Roll Call: MS Glushkov, 8 Sept 2008

[volkoff]

Good choise... I wish you good trip... :)

 

It seems to me that there is no another trip for foreign people in Russia except Moscow- St. Petersburg and back.

 

There is a lot of places that you nedd to visit in Russian waterways. :)

 

Good luck.

If you have any questions dont hesitate to ask. :)

[Tenngal]

Volkoff,

Thank you for that vote of encouragement. I am really looking forward to this cruise. Because of my unfamiliarity with Russia, I chose this river cruise so that someone experienced would be my guide. I usually like to go with such guidance on my first visit to a new place. It helps me get oriented, and to have a taste of places I might decide to return to for longer visits another time. After that, I'm good to go on my own for future visits!:D

[Tenngal]

Since the date for this trip is moving closer...is there anyone else yet on this sailing??

[DoubleDutch]

Next week we're leaving for our cruise on the Glushkov. Everything set: visa, received the travel info and tickets last week, even bought a new camera!

 

Any specifics I should make a note of for my review afterwards?

[Tenngal]

Hi, DoubleDutch!

I have just received an e-mail from my TA of the FAQ sheet about the Glushkov. I just tried to attach it here, but the Word file was too large! :( (Your TA probably has a copy.)

 

In your review, I'd like to know what "Optional Excursions" are offered, and their prices. This would help me determine how much cash to take, as these are paid for in cash only.

 

Y'all must be getting excited about your trip. I know I am.

 

Oh, and I got a new camera, too! My brother gave one to me for my birthday--he finally has flung me into the digital age!

[Gillian2]

Hope you are having a great time DoubleDutch. You will be exhausted when you return. After having just got back from a 'regular' European river trip (Danube) I appreciated the Intrav trip on the Glushkov even more. The Danube trip was expensive and even though the room was MUCH, MUCH nicer and the food better(though not great) what we experienced on the Glushkov in terms of sightseeing etc. was FABULOUS and far, far exceeded anything on our Danube trip. Absolutely all sightseeing and meals in the cities etc. was included on the Glushkov, whereas on the Avalon trip they had 'optional extras' at a significant cost everytime you turned around.

[Tenngal]

Gillian2,

Thanks for that last post. My departure is less than two months away, and I'm ready to go now! Just received my cruise doc's and Russian visa. I was so glad to see your enthusiasm about your experience on the Glushkov and this cruise, and found it a good affirmation of my decision to take this trip.

[DoubleDutch]

Sorry for the delay, but right after the cruise we were so tired, we had to catch up with our sleep for several days, and after that: business as usual and of course the photo album etc. As promised a review, it is not finished yet, but since I'm going on a trip again tomorrow, to start some hopefully interesting info. It consists of 3 parts: 1. General, 2. Day by day (which I still have to do) and 3. Extra costs.

 

I'll post them in 3 separate messages because of the lenght.

If you have any questions before your trip,don't hesitate to post them here, I try to look at this forum later this week, as soon as I find an Internet cafe, maybe I can be of help before your cruise.

[DoubleDutch]

Review- part 1 General

-The cabins are very very very very very very very small. If you have only been on sea cruises, prepare for the worst and then some. We’ve also been on cruises in Egypt and even those cabins are twice as big as these. Beds are small, my husband is 1.85m (I think 6 feet 2 inches in your system) and couldn’t fit in stretching out. Not only the length is very limited, also the width, so if you’re used to move a lot…it’s simply not possible. Above one of the beds are some storage shelves, so the one laying there should be careful getting up. We met some great people that had the suite, and got a tour. It’s about 4 times as big, the bedroom is separate, the have a bath, separate toilet, so lots better, but worth the money, depends on what are used to I guess. The tv in the suites only shows 2 russian channels, so don’t to expect to see any tv or news for that mather (no newspapers, newsflashes or anything).

