Russian River Cruise - Lower Volga

New to both cruises and to this board, so apologies in advance if this is too obvious.

Planning a May trip of 2 to 3 weeks in Russia. Aim not to include St. Petersburg but to include a cruise on the lower Volga. (Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan especially.) Only options appear to be local operators.

Any experiences, advice, warnings? I have one 6 day option that starts in Kazan and works it’s way back to Moscow. Another goes all the way through to Astrkhan, which is tempting, but 12 days on a Soviet era ship does raise some red flags (pun intended).

Interesting! Presumably you have a special interest in that area. Do you speak Russian? Are you willing to endure iffy service, food and accommodations? I am asking these as legitimate questions. I have crossed the Andes by truck on gravel roads with a suicidal driver, and have endured an average of two tire blowouts per day traveling in Central Africa and still had wonderful adventures, but rough travel is not to everyone's taste.

No, no Russian but “iffy” travel has its rewards. I am just hoping to learn how iffy and see if there are specific fixes that members can suggest.

I've returned from a 13 day cruise from Moscow to St. Petersburg in mid-September with the Russian line, Vodohod. I chose a 3-star ship that has solo cabins, but it was larger than I usually prefer with 298 pax. If you're used to 5-star ships, Vodohod has those too. Western expectations have to be lowered and become more realistic.

It was spotlessly clean, friendly, and the shore excursions were magnificent. Customer service is hampered by many of the crew who speak poor to no English. But they try hard. My cabin steward was amazing and did my laundry twice at low cost and a tip through hand gestures! (All cash.) Cabins are small but I found mine more than adequate.

Food was plentiful but plain. Give Russian wine and champagne a miss!!

Email me with questions if you have more.

Hi,

Here's a resource to help your research into the actual soviet-era ships and associated red flags (or visual cues, anyway): https://riverforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=33&

As far as iffy service goes, you are somewhat more likely to encounter it on routes less frequented by foreign visitors (such as the lower Volga). That said, the river experience in those parts is also incomparably more rewarding compared to the more beaten Moscow-Spb shuttle route.

Just a suggestion - maybe consider looking into a land trip to, say, Kazan or Samara and taking a weekend river cruise from there?

Or, if you have some three months of free time and a spare kayak, follow in the footsteps (or paddle strokes) of Mark Kalch, who did the Volga source to sea descent in 70 days :-)

https://medium.com/@MarkKalch/volga-awakening-a-kayak-journey-dec4e75f372d

Have you looked at Scenic? We are doing Volgagrad to Moscow next October.