Some Newbie Questions - Russia

[Tarpeian Rock]

We have just started thinking about our first river cruise, and our hope is the St. Petersburg- Moscow itinerary. I've started studying the postings here, but have a couple of questions to help us get oriented.

 

I saw where AMA seems to have its own boat for Russia, but was under the impression that for this cruise Russia required its own boats - the refurbed East German ones - be used. True? And from some of the caveats in the promotional literature we've seen, what the various river cruise companies say about their European itineraries (in terms of amenities, accommodations, etc.) aren't necessarily true about the Russian Waterways trip.

 

For anyone with experience on this route, also wondering how Uniworld compares to AMA, or for that matter, any other line. Very much appreciate any thoughts.

[id4elizabeth]

We did this cruise with Uniworld in 2012. I don't know this 100% and I doubt anyone knows absolutely for sure, but I think no "western" river company that has their own custom built ship top to bottom, inside and out. All the ships we saw on the river were exactly the same on the outside, but they can be VERY different on the inside. At some of the small ports, ships were rafted up at the dock and we walked through many of them and there can be a vast difference on the quality on board. I THINK each of the cruise companies have long term leases on the ships and they configure them to suit their needs. The reconfiguration can be total, including changing the sizes of the room and public spaces.

 

The Uniworld ship's interior looked very "old world European" typical of Uniworld, while the Viking interior looked modern teak and sleek, very much in keeping with the typical Viking look. The Grand Circle ship we walked through looked pretty spartan and tired - much more in need of an upgrade. Didn't walk through an AMA ship however. The one thing I would look for is to make sure you don't get a room where the beds fold up into the walls and make sofas during the day. If so, this boat has not been reconfigured from the old Russian/East German style.

 

The Uniworld ship did have private balconies for each room, and I THINK they are the only ones in Russia to convert the promenades to private balconies. We enjoyed our own HUGE balcony a lot.

 

We did not find any of the amenities, tours or accommodation any less quality than river cruises in Europe. (About the only difference was that one time one of the local transport vans was a little iffy.) We enjoyed the ship a great deal, but, full disclosure, we were in a Junior Suite and found it very spacious.

 

The crew were fabulous!

[rwr235]

Hi,

 

Just a little "wiki" info on the AMA boat...AMAKatarina...(AKA...Mstislav Rostropovich)

 

The Mstislav Rostropovich (Russian: Мстислав Ростропович) (former Mikhail Kalinin) is a Valerian Kuybyshev-class (92-016, OL400) Soviet/Russian river cruise ship, cruising in the Volga basin. The ship was built by Slovenské Lodenice at their shipyard in Komárno, Czechoslovakia, and entered service in 1981. At 3,953 tonnes,[3] Mstislav Rostropovich is one of the world's biggest river cruise ships. Her sister ships are Valerian Kuybyshev, Mikhail Frunze, Feliks Dzerzhinskiy, Fyodor Shalyapin, Sergey Kuchkin, Aleksandr Suvorov, Semyon Budyonnyy and Georgiy Zhukov. Mstislav Rostropovich is currently owned by Vodohod and operated by Vodohod and AmaWaterways for foreign tourists.[7] Her home port is currently Nizhny Novgorod.

Edited February 16, 2014 by rwr235

[franski]

I was on the same sailing with id4elizabeth - and we totally enjoyed our trip. Now, we did not have one of the larger rooms, but enjoyed the trip all the same.

 

We were prepared for "less" on this cruise, as there are lots of caveats about the standards not being up to what is offered on Uniworld's European sailings. However - we found the food great, the staff VERY helpful and friendly, and the experience so much "more" than we hoped for... (except for the weather, but Uniworld had no control over that!! :eek:)

 

I would whole-heartedly recommend Uniworld for a river cruise in Russia.

 

Fran

[rvmike]

We did this trip last year with Grand Circle Travel. The boat was very well maintained and even gave tours of the engine room. The biggest difference I think between the lines are where you stay in Moscow, Some have you stay on the boat and bus you into Moscow and some in a hotel. The traffic is terrible so some time is spent sitting in traffic, but on the flip side you do not have to pack and unpack again. We went Moscow to St. Petersburg.