-The air-conditioning in the cabins didn’t work. But checking with others we were lucky, since it also could not work AND make a lot of noise. They give an instruction on paper how it works on the third day, guess there were lots of complaints, but a paper instruction didn’t help either... So during sailing we opened the window to cool off and we slept on top of the blanket/sheet (mattress was very hard so was needed under you anyway. But still it was hot in the morning. -But that problem is fixed by the wake up “call” every morning at around 7 or 7:30. No matter if you had morning excursion or not, you were woken up by the music and announcements, in our case in at least 4 different languages. They say buy the way that you can turn down the loudspeaker in your cabin, but even at the lowest you’ll definitely won’t need to bring an alarm clock. So no sleeping in for the duration of the cruise, because even if you wouldn’t wake up from this, it will be the fixed limited breakfast time or the cleaning that makes sure you will not enjoy the complimentary sauna in your cabin at morning.

-The shower/wc/sink: yes it’s all in one! It is very small, the shower and water for the sink is together, so after you shower everything will be wet (there is just a curtain to make sure you don’t wet the toilet, paper en towels). So you cant bring anything into the bathroom that’s not waterproof… Positive: nice hard warm (or if you prefer cold) shower!

Per cabin you get 2 small and 2 regular towels, the ones you put in the sink will be changed. The time you get them back differs, so make sure that you have new ones before dinner otherwise you’ll have to try to find someone in the middle of the night (like we did once) to get new ones.

-Storage space: very limited, just one closet where you can hang you clothes and 4 shelves in it to lay down smaller things. Shoes etc you can put under the closet. Suitcases: ours didn’t fit under the bed, the space was way to small, so we had to store them outside (they store them for you). We discovered this after midnight, since after arrival we had to eat and right away leave for the night excursion, so after that we discovered that we had to first unpack everything before we could go to sleep. Leaving them in the cabin would mean that we couldn’t walk to the door or the bathroom any more (to give a small indication how small everything is). Small stuff you could leave on the shelves above the bed. There is no mini safe or locker or anything else that can be locked available in or outside the cabin.

-Space in general: we had two weeks of great weather so sat on deck every day before and after excursions. Only on the departure day it started to rain and then you’ll discover how small it is when everyone needs to sit inside where its warm and damped. The cruise before us had 2 weeks of rain we heard. It think I would have gone crazy then, then I would sit outside with a raincoat on….But I guess it depends on the amount of passengers, the complete ship was booked on our cruise, in September this is probably better, but still, if it rains, its no fun.

-Activities: There are Russian language, Russian history, Russian Dance and singing lessons. We only attended one dancing and one history lesson, but since we found the weather too good to sit inside, and we got very tired because of the lack of sleep (wake up calls etc) and the Russian English can be very hard to understand, we stopped with those. They organized a vodka tasting evening which was fun, it costs 10 euro. The talent night is on the same evening as the captain’s fare well dinner. This is strange enough not on the last day, not even on the last sailing day, but after the day in Mandrogi. Some travel organizations organize extra activities, the Germans for instance had a beer evening. So this is not standard in the cruise, check your own travel agency if there are “extra’s”. But I think they only have them with very large groups (the German group took up the whole second restaurant).

-Crew: except for the guides and the ladies at the reception desk, don’t expect anyone to speak anything else but Russian. They understand what you order, but if you for instance say that you don’t eat a certain kind of meat and just want vegetables they will get one of the guides to translate. Most of them don’t even smile and they get your plate etc the second you finish it. Other things are less efficient: for instance your lucky if you can order your drink before you finish you starter or even main, since there is only one person that handles the drinks. But this is typical Russian, it is the same way in restaurants in Moscow and St Petersburg. Don’t expect to see any smiles or automatic help with anything, it’s seems that they don’t like their work, and I you want something just ask; of course there are some exceptions.

-Paying the bill: the strangest thing, you had to be your bill way before the end of the cruise! First it was announced it should be paid on the day we were in Mandrogi (so before the evening with talent show and captains dinner), but then it was postponed one day. So still 3 days before the departure. In our case this ment we payed just before the tour in Valaam (some just after), since on the lake they don’t have a connection for the credit card payment (and also expect long lines just to pay this bill, it’s not like other cruises where you give your credit card at the start of the cruise and automatic payment afterwards, just doing something when you’re not ok with the bill). So starting the day in Valaam and further you have to pay everything in cash.

