Viking 'Footsteps of the Cossacks' (Ukraine)

[Peregrina651]

Hey, Ray. Glad you have joined us. It is going to be slow here for a while until more people find us. I guess we are just going to have to be patient.

 

There is an old thread with some comments about the ship and a couple of links to reviews.

 

Look for Robert Bacon's blog on Facebook (wish I could remember where I copied it from but probably from the Discussions). Also, earlier on this thread, there is a link to a review by 'coasters.' They are the only two blog/review/journals that i have found so far for this trip.

 

Oh, and Old Pete, also did a review of the trip as well.

[Peregrina651]

Happy New Year, everyone!

[Peregrina651]

This trip has been on the back burner for a while.

 

Right now I am starting to ponder what to pack and I have been thinking about what drugs I need to bring along. I usually make sure to get a prescription for Cipro in case of gastrointestinal problems (and I usually throw it out at the end of the trip completely unused, but at least I have it if needed).

 

For those of you who have taken this trip, is there anything else that you suggest bringing because you really found that you needed it? Is there anything that you brought that you found that you didn't really need--and neither did anyone else??

[Peregrina651]

I found this link to a blog on Viking's Facebook page.

 

 

And I found this link as well.

 

Sorry if these are repeats.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Peregrina651

[travelling fools]

Thanks for those links.Looks like they had a great time in those photos.

 

We are going on the June 26th cruise from Kiev to Odessa.Anybody else on the same date?

[travelling fools]

http://drjohnejones.com/ukraine_2006.htm

[Peregrina651]

Travelling fools, welcome to the conversation and thanks for the link. It looks like things have changed a bit since 2006--new ship, different itinerary--but Viking is always tweaking things. I hope you will share more of what you find while preparing for this trip.

Edited January 27, 2012 by Peregrina651

[Grandcruisevirgin]

Just checking in to say I'm taking this cruise from Kiev to Odessa in the fall of 2013.

I'm in the process of looking at Pete's pictures - and how wonderful they are!, outstanding job.

For me, I know my family lived in or near Odessa, so taking the southbound route builds up to a grand finale, where I walk the streets my grandparents may have walked.

 

I'm also taking a T/A cruise in April. If I can find a way to get a Viking banner added to my posts, I will.

[Peregrina651]

Hello, GCV! Welcome to the chat. We have 3 months to go and I can't wait so I don't know how you are going handle a year and three months.

 

Some of my family came from Odessa as well but that was way back in the 1890s and we have very little in the way of family stories or pictures from that time. Other family members came from Kiev and Kanev and I am disappointed that more time is not spent in Kiev, especially on the Odessa to Kiev trips. We wanted to add the Kiev extension but it isn't being offered on our sailing. I wish they would change their mind about that since I thought it was good deal based just baed on hotel prices in Kiev. Oh, well!!

[loum140]

Hello, GCV! Welcome to the chat. We have 3 months to go and I can't wait so I don't know how you are going handle a year and three months.

 

Our 4th Viking cruise will be Kiev/Odessa in June -- and previously we have never been able to get much of a response on a CC Roll Call. Peregrina651, since you're sailing soon please, please, please post a review when you get back. Especially interested in life on board and stateroom size. We're in a CX.

[Peregrina651]

 

Our 4th Viking cruise will be Kiev/Odessa in June -- and previously we have never been able to get much of a response on a CC Roll Call. Peregrina651, since you're sailing soon please, please, please post a review when you get back. Especially interested in life on board and stateroom size. We're in a CX.

 

 

 

Roll calls just don't seem to work for river cruises. That's one of the reasons I started this thread: river cruise roll calls don't get enough traffic. It is just the nature of the beast, I guess. Most sailings (whether mainstream or river) draw about 1% of the passengers to a given roll (if that many)--which for river cruises means 2-3 people --and that is just not enough people to make a conversation.

 

IMHO, the format that has a better shot of meeting the needs of river cruisers is an itinerary/destination based thread (the best example of which is the Viking China thread which is now in its 7th year)--and so I have tried to start one and keep it going. Hopefully, in the next few months the conversation will pick up and give this thread a life of its own.

 

I'm not great at writing reviews and prefer answering specific questions. I hope to follow the thread while we are cruising and post as we go. Eventually, I'll post pictures on Shutterfly and maybe even a blog on Travel Pod.

