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Has anyone done the "Waterways of the Czars" with Viking?


OnTheJourney
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Hi,

 

We've looked at this itinerary several times being that we constantly get brochures from Viking. We've been to St. Petersburg, so there would be a good amount of duplication, but like the idea of getting to Moscow. Also, even visiting St. Petersburg by river would be a different experience then we had on the Baltic cruise with a larger ship. We just completed a river cruise with Tauck and really enjoyed it. Some people have told us that Viking takes a good many more passengers than Tauck does - we only had about 80. The Viking ships we both walked and sailed by look very nice - I'm sure it'd be a great trip. Not sure how much they include relative to gratuities, excursion costs, etc. Tauck certainly does seem to be completely all-inclusive. They even sometimes gave us money to buy lunch on our own in the various towns we visited. (Then again, perhaps that sort of thing is already 'built-in' to the overall cost? Never know I guess...)

Thanks for any thoughts or suggestions. Having done our first river cruise, I anticipate doing a few more.

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I just came back from this river cruise a few weeks ago, so I can share my experience and viewpoint. Before I start, I need to provide some background. My husband and I took our first Viking river cruise, the Grand European, two years ago. We love the relatively small group of passengers, long port time (hours of fun stop and only one “sea/river” day), convenient/easy access to town/city, modern/comfortable cabin (although small), and no casino/boring onboard shows. In fact, we love first Viking river cruise so much that we booked both the Russia river cruise and an ocean cruise shortly after. Before we started our Russia river cruise, we were planning to sign up the Southern France and Portugal river cruises.

 

Unfortunately, our experience onboard the Russia cruise was so disappointing that we changed our mind about booking the new river cruises. To keep things brief, let me list the most important shortcomings.

 

1. The ship is quite old. The sound insulation of the cabin is almost none. I could hear our neighbors cough and chat ( in addition to TV) as late as 2AM and as early as 5AM. I had to take a sleeping pill every night to help me get a few hours of sleep. Once the medicine wore off, I had no choice but to stay awake till breakfast time.

 

2. The stops are out of nowhere, and there is not much to do. Port time is very short. The only two places worthwhile visiting are the starting and ending ports of St. Petersburg and Moscow, where one is better off skipping the river cruise and staying in a hotel in the city center. Most top points of interest can be easily accessible on foot or by public transportation. For example, we went to Peterhof Summer Palace by taking a hydrofoil from pier within steps from the hotel.

 

3. The included excursions are given in large groups. I remember our walking tour (Up Close Of St. Petersburg) and Hermitage Museum had over 30 people. For a 5 hour tour, we saw about two hours of things. Imagine the wait for all people to get on/off bus, check in coats, check bags, and two bathroom stops. Let’s not forget the hour-long ride between the point of interest and ship, total 2 hours per excursion.

 

In summary, I feel like paying 4-Star price for a 3-Star product. This river cruise is in a different category than the Grand European river cruise. Per my own experience, I realize that I cannot expect different river cruises have the same consistent quality even with the same cruiseline.

 

I shall wait and see how the ocean cruise goes before deciding if I should drop Viking.

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In hindsight, I would have flown to St. Petersburg and Moscow ( multiple flight stops or a combination of train and air) and do sightsee8ng on my own. My suggestion to you is to fly to Moscow and d9 land tours. If you like, you can add St. Petersburg t9 your itinerary, as St. Petersburg is worth revisiting.

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River cruises in Russia are tightly controlled by a monopoly company, and none is truly run by the river cruise line you thought you booked. You can't judge Viking or anybody else by the experience of their Russia river cruises. [Why a company puts its reputation at risk like this is another question, to which I don't have the answer. Some river cruise lines have dropped Russia for this very reason.]