We found this very strange, since it this way it takes a lot of time for handling payments for everyone individually for instance after dinner on the next days. But also because you have to think of the amount of cash to bring etc, which result in just spending less, so not very commercial thinking..

-Lunch/Dinner: don’t expect big or tasty meals. It’s very simple. It always starts with a small salad, mostly a carrot salad. After this at lunch you get soup (dinner is 3 courses). Then the main which is meat with either pasta or potatoes (no choice). And dessert: mostly unripe fruit or cake. For lunch there are no choices. For some evenings you have a choice for the main, which you can note on a paper at dinner the day before. My advice: plan to have lunch and dinner in the cities Moscow or St Petersburg, it’s a waste of time to go all the way back to the ship and it’s so much more interesting and better to eat out. You’ll still have 9 days to “enjoy” ships food. We saw a group of Americans ordering seconds everytime (at some point the automatically got 2 plates). So this is possible if you’re a big eater (but if you are, again: the cabin and the bed is really small….). There are no snacks available on the ship except for some icecream and nuts etc you can buy in the bar. So if you need some energy in between or after meals, buy some snacks to stack your fridge or shelves with, you won’t be the only ones…

-Excursions: we like the excursion included in the cruise, don’t expect the greatest English with the guides in every port (you have a guide with each (bus)group, but next to this you also have a local guide in every port. And at the end you might have seen enough icons for a lifetime, but still it’s typical Russian culture so enjoy. Not everyone had the full 13 days on the ship, some people switched to a hotel at arrival in St Petersburg or even flew back home. So it seems different organization sell different packages. The only advantage of a hotel is that you can get some sleep and you’re closer to everything. But by the end of the cruise you’ll be on some kind of automatic pilot (sleeping you know isn’t going to happen until your home) and it’s just 2 days, so if you stay in the city after the morning program, the advantage of less traveling is limited compared to the time needed to switch, check in , unpack for a hotel.

[DoubleDutch]

Review part 2- Day by day

First of all some advice: buy the small book Russia by River The Moscow-Petersburg Cruise book at http://www.russiabyriver.com. Normally I’m not into promoting all kinds of commercial stuff, but since this book is not available onboard and there is not much else… It’s a great little book with lots of background information and useful tips on the cruise. They don’t give you much information on board, so you’ll be glad to have this, I promise. We bought it through the website together with t-shirts with on the back the route of the cruise. Well I should have bought more of those shirts, since I could have sold lots of them, since so many people asked where I got them…I could have earned half my cruise back, also not available onboard.

-This part I will continue in 3 weeks…..

[DoubleDutch]

Review part 3 Extra costs

Only the expenses in the bar and the drinks during lunch and dinner can be paid by creditcard (only in RUR). Everything else: optional excursions, souvenirs, laundry, drinks on the last 2 or 3 days have to be paid in cash (RUR, euro’s or dollars, but dollars isn’t a good deal with conversion rate used).

Optional tours

With our travel agency we could have booked 2 optional excursions: 1) the Chamber of Arms in Moscow and 2) the Catherine Summer Palace in St Petersburg. We didn’t book these, but if your interested in the first you should book it in advance, it is not possible onboard (smaller groups, specific times etc.) The second is available onboard.

Moscow:

Moscow by night+metro (30 euro) (possible on first and second night)

Second day:

New Maiden Cemetery + Cathedral of Christ the Savior (20 euro) (is right after Kremlin Tour)

Moscow Circus (47 euro, departure 5.15, so first back to ship)

Valaam

Tranfiguration Monastery (15 euro)

St Petersburg

First day:

Peterhof park (40 euro) or Yusupov Palace+Boat Ride (54 euro): you don’t go back to the ship but get a lunch pack if you booked one of these

Folklore Show+Fourshet (52 euro, departure 7 pm from ship)

Second day:

Pushkin (Catherine summer palace, 48 euro): you don’t go back to the ship but get a lunch pack if you booked this

Ballet The Swan Lake in Palace Theatre (73 euro, departure 7 pm from ship)

Option on ship: vodka tasting evening: 10 euro (4 small vodkas and a plate with Russian snacks and all kinds of activities with small prizes to be won, won’t tell you otherwise I’ll spoil the surprise)

Photos and video

On several places at the stops you have to buy a permission ticket to make pictures or video. This is either 50 or 100 roebels, differs per location. Don’t know how many tickets we bought but if you calculate about 700 roebel (19 euro) in total for 1 camera during the 2 weeks, you’ll be fine.

