There appears to be a bit of misinformation floating around, though, concerning cruise line excursions versus private tours and when you can get off the ship. Apparently, some cruise passengers have been told that they had to wait for those on cruise line excursions to disembark the ship before those on private tours could, and this is simply not true. You are allowed to get off the ship at the same time as everyone else, regardless of how or with whom you booked your excursions. So if someone tries to sell you a cruise line excursion based on the fact that you will get off the ship first, don't listen to them. On our cruise, we were given forms in our stateroom to fill out, stating the name of our tour operator and the time our tour began, and we were then assigned a disembarkation time so that we could meet our tour operator at the right time. It was a piece of cake getting off the ship but there was quite a line to get through immigration control, so keep that in mind when you want to disembark.
While we would really have preferred to hire a private driver and guide for our two days in St. Petersburg, our budget would not all for that, so we decided to go with a small group tour that would hit the highlights. I booked us into an existing group of 7 people for the 2-day “A Tour” (the least strenuous) through SPB Tours, and it worked out to be $220 per person – not bad at all but perhaps not the best choice in the long run due to the schedule we had to keep, but definitely within our budget and we ended up with a very nice group. While I enjoyed St. Petersburg and found it to be quite fascinating, I had several issues with our tour: 1) our tour guide, Elena, was very bossy and since she was always concerned about time and sticking to the schedule she was at times rude; 2) we were promised time to shop for souvenirs but I thought we would have flexibility and choice of where to shop; instead, we were only allowed to shop at three different stores to which we were taken, and all offered the same (and in my opinion) overpriced merchandise; and 3) I felt that we spent too much time in certain areas and only had photo stops for others that I would have liked to experience from the inside. The third point probably could have been remedied had I selected a tour with more flexibility, but the only real way to truly be flexible is to hire a private guide and driver, so if that is what you are looking for, be sure to budget for it when you book your cruise!
Our tour began at 9:00 am when we were driven through the city on an orientation tour. We stopped along the Neva river to get a few photos of St. Isaac’s Cathedral and then went to the square where we could get better photos for a few minutes. The Cathedral is really quite a sight with its gleaming onion domes and I would have liked to see it from the inside but unfortunately we didn’t have time. There were quite a few kiosks in the square offering souvenirs, but we were quickly ushered back into the van so that we could continue with our tour. Here is a photo of St. Isaac's Cathedral:
From St. Isaac's Square we headed out to Peterhof Palace to tour the lower gardens. The Palace is often referred to as the "Russian Versailles" and the whole grounds are huge and you could probably spend an entire day there seeing the palace and everything. There are many fountains but the most spectacular area is right at the bottom of the palace, called the Grand Cascade. We got there just in time to see the fountains all begin to flow along with music at 11:00 am. It really was a beautiful experience and the fountains really are cool because they are not operated by pumps! Here's me and my friend, Brenda, in front of the Grand Cascade:
After watching the Grand Cascade fountains for a bit, we spent at least another 90 minutes walking around the lower gardens; and while it really was beautiful, after a while it stopped being really interesting to me and I think I would have preferred to tour part of the Palace, but that wasn't part of our tour. As we headed back to the van we stopped at a little Blini stand near the entrance to the grounds to have lunch. Blini are like crepes and I had one filled with chicken and mushrooms (delicious!) and one filled with apple (pretty good) and they cost only about 3 or 4 USD, so they were very inexpensive and pretty filling as well. We hopped back in the van and then spent at least an hour working our way through traffic to get to Catherine’s Palace in Pushkin.
