Back from AMAKatarina Moscow to St Petersburg

[Coral]

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.

 

When I sailed AMA to Russia a few years ago, there was no phone in the room. Not sure if the new ship has one. The room steward often skipped my room (probably more days than she visited it) and the line downstairs at the desk was long to speak to someone. There were often changes in the schedule that were supposed to be delivered to the room that most people never got. I am not surprised they are chasing down toilet paper.

[ringostarr]

There were phones in our rooms and people answered. I do think some of our service issues were due to poor communication and others were due to lack of training. None were due to surliness or lack of wishing to please. Once they knew what we wanted, they made sure we had what we wanted. For example, they never emptied our garbage can. My husband called two nights in a row and it still wasn't emptied and dirty plates weren't removed even when we left them in the middle of the unmade bed. He finally went down to the front desk and spoke to the manager about this in person. It never happened again. Some other folks had a squeak running through their cabin and it never got fixed for a couple of days and they couldn't sleep. Finally, they insisted to the manager and the engineer came to their room and nicely fixed it perfectly. It was just an effort and the staff was young and not trained well. The dining staff really tried hard to get to know what you wanted and if you sat in the same spot, really accommodated you. Remember, these were mostly college kids. You can't get mad at them. They were nice.

[shoshona2]

To wavery,

 

I don't know if you have been following the many threads and disappointing reviews of the Katarina. We are paying for a five star experience and getting a two star and some days a three star experience. The housekeeping staff is doing their best, but this is not like any other ship we have been on and we have been on over 35. We keep laughing since complaining would hamper our enjoyment of the whole Russian experience. I agree with kellie poodle and Ringostarr that the young people working in the dining room are just wonderful young people and the college girls who are assisting the local tour guides are delightful and have wonderful sense of humors. We all wish them much luck in their future careers. We will be tipping them separately for putting up with us.

 

As to the toilet paper, my DH went to the desk since they don't usually answer the phone. A gal there put his request on a list. After one half hour, he looked for Marina, the cruise director, who is the go to person on this ship. She immediately came with two rolls. Our friends had trouble with a badly stained shower curtain. Probably left over from the flooding and sewerage problems. The person at the desk sent someone to replace it after telling them they didn't have any more shower curtains. The replacement was worse than the first one. I told them to find Marina. She had the soiled one replaced.

 

We did have a great afternoon yesterday at the blini and vodka party!!

[shoshona2]

Hi again,

 

Just remembered another funny story! Our friends hit the alarm button on the bathroom door about 11:30 the other night by mistake and no one came to see if they were okay! I did it on a small ship several years ago and one of the crew came running within 2 minutes.

 

Sheila

[Kellie Poodle]

When I sailed AMA to Russia a few years ago, there was no phone in the room. Not sure if the new ship has one. The room steward often skipped my room (probably more days than she visited it) and the line downstairs at the desk was long to speak to someone. There were often changes in the schedule that were supposed to be delivered to the room that most people never got. I am not surprised they are chasing down toilet paper.

 

Sheila is in the same cabin I was in in June. There is a phone in the cabin. We always had two extra rolls of paper in the cabin. If we used one, it was replaced. The spare rolls are in the medicine chest over the sink.

 

Perhaps she doesn't care for the quality of the paper and was looking to purchase some. I hope this is not the case.

 

This is a BAD IDEA!!!!! Ships have septic holding tanks and the paper used has to break down easily and not contain certain glues that regular paper meant for a sewerage treatment plant. Using the wrong paper of facial tissues in a ship's septic system can cause problems for the whole boat.

[lkbside]

Kellie, it sounds like your housekeeping staff was more thorough than ours (and Sheila's). Yes, there were extra tp rolls in the medicine cabinet at the beginning of the cruise, but we only received replacement rolls once in 11 days. Turn down was skipped 3 out of the 11 nights That is why it was best to stash a few rolls from the cleaning carts so as not to avoid running out. Calling down to the front desk met with different answers, often a knee jerk of "no, not possible" or a suggestion to ask someone else. When you need toilet paper, you need it. Plan ahead!

[Kellie Poodle]

Kellie, it sounds like your housekeeping staff was more thorough than ours (and Sheila's). Yes, there were extra tp rolls in the medicine cabinet at the beginning of the cruise, but we only received replacement rolls once in 11 days. Turn down was skipped 3 out of the 11 nights That is why it was best to stash a few rolls from the cleaning carts so as not to avoid running out. Calling down to the front desk met with different answers, often a knee jerk of "no, not possible" or a suggestion to ask someone else. When you need toilet paper, you need it. Plan ahead!