 

Mike

[Memsahib27]

We have just started thinking about our first river cruise, and our hope is the St. Petersburg- Moscow itinerary. I've started studying the postings here, but have a couple of questions to help us get oriented.

 

I saw where AMA seems to have its own boat for Russia, but was under the impression that for this cruise Russia required its own boats - the refurbed East German ones - be used. True? And from some of the caveats in the promotional literature we've seen, what the various river cruise companies say about their European itineraries (in terms of amenities, accommodations, etc.) aren't necessarily true about the Russian Waterways trip.

 

For anyone with experience on this route, also wondering how Uniworld compares to AMA, or for that matter, any other line. Very much appreciate any thoughts.

 

We did the Moscow to St Petersburg in September 2012 on AmaKatarina and thoroughly enjoyed it even though we had been on several other river cruises and had been warned not to expect quite the same level of service and luxury because the ship and its staff are local. Most of the service staff were Russian university students who were given a few months leave to practise their English on river ships. They had very little training as far as table service goes,(filling wine glasses too full etc.) however as the days went by they relaxed and were lots of fun. And loved chatting. I believe the itineraries are all very similar but we found all our guides (except for one) were charming, knowledgeable and proud. We had a few days in Moscow before the cruise and very glad we did as the included tours there are a bit rushed because the traffic is so bad and the ship was moored a long way from the city. By staying right in the middle of Moscow in Arbat we were able to see much more at a leisurely pace and had no real trouble getting around on the wonderful, famous underground. On the whole, the levels of service was not as luxurious as on the other Europe river ships (we had been on Avalon and Uniworld and Amawaterways in Vietnam) but it didn't matter as the experience was so different - so interesting and beds were comfy, food was acceptable, wine was ok, tours well organised. It was September and supposed to be warm - but we were very cold much of the time - it was wet as well so I would suggest a scarf or two and light wind/rainproof jacket with a hood so you keep the wind off you and can take photos - impossible if holding an umbrella! Waterproof walking shoes also recommended as many villages have muddy "foot paths" so be prepared just in case you also get wet weather. BTW - The village near where the Amakatarina was moored outside Moscow was within walking distance across a park and we enjoyed a walk round the shops there - and picked up some great bargains. Enjoy!

[plan09]

Tarpeian,

I have just booked St Petersburg to Moscow on AMA for 9/15 so don't have first hand knowledge of the experience. I did look at both and wanted an in room fridge, liked that AMA used hydrofoils, the ballet performance is at the Hermitage, and I believe AMA offers an excursion to Peterhof included but Uniworld did not. I don't think you can go wrong with either cruise line though. Enjoy!

[Talisker92]

We did the Russian River cruise last September and enjoyed it thoroughly. We went with Vantage, because they put you up in hotels in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The traffic in both cities is horrendous! If you are on the ship the whole time, it cuts into your sightseeing time in both cities.

The 33 page trip story is on our website. We are always happy to answer any questions.

Edited February 19, 2014 by Talisker92

[plan09]

If you are planning the trip for 2015 Vantage has advised me that they are not currently scheduled to conduct the Russian River Cruise.

 

Here is their response:

 

Thank you for contacting Vantage Deluxe World Travel.

 

Unfortunately at this time we are not scheduled to run this program. I recommend checking our website periodically, if this plan changes, we will announce it there.

 

If you have any other questions, please let us know.

 

Best Regards,

 

Brian Kwash

Vantage Deluxe World Travel

Email Correspondent

[Memsahib27]

We did the Russian River cruise last September and enjoyed it thoroughly. We went with Vantage, because they put you up in hotels in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The traffic in both cities is horrendous! If you are on the ship the whole time, it cuts into your sightseeing time in both cities.

The 33 page trip story is on our website. We are always happy to answer any questions.

 

The main advantage of river cruising, as far as we are concerned, is not having to pack and unpack, and living in a hotel room in Moscow and St Petersburg would mean very few nights on the ship getting to know fellow cruisers. On our cruise,in Moscow tour guides on the coaches were very knowledgeable and happy to answer any questions and so the time spent in the coach getting to places was not "wasted". In St Petersburg Amawaterways arranged for us to use water transport as much as possible which minimised time on busy roads.