Back from AMAKatarina Moscow to St Petersburg

[Coral]

Coral, your rat pear looked way worse than ours!

 

I agree! It is too bad I can't do dairy as the ice cream looks appealing.

[Kellie Poodle]

Hi,

 

Wow, if they serve that on our cruise, I think I will throw up!

 

Sheila

 

They didn't on ours. I would have thrown up, too. YUCK!

 

Actually they took quite a bit of effort in plating the food. Too bad it didn't taste as good as it looked. :)

[lkbside]

We had the same seafood plate, Janet.

 

They were very creative with the plating, but need to work on the actual execution.

 

A few more pix attached, now that I figured out how to do it.

 

Toadstool salad and chocolate potato desert!

[KatnMom]

But I definitely don't want to see a rat - real, fake, edible or anything!:eek:

[KatnMom]

To all of my new friends who are sailing next week on the AMAkatarina/Rostropovich ---

 

Enjoy the scenery

Have fun shopping

Be overwhelmed by the great art

Eat a blini

Enjoy the folk music

Have some vodka

Take lots of pictures

Make lots of new friends

and, if it comes to it....

 

make lemonade :D

 

Bon Voyage!

 

Thank you Kellie. I think that all of us are seasoned travelers and will be going with a good attitude. Here's to hoping that there is no need for making lemonade, just lots of great memories.

 

Kathy

[4774Papa]

AMA's food on Tolstoy on my cruise a few years ago was also pretty bad. There just wasn't as many people sailing that ship as there are this year. My cruise was 4 years ago and was also with Vodohod.

 

I have a friend who I work with who went with Viking this year. She thought the food was delightful. We compared it to food at our cafeteria at work and I found AMA's food several steps below that and she found it several steps above that.

 

Having spent time in Russia previously - I had no problems with food at various restaurants. I thought the food was quite good on my previous trip.

 

I believe Viking actually owns their ships which could explain the difference.

We just returned from our Vantage Ukraine, Russia and Baltics trip (my review is posted on cc under Kiev to Vilnius.

Our group found the food on the Tolstoy to be very good. This was the consensus of the people on the boat that we talked with. Choices were few, but the food exceeded our expectations. Vantage was our tour company, and they did a great job. Great hotels, great guides and PMs. Also, our tour included a lot of cultural exposure such a home hosted meals with local people and discussions with college students.

[Coral]

We just returned from our Vantage Ukraine, Russia and Baltics trip (my review is posted on cc under Kiev to Vilnius.

Our group found the food on the Tolstoy to be very good. This was the consensus of the people on the boat that we talked with. Choices were few, but the food exceeded our expectations. Vantage was our tour company, and they did a great job. Great hotels, great guides and PMs. Also, our tour included a lot of cultural exposure such a home hosted meals with local people and discussions with college students.

 

Glad you had a great trip! I am guessing that Vantage ordered a higher quality of food and had a different set of menus/food preperation and food manager compared to when AMA had the ship. The year I went - there were people who went with Vantage and Grand Circle (are these 2 companies related?) and they both thought the food was quite good on their trip also. When they described what they had, it was nothing like we had.

 

I will look for your review! Welcome back!

[GiannaD]

Glad you had a great trip! I am guessing that Vantage ordered a higher quality of food and had a different set of menus/food preperation and food manager compared to when AMA had the ship. The year I went - there were people who went with Vantage and Grand Circle (are these 2 companies related?) and they both thought the food was quite good on their trip also. When they described what they had, it was nothing like we had.

 

I will look for your review! Welcome back!

 

 

Vantage and Grand Circle are owned by brothers (Lewis). Vantage includes more than Grand Circle and their prices are therefore higher. Otherwise they are similar. Both offer good quality tours.

[shoshona2]

Hi papa,

 

So glad to know you had a good time. We are aboard the Katarina and berthed next to the Tolstoy right now in St. Petersburg! Us Cruise Critic posters aboard have all met and will write a report when we return. I'm looking forward to reading your review.

 

Sheila

[Coral]

Hi papa,

 

So glad to know you had a good time. We are aboard the Katarina and berthed next to the Tolstoy right now in St. Petersburg! Us Cruise Critic posters aboard have all met and will write a report when we return. I'm looking forward to reading your review.

 

Sheila

 

Hope you are having a good time!

[4774Papa]

It was a great trip. We were so lucky with the weather being nice, no rain.

