7/18/2010 Mickey's Baltic Ballyhoo!! Part 4

[RJAYL]

Good Morning All
Thanx for the feedback Barb! I am not sure I like the pie, however if that was apple in the background I would give that a try!

 

[MrsScooby]

Hi all!! Just popping in to say hello. Been super busy at work for the past few weeks, but plan to visit here more

Love the food pics Barb

Definitely plan on eating local on this trip when we can.

Figuring out what we can afford to cram into St. Petersburg is a challenge

The only Disney excursion I think we might go with would be a Berlin trip to make sure we don't miss the boat. But my family might balk at the 3 hour transport each way so that may change.

I'll be back

 

[jilljill]

Good Morning All
Thanx for the feedback Barb! I am not sure I like the pie, however if that was apple in the background I would give that a try!

'Morning

You are welcome. I think lemon was the only sweet pie they had left and we got the last piece, but they may have had another flavor and we didn't have our guide ask. Our guide had to do our ordering for us since no one spoke English in the restaurant, so we ordered everything at once. The menu was in English as well as Russian so at least we could figure out what to order. We could have done a planned proper sit down lunch but it would have taken longer and it's basically a set menu and we all liked the idea of menu choices and just stopping when we wanted to and at any point in the day.
Now thinking back I wish I had asked for a copy of the menu or taken a pic of it....oh well....
At the cafe at Peterhof Palace nothing was written in English and our guide translated for us - it was cafeteria style so we could mostly figure out what we were getting. She did have to order a couple of things for us, like our drinks.

On the first day none of us had any rubles and Anastasia sent some with our guide to cover meals, bathrooms (if needed), and any other costs that came about that could only be paid in local currency. Jane (guide) held onto the receipts and wrote our names on and we just repaid her the next day once we went to an atm at the post office.

I paid for our tour with clean, crisp $50 & $100 bills, the other families used a credit card and she charged them an additional 3% fee for this service but that extra charge was known in advance. We had rubles leftover so we tipped our driver with them and we gave our guide US$.
I think we tipped the driver $10/person and the guide was tipped about $20-$25/person. This amount was based on what most people were tipping the private guides when asked on cruise critic. I also brought Anastasia and our guide each a book about Delaware - it was a small paperback book with pics of local sights around the state. They were both most appreciative that we thought to take them something like that - I had put a little note to the effect we wanted to share something where we came from since they shared with us where they are from. Our guide had spend time in the states and travelled between NYC and Wash DC so she at least knew where DE was.

 

[jilljill]

EUREKA....I've found it.
I found out this morning that I still had a copy of our 2 day tour plan with Anastasia still in my old email folder. If anyone would like me to email them a copy I would be happy to do so, just PM me your email.

I'll give you the prices that she charged us: $242.55/adult and $207.55/student. She did the student pricing for 6 kids in our group, ages 14-20, they were high school and college. I just rounded up our cost to $700 to make it easier to give her crisp $50 & $100 bills. This price was based on 6 adults and 6 students. Also, the camera fees were not included in the stated cost and were paid at each venue.
When I first priced our a tour with her for just the 3 of us it was around $350/person. So adding the additional people to our group saved us about $350. When I priced out the tour Carnival offered that came close to what we did we saved about $500.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

YOu are welcome. I did forget to mention NO picture taking in the metro station!!! YOur guide will remind you of this several times and I think there were signs posted in the stations that we saw. It's not worth the risk of having your camera confiscated or being carted off to jail for a couple of pics. When we went we left everything in the van with the driver as per our guide's request. She said we didn't need to take any chances of getting anything stolen from us. Plus there was no risk of picture taking temptation since we didn't have cameras with us.
None of us felt unsafe in the metro stations. In fact, since it was the weekend they weren't very crowded at all.

Yep she said that, pitty like a photo of the station and trains

EUREKA....I've found it.
I found out this morning that I still had a copy of our 2 day tour plan with Anastasia still in my old email folder. If anyone would like me to email them a copy I would be happy to do so, just PM me your email.

I'll give you the prices that she charged us: $242.55/adult and $207.55/student. She did the student pricing for 6 kids in our group, ages 14-20, they were high school and college. I just rounded up our cost to $700 to make it easier to give her crisp $50 & $100 bills. This price was based on 6 adults and 6 students. Also, the camera fees were not included in the stated cost and were paid at each venue.
When I first priced our a tour with her for just the 3 of us it was around $350/person. So adding the additional people to our group saved us about $350. When I priced out the tour Carnival offered that came close to what we did we saved about $500.

Yes, in line with mine I think the estimated quote on 2009 prices is $1,250, but she will let me know in 2010, what 2010 prices are.

Maybe we should see who wants to join up, or leave it to her?

 

[RJAYL]

EUREKA....I've found it.
I found out this morning that I still had a copy of our 2 day tour plan with Anastasia still in my old email folder. If anyone would like me to email them a copy I would be happy to do so, just PM me your email.

I'll give you the prices that she charged us: $242.55/adult and $207.55/student. She did the student pricing for 6 kids in our group, ages 14-20, they were high school and college. I just rounded up our cost to $700 to make it easier to give her crisp $50 & $100 bills. This price was based on 6 adults and 6 students. Also, the camera fees were not included in the stated cost and were paid at each venue.
When I first priced our a tour with her for just the 3 of us it was around $350/person. So adding the additional people to our group saved us about $350. When I priced out the tour Carnival offered that came close to what we did we saved about $500.

Thanx Barb I got it! (have not looked at it yet, but i got it!)

Yep she said that, pitty like a photo of the station and trains



Yes, in line with mine I think the estimated quote on 2009 prices is $1,250, but she will let me know in 2010, what 2010 prices are.

