Best Time for Russian River Cruise

[binky5]

hi pixiegirl,

I am looking for a cabin with balcony and a date in June.

Thanks for guiding me to Goldenring & Gateone. Gateone does not show any departure dates in June at all and their ships (MS Russ & Shashkov) feature cabins of about 100 sq.ft. (exept the suites) without balcony.

Goldenring's ships alo have no balconies and I dislike the idea of panoramic windows with a promenade in front of it. Everyone walking there can look in and you need to have the curtains closed. They also feature the Amakatarine (C-cabin 238 sq.ft plus balcony) however this ship is sold out.

again - thanks for helping me.

binky5

[Tom47]

We traveled in Russia in late June/early July, and we were very lucky with nice weather most of the time.

 

We found the excursions offered by Viking to be very good and did several of the optional excursions. We did not use private guides, but you might find that to be a good option if you're planing additional days in Moscow.

Hi

Liz and I are on Vantage Moscow to SPB starting June 26. We enjoyed your pics. Thank You for posting the link.

Tom:)

[id4elizabeth]

Wonderful pictures! Thanks so much for sharing. We're going May 30/early June and your pics have us excited to get going. Thanks again!

[Bferg1200]

We are taking a Russian River Cruise in late August, early September, too. We are doing ours with Golden Ring from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

[franski]

Bferg1200 -

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic!!

 

There is a Roll Call for All Russian River Cruises - all dates, all lines - over on the Roll Call section - for river cruises.

 

DH and I are on the May 30th sailing on the River Victoria (Uniworld).

 

Fran

[pixiegirl-loves-travel]

You're 9 weeks away, Fran- can ya believe it?:eek:

 

Welcome BFerg1200!

 

My daughter and I will be doing the Moscow to St Pete's with Goldenring/travel-all-russia on July 9th on the ms Russ! This is our first time overseas and we're trying to do it up BIG on the tightest budget you can imagine! I just told my daughter that our final cruise payment is due two weeks from yesterday. This has us very excited and nervous! We'll be glad to have this part done with.

 

We're just over 3 months away~ amazing! So much yet to do and with my son's graduation coming up and all of the end of school events, we won't be bored! By the time school is out, we'll be ready to go into full cruise mode. Beware! I'll have to come here daily to express my excitement! :D

[shoshona2]

Hi Binky,

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic. Don't feel bad that AMA Katarina is sold out. Go to the "Member's Reviews" section of this wonderful board and read all the reviews of 2011 for that ship. I came back and had lost two pounds (first time ever on a cruise or river boat). We paid a lot of money for a Motel 6 experience. All sorts of problems.

 

Stick with the other lines you mentioned. Everyone on those lines seemed to enjoy their Russian Cruise.

 

Sheila

[franski]

Pixiegirl -

 

Seems unreal that we are so close now... When we booked (last June) - DH thought it was too far away to get excited about.

 

Now - waiting for our Visa, have bought some Rubles - thinking about packing. Quite surreal.

 

Your time will is fast approaching. You do have lots of things to keep you busy between now and then. I'll try to leave a few affordable souvenirs for you... or let them know they need to get a few more in before you arrive!!

 

Fran

[Bferg1200]

You're 9 weeks away, Fran- can ya believe it?:eek:

 

Welcome BFerg1200!

 

My daughter and I will be doing the Moscow to St Pete's with Goldenring/travel-all-russia on July 9th on the ms Russ! This is our first time overseas and we're trying to do it up BIG on the tightest budget you can imagine! I just told my daughter that our final cruise payment is due two weeks from yesterday. This has us very excited and nervous! We'll be glad to have this part done with.

 

We're just over 3 months away~ amazing! So much yet to do and with my son's graduation coming up and all of the end of school events, we won't be bored! By the time school is out, we'll be ready to go into full cruise mode. Beware! I'll have to come here daily to express my excitement! :D

 

We are going on the same travel group and our ship is the MS Chernishevskiy. We leave on Aug. 27 of 2013. I am will excited for your report when you return. We just booked last week.

[zogrand]

Hi Bferg1200-

 

We did a trip to Russia in 2007 and traveled on the Chernyshevsky. I wrote a long review, much of which described the ship. If you're interested, here is the link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=12140974#post12140974

 

I do have a couple of pictures of the interior of the ship. I can post them if you'd like. The ship was very comfortable and clean, far superior to my expectations.

 

Carol

[Bferg1200]

Thank you so much Carole for your review. It answered so many questions and I definitely want to get the Russia By River book.

[ras619]

hi pixiegirl,

I am looking for a cabin with balcony and a date in June.

Thanks for guiding me to Goldenring & Gateone. Gateone does not show any departure dates in June at all and their ships (MS Russ & Shashkov) feature cabins of about 100 sq.ft. (exept the suites) without balcony.