[ringostarr]

Hi, I just want to add my 2 cents. First of all, I hope you have terrific weather and have a terrific time. I agree with the one poster who said not to go with a negative attitude and just to have a great time.

 

I would like to say, I agree with Leslie and was on the trip with her. I would like to clarify some of the remarks made by other posters. Our TA feels AMA is normally a very good product. She didn't have good feelings about the Tolstoy or Russian river cruises in general and did try to steer us away from them. It was my idea, reading the promotional literature, that AMA would finally have a ship to equal the others in its fleet and Leslie and her husband, our TA/her husband and my husband and I decided to be guinea pigs and try it out. Our TA felt that the ship itself wasn't bad by river boat standards (the size of rooms, etc), but felt as we did, that the food and service was not up to her experience on other AMA ships.

 

My feelings, having only been on one short river cruise on the Nile, was that the food was of decent quality (meaning fresh), with attempts at nice plating (I kinda liked the rat), but tasted like school cafeteria food. I was very disappointed in the room. In retrospect, I should have gone with a standard room and I now feel "ripped off" having upgraded to one of the largest suites. It was of ample size. However, other than size, it had no other difference from the smallest cabin on the ship-the same closet set up and space, the same bathroom, the same bed, the same in room seating. None of the extra space was utilized. I don't think the room was as nice as a Holiday Inn Express room or a Hampton Inn room. It wasn't dreadful, but it was basic and I would say it was a Motel 6. At least Holiday Inn's have storage and bathtubs! It did have a very private and nice size balcony, but the chairs were uncomfortable plastic chairs which were not great for sitting in very long.

 

I feel you could have a nicer time than we did on this trip if you made sure you had an extension outlet, packed storage for toiletries for the bathroom and, if you are fussy about your soap, bring your own. The reviews that are written are not to make you upset, they are to equip you with information to improve your own experience and learn from ours. I think KelliePoodle's suggestion to ask for new towels in the evening is another good one. These are all good tips. As far as the food...it is all a matter of taste. I loved the borsht but really didn't like a lot of the other salads and soups. I didn't hate them but I found them bland. The meals were ok. Edible. My husband felt he wasn't served enough food. I didn't have that complaint.

 

I loved, loved, loved the young people who served us and accompanied us on our tours. They tried so hard. They were adorable.

 

Our fellow cruisers were charming, so no complaints there.

 

The tours were well managed, planned and interesting. The cruise director had a few major flubs, but that was personal to him, not the tours. I got what I expected from the tours. I wasn't disappointed.

 

I don't know if I would paint AMA cruises with a broad brush after this experience, but I do hold them responsible for irresponsible and misleading marketing and their corporate ethics do become suspect in my eyes.

 

My husband and I discussed whether, knowing what we know today, we would do this cruise. I think I would, but only because I got the cultural experience I wanted and got to spend time with very nice people.

 

Had AMA been honest in its marketing, I could have made an informed decision and I would expect to dislike the food and I would have taken the smaller room and saved a lot of money or spent more for the Imperial suite if I really wanted something very nice.

 

It was a restful trip, with just a few hours of touring once we got on the Volga. Honestly, once you've seen one small town, you've seen them all, so it does become a bit repetitive. You have been forewarned, now the choice is yours. I have no idea whether AMA management is reading this blog, but I hope they are and they will correct the issues on board the ship as Russia is a fascinating place to visit.

[4774Papa]

ringostarr, Our 7 days on the Tolstoy were great, but the cabin was tiny. Of course, I knew that going in. I had a sense that a Russian River cruise would not be on the same level that you would find in China or Western Europe. That is why we chose Vantage with hotels in Moscow and St.P.

We didn't find all the river ports to be the same. Kizhi Island was amazing. I thought Uglich (the story of the False Dimitri's was fascinating) and Yaroslavl were great.

 

We have booked an AMA river cruise that includes Burgundy and Provence. I don't think we will have a problem with the food in France. Food is a religion there.

[ringostarr]

I didn't mean they weren't interesting, but maybe it was the onion domes .... I like onion domes and icons, but after a while I stopped taking pictures. The trip was very enlightening and I learned a tremendous amount. As I said, I would do it again. I should also say, I found Russia very picturesque and the people lovely. I think it is a nice perspective to have the hotel/river combo as you had. We stayed in a hotel on our own and the pricing was outrageous. Your option is nice because the ports are so far away from the city centers, you waste a lot of time traveling to the sites.

