Reviews

Dear mr. Bochkov,

We had a nice weekend in st. Petersburg. Partly for business, partly for leisure and due to the sunny weather.

No worries: we will recommend you to everyone who wants to go to st. Petersburg from the Netherlands. But maybe some little recommends to upgrade your quality:

1- Driver and Tania (the guide): Perfect !

2- Bustour and boattour: Perfect and flexibel !

3- Dinner: below what we expected, although we realise that we did??™nt pay very much for the total tour. I think for business-people you better ask and bring some more.

4-In your mail you gave me your telephonenumber: Please give next time the complete international reachable number. I could??™t phone you yesterday when we lost the driver and waited in front of the restaurant.

5-Maybe you give also numbers of guide and driver.

Please, consider this as fine-tuning. We are in general very happy with the tour !

Regards,
Hans van den Bersselaar

Tour to St.Petersburg, river cruise to Valaam, Golden Ring of Russia Dear Slava, We are back home after a wonderful trip to Russia. The tours handled by Parallel 60 were operated in a very professional way: all meetings and transfers on time, 3 very good guides, good accommodations and meals. Honestly, from a tour operator to another tour operatour: I hope that our clients go back to their countries as satisfied as we did from yours. Two comments made with the aim of the search for improvement of your services: A payment of 280rubles per person for a boat transfer in Valaam caught of by surprise. It will be good to mention that the such transfer is not included. With our lack of knowledge of the Russian language, and the lack of knowledge of the English language from the front dest staff at the Vladimir Hotel, it took us time to make them understand that our dinners and lunch were included. Everythig else was just perfect! Mr Arturo Duarte, Embassador of Guatemala to Russia, has mentioned that the Embassy will be contacting Parallel60 for future tour services they may need. Spasiba and kind regards, Alfonso Muralles

River cruise Moscow - St.Petersburg on July 29th-August 7th

Hello. This is Ben Allin and I just wanted to make a few comments on our trip on board the Motor ship “Lenin” The trip was great overall but there were a couple of things I wanted to point out. First of all, in Moscow you have down for us on July 29th, that we would be seeing the Tretyakov Gallery. That never happened as that was an optional tour that we had to pay for ourselves and they had no idea that it was part of our trip. What happened? That was something we really wanted to see and was part of the excursions that were supposed to be included in the tour. But, on the other hand, the last day a trip to the Peterhof’s fountains was included which you did not mention at all so that was a surprise and was great to see.

Another thing that would have been really nice to have known before we left for the tour, was that on board there was a “Pirate’s Dinner” what we were supposed to dress up in Pirate costumes. If we had known about that ahead of time, it would have been fun to bring our own and could have joined in the fun. As it was, we had nothing that could even remotely resemble a pirate’s costume so we could not join in. Also there was a ‘Talent show’ that we knew nothing about and that would have been fun to have prepared something ahead of time. I realize that you probably had no idea that either of these things were going to happen but it would have made the time on board a bit more fun. It was no big deal as we had fun anyway.

One final note is that at the last day, you have down “end of cruise” it would have been good to note that the checkout time for the boat was 10:00 AM. I had no idea when we were supposed to leave the ship and I had a pick-up scheduled for 12:00 which was way too late.

Thanks for a great cruise as we had a nice time overall and going to Peterhof made up for not going to Tretyakov Gallery. We will recommend you to our friends that may be going to Russia in the future.

Tour on May 26-29th

I just wanted to let you know how much Diane and I enjoyed our tours with Marina. She was an excellent guide with a wide range of knowledge and a great sense of humor. I d recommend her to anyone and wish that I had more time in St. Petersburg to take additional tours.

NIcholas was also excellent. He drove through the crowded streets extremely well and was very solicitous of our comfort.

River cruise on June 2-7th I m not sure about the cause of the change for the River Cruise return time. I made my air eservations based on a 7 AM 7 June arrival back in SpB at the the end of February. None of our subsequent emails mentioned any change to that time. I believe we were both surprised to see it posted on the ships bulletin board on 2 June for 10 AM on 7 June. Your solution was probably the best possible answer to the problem, and I am thankful for your quick thinking and action. The ride back to the Azimut hotel went well, but not exactly smooth, since the first 20 miles were on an unpaved logging road.The driver arrived early and was very helpful at the hotel, both with the luggage and the reservations, despite knowing very little English. I didnt catch his name, but please extend to him our appreciation for his services. I will need a receipt for the 6500 Rubles; we did purchase Trip Insurance, and I will need a receipt for the drive to recoup that extra expense. You did warn me that the River Cruise would be mostly for Russian people; but I must admit I was expecting some English-speaking travelers and staff on board. We only found 2 other people on board who spoke English: an American from Alaska, and his companion, a lady from Ekaterienburg. The guides were excellent, however; in particular, Svetlana in Valaam, who was extremelyhelpful and friendly. At the risk of sounding like the proverbial Ugly American, I must comment on the accommondations and food on board. Defintely not up to Western Standards, not at all. The room was the size of an RV inside, particularly the bath room. The salads and deserts and bread were quite good, but the main courses were not really edible -- with the exception of one supper, and the BBQ in Mandrogi. The breakfast buffet was an absolutely fiasco; fortunately, the hot water boiler was opposite our room. so we could make coffee in our room in the mornings.The trip to Peterhof was also a bit of problem. There were only 4 of us on the tour, and we ran into a 3 hour traffic-jam on the way there. The guide was probably the poorest guide we encountered; her English was not particularly good, her attitude was hostile and surly; the driver did a much better job adapting to the circumstances than she did. But Peterhof was worth all the trouble. That, in many ways, sums up our entire 23-day Russian odessey: there were a lot of hassles, but the sheer beauty of what we were seeing in Karelia, and the friendly attention of the guides more than made up for any of the discomfort we felt. In many ways, it became a microcosm of Russia itself: sometimes the bureaucracy and the crumbling infra-structure and the unfairness of it all gets to you: but then a complete stranger goes out of her way to help you, and when you part, she says Christ be with you! and you know she really means that. And you realize, despite all its faults, this is no ordinary country...