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...The stops are out of nowhere, and there is not much to do. Port time is very short. The only two places worthwhile visiting are the starting and ending ports of St. Petersburg and Moscow...
I agree with most of the points made by dreamcruiser, but personally I found the small cities, small towns and cruising through the rural areas to be fascinating. The buildings at Kizhi Island were a highlight of the trip.
River cruises in Russia are tightly controlled by a monopoly company, and none is truly run by the river cruise line you thought you booked. You can't judge Viking or anybody else by the experience of their Russia river cruises. [Why a company puts its reputation at risk like this is another question, to which I don't have the answer. Some river cruise lines have dropped Russia for this very reason.]
I strongly agree with the portion I highlighted. However IMO the demand for Russian river cruise dropped sharply when fighting started in Ukraine, based on a combination of travelers fear and protest. If demand was there and money to made, there would be more supply.
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Unless you specifically want to do a river cruise of this area, check out land tours. OAT has a small group trip that includes Russia and the Baltic States. My friend returned from the Russia Viking trip about a month ago. She didn't say it was great, nor did she say she hated it. Seems a lot of money for a less than memorable trip.

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I just came back from this river cruise a few weeks ago, so I can share my experience and viewpoint. Before I start, I need to provide some background. My husband and I took our first Viking river cruise, the Grand European, two years ago. We love the relatively small group of passengers, long port time (hours of fun stop and only one “sea/river” day), convenient/easy access to town/city, modern/comfortable cabin (although small), and no casino/boring onboard shows. In fact, we love first Viking river cruise so much that we booked both the Russia river cruise and an ocean cruise shortly after. Before we started our Russia river cruise, we were planning to sign up the Southern France and Portugal river cruises.

 

Unfortunately, our experience onboard the Russia cruise was so disappointing that we changed our mind about booking the new river cruises. To keep things brief, let me list the most important shortcomings.

 

1. The ship is quite old. The sound insulation of the cabin is almost none. I could hear our neighbors cough and chat ( in addition to TV) as late as 2AM and as early as 5AM. I had to take a sleeping pill every night to help me get a few hours of sleep. Once the medicine wore off, I had no choice but to stay awake till breakfast time.

 

2. The stops are out of nowhere, and there is not much to do. Port time is very short. The only two places worthwhile visiting are the starting and ending ports of St. Petersburg and Moscow, where one is better off skipping the river cruise and staying in a hotel in the city center. Most top points of interest can be easily accessible on foot or by public transportation. For example, we went to Peterhof Summer Palace by taking a hydrofoil from pier within steps from the hotel.

 

3. The included excursions are given in large groups. I remember our walking tour (Up Close Of St. Petersburg) and Hermitage Museum had over 30 people. For a 5 hour tour, we saw about two hours of things. Imagine the wait for all people to get on/off bus, check in coats, check bags, and two bathroom stops. Let’s not forget the hour-long ride between the point of interest and ship, total 2 hours per excursion.

 

In summary, I feel like paying 4-Star price for a 3-Star product. This river cruise is in a different category than the Grand European river cruise. Per my own experience, I realize that I cannot expect different river cruises have the same consistent quality even with the same cruise line.

 

 

 

I shall wait and see how the ocean cruise goes before deciding if I should drop Viking.

 

Hmmm.....interesting food for thought. Might have to reconsider. Moscow was offered as an excursion on our Baltic Cruise, but the travel time was a bit ridiculous - didn't seem worth it. We had a great visit to SPB though using Alla Tours. We traveled with only 12 people so really got around to see alot in 3 days. Perhaps some sort of land tour that visits Moscow might be the better way to go.

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Dear dreamercruise,

 

We’d like to take this occasion to welcome you home, and thank you for once again sailing with us. We’re delighted to hear that you had a wonderful experience during your first voyage with Viking Cruises, and hope to welcome you aboard future sailings.

 

Conversely, we regret to learn that your recent experience has fallen short of expectations. To engage in a direct conversation on how we may continue to improve this itinerary, we invite you to contact us at TellUs@vikingcruises.com.

