10 Taxis & Shuttles in Uusimaa That You Shouldn't Miss

Reviewed By brucef165 - Hot Springs Village, United States

After being intimidated by many of the reviews I read here, my wife and I, duly forewarned, decided to take the plunge and both of us, after doing so, decided that our St Petersburg adventure via Moby SPL was the highlight of our 4 country personal trek (Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia). The Moby-SPL reservation system is clunky and difficult to use, but after many attempts to master the thing, it began to actually make sense to me. I secured a Commodore class room (outside port window). This entitled us to a free scrumptious buffet breakfast included with the room and most importantly priority disembarkation and first in line at immigration which I have heard can be very time consuming. We were through customs and immigration in about 10 minutes. As we are elderly a young crewman helped us with our bags (without being asked) on the gangway (both on and off the ship). One nagging fear I had was that Moby SPL would give me grief about not booking a hotel with them. I secured my own booking at a wonderful, quiet boutique hotel in a courtyard in the center of the historic district on the Moyka Embankment (The Arcadia, which I also heartily recommend for its value and its friendly service). I had no problem from Moby SPL in booking my own hotel. Be forewarned that If you do book your own hotel it must capable of "registering" you with Russian Immigration (they kept our passports at the hotel until this was completed, during the first evening.) You must have proof of your reservation at such a hotel when boarding in Helsinki, mine was from bookings.com The excursion that you must buy from Moby SPL is the "city tour" in order to get by Russian Immigration requirements for the 72 hour visa free visit. This is not a tour but merely a 12 passenger van that drops you off "near" St Isaac Square. Our driver did not speak English and dropped us off on a side street a couple of blocks from St Isaac square. They run a scheduled "shuttle" that will presumably pick you up at the same place (if you can remember it) Do yourself a favor and skip the shuttle and any anxiety associated with it for the return trip. Taxis are cheap and reliable. I installed the Yandex Taxi App (Russian Uber) and used it everywhere in St Petersburg ($3 to $5 anywhere in the historic areas) The Moby SPL Pier is well marked on the Yandex app map. Alternatively you can have your hotel secure a return taxi to the pier for complete peace of mind. The on-board experience was wonderful. We ate both dinners at the Napoli pizzeria since we were not overly hungry. We had fruit of the sea pizza (shrimp, mussels octopus, and squid as I recall) with wonderful sea views from our table. The pizza was good and the wine of reasonable quality for the price. Our waitress, a Ukrainian girl, was patient, friendly, and quite charming. If you want to tip, bring some Rubles or Euros. Credit and debit cards work everywhere but you can't include a tip on the charge. I got the idea that tips are not expected. The lounge show was excellent, the drinks were reasonably priced, and the service was courteous and professional (both ways). We saw no drunken louts or bad behavior on anyone's part. What we watched was gray-haired Russian seniors cutting a rug on the dance floor to well played 60's style US Rock and Roll (live) and doing a good job of it. Our room was nice with adequate space, the toilet worked well and the shower delivered lots of hot water on command . We also had a nice view of the sea from our port windows. The TV worked but it was Russian and there was too much else to see and do on the ship. My negative with the room was the thin mattress over a hard planking. We both slept OK but we longed for a thicker mattress for our old bones (we are both in our mid 70s). Our room was on Deck 5 and I would recommend you ask for a room near the bow if you can, we did and it was a wonderful ride. The major source of noise on any ship is the cavitation of the props and separating yourself from them as much as possible is always a good idea. This was a trip we will long remember and hold dear. We are seasoned world travelers and love to seek cross cultural experiences. We had never been to Russia and this trip far exceeded all expectation in all the aspects that count. We arrived Friday September 13 2019 and departed on Sunday Sept 15.