Viking Ingvar – Waterways of the Tsars –July 5 to 17, 2014

[RHexplorer]

Viking Ingvar – Waterways of the Tsars –July 5 to 17, 2014

 

Day 1 – Moscow - Embarkation and First Impressions

 

We booked our cruise, flight and ship transfers with Viking for this trip and landed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport at around 1:30PM local time. After clearing customs and retrieving our luggage, we met the Viking representative and then waited for the other 16 fellow passengers from our flight before boarding our bus for transfer to the Viking Ingvar. Yes, it is true, Moscow traffic is very busy, even on a Saturday afternoon, there were many times when it is bumper to bumper traffic. As usual the coach drivers are very good, while our bus ride from the airport was a little slow, it quite smooth and uneventful. Upon arrival at the river port, we saw that there were 5 Viking ships (Ingvar, Helgi, Akun, Truvor and Rurik) tied up dockside.

 

As we have come to expect from Viking, there were staff there to greet you with a warm smile and a clean wash cloth, if you needed one. Check-in took less than one minute, then we were lead to our stateroom by a Viking crew member. We had selected a balcony cabin on the fourth deck.

 

Upon entry into our cabin, I can only say that Viking has done a great job in renovating and maintaining the Viking Ingvar. Our balcony cabin was larger than the balcony cabin on the new Viking longships and everything was clean and in good working order. All drawers and doors worked, there were no stains on the carpet, ceiling or bedding, chips on the furniture, the bed was firm and comfortable, and the bathroom clean with lots of hooks and hanging bars. There were two comfortable metal and mesh deck chairs along with a side table located on our balcony. The balcony was approximately six feet deep by 12 feet wide.

 

We had dinner aboard then attended the orientation session and afterwards it was off to bed to close out a long (36 hours) travel day.

 

One more thing, Viking’s standards and training seems consistent across the company. Similar to our experience aboard the Viking Tor, all the crew and officers greeted you personally whenever you passed them in the hall.

 

Day 2 – Moscow - Morning at your leisure and safety drill. After lunch our tour will take us into Moscow’s Red Square via the subway.

 

Today was a late start with no tours scheduled until the afternoon. Viking offered two options for their included tour. Take a bus to Red Square or take an escorted subway ride to Red Square. We chose to ride the subway to see some of Moscow’s famous subway stations. The walk from the ship to the subway stop was about 15 minutes because we were berthed further away. The closer berth would have been a 10 minute walk to the subway station. The subway fares were included in the Viking excursion but if you wanted to go into town on your own, the cost would be 40 roubles for one ticket, 80 for 2 and 160 for 5. After visiting 2 stations, we emerged from the underground at Theater Square. This square is right next to Red Square. We were then given 1-1/2 hours to explore Red Square, St. Basil’s Cathedral and the Gum department store. Next we moved onto Christ the Saviour Cathedral, past a monument to Peter the Great, and a walking tour along the bank of the Moscow River, to finally meet up with our bus. On board was a snack box for you to eat on the bus or at a nearby park. Then it was onto to see a Russian Folkloric show. Afterwards, it was back to the ship for a late (9:30pm) dinner.

 

Day 3 – Moscow - Optional excursions or a day at your leisure plus an evening Moscow canal cruise.

 

We chose to skip the daytime optional excursions, deciding instead to take the subway back into Moscow to explore a few more subway stations, then headed over to the Arbat Street pedestrian area to find somewhere to eat and to explore. We were specifically looking for a restaurant that served Russian food, so that we could experience the dishes first hand. We eventually decided on the Varenichnaya No 1 restaurant about half-way along our stroll of Arbat Street. After lunch, we continued our walk to the end of Arbat Street. This was where we stumbled onto the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building. After a few photos, it was time to head back to the ship, via subway, to relax for a few hours, have dinner and get ready for the evening canal cruise.