 

We look forward to speaking with you further, dreamercruise, and appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns.

 

Kind regards,

Viking Cruises

 

I just came back from this river cruise a few weeks ago, so I can share my experience and viewpoint. Before I start, I need to provide some background. My husband and I took our first Viking river cruise, the Grand European, two years ago. We love the relatively small group of passengers, long port time (hours of fun stop and only one “sea/river” day), convenient/easy access to town/city, modern/comfortable cabin (although small), and no casino/boring onboard shows. In fact, we love first Viking river cruise so much that we booked both the Russia river cruise and an ocean cruise shortly after. Before we started our Russia river cruise, we were planning to sign up the Southern France and Portugal river cruises.

 

Unfortunately, our experience onboard the Russia cruise was so disappointing that we changed our mind about booking the new river cruises. To keep things brief, let me list the most important shortcomings.

 

1. The ship is quite old. The sound insulation of the cabin is almost none. I could hear our neighbors cough and chat ( in addition to TV) as late as 2AM and as early as 5AM. I had to take a sleeping pill every night to help me get a few hours of sleep. Once the medicine wore off, I had no choice but to stay awake till breakfast time.

 

2. The stops are out of nowhere, and there is not much to do. Port time is very short. The only two places worthwhile visiting are the starting and ending ports of St. Petersburg and Moscow, where one is better off skipping the river cruise and staying in a hotel in the city center. Most top points of interest can be easily accessible on foot or by public transportation. For example, we went to Peterhof Summer Palace by taking a hydrofoil from pier within steps from the hotel.

 

3. The included excursions are given in large groups. I remember our walking tour (Up Close Of St. Petersburg) and Hermitage Museum had over 30 people. For a 5 hour tour, we saw about two hours of things. Imagine the wait for all people to get on/off bus, check in coats, check bags, and two bathroom stops. Let’s not forget the hour-long ride between the point of interest and ship, total 2 hours per excursion.

 

In summary, I feel like paying 4-Star price for a 3-Star product. This river cruise is in a different category than the Grand European river cruise. Per my own experience, I realize that I cannot expect different river cruises have the same consistent quality even with the same cruiseline.

 

I shall wait and see how the ocean cruise goes before deciding if I should drop Viking.

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Hi Dreamercruise -

 

What is the name of the boat that you sailed on?

 

Thanks

 

 

I just came back from this river cruise a few weeks ago, so I can share my experience and viewpoint. Before I start, I need to provide some background. My husband and I took our first Viking river cruise, the Grand European, two years ago. We love the relatively small group of passengers, long port time (hours of fun stop and only one “sea/river” day), convenient/easy access to town/city, modern/comfortable cabin (although small), and no casino/boring onboard shows. In fact, we love first Viking river cruise so much that we booked both the Russia river cruise and an ocean cruise shortly after. Before we started our Russia river cruise, we were planning to sign up the Southern France and Portugal river cruises.

 

Unfortunately, our experience onboard the Russia cruise was so disappointing that we changed our mind about booking the new river cruises. To keep things brief, let me list the most important shortcomings.

 

1. The ship is quite old. The sound insulation of the cabin is almost none. I could hear our neighbors cough and chat ( in addition to TV) as late as 2AM and as early as 5AM. I had to take a sleeping pill every night to help me get a few hours of sleep. Once the medicine wore off, I had no choice but to stay awake till breakfast time.

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We used Viking when we went to Russia, only because the lines offering hotel stays in ST.P and Moscow were not doing Russia when we wanted to go. Would highly recommend a line with hotel stays in the 2 main cities.

Our trip was not great or even good. The chef was from Siberia and most of the meals had fried foods. The wait staff from the Philippines was great.

Hotel manager rarely visible. Cabin staff all Russian with very little knowledge or use of English. Ship was refurbished and cabin was very nice. Our little area of the boat came down withe diarrhea one cabin after another. We all decided it was the cabin attendant. All other factors of onboard living could be eliminated.Must say that the compensation offered by Viking did lead to a marvelous trip in China.

