Russia River Cruise - Recommendations?

[eldena]

Two couples investigating options for Russian River cruise in 2008. One couple just back from Uniworld River Baroness. We like the three or four days in St. Petersburg and Moscow that the river cruises offer. Any recommendations would be appreciated in our planning process. Viking? Uniworld? Amadeus?

[unberwoob]

We did the Uniworld 16 day trip from St Pertersburg to Moscow and it was great. We chose Uniworld because of the extra days in in these cities and also because we took the pre-extention trip in the Baltics which was fabulous and not to be missed if you have the time.

Dennis

[Coral]

HI,

 

I am going in May so ask me about Amadeus then.

 

I did not look at Uniworld so I can't compare but Amadeus was 12 night (14 total with travel) verses Viking was 10 and 11 night. Amadeus appeared to have more tours included in the price, they have wine with dinner and they have a real shower in the rooms. From what I could tell, Viking just has a wand with a drain in the bathroom and I wanted a real shower. Amadeus has open seating for dinner (not sure what Viking has).

 

Amadeus ended up costing me less than Viking did so it seemed like an easy choice. I had some friends who had returned from a different Viking sailing (Europe) and they were disappointed with the company so that sort of also reinforced my Amadeus decision.

 

I am not sure if Avalon will have a ship in Russia in 2008 or not.

[joek]

eldena

 

Are the city days on the ship or in hotels? The ship port is a 1 to 2 hour bus ride from city centers, horrible rush hour traffic. We were on a Grand Circle cruise last year, staying on the ship, this year GCT has gone back to hotel stays.