Doing the Document Dance!

[Kellie Poodle]

Our paperwork/documents came today via the travel agency. Exactly 3 weeks before we leave for Russia for our AMA Katarina Moscow to St. Petersburg cruise.

 

The package was in a very pretty canvass pouch about 11" wide and 6.5" high. It is navy blue with AMA Waterways logo and a nice screen print of gold-topped onion domes. Very Russian. Much lighter than the "pleather" stuff we've gotten from other tour companies. Maybe they are on board with weight restrictions on flights?

 

Inside were:

 

a 116 page booklet with foldout maps. It had a phrase section in front and lots of information about the stops and the sites at the stops. It also had a detailed history of Russia and the area where we will be traveling. A whole section about shopping, too! :D

 

Similar to the "Russia by River" book I ordered. The book is very portable being 5.5" tall by 4" wide and a quarter of an inch thick. I think the two books will compliment each other quite well.

 

the cruise contract in teeny print ;)

 

Our vouchers for the transfers along with a $50 OBC voucher for each of us! That was a great surprise.

 

4 really nice, large (5.5" x 3 1/8"), cloth covered luggage tags with AMA logo.

 

Welcome Aboard booklet with the information one needs about the nuts and bolts (Sheila, this is what I sent you on the PDF) which contained a note with the cruise manager's phone number and information about the internet service. The note stated that there are no computers on board, bring your own. Also there "may" be a charge for internet service.

 

and a little paper booklet about the "detailed itinerary" . Each excursion had a blurb and the times of the excursions, plus the duration of the bus rides, boat rides and walking tours and degrees of difficulty of each tour. Everything seemed well-defined and the little booklet mentioned above gave more detailed info about the sites.

 

The only one listed as a '4' is the Kremlin Armory tour which has a lot of stairs and uneven ground. I will ask the cruise director about the availability of elevators. If none, DH might have to sit that one out. There is one '3' with all the rest being 1 or 2.

 

I'm trying to figure out how much we need in roubles so I can get the bank to order them. I'm thinking about $300 US should cover step-on guide tips and chatchkas we might want to buy. We will have an ATM card if we run out.

[shoshona2]

So happy to hear that you received your documents!!!! My DH bought me an iPad 2 this weekend in Florida. Now, I have to take lessons in how to use it!! I wanted a small net book, but he liked the weight of the iPad. We have to stay connected with his office and also bring a World phone from Mobal.com. Since we are leaving for London/Paris with our granddaughter on July 7th, I will take some classes at Apple in the next couple of weeks. I'm so glad we are leaving L.A. on the 7th as the young Royals are coming to LA to see their friends. Traffic is so awful and it will be worse when they are here.

 

Sheila