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River cruises in Russia are tightly controlled by a monopoly company, and none is truly run by the river cruise line you thought you booked..]

For the record, this is not the case -on several levels.

 

First, there is no "monopoly company" - there are three competing companies that collectively dominate the market, and the competition among them is quite strong.

 

Second, several operators actually "truly run" their fleet, and Viking is one of them. I'd venture a guess that Viking has, in fact, the fourth-largest fleet on the Moscow to SPb route.

 

With that in mind, I believe Viking had plenty of time to hone their product to perfection - and indeed many of my friends that took "The Waterways" over the past five years or so have been very happy with their experience.

 

One thing to remember is that it is, first and foremost, a (somewhat limited) "cultural immersion" tour, not a "luxury" cruise - and, perhaps, it would've been more obvious had it been priced as such.

 

Overall, sorry to hear about OP's experience - and happy to see a quick reaction on the party of Viking representatives.

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We did the Waterways of the Czars four years ago. This was about five months prior to Putin invading Ukraine. We had previously taken a river cruise in China with Viking, which we really enjoyed. Since then we have taken three trips with Tauck, although none of them river cruises. Tauck is top of the line and I would recommend them for any trip anywhere. I wrote a review (Viking Helgi) after our trip to Russia and listed the negatives and positives. Viking contacted me and offered us $1000 off a river cruise, but it had to be in the twelve months following, and we could not take them up on it.

 

As one other person mentioned, we actually really enjoyed the stops on the river outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg. We also enjoyed much of our time in the cities. We knew going in the ship would dock outside of town and that traffic would be an issue. There were several negatives which were unforeseeable. One of the cruise leaders was awful. She often fell asleep on the bus trips and someone had to wake her if there was a question! The cruise director was absent a great deal and the front desk kept saying he was "sick". Some of the bus trips had horrible planning concerning traffic. I even mentioned it once to the tour leader when we were once again sitting in traffic and her response was "this happens every cruise"! The food was fine, although we are not picky. The wine never changed the entire twelve days - same red and white at each meal. The audio video equipment never worked and the excuse was "it's the end of the season" (September). The ship was newly renovated, but the lounge where the briefings were done could only hold 2/3 or the passengers and some people just gave up coming.

 

I know it sounds like we didn't enjoy the trip, which is not true. Then again we have not taken another Viking River cruise and do not plan too. (The main reason is their lack of exercise rooms or active/biking excursions on the long ships.) We have booked a Viking Ocean cruise. Hope this helps.

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Viking is one of the few that actually owns their ships in Russia and last I knew, staffed their ships with their employees. Many of the others are owned and ran by Vodohod.

 

I have done a land trip and a river cruise in Russia. If I would advise a best friend, it would be to fly to St. Petersburg and enjoy the city for several days and then take the train to Moscow. I was bored with the ports in-between and you are only there for a few hours each day. Moscow is definitely worth visiting!

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We did the cruise 3 years ago and loved it. St. Petersburg is amazing and the tours were well done. We actually loved the stops between St. Petersburg and Moscow as we were able to see the "real"Russia, if you will. The two big cities are justly famous and wonderful to visit, but when we travel, we also like to see more than the big cities so this tour was good for us. The food was very good for our cruise, but we haven't done an ocean cruise so can't compare to that. Overall, we found the trip fascinating. Viking has a better tour there because one of the owners lived there and has some ties.

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I traveled with Viking in Russia last year, 2016, in September. I loved it. I had previously been to STP on Baltic Cruise but since you have a passport you can visit in depth some places. I felt very powerful that I learned to navigate the STP subway, so that I could go to the House of Faberge or take a canal cruise, or shop along Nevsky Blvd without being part of a group. The subway station and restrooms are in the famous department Store on Nevsky Blvd..