Goldenring's ships alo have no balconies and I dislike the idea of panoramic windows with a promenade in front of it. Everyone walking there can look in and you need to have the curtains closed. They also feature the Amakatarine (C-cabin 238 sq.ft plus balcony) however this ship is sold out.

again - thanks for helping me.

binky5

 

Many on this board probably know better than I do, but when we began looking at our Russia cruise (July 2012) we asked about the balcony aspect. Viking and a couple of the others that we spoke with indicated that it is not legal for their type ships to include a balcony on Russian river ways. :confused:

[franski]

First of all, welcome to cruise critic!!

 

The comment re: balconies is an odd one... There are a number of river boats that do have balconies. Did you ever book a cruise??

 

Fran

[jnjcruz]

Hi. We are a family of 4 doing the Viking Perethof (Rurik) on August 1. Any advice? Were the guided tours good? Should we look into private guides?

ANy advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, my son (18 years old) and I are arriving before my husband and daughter to spend a few extra days in Moscow. Any advice? Thank you!!

We did Viking in Russia a few years ago. Very interesting. The guides were terrific--we never felt the need for an independent guide. We also did a pre-cruise extension in Helsinki which we enjoyed. Our only mistake was taking the first trip of season. Early May is cold for the first two or three days and some years there is ice blocking some ports. Any time after that should be fine. August in Moscow may be hot.

Loved St Petersburg.

[ras619]

First of all, welcome to cruise critic!!

 

The comment re: balconies is an odd one... There are a number of river boats that do have balconies. Did you ever book a cruise??

 

Fran

 

Yes, we booked July 7, Moscow to SPB.

[RockyMountainMoma]

We are going with Vantage St. Petersburg to Moscow May 8 to May 22. It is the second trip of their season. We are doing the Baltic Capitals May 1 to May 7 so maybe Russia will have time to warm up. It is 30 and snowing here in Colorado today so cold weather does not bother us. We like it better than hot, humid and crowded.

[didicruiser]

We are going with Vantage St. Petersburg to Moscow May 8 to May 22. It is the second trip of their season. We are doing the Baltic Capitals May 1 to May 7 so maybe Russia will have time to warm up. It is 30 and snowing here in Colorado today so cold weather does not bother us. We like it better than hot, humid and crowded.

 

Have a great trip. DH and I are going on the same on Sept 10th. Too bad we cannot do the Baltics; have to go back to work:mad: I would love to hear about everything when you return.

[4774Papa]

We are going with Vantage St. Petersburg to Moscow May 8 to May 22. It is the second trip of their season. We are doing the Baltic Capitals May 1 to May 7 so maybe Russia will have time to warm up. It is 30 and snowing here in Colorado today so cold weather does not bother us. We like it better than hot, humid and crowded.

We did Vantage Russia with both the Kiev and Baltic extensions. It was great. We did it in late August and a bit in September last year.

The weather was nice, but in the North (Kitzi Island) we noticed the temps were cooler.

Vantage does a great job and you will love the trip.

You may like cold weather; we live in Georgia and don't. It will most likely be cold in May. Our director and guides told us that a river cruise in May (not sure what year) had too much ice and some ports were cancelled.

[RockyMountainMoma]

I looked at the MS Russ web site and it said the May 1-14 stops at Kizhi Island were cancelled due to ice. We don't leave St. Petersburg until May 13 so hopefully the ice will have cleared by then. When did you find out about extra tours in the cities? We have not had any information on any extras yet and we leave in 23 days!

[pixiegirl-loves-travel]

I can't wait to read about everybody's upcomming trips! Please, please, PLEASE post lots of pictures and tell us lots of details, ok? Waiting... anticipating... :D

[4774Papa]

I looked at the MS Russ web site and it said the May 1-14 stops at Kizhi Island were cancelled due to ice. We don't leave St. Petersburg until May 13 so hopefully the ice will have cleared by then. When did you find out about extra tours in the cities? We have not had any information on any extras yet and we leave in 23 days!

Vantage listed the optional tours some weeks prior to the trip and we booked them in advance and paid for them.

One thing, the exact day that the optional tours took place was not determined until we were in Russia.

If you have a chance to go to the Russian Army folk show, I highly recommend it, as well as the Ballet (we saw Swan Lake).

[magnetman]

We are leaving on June 28 on a Russian River Cruise with Grand Circle. There are actually 12 people from our area that will be on this trip. We have requested our visa which I was surprised how much information they needed.

To answer the original question when is the best time to go, just look at the prices. The best times are the most expensive time.

[mvkor]

It depends what do you want to feel:

June is the best month for White Nights, but it can be quite cool (especially in 2012 as we still have winter even it is 10th of April already).

Also in June city is crowded.

August is the warmest month, so I personally would go in August.

[franski]

mvkor -

 

Thanks so much for posting in!!

 

I have been looking at some of the webcams posted around St. Petersburg - and still see lots of ice and snow at the Peterhof.

 

I was wondering if this was normal for April - or if is colder a bit longer than usual.

 

We arrive in St. Petersburg on May 30th - so lots of daylight expected --> and hopefully *won't* need a winter coat!!! :D

 

Fran

[jbtimetotravel]

pjtraveler

Thanks for posting pictures of Russian trip. They are wonderful!

Did you have rain for much of your trip? We are getting on River Victoria in early June. Don't really know what to expect for weather.