 

Upon our return to our cabin, there was a note from Viking (2 days after boarding) that there wasn’t enough space for us to go on the next day’s Moscow Armoury tour. This was disappointing because we wanted to see the Faberge eggs. We had signed up when we arrived on the board the Ingvar but noticed in Viking’s on board cruise summary that this tour was noted as a “pre-cruise booking”. Nowhere in any of our travel documents did we ever see any opportunities to book excursions prior to our cruise. Had we been informed earlier in the morning, we could have adjusted our “free” day from subway stations to going to the Armoury on our own. This was what some other passengers did on their “free” day.

 

The evening canal cruise was just okay. Because of Moscow’s location in the northern hemisphere, it does not get completely dark. Therefore, some of the buildings that we sailed by did not have their lights turned on yet. Also, we felt Paris and Budapest have a better “wow” factor along the banks of the Seine and Danube, respectively.

 

Day 4 – Moscow - Kremlin visit and sail away from Moscow.

 

Our visit to the Kremlin required you to pass through a security check and we were given a set of rules to follow: stay on the sidewalks and only cross the street at the designated crossings. This is because the Kremlin is a tourist site and the actual location of the Russian president and the government. Our tour consisted of a walking tour of the grounds of the Kremlin and a visit to a few cathedrals and a walk through the Kremlin gardens.

 

Day 5 – Uglich

 

This is a half day stop in the afternoon. Uglich is a small town north of Moscow that was settled over 1,000 years ago. We visited their version of the Kremlin where Dmitry, the 8 year old son of Ivan the Terrible was murdered. Our next stop took us to a home hosted visit to talk to a local family. It was interesting to see and hear about the way of life of a local Russian family. We also sampled sole local moonshine.

 

Day 6 – Yaroslavl – City tour and market visit

This was another half day stop and it rained on our cruise for the first time. We still went out on the Viking tour to see the town, hear about Yaroslav the Wise (must be a relative of Gandalf :)) and visit the city market.

 

Day 7 – Kuzino

The sun came back out but the temperature was still a little cool. We visited a local school and then went to see the Krillo-Belozersky Monastery. Afterwards, we returned to the dock where Viking put on a Viking Show for us.

 

Day 8 – Kizhi

This morning we were given a bridge tour where learned some things about the Viking Ingvar (more on this at the end of this write up) from the first officer. We arrived at Kizhi Island after lunched and went ashore for our tour. The Transfiguration Church is being renovated so you could not go inside. However the smaller Intersession Church is open to visitors.

 

Day 9 – Mandrogi

This was a half-day morning stop at an artists' colony on an island. This is the place to try the Russian Banya experience or hand paint a Matryoshka doll. I thought this was going to be one of the weaker stops of our cruise but it turned out to be the opposite. We could have used another 2-3 hours at this stop. According to our on board local tour escort, this is the place to get your Matryoshka nesting doll. The local artisans spend days and weeks painting these dolls. We learned that 5 is the minimum with the maximum being 60. There was a set of 49 dolls on display in Mandrogi. The level of details painted on these dolls is simply amazing. The smallest doll is the size of your fingernail. I need my reading glasses to see details on this tiny doll.

 

Day 10 – St. Petersburg - Catherine Palace and City tour

We arrived at our final destination early this morning. After breakfast we boarded our bus to visit the Catherine Palace. We returned to the ship for lunch, then it was back onto the bus to start our city tour of St. Petersburg. We drove down Nevsky Prospekt, visited the Peter & Paul Fortress, the Church of the Spilled Blood and St. Isaac’s Cathedral. This sampling left us with the feeling that we would like to come back and spend a week or two in St. Petersburg alone. After dinner, we went to the optional Cossack folkloric performance

 

Day 11 - St. Petersburg - The Hermitage and Russian ballet

Today we went to the Hermitage and then chose to stay in town for the afternoon before attending the ballet performance of Swan Lake. The Hermitage is like the Louvre, you are only going to see a sampling of artwork on display. You could spend days exploring this museum. However, in July it is very crowded. It would be better to come back in the fall or if you want the place to yourself, visit it in the winter. After our tour we had five hours before the ballet, instead of going back to the ship, we stayed at the Hermitage for a few more hours, then explored some of the city as we walked over the theater.