 

We're booked in one of the standard rooms and will be sleeping in twin beds and showering in 'yacht-style' bathroom. It will be an experience, for sure--and I am saving some of my best prose for cabin stories. We know what we booked and we are going into this with a positive attitude. At least our cabin is above the water line. We also know that we have booked on a multi-lingual cruise and that many of our fellow passengers will be Germany speaking. That too will be an experience.

Edited February 1, 2012 by Peregrina651

[Grandcruisevirgin]

Thanks for starting this thread, I'll be following your trip with great interest,hope you have a wonderful time.

[Peregrina651]

Thanks for starting this thread, I'll be following your trip with great interest,hope you have a wonderful time.

 

 

CVG, I hope you will pitch in with questions and with helpful information that you find as you prepare for your cruise in 2013. This should be a thread with many voices.

 

Also, you don't have to use a CC countdown clock. The one I use comes from Ticker.com and there are some other websites that also provide them.

Edited February 5, 2012 by Peregrina651

[Kohola]

I posted a very detailed review of the Footsteps of the Cossacks on CC after our cruise in Apr/May of 2011 Viking-Ukraine River Cruise...here is the link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=29185166#post29185166

[Peregrina651]

:D I just asked my TA to check to see if maybe Viking had changed its mind about offering the Kiev extension on our May 3, 2012 sailing and I am so glad that I did because we are now booked for another two nights in Kiev. I am thrilled because I want to see Kiev more than any of the other cities on the itinerary. I feel like Snoopy doing his dance!!

[Peregrina651]

I posted a very detailed review of the Footsteps of the Cossacks on CC after our cruise in Apr/May of 2011 Viking-Ukraine River Cruise...here is the link:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=29185166#post29185166

 

Bob and Deb, Thank you! It's a wonderful review. Very helpful for planning. I am slowly checking out your pictures.

 

One thing we already know they have changed for this year. They are marketing just 4 Odessa to Kiev cruises as multilingual--May3, July 8, July 30 and September 12.

 

A couple of questions:

 

Odessa is a photographer’s dream; great architecture, colorful buildings, beautiful people, and many green areas. We skipped all the optional tours.

 

Did you hear any feedback on the optional tours offered in Odessa and were there any tours that they did not offer or cancel because of lack of interest (esp in Odessa but also at any of the ports)?

 

What did you see in Odessa? Is there anything that you should have skipped? Anything that you missed that you regret?

 

Internet:

In port, it was fast with minimal people logged in, but while cruising the connection was very sporadic and quite slow.

 

Is there wi-fi on the ship? Or are we limited to using computers in the lounge (as in China)?

 

The area around the Delta as the Dnieper flows into the Black Sea was full of insects which made their way into every open window on the ship, don't know if this is just a springtime issue??

 

Yeah, someone else reported the same, so I thought that I would repeat the comment here for all to see.

Edited February 17, 2012 by Peregrina651
typo

[Kohola]

Bob and Deb, Thank you! It's a wonderful review. Very helpful for planning. I am slowly checking out your pictures.

 

One thing we already know they have changed for this year. They are marketing just 4 Odessa to Kiev cruises as multilingual--May3, July 8, July 30 and September 12.

 

A couple of questions:

 

 

Did you hear any feedback on the optional tours offered in Odessa and were there any tours that they did not offer or cancel because of lack of interest (esp in Odessa but also at any of the ports)?

 

What did you see in Odessa? Is there anything that you should have skipped? Anything that you missed that you regret?

 

 

 

Is there wi-fi on the ship? Or are we limited to using computers in the lounge (as in China)?

 

 

 

Yeah, someone else reported the same, so I thought that I would repeat the comment here for all to see.

 

In 2011 the multilingual tours operated from Kiev to Odessa so the direction has changed also. We enjoyed the richness of having several nationalities represented...the dining room was divided at lunch and dinner, but we ate with passengers from the Netherlands and Germany at breakfast. The tours/ guides were separated onto English or German language buses. Many of the optional tours are very interest specific so they had minimal participation...we experienced tours with all 3 English speaking guides which gave us the opportunity to listen to different perspectives.

 

From our understanding most people enjoyed the optional tours in Odessa...we toured the museums and the city on our own. The Opera House in Odessa rivals any in Europe...we spent over two hours just admiring the various statues that adorn it. We spent a lot of time enjoying their parks...Odessa has a tremendous amount of green space within easy walking distance of the waterfront. There are some beautiful beaches in Odessa, but the weather was too cold in early May.

