We are going to be in Moscow for 3 days in June on a Viking River Cruise. There are shore trips offered every day to historical sites. One of the days I am not interested in anything that is offered. I would like to "go shopping" to some of the flea markets, handicraft shops, and see some of the very local life for the day. Has anyone hired a local guide (who speaks English) to take them around for the day? Any help with this would be appreciated. Thanks!
Xmas girl

Thanks Odin. The only problem is I don't speak any Russian, and I am concerned about getting to the markets, different areas of the city by myself (bus or taxi), not being able to communicate with the vendor, getting robbed (or mugged) (Am I being a CRAZY American?). I have traveled in Central Europe (and I do speak French) but Russia seems to be a totally different situation.
Xmas girl

May I ask you why?

The flea market you probably have in mind is called Izmailovo Vernissage and it is a 50 minute metro ride away from your river port.

Before boarding your cruise in St.Petersburg, purchase a $10 sim card to ensure you have unlimited data throughout your trip.

Download Yandex Taxi, Gett, or Uber app (for Uber, you'll need a Russian version, not the global one) to eliminate any need to communicate with the drivers.

Download Yandex Maps, Yandex Transport, and Yandex Metro apps to be able to move around like a local.

Download Google Translate to be able to communicate with locals without speaking a word of Russian.

Download Duolingo's Russian course to actually learn a word or two of Russian or at least learn to read street signs.

Check out this blog post THE Guide to Moscow for First Time Visitors - Kidding Herself for a snapshot of things to do and see. Throw together a quick and dirty itinerary for that 1 day and run it by this forum.

You should be OK.

I visited Moscow solo in 1994, long before smart phones. I learned to transliterate from Cyrillic to Roman before going and studied some good guidebooks -- things made moot by smart phones. BTW, I had a wonderful time!

Markets will be among the easiest things to manage, as it just takes numbers. You write down (or punch in) a number, the seller presents a counter offer, you walk away or continue negotiating.

Take normal safety precautions.

<<I am concerned about getting to the markets, different areas of the city by myself (bus or taxi), not being able to communicate with the vendor, getting robbed (or mugged)>>

If you are referring to Izmailovo, it is very easy to get to on the metro and easy to walk to from the metro station once there. You'll see people walking in the direction of the market. It has been on the tourist trail for many many years,I've been lots of times over the years. The vendors for the most part speak at least some English, some might speak a bit of French and/or German, depending on what languages they learnt at school.
To navigate the metro stations, it would be better if you learnt some words eg exit/entrance, understand station names and how to change lines and the alphabet in order to transliterate, where you can. A phrase book/app will come in handy. Getting robbed or mugged in Moscow is probably unlikely, I think you might be surprised at how well off many Muscovites are but of course you should always be careful as in any place.

My wife and I went to Moscow back in 1999! There were no smartphones then and we didn't speak a word of Russian but we read guidebooks, took the metro to the outskirts where the market was and walked the short distance to it (you'll know you're going the right way just by following the crowds). Some of the vendors spoke a bit of English but for those who didn't a bit of sign language and gesticulation usually worked, there's no need for a guide.

As for safety, we felt perfectly safe.

I think you have a decision to make. Level with yourself and decide if you're willing to invest any effort at all to assimilate with everyday Russians and experience their culture. What is the harm in learning a few words like hi, thanks, and please? This will be greatly appreciated. Despite its very non-Roman appearance Cyrillic is actually one of the easiest alphabets to "decode" IMO because many sounds stay the same regardless of order. (plus its kind of fun) Don't believe me? Check out this easy guide here. napoxoguk gave several good recommendations for apps, tips, and stuff... I think you can do this but if you'd rather have someone else do the interacting for you, it'll be a different experience and not quite as authentic.