[franski]

ringostarr -

 

thank you for your comments... I think your point is well taken that people often write reviews to help those who are still getting ready for their trip. Many times people have posted that they would have done "X" if they had known about "Y". This forum does help with the "X" factor...

 

When it came time to book our river cruise in Russia - I was prepared for "high end camping". The fact that there are now a number of boats with hotel style beds - and private showers - is a huge bonus for me. I can live with limited bathroom storage if I know about it. And - my curling iron has a really long cord - which is helpful. :D

 

I am really looking forward to the trip now (we are booked with Uniworld...) - as the positives that so many people have commented on are the focus of our trip. We are interested in the people, and the culture - and so look forward to getting a taste of what Russian life is like in both the urban and rural areas. We booked lowest category - so it is interested to hear that you wished you had done this (instead of spending money on an upgraded cabin that didn't add much in the way of amenities - other than the balcony...)

 

I hope that people continue to post their impressions - as it really is helpful to those of us who have their trip booked next year...

 

Fran

[shoshona2]

Hi Ringostarr,

 

Five days into our river cruise and everything is the same as your cruise. Yesterday on our "deluxe" cruise we had to hunt down some toilet paper. AMA does not care! We are definitely getting a two star cruise experience for our four star amount of money. The American chef's hands are tied about the serving of good food. He tries hard with what he has on hand and what the Russian head of the dining staff will allow. Thus, cafeteria food.

We didn't have time to cancel after reading the first review so we are keeping our sense of humor and enjoying the sights.

 

More to come!!!

 

Sheila

[lkbside]

Had the same experience with the toilet paper, Sheila. Best to be "proactive" and grab a couple of rolls while the cleaning carts are in the hall.

[4774Papa]

Toilet paper is a real in on a trip to Russia. Several people on our tour group found that Montezuma has cousins in Russia.

Thanks for Immodium/

[shoshona2]

Hi,

 

Yep, we stocked up on three rolls today. I did take some on-line advice and brought a hang up toiletry bag and shampoo. We are all keeping our sense of humor and laughing a lot.

 

The young college students are fab! The Russian entertainers aboard are great to hear perform. The front desk needs to learn better English as most people aboard speak it and they are having problems understanding us! Tough when you have a problem. We all search for Marina the cruise director who is working very hard to solve ALL problems.

 

More to come!

 

Regards,

Sheila

[ringostarr]

I'm so sorry that things haven't improved for you. Glad you have a sense of humor about things. We giggled a lot. What else can you do? By the way, some other tips...prices in the store on board aren't bad. I got the best prices on the amber there. The most gorgeous amber pieces were at Catherine's Palace at the store...pricey though. The Porcelain Factory and Museum in St. Petersburg is worth a visit and only one stop on the metro and free shuttle from the ship. The fur at the stops is a very good deal. I got wonderful mink mittens and fox hats. If you can't eat well...SHOP.:D

[caper1953]

I am leaving on the Amakaterina on the last cruise of the year...looking forward to reviews from those on the ship now.

[waverly]

Hi Ringostarr,

 

Five days into our river cruise and everything is the same as your cruise. Yesterday on our "deluxe" cruise we had to hunt down some toilet paper.....

 

Why did you have to "hunt down" toilet paper ?

Why didn't you just call housekeeping or the reception desk and ask for it.

Are you telling us your hunting story because it is sooooo much more dramatic than a simple phone call.

[HDS]

To call someone you need a phone in the cabin. I didn't see any on our Russian cruise.

Next you need reception or housekeeping staff who understand your request and will then carry out the protocol for having a steward deliver toilet paper (or in our case, bottled water).

I think "hunt down" is a fair description of my quest for botled water. No dramatics, just a hunt.

[waverly]

To call someone you need a phone in the cabin. I didn't see any on our Russian cruise.

Next you need reception or housekeeping staff who understand your request and will then carry out the protocol for having a steward deliver toilet paper (or in our case, bottled water).

I think "hunt down" is a fair description of my quest for botled water. No dramatics, just a hunt.

 

I do not know on which ship you were, but as per AMA-brochure there is a phone in each cabin from where you can contact the reception desk or cruise director or any other cabin.

ERGO - no need to chase after toilet paper.

[HDS]

Three years ago, different USA-based company, unrenovated boat. Hope the language skills of office staff, issuing of orders and delivery protocol has improved along with the telecommunications.

Enjoy your cruise, Russia is a fascinating destination in so many ways.