 

We called the desk once I forgot what for and whatever it was we needed was handled well. We had our turn down every night. After the towels were not replaced the first day, I went to the desk and requested that we get 2 fresh bath towels, two fresh wash cloths, two fresh hand towels and a fresh bath mat every day. The gal made a note and it happened. No problems.

 

My only complaints were the spotty WiFi and the not so great, but edible, food. I'm kind of glad we went when we did after I read all the other posts with the problems people had.

 

I'm just checking in here to see how Sheila is faring. We booked a cruise to South America in January and I'm busy with the plans. One thing that's nice about river cruising, you don't need to set up your own excursions.:)

[shoshona2]

Hi kellie,

 

You might have had the same cabin as we do, but the gal we have is not good by any standards. Thank goodness for Marina. I don't know how they did without her when she was off for one cruise. Things are going well now. The front desk is doing better. I believe they are getting better training. We will only have one and one half days in Moskow. I strongly suggest that people add on days before and after the cruise as Coral suggested. Also, for the money that AMA is charging for this cruise, they should not have charged for all three excursions one day in St Petersburg.

 

By the way, the American chef is being very creative with the overcooked meats he HAS to serve. Last night's Ukranian dinner was terrific with stuffed cabbage, etc. The wine is good and is flowing like water. We are all happy campers!

 

Sheila

[Coral]

We will only have one and one half days in Moskow. I strongly suggest that people add on days before and after the cruise as Coral suggested. Also, for the money that AMA is charging for this cruise, they should not have charged for all three excursions one day in St Petersburg.

 

 

I am so sorry about 1.5 days in Moscow. I thought they changed that for you guys! There is so much to see in Moscow and 1.5 days doesn't do it justice. This part irked me big time as I had been mislead to thinking we had at least 2 days. Other lines spend more time in Moscow.

 

I agree - the excursions in St. Petersburg should have been included.

[shoshona2]

Hi Coral,

 

The day and one half was a surprise to most of us. The people taking the Moscow to St. Petersburg cruise had a longer time in Moscow. We ran around like crazy yesterday seeing the Tretyakov Gallery, the Kremlin and the Armory. It

was too much for even the younger passengers! With the amount of walking and the steps at the Armory, I'm surprised that no one collapsed from exhaustion. We are at Heathrow right now on the way home. When I get over the jet lag, I will posts my thoughts.

 

Sheila

[Coral]

Hi Coral,

 

The day and one half was a surprise to most of us. The people taking the Moscow to St. Petersburg cruise had a longer time in Moscow. We ran around like crazy yesterday seeing the Tretyakov Gallery, the Kremlin and the Armory. It

was too much for even the younger passengers! With the amount of walking and the steps at the Armory, I'm surprised that no one collapsed from exhaustion. We are at Heathrow right now on the way home. When I get over the jet lag, I will posts my thoughts.

 

Sheila

 

That is the part that irked me the most! If they had posted that on their website, I would never have booked the cruise with them. I got past the boat not being what they advertised, I was irked by the food but the misleading portion of the time in Moscow annoyed the heck out of me. And then they didn't re-arrange the schedule to visit Red Square when it was open (during our half day) as the next day was the day before a holiday and they knew it would be closed. We could have done the subway tour the next day (when Red Square was closed). Since they re-arranged a million things during the week any way???!!! Again, I would never have picked the itinerary if I had really known there was going to be 1.5 days in Moscow. I seriously thought they had changed that for you as they changed the itinerary some. You were the first to post this this year - I am guessing most did the reverse trip (Moscow to St. Petersburg).

 

Regardless - I hope you saw some wonderful sites, met some nice people, took some great pictures and took advantage of the wonderful place that Russia is. I am sure you did.

 

Have a safe flight home!

 

Theresa

[nordski]

As someone contemplating this itinerary, I would like to thank all of those who took the time to post their experiences.

 

It's a cliche but nonetheless true that despite all the best research, nothing beats hearing from those who have actually been on board. Even, and perhaps especially, the negatives are important in preparing for what one may encounter.

 

Thanks again.

