Review - Waterway of the Czars-Viking Surkov 8/6/2006

[volkoff]

Great reviews... It's interesting read opinion of foreigners about this route. (I was there not 1 time... Look my Profile)

 

I have one little specification for 1st review:

1. Lake Rybinskoe - it's not lake, it's reservoir...

2. Mandrogi - this village was build just for tourists. basically for foreigners. It's just commercial place. Someone thought that it'll be good idea to build "russian" village and earn money. I don't recommend you buy something there because it's more expencive that in another places, example - Uglich. etc.

 

I'm glad that you are happy.

 

I reccomend you next time use another route, for example to Astrahan'. You'll never forget this route I promise you.

If you'll come to St.Petersburg next time for a week, you can buy tour St.Petersburg- Valaam- St.Petersburg (night- day-night) No one ship with foreigners come to Valaam!!!!!

 

Good luck

[Tennessee Traveler]

Hi to everyone,

I loved reading all your comments & reviews. He's my posting from July of 2007 on the Surkov:

 

Finally home from Russia after a wonderful 10 days on the Surkov sailing from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Overall, we enjoyed our trip. We visited many interesting & exciting places - in cities & towns, both large & small.

Highlights were visiting the marvelous sights in St. Petersburg: Catherine's Palace, Peter & Paul Fortress, St. Peter & St. Paul Cathedral, the marvelously opulent Peterhof Palce with its fabulous fountains, as well as seeing Swan Lake performed in all its grace & beauty. The Hermitage was a dream come true. It was awe-inspiring to say the least.

 

Other memorable highlights were the monastery at Goritzy, the Church of Elijah at Yaroslavl, and the churches of Uglich. The Church of the Transfiguration on Kizhi was an inspiring site, never to be forgotten on the little island in the middle of Lake Onega.

 

Moscow was the last port, and what a grand city it is.The highlight of our trip may have been the Moscow Circus, where we were all transported to an earlier time of our childhood as we marveled and oohed & aahed at the incredible spectacles we saw in the ring before us. It was grand to visit Red Square and soak in its grandeur. Everywhere the eye turned, there was another breathtaking sight, especially St. Basil's Cathedral & the over-the-top GUM department store. The last day was a gem as we visited the Kremlin, the magnificent Armory Museum, strolled the Arbat, and ended with a night tour of Moscow.

 

The time aboard the Surkov passed all too quickly as we met many wonderful fellow cruisers from all over the world. We enjoyed their company as we shared this grand voyage through Russia. It was so enjoyable to sit on the deck to watch the Russian countryside slip peacefully by. Not to mention all the photo ops I saw as we glided through the marvelous countryside.

 

The Surkov is an older ship scheduled for a major overhaul and refurbishment. I would have liked to see it reborn before I sailed, but since I sailed on one of its last voyages before its rebirth, it was not to be. I will say it was well cared for, but still a bit rough around the edges unlike other Viking ships I have sailed on previously (Viking Burgundy & Viking Century Sun).

The small cabin was an adventure as I slept on a small bed below the shelves on the wall. Luckily I never hit my head on them even once. I hope my shipmates fared as well. The bathroom was small and functional. Since I was prepared by reading comments from previous Cruise Critic Cruisers, I knew exactly what to expect while showering. I even mastered the shower transfer on my first try!

 

The restaurant was not up to the standard of any other cruise I have taken. The food was only OK. Sometimes there were two good choices of either appetizer, soup, entree, and dessert and sometimes no greatly appealing choices. I found the service by the young Russian staff to be puzzling at first. The young women seemed to be ill at ease often and even unfriendly at times. To ask for a small change in a dish they were serving seemed to be beyond their capability. An example was it took 3 days for me to have them serve me a dish of plain vanilla ice cream for dessert when vanilla was being served to others in the dining room with a strawberry sauce. I will say that when I spoke with the restaurant manager, service improved dramatically throughout the dining room during the rest of the cruise. By the end of the cruise, the young servers were much more friendly, and I saw smiles which were rarely, if ever seen earlier in the cruise. And the service improved, too. I don't know why the dining room staff wasn't trained as well as I have found on two other Viking ships. This wasn't early in the season, and they must have been already familiar with passenger requests by the time of my sailing in mid July.

 

The itinerary I mentioned above was great. It was informative and spectacular in its breadth. The guides were excellent throughout. They provided much information about the country we were visiting. They shared so much of their own personal experiences about this newly evolving country of Russia. We learned so much about Russia in lectures aboard, which I really enjoyed. We learned about Russia's glorious, and not so glorious past, as well as its move into a brighter future for all its people.

 

I found something quite disturbing on my last night aboard when we settled our bill. The amount was quite a bit more than my wife and I had expected. The reason being was that the ship uses units which they say are based on the Euro. Your bill was figured in these units and the total was converted into rubles at an inflated rate. Then there was a second conversion from units to Euros when we charged the amount of the final bill. While we expected to pay about 10% more, the actual bill was closer to 30% by our calculation. I would advise paying things like tips in cash to minimize this since all charges on ship are in these units.

 

Overall, I'm glad to say that the trip was wonderful, and we are so glad to have enjoyed this trip. As with most trips, there were pros & cons. Unlike our two previous Viking trips, to China & France, I would say that Viking should work diligently to upgrade this sailing or at least make the staff more responsive. It's a marvelous opportunity for travelers to enjoy Russia, but with the competition for travelers among all the other cruise lines, Viking can do more to improve their Russian sailings to make it the best possible cruising experience.

__________________

Commodore-Caribbean-1980

DER-Rhine-1986

Rotterdam-Alaska-1989

Vision of the Seas-Alaska-2002

Nordam-Northern Europe-2004

Viking Burgandy-France-2005

Majesty of the Seas-Bahamas-2006

Viking Century Sun-China-2006

Amsterdam-Panama Canal-2006

Viking Surkov-2007

Galapagos Explorer II- 2007

RCCL Enchantment of the Seas - 2008

[MomOf2BoysCT]

I am taking my two boys, ages 12 and 16 on the Waterway of the Czar tour. We are going with a small group and are looking forward to the trip. I've read many interesting and helpful posts and hoping for additional information. Are there days when the boat does not stop at any ports? What activities are available onboard that may be of interest to the boys.

 

Has the Surkov been renovated yet? Any idea what was included in the renovations? I'm very excited to be going with the boys and they are looking forward to it as well. It will be their first time on a river tour.

 

Any and all suggestions and comments are appreciated. We are going from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Thank you.

[volkoff2]

You can look few pics from my cruises:

Cruise St. Petersburg - Svir'stroy- Vytegra- Goritsy- Uglich- Myshkin- Yaroslavl'- Goritsy- Mandrogi- St. Petersburg on ms 'Valerian Kuibyshev' ('Валериан Куйбышев')

http://fotoplenka.ru/users/volkoff/344169/

 

St-Petersburg - Nizhniy Novgorod (don't remember all stops) on ms 'Turgenev' ('И. С. Тургенев')

http://fotoplenka.ru/users/volkoff/321772/

 

Cruise St. Petersburg- Valaam- St. Petersburg on ms 'Kabargin' ('Кабаргинъ')

http://photofile.ru/users/wolf_andrej/1373627/

http://photofile.ru/users/wolf_andrej/1374204/

 

Good luck

[MSEm]

The Viking Surkov was to be refurbished over the winter. It should be back in service now. Number of cabins was reduced and size of the cabins and bath increased. Also hotel style beds after the renovations.

 

Please give us a report after you get back. I go in Oct 2008.

Emily