On the ship is a photographer/video man. He makes pictures that cost 2 euro a piece and a dvd of the whole trip for 30 euro. We didn’t buy any pictures, not that they weren’t good but it took about a week before the ones of on of the first days (arrival and muster drill) were available. And the other ones weren’t available until day 12, so didn’t even have time to look at those. DVD has standard material of the cruise and in between shots of the groups at the differents locations and some material of talent night, presentation of captain etc. Since we never bring a video camera (to much hassle), we bought this one just to have some moving material as well. Don’t expect great quality but the price isn’t bad.

Drinks

The water onboard in your cabin can not be used to drink so you’ll have to buy at least water. You can buy some water or other drinks and snacks in the shops for in Moscow or at the stops and put them in your refrigerator.

Prices onboard: water ½ l, coffee and canned sodas like coke and tonic: 1 euro. Hot chocolate: 1.5 euro. Large water 1.5 l: 3 euro, beer 1/2l bottle: 2.5 euro, wine bottle: 15 euro, cocktails: average 5 euro.

We didn’t like the coffee, so we only drank this off ship. The tea after lunch and dinner is hot water (which gets more yellow during the cruise) and you can choose your own bag with different tastes.

Doctor

There is a doctor onboard, his uniform is more impressive than the one of the captain btw. We understood he is free, you only have to pay for medicine and material. He also does the massages (of course these have to be paid, don’t know the cost).

Postcards and stamps

Don’t buy these onboard. Postcards are available for 10 roebels on every port. And stamps at the post office in Kizhi (right in front of the ship, use your hands or your Russian language lessons to point out how many you like) cost 20 roebels. On the ship you easily pay 10 times these amounts. And yes: they arrive as well! (it takes about 2 weeks)

[DoubleDutch]

And some other things I think of now, not yet in review:

 

We went to the Mariinsky theatre in St Petersburg. You won't be able to go there organized by the ship, but the theatre has a website on which you can book your tickets. On this site you have the best price and you can choose from the available seats, so you'll know what places you'll get. Ticket pick up at the theatre or at an office at the main street in St Petersburg. I recommend doing this instead of ballet excursion. It's quit a walk from the metro station, so be prepared for that (have a map with you), but we fiound the metro very easy to use in both Moscow and St Petersburg. (there were possible we're always off on our own).

 

Another thing you might consider: going to the circus in Moscow, just go there and buy tickets, then you'll have way better seats for half the price compared to the ship (but then you'll have to travel the metro sourselves, so only for experienced travellers).

 

Learn the alphabet!!! You really will profit from this, since then you'll discover a lot of words a pretty similar to what you're used to, just "translate" the letters! (also handy in metro and reading the menu at Mc Donalds in the Red Square).

 

We had great weather all 2 weeks, only the last morning, when we just had to wait to be brought to the airport there was some serious rain. But when it rains it's really bad, the ship is too crowded (at least on our date, the ship was complately full). The group on the cruise before us had 2 weeks of rain, and the ones after us I believe as well. Knowing what I know now, I'm very very very glad we picked this date, and not in a more rainy period:you can get really crazy on the small boat otherwise. So bring a game (we had travellers triviant) to kill the time with fellow passengers.

 

 

Ooooh, so much more I'd like to share.

 

But in short: we had a great time, but we were lucky with the weather and our fellow dinner mates and excursion group (all different nationalities). There are a lot of things that can be better, so it might sound negative: but prepare for the worst and you'll have a great time!

 

O and don't go out alone, be always with at least the two and don't carry too much money with you. We heard that one of the guests was robbed in St Petersburg when he was out on his own (he was alone, attacked by several man and they took all his money). By the way: we never felt unsafe, just beware of pickpockets in the big cities, just like in other big cities all over the world.