[shoshona2]

To Coral,

 

Home now! I agree with what you said about going in earlier and staying later in Russia. If we hadn't been to St. Petersburg in the 80's and then in 2003, we would never have had enough time to see the beautiful city of St. Petersburg. The other thing that I said on the card which AMA asked us to fill out was that having three optional tours in one day in St. Petersburg was really offensive to me. We did have the ballet included at night, but we also paid top dollar for this river cruise and Catherine's Palace should have been included for free. We had been there and used the time to go off on our own. The excusion to Peterhof was not to the Palace, instead it was to a smaller palace there and the grounds. They were beautiful grounds and we went by hydrofoil, but their brochure is misleading.

 

I weighed myself today and was thrilled to see that with all the walking I did NOT gain one ounce. I needed to lose weight because of my diabetes, but this was a first after 35 ocean and river cruises. The American Chef tried very hard, but the loud Russian head of the kitchen tied his hands. She was screaming every night in the galley, that it ruined my dinner experience. The wine was good and flowed like water. I guess AMA thought that would make us all like the food better or dull our sense of taste.

 

I doubt if anyone I spoke to on this cruise would recommend it to their friends and family. I checked "no" on the critique cards to AMA. I really doubt if the critique cards really say that 90% of the people aboard had a good time. That's what one TA has reported to their customers. I guess the TA's need to go aboard and experience for themselves.

 

The best part of the whole river cruise was meeting the college girls who work with the local guides. They were a bright spot to us as well as the breakfast spent with a Russian family at their home.

 

You know the sights are wonderful, but it must be done by land and not on a river cruise.

[Coral]

To Coral,

 

Home now! I agree with what you said about going in earlier and staying later in Russia. If we hadn't been to St. Petersburg in the 80's and then in 2003, we would never have had enough time to see the beautiful city of St. Petersburg. The other thing that I said on the card which AMA asked us to fill out was that having three optional tours in one day in St. Petersburg was really offensive to me. We did have the ballet included at night, but we also paid top dollar for this river cruise and Catherine's Palace should have been included for free. We had been there and used the time to go off on our own. The excusion to Peterhof was not to the Palace, instead it was to a smaller palace there and the grounds. They were beautiful grounds and we went by hydrofoil, but their brochure is misleading.

 

I weighed myself today and was thrilled to see that with all the walking I did NOT gain one ounce. I needed to lose weight because of my diabetes, but this was a first after 35 ocean and river cruises. The American Chef tried very hard, but the loud Russian head of the kitchen tied his hands. She was screaming every night in the galley, that it ruined my dinner experience. The wine was good and flowed like water. I guess AMA thought that would make us all like the food better or dull our sense of taste.

 

I doubt if anyone I spoke to on this cruise would recommend it to their friends and family. I checked "no" on the critique cards to AMA. I really doubt if the critique cards really say that 90% of the people aboard had a good time. That's what one TA has reported to their customers. I guess the TA's need to go aboard and experience for themselves.

 

The best part of the whole river cruise was meeting the college girls who work with the local guides. They were a bright spot to us as well as the breakfast spent with a Russian family at their home.

 

You know the sights are wonderful, but it must be done by land and not on a river cruise.

 

Welcome home......

 

When we went to Peterhof - half of us took the bus and the other hydrofoil (and then reverse for the way back). They split us up in that the Canadians (2 large groups) took the Hydrofoil and saw Monplaisir first and then the grounds when the fountains were running. Everyone else (Americans/English and Australians) went to the fountains/grounds first when the fountains were not running and then Monplaisir once the fountains were turned on. I left Monplaisir and went to see the fountains/grounds when the fountains were on. Monplaisir is not impressive IMO.

 

This is the part where I tried to say AMA didn't do a very good job on tours. The Americans/English/Australians probably enjoyed the tour but they had no idea when they were at Peterhof that there were water fountains, they just saw the grounds and the inferior palace. IMO - they really didn't see Peterhof at its best and they had no idea to know better.

 

I saw examples of this through out the entire trip (where the tours were inferior to my previous trip there). Thankfully my cheap high school trip did an excellent job of showing me Russia!

 

I loved the breakfast with the Russian family (it was 2 women in our case). The food was so good! I wanted to eat all my meals there! :). Everyone was afraid beforehand but my high school trip to Europe had a ton of home stays and I host home stays here at my house for college students periodically so I knew what to expect. Everyone ended up loving it there (even though most of our communication was done through one person from our group who spoke a little German as the women spoke German and Russian).

 

Needless to say, I didn't gain weight either on the ship.

