tobique33040

We just got home from Waterways of the Tsars, and all passengers booked on Air France were delayed snd looking for alternatives. Not more than 7 people on our cruise. Everyone else had other carriers. But I believe Lufthansa had some work stoppages recently too. Good luck all!

I had the same experience with wine. They always asked what we wanted to drink and when they knew we had asked for wine initially, they always brought it and asked if we would like that. Then it was always filled during dinner and my husband and others would walk out of the dining room with a glass. Our dining experience was super.

We have been on two Viking cruises.On the first, we had at least one included excursion per day,and a few optional ones. We are currently on the Russian cruise, and there are more optional tours, primarily because we spend three days in St. Petersburg and three in Moscow. In each city,there is one day on which there are optional tours or time to spend on your own. We are happy with Viking, but can only comment on their cruises.

Well said Talisker! For example, it is hard to believe orders would be taken from everyone at a table but two, and those just ignored. At that point, you speak up! Or at least I suspect a seasoned traveller would. Just sayin'

That ding dong theory is interesting because I think the person who said this was a troll, is almost certainly right. Or, alternatively, as others have suggested, a person for whom nothing is right. Like the joke about the ladies lunching and their regular waiter came to their table and said, after the lunch, "Well ladies, was anything alright?" I am currently on theViking Waterways of the Tsars cruise and also did Viking Budapest to Amsterdam five years ago. I cannot conceive of sitting at any of the meals for more than a couple of minutes without a waiter coming to check on us. The meals have been great. We missed a stop because of fog,but other than that things have been wonderful, organized and fun. The OP has an ulterior motive imo or is a completely negative person. Viking is not perfect, but we have been really pleased so far.Our cruise five years ago, before there were so many river cruises, was pretty close to perfect,and we actually stayed in D deck. Not the very bottom, but river level. Just fine for us. This time we decided on a veranda and love it. Just saying

So we started to move again even tho it is still foggy. Maybe because we are in the big lake,it is ok to sail by radar because their is more room to maneuver when the ship must stop or to avoid another vessel. Anyway, because of our stop for so many hours we will miss Mandrogy.We are sailing straight on to Kizhi. Hopefully the fog will lift. If it does not and we sail into another river, not sure what will happen. It is unfortunate, but river cruising apparently is less predictable than we thought after our first cruise which went perfectly.

So we left last night at 7pm and things were going well and then we stopped because of heavy fog. I had heard lots of horror stories of the problems in the Rhine, Danube etc because of river levels, but did not think we would face similar difficulties up here. Oh well. We have been stopped about 12 hours now and the fog seems to have lifted. I can only speculate that the Lake Ladoga is heavily fogged. Will report back!

So we did not sign up for the Moscow at night tour. We went on the Peterhof tour in St. Petersburg today though and it was wonderful, especially since the weather allowed us to enjoy the fabulous gardens.In the afternoon we went on the river and canal tour, also aided by perfect weather. So far we have really had an excellent time. I was a bit worried about the political sitution but that has not been a problem. The crew on the ship is top notch and the meals are just wonderful. We have never been on an ocean cruise so perhaps the meals and choices are more vast, but we are perfectly happy with the choices and preparation of the meals and the service. I will certainly do a full report when we get back home, but if anyone is doing one of the Waterways tours still this year, you are in for a treat in my estimation. Obviously there are lots of different people and

opinions, but we are delighted on this, our second Viking cruise.

We are on our third day of Waterways of the Tsars and it is great so far. We were met at the airport and it was extremely efficient. We did have a bit of a wait getting out of the control gate after boarding the bus, but that was not a big deal. The traffic is awful, as many have said, but it is interesting to see that the worst drivers in the world are not in Philly or Boston, but right here in Russia.

Our room is great, the crew is quite good, although last evening the dinner crew was in a huge hurry for us to leave. Long story .Anyway, we are here and I will try to get back into this site again if anyone has any questions. By the way, the weather has been spectacular!! Really unusually great apparently.

Great news! Thanks for replying. We are looking forward to going.

Lawyers get most of the money! I know from personal experience living with lawyers in my family. Sad but true.

Rod and Barry,

Thanks so much for your reply! Glad you had a great time. Political situation is deteriorating. Any comments on how that affected y'all or not. Thanks so much!

Sorry Texas Outlaw, I meant Rodbarry who it seems should be back now unless they are staying on in Europe for awhile. Their post indicated they were going mid August. Just wanted to get feedback on their recent trip and I imagine you would like to hear as well. Happy sailing.

Are y'all back from the cruise? How was it?

We leave in a week. Will post when we return.

Where I come from the glass is always half full! Glad to see many people feel that way. Hope to meet them when I cruise.

Doesn't hurt to take repellant. We did the Budapest to Amsterdam in early August a few years ago and never noticed a bug. But every year is different. Maybe someone who knows current conditions will reply.

We had Genvisa do our application too. It was expensive, but it is so complicated otherwise we thought it was worth the money. Thanks for all the first hand info!! It really is so helpful.

They are in all big cities as the OP said. We had two experiences in Madrid, one when our daughter had her wallet stolen in the metro and the other when another daughter put her hand in her pocket and found somebody's hand already there!! Stay vigilant but enjoy.

Wow! All of that information is so welcome. There seem to be very few Russian river cruisers posting and it is invaluable to get all your first hand comments. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm certain I'm not the only one who will benefit.

Thanks so much for the informative review!! We are going 9/4 on Viking Rurik and are so interested in whatever we can hear from recent travelers especially in light of the current Russian - U.S. Relations. Seems you had no problems and it sounds like an excellent trip. Thanks again.

That is a great price. We took the same trip a few years ago and it was magnificent!! We were in the D category and it was perfectly fine. We were out of the room so much the small size of it was unimportant!! Have a lovely trip. You'll love it.

Wow! Thanks loads for the quick and informative reply. I'll probably have other questions as time passes. You are so kind to take the time to share your memories with others. This will benefit lots of people I'm certain.

Thanks for the review. We will go the opposite direction in September. Were you able to sit on your balcony a lot while cruising? We hear how bad the traffic is. I am concerned about getting to the airport for an early morning flight day of departure? Do you know how that was handled? Mosquitos a problem? Thanks if you can answer any of these!

We went on the Viking Budapest to Amsterdam cruise a few years ago and I only remember being next to another boat a few times. Wonderful cruise!