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MS Russ Russian River Cruise

scubacruiserx2

By scubacruiserx2,
in River Cruising

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4774Papa

4774Papa

Posted
Posted

I don't know if this helps, but I found this comment on another CC post about docking in St. Pete.

 

In St Petersburg, The Salt Pier, where Viking Cruises docked in 2008 is on the left bank of the Neva, well upstream of the city centre and beyond the maps in most guidebooks. It is right next to a huge suspension bridge which is part of a major ring road. The address is Oktyabrskaya Naberezhnaya 29A. Naberezhnaya (Nab) means embankment.

GPS coordinates for Salt Pier: 59°51′23.31″N 30°29′52.34″E Can be found on Google Earth.

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Joulupukki

Joulupukki

Posted
Posted
I don't know if this helps, but I found this comment on another CC post about docking in St. Pete.

 

In St Petersburg, The Salt Pier, where Viking Cruises docked in 2008 is on the left bank of the Neva, well upstream of the city centre and beyond the maps in most guidebooks. It is right next to a huge suspension bridge which is part of a major ring road. The address is Oktyabrskaya Naberezhnaya 29A. Naberezhnaya (Nab) means embankment.

GPS coordinates for Salt Pier: 59°51′23.31″N 30°29′52.34″E Can be found on Google Earth.

 

The Salt Pier and Utkina Zavod are on the RIGHT bank of the Neva. The opposite bank is LEFT.

 

M/s Russ

http://www.bestrussiancruises.com/cruises/motorships/russ/

 

ST. PETERSBURG

Docking area: Utkina Zavod

Address: Oktyabrskaya Nab.31

 

Причал: Уткина заводь.

Адрес причала: Уткина заводь - Октябрьская

набережная, д. 31.

 

Utkina Zavod is located on the opposite bank of the Neva from Proletarskaya metro station. There is a complimentary shuttle between the Proletarskayya metro station and the pier. The shuttle schedule will depend on the number of ships docked on that particular day. The shuttle bus is indicated with the name “Vodohod.” In addition, there is a public transportation from Lomonosovskaya metro station to the pier. The bus numbers are: 476 & 119.

 

http://www.amawaterways.com/images/stp1_port.gif

http://www.amawaterways.com/images/stp2_port.gif

 

Printable version (pages 25-26)

http://www.amawaterways.com/pdf/10russia_WelcomeAboard.pdf

 

Other river terminal:

 

Saint-Petersburg Passenger River Terminal

Metro station "Proletarskaya"(it takes 5 min. on foot)

195 Obukhovskoy Oborony Pr.

193131 Saint-Petersburg, Russia

 

Coordinates (GPS or Google Earth) 59°52′13.43″N 30°27′33.28″E

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  • 2 months later...
speedinbk

speedinbk

Posted
Posted

Once you are on the Russ in St Petersburg, can you come and go all hours of the day and night? We will be there the first week in September.

How easy is it to get back into the city center once onboard? How long does it take?

How do you get back to the city center once you're onboard, and does that transportation stop at a certain hour in the night? If the shuttle from the Pier has stopped, how long is the walk from Proletarskaya metro station to the pier, and does the shuttle at the pier to the Russ stop at any certain time of the night?

Thanks in advance for all the help

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zumaqueen

zumaqueen

Posted
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It takes @ 45 min. via Metro from City Center to the pier. There is a park between those two places, and we were advised not to walk through it in the night. There was no shuttle, but we were on Viking and that may be a different docking point.

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HDS

HDS

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Zumaqueen,

 

Are you referring to Moscow or St Petersburg docks?

There were 2 large parks and a busy road between Viking's dock (in 2008) in Moscow and the nearest Metro - a pleasant walk, maybe 10-15 minutes.

 

In St Petersburg there was a public bus service from the street outside the Viking dock to the Metro -a 2-3 minute walk then a 10-15 minute ride (approx) to the Metro. Didn't see a park.

 

We did both trips in daylight but I wouldn't do either after dark. In unfamiliar, poorly lit territory it would be very easy to get lost and in St P. not find the right bus stop outside the Metro for the return to the ship. Pickpockets work the Metro as well as tourist areas. They are very efficient and persistent. Fortunately we were well prepared.

 

The Russ may use a different dock.

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speedinbk

speedinbk

Posted
Posted

Thanks Zumaqueen for all your help and info.

I was speaking of St Petersburg since this thread was in regards to St Petersburg, but I accept and appreciate the info on Moscow as well.

 

So being the shuttle was a 10 or 15min ride to the metro in St Petersburg, would you say it may be a little too far to walk if we didn't want to wait for the bus?

 

What time of year did you go to Russia? We will be going the first week of Sept., so I'm wondering what time it gets dark? Did you and your party not feel safe in St Petersburg or Moscow? We have ventured out in other European cities at night (Munich, Venice, Rome etc.) and never felt uneasy. I've seen pictures of Red Square at night and it looks beautiful. I consider myself very good with maps and directions, for me it would be more a matter of safety than getting lost. What would you say was more the motivating factor that you didn't go out at night, would you say it was fear of getting lost at night or safety?