Wow napoxoguk... Thank you very much. Lots of good information. I really appreciate it. It'll be a matter of me having the courage to do this alone. Thank you ....I still have some time to make decisions, get the apps and learn a few words.
Best regards,
Xmas girl

kja...thank you very much for these encouraging words. Wish you were my shopping partner. I still have some time to research and make decisions.
Best regards,
Xmas Girl

Thank you Odin. I appreciate your comments and advice. I still have some time to research and make decisions. Wish me luck.
Best regards,
Xmas girl

Thank you jc_uk. Well..if you did it in 1999, I should be able to do it in 2019! Thanks for the encouragement. I still have some time to research, get some apps and get my courage up. thanks again.
Best regards,
Xmas Girl

Thanks tailsock for the encouragement. Wish you could come with me if only for moral support. I still have some time to research, download apps and get my courage up. Gulp!
Best regards,
Xmas Girl

Here's a short comic booklet to get your courage up (?)
Face Control

Thanks napoxoguk. At first it was kind of "funny" but then it just was sad at the end. Some of those statements might still be true today... Unfortunately in the USA too you might see some of those experiences. Thanks for thinking of me.
Xmas Girl

That's interesting - I didn't find it sad. If anything, it's probably better informed and more in-depth than many of the non-comic trip reports I've read here and on other travel sites.
ps.- just a thought - did you click through past the first page? Come to think of it, the first page is quite sad, as it deals with stereotypes.

OK.....I had not gone onto the next page. Even though I do not "know" Russia...that second page seemed more realistic. I do have some Russian friends here in the USA that live in Russia part of the year and live here part of the year. They both smoke, but the man is like a smoking fireplace with the gravely voice to go with. Rereading the first page...and reading your comments I didn't want to assume that Russia was like that first page. Were they joking, or being realistic or sarcastic. Anyway..I guess I am beginning to understand a bit about Russia. I'm absolutely looking forward to my visit there. Thanks for all your help and comments.
Xmas Girl

Hi maryarnault,
How did it go?

Hi Napoxoguk
Thanks for asking! We ended up using "Tours by Locals" in both Moscow and St. Petersburg. I HIGHLY recommend this organization. A friend who was taking a similar trip had actually done the research on the various guides available and I just contacted the same guide in Moscow that she was going to use. We used "Victoria O". who met us at our river boat in Moscow. We were 2 couples and Victoria. She called 2 Ubers and both cars went to the Izmailovsky Flea Market. Just the ride through town was worth it. Anyway...the market was great and Victoria stayed right with me and helped me speak with and bargain with each vendor. My husband and the other couple were kind of "trailing" behind, and after a while Victoria suggested that they go to an upstairs level where there was coffee and pastries and a place to sit down...which they did. This freed me up to keep shopping. (I have 3 kids and spouses and 5 grand kids, so I was doing a lot of shopping). After the shopping was done we 5 took the Metro ( and Victoria gave us the history of the stations) to a Food Hall where we had the choice of many different types of Russian Food for lunch and more food items could purchased. I bought Russian Coffee and Chocolate here. Then Victoria put my husband in one Uber and told the driver to take my husband to the Cosmonaut Museum where a group from our boat was meeting, and the other couple and I took another Uber back to our ship. It worked great and Victoria's English was flawless. Costs about $250 US for 4-5 hours for 1-10 people. Price for the group, not per person. We shared the cost with the other couple.
In St. Petersburg we used Nikoli who picked us up at our boat with his car. We stowed all our luggage in the back of his car and then we had a 5 hour "Non-Tourist" Tour of St. Petersburg. We had already seen the major sights with our boat over the previous 3 days, but I wanted to do some more shopping and he wanted to show us sights we had not seen...such as Food Halls, a Monastery, A couple of metro stations, and a local underground cafe, which we would not have found if we had been alone or with the boat. Nikoli was a more "Serious" guide and his English was not quite as fluent as Victoria and he kept wanting to show us more historical sights, but we had already been in Russia for 12 days and seen so many churches and Russian Orthodox Cathedrals that I was beginning to feel like I was in Italy! The best part about Nikoli was that he had a car and at the end of the day he dropped us right at the St. Petersburg airport for our evening flight to Finland which was our next stop. All in all, I'm really glad I did have a guide in both cities and again...I HIGHLY recommend Tours by Locals for just about any city in the world.
Spasibo,
Xmas Girl