River cruising or Coach Touring?

[giraffez]

Hope this is the right forum to post.

 

Trying to organise a tour to russia and from what i gather there are two ways of doing this. One is river cruising and the other is coach touring.

 

Want to understand how river cruising works for Russia? Is it suppose to be better than coach.

 

How is the cruise liner? Is it similar to Holland America and the likes but on a smaller scale?

[rvsullivan]

River cruising is usually much, much smaller boats. Must be able to get under bridges etc. Closer to what you see for river cruises on the Danube, Rhine etc.

[paul929207]

We took a Russian River cruise in September 2010. It was with Grand Circle. Our ship held about 200 passengers. Everything was in English. The staff all spoke English, some better than others. We started in Moscow. We used the ship as a hotel in Moscow and St. Petersburg, for 4 nights in each city. In between was a six day cruise. Most tours were included. Wine was included with dinner.

 

We had a wonderful time, but it is difficult to compare to the large cruise ships. The meals were good, but not as elaborate. Breakfast and lunch were buffets. Dinner was usually from a menu. Fewer choices than on the big ships. Entertainment was mostly enrichment lectures. No Production shows like on the big ships.

[giraffez]

Thanks for that. So do you sleep on the cruise or in hotels?

 

What's on during the day when you are travelling on the cruise to reach the location? Is it a scenic journey and is there a long travel time per each destination?

[marco]

We did a similar trip as Paul929207 but St Petersburg to Moscow. It was outstanding! 4-5 days in St Petersburg with the boat being our hotel, 6 days sailing and stopping at various cities and towns along the way and then 4-5 days in Moscow with ship as our hotel. We did this 3-4 years ago and I've seen some operators now have you stay in a hotel in Moscow rather than using the ship as your hotel. The Moscow dock is a good little distance from the main part of the city and this may be why. We had no problem however, using the subway system when we wanted to come/go when the shuttle bus they provided was not in sinc with our schedule but the ride to.from was at least a 1/2 hr each way. I'd still rather do it that way than pack/unpack at a hotel in Moscow. The dock in St Petersburg was very close to the main part of the city and staying in a hotel there rather than the ship really wouldn't be of any benefit. While traveling, I have to say it was much more comfortable being on the boat than it would have been in a bus seat.