Valerie

We will be flying to St. Petersburg for a cruise down the Volga River to Moscow. Has anyone taken any of these cruises and can you offer advice. We have been to St. Petersburg before, but never to the small towns along the Volga or to Moscow. Any special foods to avoid if you have a sensitive stomach? Any unusual small gifts to bring back home besides the lacquer boxes and nesting dolls?

Marc David Miller

Look up some of the older posts under Russia-quite a number deal with the river cruises.

Bill

Valerie-<BR>My wife and I were on 'The Tolstoy' for the Russian Waterways cruise last summer. If your schedule is anything like ours, each stop along the way was unique and left its own distinctive mark on our memories. It is a wonderful trip.<BR>We, too, were concerned about sensitive stomachs and depended upon the food provided by the ship. Our group always had 'brown bag' lunches provided by the chef's staff when we were off sightseeing for the day. In Moscow, check with you tour guide for dependable places to eat. The city is very modern and food, unlike in the small villages, should cause no concern. We took water from the ship in small water bottles whenever getting ready to leave the ship for sightseeing. All the water onboard is perfectly safe, so rather than buying cases of spring water, we just filled our containers in our cabin.<BR>We bought a chess set for our son and wooden Christmas tree ornaments for other family members, as well as for ourselves. <BR>

Peter

I was born in Russia but grew up in the US, and one of my fondest memories was when my parents took me on a cruise on the Volga over 25 years ago. I can only give the impressions of a child, but the trip encompassed stops in some of the most beautiful cities in Russia. Novgorod with it's medieval walls, and Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad - I don't know what they call it now) was one of the eeriest sights - the shelled out buildings riddled the city as monuments to a heroic struggle. Again a child's impression but the pictures still look great.

Dolores

Peter,<BR><BR>Thank you for this post. Perhaps the sweetest, most sincere impressions are those of a child. You've added to my mind information that I hope to substantiate when we travel there in Sept. Again, thank you.<BR><BR>

Dolores

Bill,<BR><BR>Please, if you have time, will you email me at [email protected] concerning Tolstoy. We're scheduled for Sept. and would love to hear your first-hand impressions! Thank you.<BR><BR>

Gary

If you are doing a trip from St Petersburg to Moscow you are not really doing a Volga River cruise, only a very small part of the cruise is on the Volga River. The Volga flows south into tha Caspian Sea.<BR><BR>I recently did a cruise on the Litvinov from Rostov-on-Don to Moscow, the ship is similar to the Tolstoy. I found the ship to be very comfortable and clean. The food was no problem with a couple of choices for each meal. If in doubt about the water, buy bottled water from the markets. The people on the ship were excellent. Plenty of activities and entertainment on board the ship. Plenty of shore trips.<BR>Buy your gifts to take home in the shoping centers in St Petersburg and Moscow.

mwheilds

We are booked on the Litinov for July 2005. Were there any kids on board? We booked with Uniworld because they will take kids. We have to be on the lowest deck because we need one triple and one double. Did you get down that far in the ship? Any suggestions? Were there any other families wit kids?
Martin [email protected]

Intrepid1

ttt

Marc_David_Miller

Russia is a wonderful destination for children (What boy wouldn't be fascinated by the military hardware? What girl wouldn't be fascinated by the ballet?), and I do work with many families traveling to Moscow and St. Petersburg, but I rarely recommend the river cruises by Uniworld and others for families with younger children. Remember, this is not like a cruise ship-there are no children-specific activities on board the ships, the tone of the tours could be a bit dry for them (depending on their age), and in most of the towns you stop in the only way to see the sites is with the included group tour (you can hire a private guide in Moscow and St. Petesrburg). There are very few children on these cruises.

I have had queries from people interested in bringing their children on such trips, but only one family has booked a cruise; the two children did enjoy the trip (age 16 and 14), but I think they were exceptional.

Some clients have taken the river cruises which are primarily used by Russians, and those can be interesting for kids with a sense of adventure (the food is not as good as on those cruises run by Uniworld and Viking), and the tours are generally not available in English. These cruises often do have families with children on them.