Russian River cruise
 

Anyone been on a Russian river cruise.?Comments please.

I haven't but one of my best friends did the a couple of years ago. She loved it. The average age was certainly Senior Citizen category.

I suggest you go to the europe board
and see Rudi's "my river cruise in
russia. it's a couple of years old but
it will answer any questions. We had
a great time on Viking.

We went with Viking in 2003, after reading Rudy's report (which inspired us to book), and we could not have been more pleased. I did research other vendors, but the raves everywhere (do a search for river cruise forums) for Viking won us over. Because their airfares seemed reasonable, we had them book those for us as well - Lufthansa at very convenient times with favorable connections. We did (as Rudy did) splurge for "deluxe" cabin - and we were very glad to have done that as well. The extra space and having two picture windows was well worth the tariff.

Tops on the Viking cruise were the staff and the food. Both absolutely splendid.

I would somewhat dispute "the average age was certainly Senior Citizen category". We were just over 50, and there were lots of others our age, along with quite a few younger, all of whom were often challenged to keep up with all those Seniors!

Before going, I thought the "cruising days" would be dull, but they were not! We very much enjoyed relaxing between touring and all the activities on the ship. And, the scenery along the way!

FYI,

See an article on the Viking River Cruise in the Travel section of the LA Times (2/5/06). I had picked up the company's glossy brochure recently at the LA Travel Show and was interested in the "Tsar" cruise so the write-up was a nice surprise. The author did mention that the clientel was older, warned readers about the strange shower facilities in the lower cabin categories, said there wasn't enough time at the Armory, and days cruising were a bit "monotonous." But he did say the guides were good and the trip was "affordable." It seemed to me that they were able to see all the main sites in St. Pete's and Moscow.

My parents did a Russian River cruise (I think with Vantage) about 2 years ago. It looked absolutely fabulous from the pictures. They started in Moscow and spent several days there and then headed down the river and ended up in St. Petersburg. Since they are in their mid 70's, I suspect that the Senior Citizen comment is accurate (at least for them).