[Island Cruiser]

Sheila, like the others before you you have done many of us a great favor by writing candidly. You have saved us big bucks since we will avoid this "opportunity." We have altered our impression of AMA also. We switched from AMA to Tauck for our Budapest-Amsterdam trip next year. While I fully recognize AMA Europe and Vietnam (we board La Marguerite on 11/28) offer significantly higher standards than AMA Russia, I now have serious reservations about the company. If they can't provide a four star experience in Russia they shouldn't tout the trip as they do.

[Coral]

Sheila, like the others before you you have done many of us a great favor by writing candidly. You have saved us big bucks since we will avoid this "opportunity." We have altered our impression of AMA also. We switched from AMA to Tauck for our Budapest-Amsterdam trip next year. While I fully recognize AMA Europe and Vietnam (we board La Marguerite on 11/28) offer significantly higher standards than AMA Russia, I now have serious reservations about the company. If they can't provide a four star experience in Russia they shouldn't tout the trip as they do.

 

The sad thing is that it wouldn't be that difficult to make it "a higher quality experience". It wouldn't be equal to the European boats but it is very possible for them to provide a good product in Russia.

[shoshona2]

Additional thoughts about the cruise...the Canadians and Americans felt they were really convinced to take AMA's Russian river cruise over all the others doing it by the press releases sent out by AMA. When they were given a "Motel 6" experience, they felt they were "conned". The ship ran out of Gin and some other alcohol about four days before the cruise ended. The Australians booked with APT (who owns part of AMA) and were given all different kinds of perks -- money off the cabin, a free airplane ticket or discounts on their bar bills. I received 5% off for early booking and $50 a person off for their Senior Rate which I have Kellie Poodle to thank for telling us about it. They had their own buses and someone from APT to make sure everything went well for them so they would tell their friends about what a good time they had. Since there are 7 sailings booked for next year out of 14, they will probably be mostly Australians. My DH and I enjoyed their company until they tried to get the alternate dining room for their whole group. Marina announced that dinner in the alternate dining room would have to be booked at 7:00 a.m. by one person in the cabin for that night. My DH set his alarm and did so since the main dining room was very very noisey. Marina is really good at her job. When she took off one sailing, I heard that things sort of fell apart. Glad she was on our sailing. The good things about the sailing were the musical performances by the performers and crew. They had a talent show and guests also performed. It was great fun. Marina arranged for the college students to have an "Question and Answer" meeting with the guests. It was terrific. We all came away with a better sense of modern Russia. All in all, I have to agree with Kellie Poodle -- the sights, the crew, and the experience interacting with Russian people was tops! We made up our minds by the second or third day that we would just roll with the punches and enjoy ourselves. We made some nice travelling buddies and laughed at all the things that went wrong. As Kellie Poodle said, "When you have lemons make lemonade." We did. Tomorrow, we are booking our next Tauck river boat -- Bucharest to Budapest for 2012. Goodbye AMA!!

 

Sheila

[pacmom]

Shelia, welcome back. I am beginning to think that no matter what line you use in Russia, we will never have the experience we have on the European rivers. On the European rivers when a company leases a boat that is what they get --a boat--and maybe a captain. The rest of the staff comes from the company leasing. Portugal is like Russia. We went with AMA in Portugal, but the experience was very good. Have been on other leased boats in Europe and the experiences were very good. Many ofus demand a higher standard than is offered on Vodohone boats in Russia. Am going on an AMA Christmas market cruise at the end of Nov. and will let the board know how good aN AMA cruise is on one of their own boats. Pat

[shoshona2]

Hi Pat,

 

I booked AMA based upon all the hype by the company. They are running it just like they did when Coral was on the Tolstoy which was leased by AMA. The Katarina is brand new with larger cabins. The experience was the same -- very few changes. I know that their European river cruises are done very nicely. But, they lost me.

 

Have a great time time on your November cruise.

 

Best regards,

Sheila

[Island Cruiser]

Making a crummy cabin larger still makes it a crummy cabin but maybe a more expensive crummy cabin. We prefer to book a suite on a riverboat because one of us needs more room--seriously. We were astonished when Leslie reported their suite was essentially the same as a standard cabin except that it had an extra chair and a bit more space. That's not typically the way it works in the cruise industry--ocean or river. Nuts! And given the swill served in the dining room, no thanks as far as we are concerned. I saw photos of the "special" welcome aboard treat served on the AMA Russia cruise. It looked like lunch in a Russan prison. Yes, we'd make the best of it on board. But we will never see AMA in a totally positive perspective again.

