Rog.Smith

Me and my friends, families and kids too, we made a cruise in June 2018, Dubrovnik to Navplio near Athens. Have no care for diving, can’t help, my pardon. But otherwise that was fun. There’s one guy, Alex by name, the bosun, he teaches  kids to make knots.  And a very nice personality, him.  Amiable, and a real sailor. And all the crew too. And the master took us to the bridge and let us , how you call it, drive… Also one officer, Gregory, he tells you about star navigation, like they used to do in the past. Meals were fine. Like a hi-end restaurant, but ample. We enjoyed. Did not go to beach taverns. Very nice ship. Looks very fresh. Not a cheap lot, but worth every penny.

My appreciation to all !

On 12/2/2018 at 10:59 AM, napoxoguk said:

 Hi Rog.,

Moscow to SPB is indeed not too picturesque (except in Moscow, SPB, Uglich, and, perhaps, Yaroslavl). But, to keep the record straight, nor is it really a Volga cruise.

 

Years ago, I did Moscow to Astrakhan. I thought it was too long, but the river was invariably impressive, especially downstream from Kazan. 

Afaik, for the Volga, the companies owning the ships are pretty much the same: vodohod, mosturflot, infoflot... All three offer cruises for foreign tourists. If you don't speak much Russian by next summer, that should probably be the way to go (well, that - or convincing your Russian friends to go with you). To see the actual interiors of their ships, check out https://riverforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=33 

 

If you don't feel comfortable dealing with these companies directly - you might want to try someone like Orthodox (www.cruise.ru/en). I haven't been on any of their cruises, but I've met some of their tour staff and was really impressed with their dedication, knowledge, and professionalism. It will likely cost a lot more than booking a tour with one of the three cruise lines, though.

 

 

Great thanks ! I think cruising to Astrakhan will be my choice. Will aslo study Orthodox and the others.

On 12/1/2018 at 9:34 PM, Coral said:

I did one about 12 years ago. I had previously done a land trip in Moscow and Leningrad in 1988 and loved it. I also studied Russian history and some language in college. 

 

The line I did no longer leases boats in Russia.

 

I was not thrilled with the trip. We docked far from town in St. Petersburg and Moscow (staying in downtown hotels definitely better). I was bored with the smaller ports. Many times I felt like we got off the ship for 3 hours and then back on. We often only visited one thing in port (church, monastery). I did like Kizhi but it was that we got off the ship, saw exterior of ship and got back on. I think it was under renovation so we couldn't go in. 

 

Our ship was charted on a Vodohod ship with only 2 river cruise employees. I knew what the ship was going to be like when I got on it so that was not disappointing. I thought the food was subpar (I had no problems eating in Russia in the past so I don't think it was me - others just chalked up the poor food to being in Russia). 

Hope they have improved since then (judging by restaurants in Moscow...there are a lot of amazing places nowadays). Thank you so much, I now know which things to pay attention at !

Hey everybody,

I currently work in Russia and have it in mind to do a Volga cruise next summer. Naturally, there is a lot to be said by local friends and there is much advertising here too, but I would really like to hear about the experience of tourists from other countries. Maybe anybode can recommend a particular ship or cruise line ?

Thanks a lot !