Russia Waterways

[joek]

Grand Circle 9/6/06. St. Petersburg to Moscow. Anyone else booked on this?

[relevart]

No, but I was on the first cruise this season in March and it was really great. The staff is wonderful and the reconditioned Tikhi Don looks like new and has all new appointments. I enjoyed it so much I am going back next year when they have you stay 4 days at hotels in Moscow and St Petersburg rather than on the ship. It was hard to get into town from the ship on your own, especially in Moscow.

 

Have a great time!

[joek]

Thanks for your response. I thought about the inconvenience of traveling from the docks, read somewhere that the neighborhood was not so good. Are taxis available? GCT used hotels in 2005 and will in 2007, but unfortunately, not for us.

 

Glad that you liked the Tihki Don. We've only been on one other river cruise, GCT Provence this past April, and we loved it. We have two others booked, GCT Eastern Europe to Black Sea in July 07 and Gate1 Holland and Belgium in April 07.

[joek]

relevart

 

I forgot to ask about the bar service. Our April cruise was on the MS Provence, only 46 passengers, and their bar was tiny. My DW Esther only likes White Zinfindel and the bar did not stock it. We had wine at dinner of course, but only white or red. She was not happy. I'm a beer drinker so it doesn't matter, except the cost. I assume the GCT prices are universal, $4-$5?

[relevart]

Hi Joek,

 

The staff can order a cab for you in St. Petersburg. Our drivers didn't speak English so the staff told them where we wanted to go, I gave them a list. Also they negotiated a price over the phone before the cab came. I am not sure about Moscow as we did not try for a cab. Someone said the cabs were about a mile away.

 

I don't know if they had any white Zinfindel aboard, I didn't see any. They offered red and white wine at dinner. I don't know what the beers cost as I didn't have any but I usually got their drink of the day which was 100 rubels. Most drinks I thought were rather expensive, around 300 rubels if I remember correctly. There was a discount at happy hour. Max the 'head bartender' must be all of 20 years old and he is a lot of fun. There is a nice bar on the middle deck called the Tsar Bar. There is also a bar on the Sun Deck.

 

You may want to consider bringing a few bottles of White Zin wth you as the cabins have refrigerators. Many people had happy hour in their cabins.

 

Hope this helps!

[joek]

Thanks for your input, relevart. We now have six taking this cruise, all from our neighborhood. I don't believe that they are Cruise Critics though.

[cmthomas]

If you would like to enhance the enjoyment of your trip try learning the Russian alphabet and a few short phrases before going. Once you learn what the Cyrillic letters sound like you can easily pronounce the words that you see and it is amazing how familiar some are to the English words when you sound them out.

 

I good place to start learning is http://www.friends-partners.org/oldfriends/language/russian-alphabet.html that also has a voice response that lets you hear what each letter sounds like. As an example, you will see a word that looks like pectopah in Cyrillic but when you sound it out it turns into rest-o-raan (restaurant). They key to doing it is to memorize the alphabet and its sounds. You will be surprised how much it will help you!

 

Clarence:)

[joek]

Thanks Clarence. I defintely want to learn some Russian words and phrases. People in every country like it when you try to use the language, and will be more helpful. I found another Russian language site.

 

http://www.alphadictionary.com/rusgrammar/

[cmthomas]

That is a great site that you located. I have bookmarked it and will give it some study. I studied Russian in college almost 50 years ago and have visited Russia twice as a tourist where I had the opportunity to use what little I remembered from my studies. It really made things much more pleasant being able to read and pronounce what I was seeing. Da svedanya!

 

Clarence:)

[joek]

Maybe there are some fellow cruisers out there?

[marco]

We just got back a couple of weeks ago from the "Vantage" St Petersburg to Moscow trip. We looked at GCT/Vantage and compared. (we've been on both in the past and both are very, very, good, I think) I did like the being in a hotel in St Pete and Moscow better because if afforded more convenient "on your own" time in the cities. I liked being on the boat as a hotel better because of "unpack once, for two weeks" part. The biggest difference was that the base price was the same, but on GCT several OPTIONAL trips were included in our Vantage trip. The difference came to around $600 a couple if we choose to do all of the "optionals" on GCT that were included on the Vantage. The Vantage trip though, had a shuttle availalbe between the boat/center of town in St Pete, so if a tour was over in/near town the bus would let you off at "the designated spot" and the bus would pick up folks at that spot at the given time. Once we decided to stay considerably later and took a cab back to the boat. It was $20. We negotiated the price with the cabby before we got in the cab. Getting a cab was NO problem nor was thier English. There was no subway stop near the boat in St Pete. In Moscow, traffic is unbelieable (you'll see) but the subway "green line" last stop is about a 10 minute walk from the boat dock and I think it was equivilent to about 40 cents. If anyone has ?????'s about anything on the trip, (money issues, shopping, sites, etc....just ask. We saw the Tiki Don, and it looked idenitical to our boat (from the outside) and the itinerary was just about idenical, as well, so even though we were on a different companie's trip, I would guess they are pretty much the same.

[joek]

Thanks, marco. You're right about the GCT optional tour costs being a factor. We will consider that for the future trips. GCT says that they have shuttles in St. Petersburg and Moscow but will have to see. Did you get rubles on the ship and do we need rubles for the cabs? I understand that tips to tour director, ship staff and guides should be in dollars.

