Phoenix Reisen river cruises in Ukraine (Kiev-Odessa-Kiev)

[greg2014]

I am considering booking river cruise organized by German comapny Phoenix Reisen for 2019. They have some dates for 12 days cruises from Kiev to Odessa and back on Princess Dnepr vessel.

 

Has anybody experience with them or this vessel ? Thank you for any answers in advance:-)

[TravelerThom]

I have NOT used Phoenix Reisen nor have I sailed on the Princess Dnepr. Princess Dnepr is a Type 301 DDR (East German) river cruiser built in 1976 and refurbished in 2017. I have sailed Kiev to Odessa and I have sailed 3 times (Dnepr, Volga, Yangtze) on similar vessels, so given the lack of responses I will comment.

 

Kiev and Odessa are interesting cities with lots of history. The entire region was devastated during WW II as the Eastern Front passed through twice. Most other stops give a view of Soviet era planning with a veneer of Cossack culture. Much of the Dnepr cruising is through flat agricultural land.

 

According to the internet Phoenix Reisen cruises are conducted exclusively in German. Double Rooms on unreconstructed Type 301 boats start at less than 100 sq. ft. (the sailboat style bathroom is included in that figure).

 

I was happy to have taken my (English speaking) Dnepr trip, but I had a good idea what I was signing up for. Many who had done less research were disappointed. Pricing I have seen for the Phoenix Reisen trip seems to be a reasonable value.

Thom

 

[notamermaid]

greg2014,

 

 

this is certainly an unusual idea and I am afraid that I cannot help too much either. As jumping the language barrier is easy for me I can point you in the right direction as regards reviews, though. I cannot post a website but google can give you ideas when you type in Phoenix Reisen Dnepr Bewertung If this does not produce enough add another German word like Fluss or Schiff. google translate should help further then. Reviews at first glance appear to be anything from mediocre to very good.

 

 

 

Which makes me curious: how will you manage the language, is Phoenix offering a bi-lingual or English itinerary? Or do you speak German?

 

 

Phoenix Reisen is a very reputable company with some new ships. One of them, the relatively young Anesha, I heard good things about from speaking to travellers. I have never sailed with them myself but have certainly thought about it when reading about and comparing itineraries.

 

 

Travels with a German company will certainly differ as regards food and how it is served (often one seating and only one restaurant) and you might notice other slight differences to American river cruise companies based on what past river cruisers have reported about their life on the ships.

 

 

notamermaid

[greg2014]

Thank you for your advice.

I speak German - not perfect but I am able to comunicate. I also speak Russian and understand Ukrainian, so I think that language is not problem. I know, that here there are only small number of German-speaking passangers but hoped that maybe sb had possibility to cruise on this route. Any other suggestions could be very helpfull. On the other hand, I had no experience with river cruises (it could be my first one).

[notamermaid]

greg2014,

 

 

I must admit that I did not look at the right had side of your post. Your base of course explains the languages you speak. Sorry that I did not pick up on that before. And you are closer than probably any of us here to the culture in Russia. For you than this sounds like a nice choice for a first river cruise. But do read the stickies at the top of the page. Our host jazzbeau has put together some great info that can help you a lot.

 

 

So, hello to Krakow and welcome to the river cruise board. The most exotic trip I have done into the Slawic-speaking world was a tour to Gdansk and the area some years ago. It was very enjoyable. I would like to see Krakow some time.

 

 

I hope you find the answers you are looking for.

 

 

notamermaid

[greg2014]

Thank you notamermaid once again :-) Nice to see that you visited Poland and if you only have time and possibility, please visit us once again - also one of the eldest and nicest Polish cities - Krakow.

 

Regarding culture and Ukraine, in fact we are closer and have similar mentality like poeple in Ukraine or Russia. Although languages are different (especially alphabet - in Ukraine/Russia they are using cyryllic instead of Latin letters in Poland), Ukraine is not in EU and travelling could be more complicated, I visited Ukraine several times (including Kiev) and in my opinion it is very interesting country as tourist goal - but skipped by many turists because the war at east border with Russia. That is why I decided to choose my first river cruise there and hoped it will be really interesting. I am approx. one year before the cruise so have a lot of time to collect as much information as possible, so I am doing now :-)

Edited August 6, 2018 by greg2014