Tour on March 22-27th

THANKS SO MUCH FOR MAKING OUR ST. PETERSBURG STAY WONDERFUL. Marina was a pleasure to be with. Pasha was a breath of fresh air. Julia and you were so hospitable. And Feodor was just CUTE. THANKS.

We really had a great time under your care. I hope we will have many opportunities to meet again. Please send me Pashas email address. Hes a remarkable young fellow. I d like to stay in contact with him.

Greetings from sunny, but cold, San Francisco. (I m making blinis this weekend, in an effort to recreate Julia s feast.)

Tour On May 3-6th

I wanted to commend for working with us to make our customized 4 day tour St. Petersburg so memorable. Rest assured, we will be recommending your agency to our friends and colleagues.

Thank you

I m very happy to give you feedback about our trip. We had very, very good trip and had fun too.First we appreciate a lot that you helped us with checking. That was good customer service.

Here below is detailed information.

BOAT
Exactly what we hoped, not a luxury boat, but cosy, not huge like Viking Line s and Silja line s boats, between Helsinki and Stockholm. M S Vissarion Belinsky had old fashion atmosphere. It was good to notice that it smoking was not allowed on board. Cabins were clean and enough room for two people and quests. First night we all slept well. It was warm, but the second night was rather cold. None of us touched any air-conditions switches. Anyway we could sleep, but not so well. On your website there is mention that there is sauna on the boat, but there was not. Personnel told no sauna.

RESTAURANTS and BARS
Personnel were friendly and helpful, so no complains except meals, which were not very delicious. On Saturday there was arranged a long dinner table for a big group and they had special menu. We looked quite envy, when the
waiters carried different kind of meals and fruits etc. So for the next time I would very happy if we can order advance such a luxury menu at least for the second evening.

GUIDED TOUR in VALAMO
We participate in the morning walking tour with the American group. It was really good. Beautiful views and buildings. The path from skiita to another was not very easy for Americans (a little bit older people than us), so the walking speed was slow. Therefore we left the group after 2-3 hours and continued by ourselves. First we took a tractor lift to the Main Monastery, it was really fun, sitting on tracto s trailer, where had been potatoes before us. Before returning to the boat we visited other skiitas with a taxi.

SUMMARY
Like I told in the beginning of the mail, trip was good, relaxing and we had a lot of fun. Weather was beautiful, no crowded of tourists on the island. Perfect trip, except few small things mention above.

As for the tour itself it was extremely well organised. Our hotel was cost effective and in an excellent location and we were able to walk to restaurants in the evening. The driver was lovely although possibly the only comment I could make is that it might have been nice to be able to ask a few questions on our way from the airport about what we were seeing just to help us orientate ourselves more as we arrived. Sergei was very friendly but didnt have very much English.

I must say though that what absolutely made the holiday for us was your excellent guide Julia. There didnt seem to be anything she didnt know and she really helped us make the absolute most of our time in St Petersburg. She even seemed to be able to get us to the front of the queues at the attractions and we felt like VIPs! Please pass on our sincere thanks to her from all of us. I feel uncomfortable that we didnt give her a tip and I wondered if you felt it would be appropriate to send her a small gift from the UK?

We had a lovely holiday and it has been very pleasant dealing with you and thanks again for looking after us so well.

To Whom It May Concern: I decided to travel to St. Petersburg after taking a basic Russian course at Indiana University. After doing some initial research about how to enter the country and plan travel arrangements I knew that I wanted a company to support my travels. Slava Bockov happened to be the first person in Russia that I contacted. I am quite deliberate in my decision making but I knew from my first exchange that I wanted his firm to handle all the arrangements. He answered my initial email almost immediately and that was quite impressive considering the time difference. His command of English made both written and verbal communication perfectly clear. After I engaged Slava he became more of a partner in my travels than a basic service company. Everything from visas, transport, living arrangements, was handled seamlessly. Sight seeing, entertainment, and recommendations to see the special places only known to locals were all provided for me. I spoke very basic Russian when I arrived and needed to rely on others as I was a stranger in a very beautiful city. I never once had to worry or be concerned for anything. I have traveled extensively and St. Petersburg remains my favorite place ??“ the entire experience which lasted about seven months afforded me an opportunity to explore an amazing city knowing that any problem or concern would be taken care of by Slava and his team. I would recommend them to anyone thinking of traveling to St. Petersburg. My chances to travel have been less as I focus on my career but would welcome any inquiries from interested parties. Kind Regards, JK Smith Director of Business Development National Yellow Pages Media and Yellowword1.com, Independence, Ohio, USA