RRC2018

Thanks. Am interested among the different Scotland itineraries and mostly focused on landscape and history. It will be my first visit to Scotland so interested in one which gives access to places that might be less accessible to land based tours. Your note about the rough seas north of Scotland is noted and appreciated. 

Where to begin?  Looking at Hebridean Princess and hoping for a booking in 2021. Any recommendations on which of there itineraries is “ best”?  Duration of cruise not an issue but quality of experience, landscape, history would be emphasis. Thanks in advance for any insight. 

We wanted to explore Russia and found very few alternatives apart from the St. Petersburg-Moscow route. Our ship, the Admiral Lavrinenkov is operated by Orthodox, but operates as the Excellence Katarina for Swiss operators during the season. Ours was the re-positioning cruise from Rostov-on-Don beginning late April until mid-May. At times it felt like a trial run for the Swiss tour operator with many passengers who were crew member families or crew scheduled to start on another Orthodox ship once we arrived in Moscow.

We booked the (one) mini-suite available. It offered a more spacious balcony and somewhat more room in the cabin which might have been useful had we encountered more inclement weather. Fortunately, we had outstanding weather for the entire trip, following the arrival of spring as we traveled north. There was one deck, two bars and a restaurant open only at specified times. This may be adequate on the more usual shorter voyage offered by these ships, but was a little short for the amount of time we were on board.

Breakfast was a hot and cold buffet with both regular dishes and changing (usually hot) mains. Tea and coffee were served by our regular wait staff who were outstanding, although they had limited English and were more motivated to learn my wife's German than my English. (We were the only American passengers and the largest number of passengers were Swedes and Danes. The "English" group of US, UK and Dutch was still the smallest group on board.)

Lunch and dinner followed the same ritual, salad (not very green), soup, main and dessert. The food was generally good and could occasionally be outstanding but it wore thin over the course of 19 days and I had the distinct impression the kitchen was running low on key ingredients by the time we reached Moscow. There was always a choice of main, including one vegetarian dish - although fish and sometimes seafood apparently counts as vegetarian in Russia!

As we had shore excursions (most included) almost every day, the on-board entertainment and activities were limited. A couple of documentaries were screened, Russian lessons were offered and some tips on Russian crafts. Remarkably accomplished musicians provided some entertainment a couple of evenings and on special occasions.

Over 21 days (19 days of sailing and touring) we visited a new city almost every day. Day One included a visit in Rostov which was a pleasant surprise - including the new airport even though it was substantially further out of town that the airport in operation as recently as a few weeks before our arrival! As in many other cities we visited, everything was spruced up, or being spruced up for the World Cup. (In Rostov, the Embankment was still being refinished, the bridge overhead had just opened and the new stadium was just across the river...for example.)

A full day sailing the Rostov-Don Canal, as well as full days traveling to and from Volgograd (formerly Tsaritsyn and Stalingrad) from and to Astrakhan by the Caspian Sea. Otherwise a new city every day including the aforementioned Rostov, Astrakhan, Volgograd plus Samara, Simbirsk, Kazan, Ulyanovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Plos, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Uglich and finally Moscow. Optional add-on excursions (with added cost) were offered at Astrakhan (the Caspian or a Sturgeon Farm); Samara (Stalin's Bunker) and Yaroslavl (Rostov the Great). Two days in Moscow at the end, also with optional extras (including an exceptional and useful "Metro by Night" tour). The local guides were invariably excellent in their distinctive ways. My only criticism is that the dictates of the ship schedule (because of advance reservation at the numerous locks we had to pass through) meant that our time in the different cities was not constant. In particular, we had an especially short amount of time in Nizhny Novgorod.

All in all an excellent experience and a tremendous value.

No, no Russian but “iffy” travel has its rewards. I am just hoping to learn how iffy and see if there are specific fixes that members can suggest.

New to both cruises and to this board, so apologies in advance if this is too obvious.

Planning a May trip of 2 to 3 weeks in Russia. Aim not to include St. Petersburg but to include a cruise on the lower Volga. (Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan especially.) Only options appear to be local operators.

Any experiences, advice, warnings? I have one 6 day option that starts in Kazan and works it’s way back to Moscow. Another goes all the way through to Astrkhan, which is tempting, but 12 days on a Soviet era ship does raise some red flags (pun intended).