Catherine's Palace is really pretty spectacular and we had a pretty complete tour of the inside of the palace. However, I wasn't able to enjoy the palace as much as I had hoped because I was recovering from spinal surgery after a car accident, and by this point in the day my back was aching so badly that I could barely walk. The most memorable rooms of the palace for me were the grand ballroom, with its walls of gold and the beautifully painted ceiling, and the Amber Room, whose walls were covered in all shades of genuine amber, and amber was even used to create picture frames and other architectural/design details. Photography was allowed in all the rooms we visited except for the Amber Room, which is really too bad; here's a photo of the palace exterior, though:
On the way back to the ship we stopped for souvenirs at one shop and we arrived back at the ship at about 5:30 pm. This was problematic for us because we had booked tickets through SPB Tours for the ballet that evening and we had to be back at the van at 6:10, so we didn't have much time to change clothes or eat dinner. I ran upstairs to the grille on the pool deck to get hamburgers and fries for us and then rushed back down to our stateroom to change clothes, and then I ate my burger in the van on the way. We were going to see "Sleeping Beauty" at the historic Mariinsky Theatre, but I had no idea that with four acts and three intermissions, the entire ballet would last four hours!
This was my first time at the ballet, and what an experience it was, seeing "Sleeping Beauty" in a grand historic theater in St. Petersburg, Russia! We had nice seats in a box at the back of the main floor, which was slightly raised so that we could see clearly above all the heads in front of us. Unfortunately, the stiff upright dining-room type chairs that we had to sit on wreaked havoc on my back and neck, and within a few minutes my shoulders were aching as badly as my lower back had been during the day, so I ended up feeling miserable and I didn't get to really savor the experience as I had hoped, but I really will treasure it always.
Day 2 began at 8:40 am when we took another drive through the city, where we stopped for about 5 minutes to take photos of the Church on Spilled Blood. I would really have liked to go inside that cathedral because it is so ornate with all the different mosaic tiles and colors, but we didn’t have time. Here's a photo of the incredible Church on Spilled Blood:
We then walked briefly through an indoor Farmer’s Market (why I don’t know, as we couldn’t buy anything there to take back on the ship with us) that sold fresh fish, meats, and produce; and then we took a subway ride for one stop and then back to show us how nicely the subway stations are designed. Next we drove the Peter and Paul Fortress to see the inside of Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral, which is the oldest cathedral in St. Petersburg. Actually, I wasn't feeling well enough to visit the cathedral so my roommate and I stayed in the van to rest because we were in for a lot of walking later in the day. We then stopped for a very quick lunch at a local pierogi restaurant and then went to another shop for souvenirs. I had bought everything I had intended to buy the day before, so when I told our tour guide, Elena, that I wasn’t planning on buying anything, she quite rudely ordered me back to the van. I did not appreciate being told what to do, and unfortunately everyone in the group began grumbling about our guide as the day wore on.
We then made our way to the world-famous Hermitage Museum and spent the remainder of the afternoon there. I enjoy art museums for the most part, but I like to go to the exhibits that interest me and don't really care to wander around too much. It's just the way I am and what I like to do, and I've done that in the Louvre, the Uffizi, the Accademia, and even the Vatican, and I feel that I have enjoyed them all in my own way. Since I had been concerned about the amount of time we were going to be at the Hermitage from the beginning, I spoke with our tour operator and I was told that we could go off on our own in the museum if we wanted, so that we could see what was important to us. However, Elena did not like that idea and was visibly upset when we requested to go off on our own, and due to the enormous crowds in the place and the sheer size and confusing layout, we felt compelled to stay with her as she led us from room to room. We spent about two hours at the museum and I would have liked to have spent more time on the Impressionists on the third floor, but those artists were not emphasized on our tour. Overall, I must say that the Hermitage is certainly impressive and I am glad I got to visit it, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. Here's a shot of Leonardo DaVinci's Madonna and Child on display at the Hermitage:
Afterwards, we drove to another souvenir shop near St. Isaac’s Square to shop one final time for souvenirs, and the day was over at about 4:00 when we were dropped off at the port. Sine I just wasn't feeling well enough to really enjoy St. Petersburg, I would love to go back there again and be able to really take it all in. The tour we took was certainly worthwhile and everyone seemed to really enjoy it, and it did give us a good overview of the city and the most important sights; however, its pace was just too intense for me due to my physical condition and I believe I would have enjoyed this historic city much more had I had more time to relax. Overall, St. Petersburg is a really cool city and I think you'll find it as fascinating and scenic as I did.
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