Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

ms russ

marco_polo11

By marco_polo11,
in River Cruising

Recommended Posts

dinkyc

dinkyc

Posted
Posted

Hi Judy,

 

Im taking a pvt tour guide on my extra days in Moscow & st petersburg i booked online.

Im not very keen on being herded along in big crouds. So that could be an Idea for you as well. Im having an extra 3 days at both ends of the cruise. And this way you say where you want to go and how long you want to be there. Im also on the Russ on the 10th see you there soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
pixiegirl-loves-travel

pixiegirl-loves-travel

Posted
Posted

I hope you're talking to me Ansie, lol! I'm great! Visas arrived yesterday, tickets to the Louvre in Paris arrived today. I'm heading out to a ballgame later to practise with my new camera. Life is good!

 

15 days, Ansie! Are you as excited as I am?

 

We'll have to arrange a meeting with Judy so we can have our own little cruisecritic get-together! :)

 

Lisa

Link to comment
Share on other sites
rubmar

rubmar

Posted
Posted

thanyou for all this pictures and map. we are going in September 3rd in the victoria ship but this is so helpful. you are amazing. rubmar i have not heard of anyone except for Linda that is going september r3rd. the ship is full. where are the people, i guess they do nto know about cruiscritic. we will meet the lucky people in the boat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
dinkyc

dinkyc

Posted
Posted

Hi Lisa yes I was chatting to you. Hope your session with camera was good and you are now rearing to go. Yes a good visit on the ship with you 2 and Judy and co will be awesome. Im all packed and ready to go tick tock tick tock LOL

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jbirder

jbirder

Posted
Posted

Just found out that the Armory is closed on Thursday - which is our free day in Moscow. So I am hoping for an optional excursion to get there. Otherwise, we'll skip the lunch on our tour of Moscow day and try to go then. Has anyone tried to do this???

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jbirder

jbirder

Posted
Posted
Hi Judy,

 

Im taking a pvt tour guide on my extra days in Moscow & st petersburg i booked online.

Im not very keen on being herded along in big crouds. So that could be an Idea for you as well. Im having an extra 3 days at both ends of the cruise. And this way you say where you want to go and how long you want to be there. Im also on the Russ on the 10th see you there soon.

 

Where did you find the private guide online???

Link to comment
Share on other sites
teb3

teb3

Posted
Posted

Quick update. Just got back late Monday from SP to Moscow. Still lagging but here are things we saw/learned that may be here but buried. We were on the Lev (Leo) Tolstoi which is a sister to the Russ. Saw Russ in port. These and 25 other ships are all owned by a company called Vodohod. That means water travel in English. In turn, our ship was chartered by Crucemundo a Spanish company that then sells off pieces of the action to various travel agents like Travel All Russia which we booked through.

 

Very clean and good crew. Food was good and very nicely presented and served. The tp issue was a non-issue. There is one surprise however and this applies to the hotels, etc. as well...there is no such thing as Kleenex. So, the little rolls of tp make blowing your nose a better event.

 

We generally have wonderful weather but it changes faster than here in Texas. 70 and sunny and half-way up a street, major downpour, wind and chilly. Carry one of the "pocket plastic ponchos" at all times and a small umbrella. This is also mosquito season. They are big and bite so take one of the travel/camper size squirters of Deet or you will pay dearly. You'll learn the first time you go through one of the locks, and there are a lot.

 

The way our cruise was booked, we had two days in SP, then boat and finally two days in Moscow. Both hotels that TRA had arranged were VERY nice. Rossi in SP and the Assambleya Nikitskaya in Moscow. They are wonderful boutique hotels. Outstanding food at Fontina which connects into the front hall at the Rossi and a fantastic Euro-Fusion place that is the first restaurant immediately next door when you make a right out the front door.

 

All of the guides and tours set up by TAR for us were fine and they were always there on shore to take care of things. Tour busses were Mercedes-Benz vans. They had ticket to Swan Lake waiting for us at the Rossi. Very good performance, second row dead center tickets with tremendous acoustics. A real highlight.

 

The downside is with all the tours whether planned by who ever booked you or organized by the cruise line itself is that you will be worn out. They are determined to give you every bit of Russian history over and over as you are running. The crowds are giant but its the only time they aren't frozen in for the year. Example is The Hermitage, three hours with several thousand of your new closest friends in tour groups. Insane but to escape the crowd you'd need to go in Feb. but you can't move because everything is total ice and up 50 degrees below and thats Centigrade!

 

Now back to downloading 900+ photos. Just remember, really a great trip and except for the long flights you should enjoy it and meet some nice people from all over the world.

 

Oh, our tours done by TAR were private, just the four of us, but you are still fighting the mobs of the big group tours. Great idea and definitely better because they can cut to the head of the line and the 30 and 40 size bunch can't.

 

TEB3/Lary

Link to comment
Share on other sites
pixiegirl-loves-travel

pixiegirl-loves-travel

Posted
Posted

Lary~ thanks so much for the update and info. Awesome! Please come back and post anything else you might think of and want to share. I'm excited to hear ALL of it! If you can post any pictures, would love to see those too. Just bought a charger and extra batteries for my camera and a 2nd 16GB memory card. I'm good for about 6000 pics and movies, lol! :eek:

 

Judy~ what time does your flight get in on Tuesday? Perhaps you and your companion could meet up with me and Kaylie to tour the Armory before the cruise? Just a thought...

 

Ansie~ I sense you and I are going to hit it off well and knock the socks off of this trip! ;) Two weeks from today- we're in the air! I've not packed, but I'm compiling my lists for packing! I'll start doing it officially next week. I'm waiting for some goodies to arrive in the mail.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: Set Sail Beyond the Ordinary with Oceania Cruises
      • ANNOUNCEMENT: The Widest View in the Whole Wide World
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...