[shoshona2]

Hi Island Cruiser,

 

Uniworld's new ship, the River Victoria, was berthed next to us in Moscow. One of our friends asked to see a cabin and it was so much nicer than our cabin on the Katarina. The people who we spoke to said the food was very good and they didn't have the problems we did. Uniworld had troubles with their first saililng since the ship wasn't ready. I believe they put everyone up at the Ritz Carlton for several days of sightseeing. Uniworld's website says something to the effect that the Russian ship might not have the amenities their European ships have. AMA made a mistake by all their advertising that their ship was the "best" ship on the Volga and very luxurious. As I said, most of the people we met will NOT book AMA again. People don't like to be conned.

 

Sheila

[lkbside]

Welcome home Sheila! It sure doesn't sound like much has changed since our trip in early August, although luckily you had Marina on board to help with any issues or problems.

 

I think AMA is making a big mistake not addressing all the issues that have arisen and especially correcting the hype about the boat. Surely they received scores of comment cards by now that could give them things to work on. They are very unlikely to convert clients to their other destinations if Russia was their first experience. We would never take another trip with AMA.

 

It is probably smart of them to divide the company into the two divisions - one for Europe and the boats they own and one for the Mekong and Russia for the boats they lease. I am glad the Mekong reviews are coming in positively for Fred and Pat. I have to think a lot of that is due to the fact that there is a long tradition of great hotels, service and cuisine in Asia that just isn't the case in Russia, but despite the "regulations" in Russia AMA should be doing all they can to improve the experience. In fact, if they were really smart they'd take their AMA name off the Russian division all together and call it something else.

 

I am still quite surprised that there was no attempt to respond to anyone's comments. Overall the company just projects a lack of customer service or care.

[4774Papa]

Welcome home Sheila! It sure doesn't sound like much has changed since our trip in early August, although luckily you had Marina on board to help with any issues or problems.

 

I think AMA is making a big mistake not addressing all the issues that have arisen and especially correcting the hype about the boat. Surely they received scores of comment cards by now that could give them things to work on. They are very unlikely to convert clients to their other destinations if Russia was their first experience. We would never take another trip with AMA.

 

It is probably smart of them to divide the company into the two divisions - one for Europe and the boats they own and one for the Mekong and Russia for the boats they lease. I am glad the Mekong reviews are coming in positively for Fred and Pat. I have to think a lot of that is due to the fact that there is a long tradition of great hotels, service and cuisine in Asia that just isn't the case in Russia, but despite the "regulations" in Russia AMA should be doing all they can to improve the experience.

 

I am still quite surprised that there was no attempt to respond to anyone's comments. Overall the company just projects a lack of customer service or care.

Interesting points. I think other firms have had more problems on Russian river cruises. Viking gets good reviews elsewhere, but not so good in Russia. We liked our Vantage RR trip and others on our trip indicated that they had been on several Vantage tours, with the RR one at the bottom.

[shoshona2]

Hi Ikbside,

 

I reread your review on the Member Review page when I returned and I could have written the same one after we returned. AMA just doesn't care about their customers and is just going ahead with all the hype on their two new boats. I wonder if it is because APT is a major shareholder of AMA. They sure made the Australians happy aboard the boat. They got big perks and their own "go to person" aboard -- we got only a $50 senior discount and early booking discount of 5%. We all can choose which company we want to spend our money with and I will do so, also. We had a problem with the hotel Tauck used in London this summer and they just sent us an apology letter along with a coupon to be used on our next tour with them. We intend to use it today for next summer's river cruise.

 

Sheila

[MVPinBoynton]

I am so glad that I decided to not book an AMA Russian cruise. I was considering it; but after reading some of the earlier bad reviews, backed off. The more reviews that come in, the worse it sounds. One of the things I had hoped a river cruise would do is provide more detailed excursions than we did on an ocean cruise that stopped in St. Petersburg ten years ago. I can't imagine missing Peterhoff Palace. Plus making the tours optional is just wrong.

 

I am really disappointed how AMA has handled the problems. It sounds like two different companies; since we have had such great experiences on both our European river cruises with them. We just returned from one three weeks ago and it awesome, especially the food.

 

Thank you for all the good (or should I say bad) info on what was supposed to be the best boat and experience on the Volga. It has saved me a lot of money on what could be a less than satisfying vacation.