NanciEA

We used them for our Viking trip to Russia last September and there were no problems. You cannot apply until 90 days out. For Russia there are a lot of questions, such as where your parents were born, all the places you have ever worked, were you ever in the military, etc. The hardest question for us was to list all the countries we had visited in the last ten years, with the dates we were there. We just listed the "major" countries where we had been, not every cruise ship stop. I was a little worried because our passports were nearing the end of their time and we had a lot of stamps in them. In the end, we and our traveling companions decided it was probably a matter of "if your check cashes your good" thing, as we all got them back very quickly with no problems.

We are doing the same trip as DoggyDaddy (Prague to Budapest), except in late August. The Dvorak concert interested us, and based on the review posted, we will sign up for it. We have never been to Passau and were wondering about what we would miss there by doing the all day excursion to Cresky Krumlov. Other reviewers have said Passau is lovely and the cathedral and pipe organ are not to be missed. There are two other optionals I had questions on. Did you take the Weltenberg Abbey and Danube Gorge optional? We were also considering the Vienna evening concert, although there is another thread on this topic and it did not sound overly appealing with folding chairs, etc.

What if you wanted to leave the ship a day early at the end of the cruise when the ship has an overnight in the final port? For example, your ship docked in Barcelona at 8:00am on one day, but there it was an overnight and the cruise did not disembark until 8:00am the following day. Could you leave the ship on the day of arrival, if you noticed Oceania? Has anyone done this?

We did Viking's cruise from St. Petersburg to Moscow last September with three other couples. You can read my review under "Viking Helgi", "Needs Improvement".

My DH and I have been on three river cruises (and numerous ocean cruises). One on AMA and two on Viking. We are going on the Danube in late Aug./early Sept. on the Avalon Panorama with three other couples. Since none of them have ever river cruised, they let us pick the cruise line. We are trying Avalon precisely because of the panorama suites. The AMA cruise in Holland was on one of their older ships and the cabin had a French balcony, which when included in the 170 sq. ft. made the room seem very cramped. On our two Viking cruises (China and Russia) we opted for a full balcony, neither of which we used very much. In China it was fine as the cabin was large (250 sq. ft.) and had a seating area (love seat), which we used much more often do to the humid weather/smog/or being docked next to another boat. Our Russian river cruise last September was when we decided to explore Avalon. There was nowhere other than the desk chair to sit in the room. My DH and I find it uncomfortable to seat and read on the bed. This was a 12 night cruise and due to either docking next to other ships (you're docked as a "hotel" six of the nights in St. Petersburg and Moscow) or the cool weather, we rarely used the balcony and it took a lot of space away from the already cramped room. As others have said, the views are much better on the top deck than what you can see from your balcony on a river cruise. After our experiences, we will always go for a larger room over a balcony on river cruise. (Ocean cruises are completely different as the cabins are usually much larger.) The Panorama suites on Avalon seemed like what we were looking for - floor to ceiling windows that open, but do not take away living space. We'll have to see in August!

Thanks for your positive post. I talked three other couples into joining us on an Avalon Danube cruise in late August/early September. My husband and I have cruised with AMA (Tulip Time) and Viking (China and Russia) and wanted to try something different. We were on an older ship with AMA, although some of their newer ones look much nicer. Our cabin was tiny and the beds hard. Viking was great in China, but we had issues with the ship in Russia. Thus our decision to look at Avalon.

We were on the Viking Helgi in September. We were tied up with the Uniworld ship and walked through it's lobby, so at least for 2013 Viking and Uniworld used the same port. The port address for us in St. Petersburg was:

Salt Pier

Oktiabrskaya Nab. 29

193079

Our pre-cruise info from Viking showed a map of the location. It is on the Neva River southeast of the main area of St. Petersburg. Just past the Volodarskiy Most bridge. It was only a ten minute drive from the airport when we arrived as the airport is south of town. However, for our trips into and out of St. Petersburg it took at least 45 minutes (if we were lucky) and an hour and a half if we were not. This was due to traffic and road construction. Being docked south of town was however nice for our two excursions to Peterhof and Catherine's Palace as they are west and south of town respectively.

I hope this helps.

We're arriving on Sat., Feb. 1 at 12:40pm. It looks like the Air France flight usually arrives in the evening. Generally how long is the wait for the bridge opening?

Can someone give me and estimate on how long it will take to clear custom, retreive luggage and take a taxi from the airport to the cruise terminal? Our flight is scheduled to arrive at 12:40pm.

Many thanks from me as well. I have two questions. We're planning this same trip for next Spring and I am comparing cruise lines. Is it correct that Avalon does not have bikes on board for guest use? AMA and Uniworld do, Viking does not. Also, it seems Avalon does not provided wine and beer at lunch. True? AMA does not, while Uniworld and Viking do. Different features are important for different folks!