Robert Louis Stevenson famously preferred travelling to arriving, but when you do get somewhere special, I can think of better ways of making an entrance to an imperial city than on a donkey, although landing at a congested airport miles from the destination does not really have a lot of charm either. Approaching Venice by sea, the skyline is much the same as Marco Polo might have seen it, and I can’t sail into Sydney Harbour without being blown away by its majesty; surely there is no better way to arrive at other great port cities such as Cape Town, San Francisco and Vancouver?

And so to St Petersburg, where the Neva River slowly reveals the fabulous creation of Peter the Great. But, and this is a big but, what happens next largely depends on what size of ship you are on. If you are on a large vessel, and here anything over about 800 passengers is what counts, your ship will come to a halt in the cargo dock, surrounded by containers, towering cranes, and busy little tractors that work day and night.

If you are smart enough – and it isn’t all about money, because some luxury ships can’t get all the way upriver – you will be on a vessel like Silver Wind, which with just 300 passengers is slender of beam, which enables it to bypass the cargo area, purr on up the Neva, and tie up a short distance from the Hermitage, where the Tsars had their Winter Palace.

What’s more, while the big ship people have to commute into the city by shuttle bus, Silver Wind’s passengers can sally forth more or less any time, and explore St Petersburg as much as their feet, and wallets, can handle it. (Here it should be mentioned that current Russian landing regulations permit visa-free shore visits while on an official ship excursion, but if visitors want the freedom to do their own thing they should get a Russian visa before they leave home.)

Many passengers on my cruise did just that, but as an appealing alternative one British couple made two forays (we had three days there) by private car, which also counts as an official excursion so long as the package of car, driver and guide is booked on the ship. (Likewise if you book a your car and driver with Mundy Carte Blanche, your visa requirements will be taken care of).

This is a good way to go almost anywhere in the Baltic and the Mediterranean, where the burgeoning number, and increasing size, of cruise ships is swamping even big cities like St Petersburg. There were six cruise ships in port during our visit, and one day the biggie of the lot despatched at least 14 tour buses, resulting in congestion everywhere. At the Peterhof palace, there was a wait of 90 minutes to get in.

In such circumstances, choosing to take a private excursion gives you a big plus. In most cases,your guide slips you into the monuments and stick-handled them about rooms between groups. It is not necessarily in the same order but everything gets covered painlessly and without waiting. One delighted passenger said it reminded him of skiing with a guide, where every run began with a fast transit of the ski-school line.

I had a similar experience of a visit to the Hermitage, second only to the Louvre in size, and just as busy. Rather than going during the day, when vast queues back up outside, we had a private, evening excursion organised by Silver Wind. When we arrived, it was as quiet as a flag day in Aberdeen.

We climbed the marble staircase that had seen Tsars, kings, queens, and latterly, uninvited Bolsheviks, and marvelled at the ubiquitous gilt, the huge crystal chandeliers, and the paintings, mostly Old Masters, including one Rembrandt that alone was worth the visit. But there was more, including a 30-minute recital by the State Hermitage Orchestra. After that there was champagne. Well, Russian bubbly to be honest, but nobody was feeling short-changed as we made our way through more gilded corriders of the Hermitage, so quiet it was as if we were children exploring a great house, until we were outside on the great square.

There are times when small truly is beautiful.