 

We would have skipped the wine tasting tour. Also we would have skipped the folklore museum in Kiev to devote more time seeing the city. Kiev has a beautiful promenade that stretches for miles above the river that we didn't have the time to enjoy. In hindsight spending another day in Kiev would have been worthwhile for us. We would have also liked to have been in the country during their Victory Day celebration May 9.

 

The ship has wi-fi, I had my laptop and shared my photos with the crew and on FB as the cruise progressed. There are only two free computers in the library for passenger use...they have several Notebooks available for rental. The crew was extremely excited to see photos of themselves...similar to the grade school in China. We even had one young lady give us her cell phone so we could copy our pictures onto her phone. The wi-fi was available in the cabins, but we normally sat in the forward lounge for comfort and to converse with the crew that worked up there. The upper lounge was closed except for meetings and the evening hours.

 

Ukraine felt like vacationing across the farming communities in the Midwest of the US on route to one of the coasts. You are fed a diet of meat and potatoes with dessert at either end in Kiev and the Black Sea areas. Ukraine was a country of humble people who were delightful if you would take the time to break the ice.

 

The majority of American passengers on our cruise were visiting the Ukraine because of either their ancestral heritage or in conjunction with other tours in the area combined with a last minute extremely favorable discount to fill the multilingual cruise. We did the Ukraine last minute then returned to the Black Sea to visit Bulgaria 4 months later on a previously planned trip...it would have been more efficient to combine the two.

 

Odessa is an extremely difficult city to coordinate connections to return to the US in a timely fashion. The majority of American passengers flew from Odessa to Vienna, spent the night and continued to the US the next day. We left the ship at 4am and traveled in excess of 30 straight hours between the two stops and multiple hour layovers to reach the West Coast of the US...we would insist on spending a night in Europe to break up our return if we were ever to do it again. Kiev has many more options available to return to the US.

[Peregrina651]

In 2011 the multilingual tours operated from Kiev to Odessa so the... [snip]

... to reach the West Coast of the US...we would insist on spending a night in Europe to break up our return if we were ever to do it again. Kiev has many more options available to return to the US.

 

So much helpful info here. Thank you. It is going to take me a few days to absorb it all.

[travelling fools]

Bob and Deb, Thank you! It's a wonderful review. Very helpful for planning. I am slowly checking out your pictures.

 

One thing we already know they have changed for this year. They are marketing just 4 Odessa to Kiev cruises as multilingual--May3, July 8, July 30 and September 12.

 

Peregrina,how did you find out what cruises are multilingual?

We are on the Kiev to Odessa cruise and was wondering if that was multilingual on June 27th?

[Peregrina651]

It was on the Viking website:

 

NEW: Take part in a special multilingual cruise* May 3, July 8, July 30 or Sept 12.

This is a rare opportunity and a great value. Space is limited; call to learn more.

[Peregrina651]

Now that we have added the two night extension in Kiev, any suggestions for places to eat lunch and dinner in Kiev? We like neighborhood restaurants serving local cooking and prefer mid-range places to high end gourmet. Think Triple D --Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

Edited February 27, 2012 by Peregrina651

[Peregrina651]

What kind of plug adapters will I need on the ship? I know that I don't have to worry about a currency converter for my computer and battery chargers but I do have to have the right adapters. Will I need anything other than a European style snake-eye configuration?

[Peregrina651]

Here is a link to the laundry price list on board the Lomonosov.

[Peregrina651]

We leave in four weeks from today. According to UPS, our documents are scheduled for delivery tomorrow.

 

If you have any specific questions about the trip, post them now and I will watch for the answers as we go along. It is much easier to answer specific questions and it is much easier to have he questions in advance so I can be on the look out for answers--or can go looking for them.

 

I'm hoping to keep up a running commentary as we go along but it really depends on how much down time we have during the cruise and how good the internet connections are.

 

[Peregrina651]

We received our travel docs today and I am slowly working my way through them. I'll share what is in them as I go through them over the next few days.

 

Our air voucher contained a link concerning luggage restrictions by airline. This is the official information. You know that there is also the unofficial information--the stories shared about what actually happens, what people carried without a problem and what caused problems. (I'm not advocating breaking the rules but information is out there for those choosing to push the envelope).