 

Day 12 - St. Petersburg - Peterhof Palace and Canal cruise

We boarded our bus after breakfast to drive over the see the Peterhof Palace. When we arrived we were the first group there and had to palace to ourselves. Our guide told us that this was only the second time in 13 years that she has experienced this. Compared to the crowds at the Hermitage, this was heaven. The tour of the palace follows a guided path so we were always the only people in the room, since we were the first group. Our tour ended at 10:45am so that we could go outside (and join the crowds) to see the fountains start up at 11:00am. After some free time to explore the gardens it time head back to the ship for lunch. We signed up for the afternoon canal cruise of St. Petersburg. This was much better than the Moscow canal cruise. Afterwards it back to the ship to pack and get ready to go home.

 

Day 13 - St. Petersburg - Disembarkation

We had almost perfect weather for this cruise and today was no exception. Temperatures were a few degrees warmer than normal with each day being sunny and 25 to 29 degrees. The only blemish was on our visit to Yaroslavl, where it rained during our visit. It also rained during the Cossack performance and the ballet performance, but by time the shows had ended, so had the rain. So we were not affected by the rain.

 

Today was travel day for everyone with the first group leaving at 3:00am and the last at 1:30pm. Our flight was at 10:00am, so we disembarked at 7:15am. True to Viking standards, they supplied a full size coach to take 12 of us to the airport, which was a 15 minute drive.

 

Musings and Random thoughts

• We learned that the Viking Ingvar was built in 1990 and its’ displacement is 3,800 tons.

• The ship docks in St. Petersburg during the winter and is frozen in by ice.

• From our observations when walking past open cabin doors on the fourth deck, the following cabins have a pole in the middle of the stateroom near the bed: 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 422, and 423. Cabins 418 and 419 have a double poles (about a foot apart) in their rooms. You will notice similar poles in the public spaces of the ship so they are probably there for structural reasons. Thus the cabins on the lower floors (3 and 2) may also have poles in their rooms. When comparing cabins on different decks, note that 312 is not below 412, instead it is 302, so 302 may have a pole in their room as well. Perhaps other travellers can verify this.

• From my research online, most of the cruise companies have to use Dmitriy Furmanov class of cruise ships when operating in Russia. Viking promotes that they actually own their ships instead of leasing them. Thus, Viking has made some modifications to their vessels. Some of these changes are noticeable when passing a sister ship from another cruise company.

• Viking has removed the windows of the passenger cabins on decks 3 and 4, and replaced them with sliding doors and balconies. It seems that they made extensive renovations to the interior of the ship as well. The passenger cabins were expanded from the original sizes, thus reducing the passenger capacity. This is noticeable when I was on my balcony. You could see the welds where the windows used to be, as they do no line up with sliding doors that replaced the windows. From every other passenger ship that we passed on the river, the Viking ships were the only ones with a balcony. All the other ships had operable windows with a promenade deck going around the perimeter of the ship. So if you want a balcony, you will have to book with Viking.

• Part of the sundeck on deck 5 is sheltered, whereas on other cruise lines, their sun deck is completely exposed.

• In both, Moscow and St. Petersburg, the ships dock 2 to 3 abreast. This means that from your balcony, you will be looking into another cabin a few feet away. While you can close your drapes (or choose not to), if you sit out on your balcony, you will not have any privacy. This would be okay for a day or two but since you spend 7 out of 12 nights in Moscow or St. Petersburg, which means your balcony view is impeded on more than 50% of your cruise.

• The coffee/expresso/hot chocolate machine outside the restaurant uses syrup for your drink. It would nice to get a cup of coffee from real beans.