Maybe we should see who wants to join up, or leave it to her?

I tell you Andrew I bet she already has us doing the same tour!

 

[bellelinus]

Hi all!! Just popping in to say hello. Been super busy at work for the past few weeks, but plan to visit here more

Love the food pics Barb

Definitely plan on eating local on this trip when we can.

Figuring out what we can afford to cram into St. Petersburg is a challenge

The only Disney excursion I think we might go with would be a Berlin trip to make sure we don't miss the boat. But my family might balk at the 3 hour transport each way so that may change.

I'll be back

Hi Laurie! Make sure and let me know when we are getting together over Thanksgiving weekend when you are here

 

[jilljill]

Thanx Barb I got it! (have not looked at it yet, but i got it!)

You're welcome.
I looked over many travel guidebooks, a Hermitage museum huge book, the Carnival excursion lists, and the tours on Anastasia's website to figure out where we wanted to go and what we wanted to drop. I wasn't too keen on going to Peterhoff Palace, but once we got there and learned the history of this man and how he planned out the gardens, fountains and all the trickery I was glad we went.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Thanx Barb I got it! (have not looked at it yet, but i got it!)



I tell you Andrew I bet she already has us doing the same tour!

I do not know how many 'agents' with cars she has, but it would be logical to combine us on this thread if we are all doing the same thing.

You're welcome.
I looked over many travel guidebooks, a Hermitage museum huge book, the Carnival excursion lists, and the tours on Anastasia's website to figure out where we wanted to go and what we wanted to drop. I wasn't too keen on going to Peterhoff Palace, but once we got there and learned the history of this man and how he planned out the gardens, fountains and all the trickery I was glad we went.

 

[MrsScooby]

EUREKA....I've found it.
I found out this morning that I still had a copy of our 2 day tour plan with Anastasia still in my old email folder. If anyone would like me to email them a copy I would be happy to do so, just PM me your email.

I'll give you the prices that she charged us: $242.55/adult and $207.55/student. She did the student pricing for 6 kids in our group, ages 14-20, they were high school and college. I just rounded up our cost to $700 to make it easier to give her crisp $50 & $100 bills. This price was based on 6 adults and 6 students. Also, the camera fees were not included in the stated cost and were paid at each venue.
When I first priced our a tour with her for just the 3 of us it was around $350/person. So adding the additional people to our group saved us about $350. When I priced out the tour Carnival offered that came close to what we did we saved about $500.

sending you a pm
Problem is I want to do everything

Hi Laurie! Make sure and let me know when we are getting together over Thanksgiving weekend when you are here

As of now, we are in and out for a very short visit-so the day after Thanksgiving is when I was hoping to catch you

Not sure if we can add a night at this point without losing our "special" rate at the hotel, but I will let you know. Still waiting to hear from Johns Hopkins about scheduling cochlear implant surgery so not sure how much money/vacation time we are needing for the end of the year yet

 

[bellelinus]

As of now, we are in and out for a very short visit-so the day after Thanksgiving is when I was hoping to catch you

Not sure if we can add a night at this point without losing our "special" rate at the hotel, but I will let you know. Still waiting to hear from Johns Hopkins about scheduling cochlear implant surgery so not sure how much money/vacation time we are needing for the end of the year yet

I can meet you that Friday if you have to make it a short visit . . . fingers crossed on the cochlear implant

 

[RJAYL]

Good Morning All

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

Good Morning All

Good evening to you!

 

[jilljill]

Good Morning All

Good evening to you!

I guess I'll add Good Afternoon

 

[jilljill]

I've just figured out that DD will kill me when she finds out what I've done. A friend was given 2 playoff tickets to tomorrow's Phillies game, it's in the afternoon, they can't go so I said I would take them. I call my brother to see if he wants to go, he says yes so it's all fine and dandy. Now I've just remembered that DD gets out of school early tomorrow and I could have taken her with me. I'm not going to cancel on my brother so now I have to listen to her whine that she's going to miss the game. Oh well, it's taken me 43 years to go to a playoff game, she'll just have to wait as well.

 

[bellelinus]

I've just figured out that DD will kill me when she finds out what I've done. A friend was given 2 playoff tickets to tomorrow's Phillies game, it's in the afternoon, they can't go so I said I would take them. I call my brother to see if he wants to go, he says yes so it's all fine and dandy. Now I've just remembered that DD gets out of school early tomorrow and I could have taken her with me. I'm not going to cancel on my brother so now I have to listen to her whine that she's going to miss the game. Oh well, it's taken me 43 years to go to a playoff game, she'll just have to wait as well.

Ouch It's the darn school's fault for letting her out early -- what were they thinking?

 

[jilljill]

Ouch It's the darn school's fault for letting her out early -- what were they thinking?

Seriously...what were they thinking?!? What's really funny is that her school calls it early release instead of early dismissal. I always think they are in prison or on a work release program when I hear that term.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I guess I'll add Good Afternoon

Sounds like (Sir) David Frost, Hello, good evening, and welcome.

Did you see there are still suites avaialble on the Panama crossing, too expensive? Wrong time? how things have changed.

 

[bellelinus]

Seriously...what were they thinking?!? What's really funny is that her school calls it early release instead of early dismissal. I always think they are in prison or on a work release program when I hear that term.

I think most kids would agree with the prison analogy

Sounds like (Sir) David Frost, Hello, good evening, and welcome.

Did you see there are still suites avaialble on the Panama crossing, too expensive? Wrong time? how things have changed.

Mainly the wrong time, I think, but the high prices didn't help.

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I think most kids would agree with the prison analogy



Mainly the wrong time, I think, but the high prices didn't help.

Yes bad time for transit, but apart from Alaska, nothing is selling well.