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HDS

HDS

Posted
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Speedinbnk,

 

My experiences relate to a Viking (Pakhomov) cruise from Moscow to St Petersburg, early October 2008. Your boat may have a different dock, Viking may have changed its dock since then. The river boat docks were outside the range of the maps in our (Lonely Planet) guide books and the city maps we bought before we left Australia.

 

We are independent travellers in Asia, Europe, America, Middle East, capable of reading maps, who always carry a compass and like to explore on our own. One of us gained sufficient knowledge of Cyrillic to decipher place names. I will try to offer you useful information as briefly as I can.

 

We are very pleased that we stayed in hotels in Moscow and St Petersburg before/after our river cruise. We had no trouble finding our way by foot and public transport to the places we wanted to explore in either city and ate dinner after dark in restaurants near the Bolshoi Theatre and Red Square, not far from our Moscow hotel. Our hotel in St Petersburg was not so centrally located but had an excellent chef so we ate in. City pavements are uneven and street lighting, even in the city centres, away from places like Red Square is not bright. We are 60+ and perhaps more wary of minor injuries than you need to be. After a long day walking and exploring we were content to return to our hotel/boat in the evening.

 

Viking cruise boat docks were suburban, well away from the city centres and off our detailed city maps. In Moscow it was easy to follow the morning commuter crowd to the metro but our maps didn't show which path across the parks we should take back to the dock. No problem in daylight, we knew if we walked west we would hit the river and the dock. After dark in unlit parks ??????

 

The metro line in St P. was on the opposite bank of the River Neva from where Viking docked. According to information I accessed from http://www.tripadvisor.com (Trip Advisor) and also from Pete's Walking Tours (http://www.peterswalk.com/original.html) there are two metro stations close-ish to the dock. We used the "buses 119 and 476 take you to metro station Lomonskovskaya" option. The web sites also stated that the dock was about 15-min walk from Proletarskaya metro station. Because we didn't have a street map for the route to Proletarskaya, we sought the bus stop and took the local bus, which took a roundabout, approx 15 minute route through the suburbs to the suburban centre/transport hub at Lomonskovskaya metro station. The direct route would be shorter but without a map we could have wasted a lot of time walking to the metro. We waited outside the metro station to watch the bus turn around and identify where it collected passengers for the return journey to the dock.

 

We were targetted by pickpockets on the St P. metro. Three young men, talking on mobile phones, jostled us as we entered the train, separated us, forced our arms away from our sides, rifled our pockets then jumped from the train before it left the station. I succeeded in ripping the earphones from their ears which agitated them and obliged them to shout to each other. Our cameras/wallets were well secured in inside zippered pockets so all they got from outside pockets were sodden tissues, festy with the ship's virus. They were excellent operators, very good at what they do and their colleagues, prevalent everywhere in Moscow and St P., see tourists as an easy option.

 

We were in Russia in October. I'm guessing that early September will still have long days (daylight saving?). Mid September 2008 we were in Romania and the first snow had fallen on the peaks of the Carpathians. A site like weather underground will probably have information about daylength for major cities.

 

Viking staff were not forthcoming with information to assist independent exploration, apart from a basic map to the bus/metro station. We found our independent exploration much more satisfying than their excursions but your cruise line may be different.

Tripadvisor had excellent advice on using the metro in both cities. Please contact me on hjdks@hotmail.com if you have any more questions.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Dushi

Dushi

Posted
Posted

speedinbk-

Seems we are on the same cruise next September. I just started a roll call under the River Cruises section to get an idea of how many cruise critics out there are booked on this trip.

 

Thanks to Joulopukki and HDS for all the helpful info so far.

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shoshona2

shoshona2

Posted
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Hi Dushi,

 

I was very curious about this cruise you have booked and checked it out. I have been to St. Petersburg twice before and I think your tours do NOT include a visit to Catherine's Palace or Peterhof Palace. Check it out and, if not, you need to hire a private guide to get you into both of them before the crowds form. Go to the "Ports of Call" section of CC and hit on Europe and then Baltic. There are many reputable guides mentioned there.

 

Sheila

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Dushi

Dushi

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Posted

Hi Sheila/Shoshona,

 

We were on a Princess Baltics cruise last August where we booked the Catherine's Palace and Peterhof ship excursion on one of our days. I doubt that much has changed at those two locations so I will probably look into hiring a guide to take us to the sights we missed last time - such as St. Isaacs, Church of the Spilled Blood, the Yusupov Palace, a cruise in the canals, going to a local supermarket and taking the subway.

 

Four of our travelmates on the river cruise intend to hire a guide to Catherine's Palace and Peterhof as they have not been there.

 

Thanks.

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  • 1 year later...
pixiegirl-loves-travel

pixiegirl-loves-travel

Posted
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There is a whole other thread on this page devoted to the ms Russ. If you go through it, there are maps with the docks marked as well as information about independent transportation to and from and where key sites are at in conjunction to where the russ will be docked. Some recent travelers on the Russ talked about venturing out on their own and planning their own excursions pre and post cruise.

 

The russ does offer tours to Catherine's and Peterhof- these are booked as optional tours, above the cost of the cruise.

 

Please check out the thread! It's long, but very informative and specific to the ms Russ.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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