• There are now two places to see the Faberge eggs, the Moscow Armoury and the Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg. Viking offers an optional excursion to the Moscow Armoury but not the Faberge Museum.

• There were two optional tours (Moscow Armoury and Privileged Access to the Hermitage) from Viking that was noted on their onboard tour list as "pre-cruise booking". However, no one that we talked to (other passengers and the program director) knew anything about this. Both tours had limited space and seems some passengers were given an opportunity to sign up for these tours prior to boarding the ship. Nowhere in any of our travel documents or online at the Viking website did I see the opportunity to sign up for these tours prior to the cruise. While we were not interested in the Privileged Access to the Hermitage tour, we did want to go to the Moscow Armoury. During the orientation talk on the first day of our cruise, the Program Director told everyone that as long as you signed up for each tour before the deadline, there would be no confirmation provided. You should just assume you are going on the tour and show up at the designated meeting time. Thus it was disappointing to receive a note from Viking at the end of our "free" day and the night before the morning tour ( two days after the submittal deadline), that we would not be going on the Moscow Armoury tour. Had we been told one day earlier, we could have tried to go to the Armoury on our own, as other passengers had done.

• When talking to another passenger who went on the tour, they were proactive and went to the reception desk the day before to confirm whether they were going on the Armoury tour. At first, reception said they could not confirm, but after some persistence, they were able to get confirmation that they were included on the Armoury tour. So, lesson learned, if a certain tour is important to you be proactive and follow up.

• The busy schedule in St. Petersburg and the limited operating hours of the Faberge Museum did not permit us an opportunity to attempt a visit the museum.

 

I did take some photos during the cruise (1,391 to be exact) with some of them of the interior and exterior of the Viking Ingvar. I will try and post them later or you can send me your email and I will send them to you.

[tobique33040]

Thanks so much for the informative review!! We are going 9/4 on Viking Rurik and are so interested in whatever we can hear from recent travelers especially in light of the current Russian - U.S. Relations. Seems you had no problems and it sounds like an excellent trip. Thanks again.

[RHexplorer]

You're welcome. This board has always been a valuable source of information to me.

 

Other items that came to mind:

• When you check-in, Viking holds your passport for the first day. Probably to show Russian authorities when everyone has boarded. You can get it back the next day and lock it in your room safe. You don't need your passport to go ashore.

• When you go ashore, you hand in your room key and reception will hand you a credit card sized ship ashore pass. This has your name and room number on it. It also has the port address in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in Russian on the back. So if you get lost, a taxi can get you back to your ship.

• When you return to the ship, you hand in your pass for your room key. This enables Viking to keep track on who is ashore and who is onboard.

• We were warned and reminded about pick pockets in Moscow and St. Petersburg. A couple of passengers that failed attempts happen to them in St. Petersburg. Both occurrences were at the Hermitage, where it was very crowded, with tour groups and people constantly jostling for space.

• Currency is Roubles. Coins come in 1, 2, 5, 10 roubles. Bills are 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 denominations.

• Our Viking guides provide advice on each tour whether ATMs are available.

• Viking advises tips to be in US$, so you only need Roubles for local cash purchases

• Currency on the ship for shore excursions and on-board charges is in Units, which is equivalent to Euros. Yes, it is a fictitious currency. Viking alluded that is was a work around to meet Russian regulations. It seems they either have to use Roubles or a non-country currency. Hence. The "Unit" currency.

• The Viking guides also plan for washroom breaks before or after the tour. Most are free, but there were two occasions where we had to pay. Once at the Yaroslavl City Market (15 Roubles per person) and the other time at the Peter and Paul Fortress (20 Roubles pp) in St. Petersburg.

• We took mosquito repellent on this trip, but did not need it at any of our stops. However, if you have space I would pack some, in case you need it.

• We should have take sun screen and a hat, the weather on our trip was warmer than normal.

• Viking provides umbrellas for your use. Sometimes there is an umbrella cart near the gang plank, when it is obvious that is going to rain. If not, just ask reception and they will get it for you.