[marco]

All of our pre-trip info talked about rubles and HAVING to have them. Not quite. Things are changing very quickly in Russia and I think the printed info is somewhat out dated. Just about everyone, everywhere posts prices for stuff in rubles, dollars and euros. There are ATM's everywhere and we have a bank that offers no ATM charges anywhere in the world, so it was much better for us to use ATM than exchange dollars. Exchange places are plentiful and convenient, but we needed very, very few rubles. I think we got $200 worth at the beginning of the trip and used part of it at the end for tips, becuase we didn't spend very many of them. If we wanted a beverage or an ice cream, for the subway. We got a couple of souviners with rubles, because we had them, but even all the vendors would accept dollars. Just about everyone took $$$$, rubles or euros, and if you were making a lrger purchase, everyone takes credit cards. The printed info we got said credit card acceptance was very limited, but I don't remember any place that didn't take them. Even the cabbie said, "X" rubles, or "X" dollars. On the Vantage boat, the bar tab and gift shop could be put on your shipboard account and put on a credit card at the end of the trip. Tips to tour directors, ships staff could be $$$$$ or rubles. Our printed info said everything else on the ship HAD to be in rubles, like a Dr visit, laundry, etc. That was not the case, EVERYONE took dollars. Off the boat, in some instances, they PREFERRED dollars. There are a LOT of tourists from all over the world now in Russia and it is not as isoltated as it may have once been. When it came to financial issues, I found it no different than any other European country.

[joek]

That's interesting, Marco. Thanks so much for your advice. I guess the tour companies try to cover all bases. If they didn't warn travelers about the possibility of money problems, they would get a lot of flak if there were. I do wish that tips could be put onto the shipboard credit account, like the ocean cruises. I don't like to carry a lot of cash. I don't have an ATM card.

[relevart]

joek, just a suggestion, if you plan on doing much international travel you may want to consider getting an ATM card. I have used them all over the world for foreign currency and they are cheaper than exchanging money and a lot easier, they are everywhere. I understand you should have a 4 digit pin code and the first digit should not be a zero.

[joek]

You're right about the ATM cards, relevart. I've read many posts about the advantages and ease of use. I think that I have a card issued by my bank for ATM use. I have to check with them about international use.

[joek]

relevart

 

I forgot to ask you about the GCT home hosted dinner. In the literature, GCT suggets bringing a gift to the host family. Do you know what others brought, something from the US or in Russia? On previous GCT tours and cruises, gifts had not been suggested.

 

Joe

[relevart]

Joek,

I took some See's candy. I tried to find an American Indian momento, but they were all too expensive. Everyone took some little thing, usually under $10.00, from the US for the host.

[joek]

Thanks relevart. Candy is probably the easiest to pack. Wine would be my choice but someone mentioned that wine is expensive in Russia.

[marco]

It was not suggested for our Vantage trip, but on past GCT trips, it was. When we did the home hosted dinner on our GCT trip, we brought a bottle of maple syrup. I think it is nice to bring something that is somewhat typical of the area of the US you are from, and comsumables are best. Most folks (everywhere) don't need one more little nic-nac and if they host every couple of weeks, they could end up with a lot of "stuff". Other folks brought honey, candy, jelly etc, and a few, "things".

[seapine]

Hi Relevart and other travelers to Russia. I'm new to this and have learned so much from your comments. My husband and I, and 2 friends are considering 1 of 2 possible cruises in 2007. GCT Russian Waterways on the Tikhi Don - Sept. 07, or Uniworld Land of the Cossacks on the Litvinov also Sept. 07. We like the GCT tour in that you stay in the hotels in Moscow and St. Petersburg and avoid the trips back and forth to the ship, plus numerous times to eat at local restaurants. However, the trip to Rostov-on-Don is also appealing with the history of the Tartars. Relevart, I see we are neighbors (San Diego), perhaps you are taking one of the GCT tours in Sept. 07?:) Evie

[relevart]

Hi Seapine,

I am going to take a 16 day trip on the GCT Tikhi Don on May 17 next year so I am afraid I will not see you in September. I work seasonally so I can travel only half the year.

I am sure whatever cruise you choose you will be happy with it. I took a river cruise on the Rhine and Mosel with Viking and that was fine too. I just got a better price with GCT for the Russia cruise. So if I were you I think I would take the one with the number of days, itinerary and price I wanted.

Good luck!

[seapine]

Hi Relevart. We were planning to go in April or May but plans changed when we heard of a grandchild on the way - coming April. Sooooo. Nana and Papa will stick around. Now I'm investigating UET with Amadeus. Everyone seems to really enjoy the Russian cruises. Evie

[land lover]

Just want to move this post up, so I don't have to earmark it good info.

[joek]

We enjoyed the GCT September cruise. Weather was great, only one morning with rain. As we expected, the only unpleasant part was the commute in St. Petersburg and Moscow from the river ports to the center of the cities. An hour and a half each morning and afternoon. The GCT tours in 2007 have hotel stays in both cities.

 

The 7 days cruising were mostly on rivers and lakes east and north of St. Petersburg and Moscow, heavily forested and surprisingly very few villages on the shores. Most interesting were the stops at Petrozavodsk (quite close to Finland), Kizhi Island Open-Air Museum of log church and houses, Yaroslavl and Uglich.

 

The Tikhi Don was fine, 150 SF cabins comfortable, crew and staff efficient and friendly. Food was good, buffet at breakfast with a hot special like omelette, french toast or pancakes each day. Menu for your choice of meat or fish entree and dessert for next day was provided by waiter. Variety of ethnic regional dishes were good, served hot, and presentations were professional.

 

Entertainment was provided nightly by either an excellent pianist, singer, or accordian and balalaika musicians. A talk about the fine points of various types of vodka included tasting of the four most popular. Some us REALLY enjoyed that one. Many introductory talks about the Tzars, country, history and ports were provided, as well as Russian language classes, nesting doll painting, and cooking and tasting of blinis and borsht.

 

As I said, the transport in St. Petersburg and Moscow was the only drawback. Oh...and the colds that almost everyone got from somebody from the USA who got on the ship with it. It was a real stinker, lasting 2-3 weeks.