Viking vs AMA Waterways
 

We are considering taking a Russian River Cruise in May and are trying to decide whether we should book with Viking or AMA Waterways. AMA rooms are a little larger -- not sure of soundproofing; both offer wine with dinners -- not sure how restrictive they are with the amount; both have guided tours -- slightly different itineraries ... assume that both will go to the main attractions. Viking has a 2 for 1 deal making it a little cheaper than AMA (AMA has no promotional deals) ....... is one better than the other?

We took the Viking Russian Russian River Cruise. Our room was quite large as was the bathroom. We didn't care for the included wines and ended up ordering white wines from Georgia which were excellent and not too expensive. We did some of the included guided tours but often we preferred to tour independently and they gave us any tickets for entry to churches or museums that would be used on the guided tours.
We did not travel with AMA but have seen their brochures and would consider traveling with them as well.

We did the Viking Russian River Cruise, 2 for 1 and flew with ff points so it was very inexpensive. The cruise was good, the food very average (oh well) Our guide was good and can't really think of anything negative. They have a frig. in the room that kept your water and vodka cold so that was nice. Every tour was included except for Peteroff (sp!) and a museum in Moscow. I would do both as they both were excellent.

Thanks for the info .... we booked through Viking with the knowledge that the food will be so-so and we'll probably will need to buy our own wine.

We now need to book a flight. Does anyone have details on the location of the cruise ship (looks as if we will be flying into Domodedovo Airport) -- and whether we need to buy the transfer or can manage to get there on our own?

I think we had Viking pick us up. I know we didn't do it on our own. I believe it was worth the money to have someone waiting for us when we arrived. Our travel agent arranged it for us through Viking. On the return, we were dropped off at the airport and the clerk at the check -in didn't speak much English and wasn't helpful. She only gave us our ticket through to Paris and wouldn't say why we didn't get our boarding pass through to the states. In Paris, our connection was tight and because we were flying business, the airport hussled us through. I don't want to say the Russian agent was rude but she was certainly abrupt and certainly not helpful in explaining what we didn't get a boarding pass. The agent in France, just shook her head and said "Russia!"

By the way, our Russian guide said that not many people speak English because they were never allowed out of the country to travel so that there was no need to learn another language. She said if you need assistance ask a young person because they were more likely to know English. You'll enjoy the trip. It was very interesting and Viking provided some excellent lectures in addition to the guides.

Although Enroh has already booked his cruise, I would like to say that we took a Danube River cruise with AMA last year and everything was truly first class. I know that the ships that the river cruise companies use on the Danube and Rhine are not the same as those used in Russia.