hours PM $35.00
St. Petersburg Highlights - 3¾ Hours PM $65.00
Spectacular Evening at the Yusupov Palace - 3 Hours Evening $139.00

- DAY 2
Moscow By Air - 14 Hours AM $599.00 PREBOOK ONLY
Pushkin and Pavlovsk - 7½ Hours AM $145.00
Russian Shopping - 4 Hours AM $35.00
Experience Daily Life in St. Petersburg - 4 Hours PM $74.00
Kalashnikov Shooting and Artillery Museum - 3¾ Hours PM $164.00
Paul the I Estate - Gardens & Pavilions - 4¾ Hours PM $70.00
Russian Shopping - 4 Hours PM $35.00
Vodka and Caviar - The Taste of Russia! - 2 Hours PM $225.00
A Private Tour at the Hermitage and Ballet -Performance - 5 Hours Evening $260.00

- DAY 3
Catherine's Palace and the Hermitage - 7½ Hours AM $150.00
Hermitage and Gold Rooms - 5½ Hours AM $105.00
Treasures of the Hermitage - 3½ Hours AM $60.00
Experience Daily Life in St. Petersburg - 4 Hours PM $74.00
Peterhof Palace - 3¾ Hours PM $81.00
Spilled Blood Cathedral & Shopping - 3¾ Hours PM $50.00
Visit to a Russian Family - 2½ Hours PM $54.00
Yusupov Palace and Canal Boat Cruise - 4 Hours PM $65.00

These would be my choices:

Peterhof Palace and St. Petersburg - 9 Hours AM $175.00

Moscow By Air - 14 Hours AM $599.00 PREBOOK ONLY

Treasures of the Hermitage - 3½ Hours AM $60.00
Peterhof Palace - 3¾ Hours PM $81.00
(hopefully these aren't at the same time)

Moscow wasn't offered on my cruise; neither was the ballet. I did enjoy the Spectacular Evening at the Yusupov Palace. I don't remember it being that pricey. Part of it is a medley of opera arias.

Did I spend enough of your money?
Shopping is possible everywhere, so definitely don't waste your time doing that. Too many other great things to see.

The cost in general for RSSC tours seem to be going up. A few years ago, you could say that they offered a good value - these days, the value may not be as clear. Privately arranged excursions may allow you to see more for less - unless there's some sort of special deal that RSSC is offering or a special situation that you would not have access to unless you booked it through RSSC. RSSC is good about listening to comments/criticisms about their tours though and trying to be fair about compensation for disappointing or problematic tours.

Just some thoughts in general ... :)

Masaki

Thanks all that's really helpful!

Just a thought: You need to buy a (pricey) Russian Visa to tour with an outside company (unless you can use the outside company's)--that's why we finally decided to do the RSSC tours in St. Pete last August. They were very well done--and you are on the ship's visa. We did Moscow, Peterhof and St. P, Catherine's Palace. My only complaint was that none took you to the Cathedral on Spilled Blood--though they all kept pointing it out. The street vendors outside Catherine's Palace were really fun. Oh, we also did Yusopov Palace at night and heard the opera there. A lot of people went to the ballet--I think I would do that in retrospect, but Yusopov was wonderful, also.
Love, Elena

Thanks for that Elena. I think we will definitely do the Peterhof and St P trip. I also think that now it is not clear when we will gte into St P (due to the G8) - then we will stick with RSSC in case of last minute changes

Actually you dont need to buy a visa if you do tours with ANY government sponsored tour operator. The tour operator actually gets a tourist visa and handles all the details. The tour operator the ship uses gets a blanket visa for the ship. When you use Red October you just give them a few details (passport number things like that) and they handle it all. Your "tour ticket" actually becomes your visa.

The Red October tours are no cheaper than the RSSC tours and more expensive if you dont have someone to share the tours with. St. Petersburg tours are more expensive in comparison to some other cities. The entrance fees for the museums are always going up.

The tours basically do the same things. The guides are hit or miss with both Red October or Regent. Most of them seem to be called "Helen".

The difference with Red October is that you are in much smaller groups and that always makes it easier. A mini van instead of a bus of people. Plus you can customize your tour to include things such as the Spilled Blood Cathedral which is really a "must see". I am very surprised that it was not on the schedule somewhere on your trip, perhaps on the day you went to Moscow.

For two people travelling alone I think it is easier to go with Regent. A group of four or more should go with Red October. Just my two cents worth. I have done both mulitple times.

My suggestion is to ONLY get a private visa if you have been to St. Petersburg before and want to just walk the streets alone. You need a guide for the main attractions anyway and a tourist group to get you in the door. Otherwise you will stand in lines for hours. I have done the palaces as an independent to see how it worked - dont do it!

I am going in June and getting a visa this time. Regent now has a shuttle bus for those with visas to take you into town. I have been to the palaces multiple times and they truly are not to be missed. This time I am going to just "wander" and enjoy the city.

Not to be missed if possible:
Peterhoff - all about the fountains and gardens the palace is also very nice.

Catherines Palace - all about the palace and particularly the amber room. The grounds are nice but dont have the fountains of Peterhoff.

Spilled Blood Cathedral and St. Iassacs. Both in town and both fantastic.

Hermitage - main rooms are incredible and of course it is world famous for the art. I actually get very tired at the Hermitage and I am not sure why. It may be the difference in the flooring but the feet are always sore here. It may surprise many that I say this but as I am not honestly a big art lover if I had to chose I would chose Peterhoff or Catherines palace over the Hermitage. I would probably be in the minority with this opinion.

Geranium I will email you a long report on the Baltic's it may help you with your choices.

Thanks so much Ngaire - it was incredibly kind of you to send me that email - it was also very helpful

And another reason to go to the Cathedral of the Spilled Blood (which is magnificent inside & out) is that the only Russian arts & crafts market we could find in St. P. is right across the street from the church. There are loads of shops in the city selling arts & crafts; but this market has several dozen different stalls and sellers. Much more fun than the Red October store.

If you want to do a private tour, RSSC arranges those very easily. We did private tours last year from the Navigator as it was our second time in St. Petersburg. Although we had different guides, both were good and we could do what we wanted when we wanted. We had a private car that always dropped us off in front of the "attraction" and came back and picked us up.

If I remember right (and it might be different this year), the cost was $250/half day and $500/day. That might seem expensive but for us it was worth it! If you have 4 or more, then it makes it less expensive and you would have a van. We did that on our first time when we had a large family group with us.

We have also used the private tours in other ports via the tour desk and have not been disappointed. We like this (most times) better than finding our own private guide. And, it is considered a "ships tour" and can be charged to your account.

I think the street vendors that I mentioned that were fun were outside of Peterhof, not Catherine's as I said before. RSSC did have a shopping thing for the Cathedral on Spilled Blood and the vendors in front of it--if we had not gone to Moscow, we would have done that. I didn't even know about Red October, but would have been interested, although we were just two alone on that trip, we might have interested someone else. Several people on our cruise did arrange private tours with the concierge at a fairly reasonable price, and were very pleased. St. Isaac's was wonderful. Whatever you do, I think you will have a grand time. Love, Elena :)

We used Red October a couple of years ago. Some of the other folks on this board have used them also. They get you into places without waiting, prices were pretty reasonable. Just do not need to go shopping at their place when the tours end. Check them out.