 

We never encountered any open animosity or hostility during our visit. But remember you are a guest in a foreign country. The Russian people have a different perspective on current "hot" world issues. It is best to leave politics behind and enjoy the rich history and culture of the Russian people.

[tobique33040]

Wow! All of that information is so welcome. There seem to be very few Russian river cruisers posting and it is invaluable to get all your first hand comments. Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm certain I'm not the only one who will benefit.

[bellemere]

When we made our reservations with Viking on the phone, the Viking representative told us about the Armoury and extended Hertimage excursions. So we bought the Armoury excursion at that time. When we boarded the ship they said they are allotted so many spots but had a few left. This is the first time that optional excursions could be bought ahead of time.

 

We had wonderful weather on our June 23 - July 5 trip. We did st. Petersburg to Moscow. The service was great and friendly. Our cabin on deck 4 was wonderful. Transfers with Viking made arriving and departing very smooth. Reading about Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and the Romanovs before going on the trip helped us to appreciate what we were seeing and hearing. Service in the restaurant was attentive with good team work and personal. Find an area in the restaurant with good waiters and return to that area each time and your meals are very enjoyable. Yes there were times we wished the excursions could have lasted longer. It was great to be the first group at Peterhof. We arrived early for Catherine's Palace as well. We took the walking tours when offered instead of seeing places by bus. Be sure to ride the subways. It is amazing how our guide did not loose any one. We are glad we did this trip. Doing the home visit and the optional home visit (kommunalka) in St. Petersburg, gave us personal interaction with local Russians and to understand their viewpoints.

[Ski Mamma]

Your report and the extra info is excellent. This is the Viking trip that I want to take next.

Perhaps you can enlighten me about something.

I just spoke with someone who was on a large passenger ship cruise during the same period as you were with Viking, and she said that they were not allowed to go into St. Petersburg on their own but only with tours. They were told that they would have to pay $200 plus dollars for a visa if they wanted to visit the city in their free time. Thus, unless on a guided tour, most everyone on that trip stayed on the ship when in port.

Does Viking include this visa in the trip package, or was this person simply misinformed by the concierge on her Princess cruise? Thanks.

[YoungDubFan]

Perhaps I can help. I just returned from a Baltic cruise that included St. Petersburg. I was told that in order to leave the ship, you either had to be on a private tour, arranged with one of the licensed tour companies in SPB or you needed to be on a ship's excursion. If you wanted to do SPB on your own or independently, you had to arrange for your own Russian Visa. I believe the current cost of a Russian Visa is around $180. I have heard it can be a difficult and laborious process to obtain and many passengers utilize a visa service to help them get them.

 

We had 3 days in SPB and I had arranged a group tour through Alla Tours for the time we were there. Alla was a wonderful company to work with.

 

Hope this helps.

[bellemere]

For the Viking cruise we were required to get a visa since we would be in Russia more than 72 hours. Viking suggests you use a visa service. They suggest Gen Visa service and have the forms online with directions of how to fill out. You can have the visa service fill them out for an additional cost. The visa for Russia requires you to furnish alot of information. You must send your passport to the visa service so they can take your passport to the Russian embassy to have the visa attached to your passport after the embassy has approved your application. Since we do not live near a Russian embassy we elected to use Gen which we used for our Chinese visa.

Do not wait to the last minute to apply for your visa. You can apply 90 days out from your arrival date.

The previous post was correct about being in Russia for less than 72 hours without a visa that you must be with an organized excursion from your cruise ship or you have paid to have a local guide or tour group to take you around.

Hope this helps.

[H2Otstr]

Your report and the extra info is excellent. This is the Viking trip that I want to take next.

Perhaps you can enlighten me about something.

I just spoke with someone who was on a large passenger ship cruise during the same period as you were with Viking, and she said that they were not allowed to go into St. Petersburg on their own but only with tours. They were told that they would have to pay $200 plus dollars for a visa if they wanted to visit the city in their free time. Thus, unless on a guided tour, most everyone on that trip stayed on the ship when in port.

