Anyone been to Odessa by river cruise - does one need Ukrainian or Russian?

Ukranian or Russian what?

Ukrainian or Russian language.<BR><BR>No. On the cruise staff will have English, of varying quality. German and other fellow-passengers will have good English. In Odessa travel and hotel people will have fairly good English, and on the street well dressed young people will speak it well, and enjoy doing so.<BR><BR>Ben Haines, London<BR>.<BR><BR> <BR>

If it is language despite what the other poster says it depends. There are cruise ship companies in Russia that cater to foreigners (and have English speaking staff); there are others that don't and don't have English speaking staff on board all their ships. Check with the company you are using.<BR><BR>My Ukrainian friends also think that English is not as universally spoken in the tourist trade as others thinks.

Thanks for the two answers. Important to check cruise companies through a reliable travel agent.

Don't you folks recognize that this is a big joke? Ukrainian and Russian languages are basically the same, as much as the Southern and Yankee dialects are the same in the U.S. I have studied the Russian language and traveled there, so I believe you have all been taken in by another prankster.

No, Ukrainina is not a dialect of Russian; Ukrainian, Russian and Belorussian constitute the East Slavic sub-group of the Slavic language family. <BR><BR>http://www.columbia.edu/itc/history/wortman/courseref.html#Language<BR><BR>That said Russian is almost universally understood by Ukrainians.