Thread: St. Petersburg: Red October v. DenRus v. ship ....

I am really one of the most indecisive people you'll ever meet!

I have to chime in on Alla's behalf. We just returned from her first tour of the season (with Terry) and she was simply wonderful.

Here is a snapshot of her advising me to remove the lens cover from my camera before trying to take any pictures. Notice the smiles she brings with her!

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Susan

I remember that Sue! She was so sweet!

It's been awhile - so for those of us who used Alla - here's a group of us who "went drinkin'" after the first day of the tours - Alla's in the back raising a fork. (She wouldn't imbibe "on-duty".) We had a BALL!

We did two day tour with Den rus - 4 of us - fabulous. No need to worry about getting a big group. We had a modern mini van and easily got in everywhere because we were so small a group. Booked on line. easy.

This year, for the 2007 cruise season, laws are different so be careful about selecting a tour company too far in advance unless they are established companies because the small one-person operations working out of an apartment and a cell phone will probably not be able to host foreigners after June 1. There is a law that has been lobbied for by consumer groups and the travel industry in Russia to restructure and require some protections and financial responsibilty towards visitors. Most tour providers in St Petersburg were small operations without licenses, business premises and insurance and no way of backing up what they promised if something went awry. The government was getting thousands of complaints every year about tour operators selling services that did not come through. For cruisers, who depend on a tour operator to provide their visa free entry, this could mean spending their port days on board ship if the operator did not show up or got a better deal. I saw this more than once myself last year. Currently the only likely companies to be authorized in June 2007 are Arctur, Baltic Travel, Denrus and possibly Red October. R.O. was recently acquired by another company, Fortuna, possibly to be able to qualify for the new financial responsibility requirements. I don't know if company policies have been changed with the new structure or not, haven't heard much. A list of approved companies will be posted on the Russian Ministry of International Affairs web site. Ship tours still contract with the first 3 names I listed above and as qualified to contract with ship, also assuredly have liability insurance, something almost unheard of in the rest of the travel and hospitality industry in Russia. The biggest contractor is Arctur and they are connected to the port management InFlot.