One day in Moscow about noon at the end that days included tour I stayed down at the Red Square and was able to take more pictures, visit the gardens, buy in the souvenir shops at my own pace, and return to the ship by subway.

 

I too feel, that on the river I learned more about the real Russia. I thought the "historical" information was very unbiased. The 2 in home visits were highlights of my trip. I also felt a sense of security that since we were traveling as a isolated group on a ship, less likely of being caught up in something bad that might be happening on land.

 

I agree that there was not enough room for everyone to meet for the history, language and shore update meetings. EVEN the REQUIRED meeting the last day some people had to stand. You learned to get there early. I had some gripes but I did not post or expect Viking to reimburse me...I just refused to vote for them on the Conde Nast Survey. I don't partake in alcohol and I chafe that my ticket pays for others alcohol...My friend that had gluten free meals was well taken care of including the days we were off ship, but my sandwich the day we were furnished a meal off ship was not very good. They should have told us that the people where we were visiting their house expected us to eat all the food.....we just ate breakfast.

 

I am leaving on Viking Tor in 8 days.

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Interesting and somewhat mixed responses. I believe I'd do further research before definitely deciding on this trip. As was stated, it is more for 'cultural immersion' than, by comparison, a luxury cruise on the Danube

 

I recently got back from a 10-day cruise on the Danube from Bucharest to Budapest, and felt the same way. More of an educational experience than a vacation. There's so much we as Americans don't know about that part of the world.

 

Roz

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Viking no longer uses the ship I went on in 2012, Viking Rurik. But my review tells a bit about the overall experience and what to expect from the ships they use. This slideshow also has some feedback. All in all, I thought it was a great way to see Russia and fairly well done - I had been to St. Petersburg before, but not the small towns along the way. I thought Viking had some cool excursions, like the banya experience, as well as fun enrichment like the vodka tasting (and they got us tickets for the Bolshoi, which was on my bucket list - a separate charge and pricy but worth it). The powers-that-be at Viking have invested a significant amount of time in this particular tour - development of the itinerary was personally overseen by Tor Hagen's daughter, Karine Hagen, who works at the company. Just a bit of behind-the-scenes FYI.

 

(And totally as a random aside, I'm reading A Gentlemen in Moscow right now. I'm not only enjoying the book, it's fun to hear descriptions of the city once you've been).

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After our cruise I wrote an honest review of our Viking River Cruise in Russia - both positive and negative. I believe this is what readers of Cruise "CRITIC" want to read. I did not expect any compensation from Viking. They reached out to me to ask some specific questions regarding the negatives I had writing about. It was all very cordial. At the end of our conversation they offer me $1000 ($500 per person) off of a future cruise, to be taken within 12 months. This was not possible for us for a variety of reasons. Remember, this was not our first Viking River Cruise and I had written a very positive review of our first cruise, so I think Viking wanted me to know they valued my opinion since we were repeat customers.

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I am so glad that I posted my experience in this thread. At first, I had given up on Viking (expected more luxury). I did not intend to complain publicly. I was only giving advice to OP. Unexpectedly, I gained knowledge from others’ responses. Indeed, the one positive that stands out from our Russia river cruise is appreciation of Russian History and culture. My husband and I particularly enjoyed the history talks onboard, Russian ballet performance (excursion), and the Russian musical instruments performance (excursion). From now on, I need to do more research on cruises to determine which ones have more luxury and which ones have more focus on history/culture.

Another surprise is Viking showing very sincere interest in our not-so-satisfactory cruise experience with the genuine intention of improving the cruise and encouraging us to try their other cruises. As in the case of other posters, Viking generously offered us future travel voucher which we readily applied to our next cruise. Considering our stellar Grand European cruise experience and superb Viking customer service, we think it worthwhile to cruise with Viking again. I always like happy endings when reading others’ problems/issues satisfactorily resolved. Do not expect happy ending also happens to us.

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