 

At this moment I feel a bit less positive about Russia, but this has nothing to do with the cruise. Just the way they are dealing with Georgia.....But hey no politics when your on vacation, so as soon as you land: forget about it and enjoy (the long ride from the airport, due to traffic, will make you forget everything anyway).

[Tenngal]

DoubleDutch...

Thank you so much for your review (so far). After your strong warning about the small size of the cabins, I am very glad I'll be alone in mine! It sounds like the cabin is about the same size as those on "cabin-cruiser" boats from my childhood days.

 

As for the problems with the air-conditioning--oh, well. Maybe it won't be an issue in September.

 

I certainly don't expect any luxuries on this trip, and I can see that my expectations are pretty spot on. I'm a very flexible traveller, and plan to pack very light. I'll be spending three nights relaxing in Paris post-cruise, so it looks like I'll need the rest! (I used to live there, and when I saw that my flight home had a layover in Paris..., well, I couldn't just pass through Paris! Sacre bleu!) Anyway, I'll be dragging my suitcase for a couple of blocks to my hotel, so I plan to pack the smallest case possible. Will I need any dressy clothes, like for the captain's farewell dinner? (Please say "no!")

 

It seems like extra cash will be needed on board--especially when I'll need laundry services. I usually like to use the credit card as much as possible. Are there plenty of ATMs around?

 

I leave on 8 September, so less than 2 weeks to go!

 

I've already noted some of your helpful tips. I eagerly await the rest of your review!!:)

[Car-Stan]

Travljunky,

:( :( :( :( :(

I'm so sorry we won't get to meet. Perhaps on some future roll call. Let's hope the new U.S. presidency (whomever it may bring) will improve our economy soon thereafter, if not sooner.

I'll keep you both in my good thoughts, in hope that your fortunes improve and allow you to rebook this trip!

 

 

Tenngal,

 

Can you e-mail me contact info on your travel agent, Sasha, whom you seemed to say has been so good?

 

Thanks,

 

Stan (Car-Stan

[Gillian2]

This is somewhat different from my Glushkov experience a year ago. All the passengers were American if I remember and Intrav ran the boat. Everything (including excursions, folkloric show in the cities, meals in hotels some nights etc.) was included in the very reasonable price of the cruise.

Only announcements in English. The A/C worked but was very noisy.

[Car-Stan]

Tenngal,

 

Can you e-mail me contact info on your travel agent, Sasha, whom you seemed to say has been so good?

 

Thanks,

 

Stan (Car-Stan

 

 

It has been a long day...I meant "Dasha", not Sasha, and should have included my e-mail: csepstein@mindspring.com

 

Thanks,

 

Stan

[Tenngal]

Stan...

Check your e-mail:D

[DoubleDutch]

Dressy clothes: you wont need them on the ship, only if you go to the ballet Bolshoi or Mariinsky (organized by yourself, other ballet excursions organized by ship is not formal), then you will need something more chique.

 

ATMs: you´ll find one on the airport where you probably have to wait a couple of minutes anyway for your bus to the ship. Otherwise you can easily find an ATM in Moscow and at the end in St Petersburg. There are also lots of ATMs in Yaroslavl (you can ask the local guide for directions). Other places are not as easy, because of the lack of time or lack of ATM (Kizhi, Mandrogi, Valaam).

 

By the way: if you have the same travel operator you will sit at the same table(s) at dinner every night, so dont worry if you wont recognize each other at the airport. And you will also share the transport to and from the ship, this is also organized per tour operator.

 

Have a good vacation, I think I wont be able to read this website another time before your departure, since I am in Barcelona now and heading for Rome in 2 days... yep busy having vacation again...:)

[Tenngal]

Double Dutch and Car-Stan:

I returned 9/21, and had a fantastic time! Car-Stan, I highly recommend this cruise.

Only complaint--the beds could've been more comfy (i.e., thicker mattress). But, as I suspected, it was like sleeping on a cabin-cruiser type of lake boat i'm familiar with in my area. I did sleep well each night, though.

Overall, it was a great learning experience about Russia. I want to return to both St. Petersburg and Moscow someday. There was so little time for such a vast amount of history to explore...