Does Viking include this visa in the trip package, or was this person simply misinformed by the concierge on her Princess cruise? Thanks.

 

You will be required to obtain a VISA when traveling with Viking. They will send all the information to you on how to do that. It is not included as part of the travel package.

 

Those who travel on larger ship and take tours are traveling, with a guide, under a Group VISA. If you are with that group you cannot go off on your own or stay after if the group leaves. One must stay with the travel group.

[Ski Mamma]

Thanks to all of you for the responses. My question has been answered very satisfactorily!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[Keith1010]

Excellent review.

 

Keith

[tobique33040]

We had Genvisa do our application too. It was expensive, but it is so complicated otherwise we thought it was worth the money. Thanks for all the first hand info!! It really is so helpful.

[nana541]

Thanks for taking the time to post!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[jklc123]

RHexplorer

 

Very much enjoyed your comprehensive review. I want to mention that we had a balcony on our Uniworld cruise on the same itinerary, so that is also an option on that cruise line. Absolutely loved the trip, as I can tell you did, too.

[Dreamer 75]

Viking Ingvar – Waterways of the Tsars –July 5 to 17, 2014

 

Day 1 – Moscow - Embarkation and First Impressions

 

We booked our cruise, flight and ship transfers with Viking for this trip and landed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport at around 1:30PM local time. After clearing customs and retrieving our luggage, we met the Viking representative and then waited for the other 16 fellow passengers from our flight before boarding our bus for transfer to the Viking Ingvar. Yes, it is true, Moscow traffic is very busy, even on a Saturday afternoon, there were many times when it is bumper to bumper traffic. As usual the coach drivers are very good, while our bus ride from the airport was a little slow, it quite smooth and uneventful. Upon arrival at the river port, we saw that there were 5 Viking ships (Ingvar, Helgi, Akun, Truvor and Rurik) tied up dockside.

 

As we have come to expect from Viking, there were staff there to greet you with a warm smile and a clean wash cloth, if you needed one. Check-in took less than one minute, then we were lead to our stateroom by a Viking crew member. We had selected a balcony cabin on the fourth deck.

 

Upon entry into our cabin, I can only say that Viking has done a great job in renovating and maintaining the Viking Ingvar. Our balcony cabin was larger than the balcony cabin on the new Viking longships and everything was clean and in good working order. All drawers and doors worked, there were no stains on the carpet, ceiling or bedding, chips on the furniture, the bed was firm and comfortable, and the bathroom clean with lots of hooks and hanging bars. There were two comfortable metal and mesh deck chairs along with a side table located on our balcony. The balcony was approximately six feet deep by 12 feet wide.

 

We had dinner aboard then attended the orientation session and afterwards it was off to bed to close out a long (36 hours) travel day.

 

One more thing, Viking’s standards and training seems consistent across the company. Similar to our experience aboard the Viking Tor, all the crew and officers greeted you personally whenever you passed them in the hall.

 

Day 2 – Moscow - Morning at your leisure and safety drill. After lunch our tour will take us into Moscow’s Red Square via the subway.

 

Today was a late start with no tours scheduled until the afternoon. Viking offered two options for their included tour. Take a bus to Red Square or take an escorted subway ride to Red Square. We chose to ride the subway to see some of Moscow’s famous subway stations. The walk from the ship to the subway stop was about 15 minutes because we were berthed further away. The closer berth would have been a 10 minute walk to the subway station. The subway fares were included in the Viking excursion but if you wanted to go into town on your own, the cost would be 40 roubles for one ticket, 80 for 2 and 160 for 5. After visiting 2 stations, we emerged from the underground at Theater Square. This square is right next to Red Square. We were then given 1-1/2 hours to explore Red Square, St. Basil’s Cathedral and the Gum department store. Next we moved onto Christ the Saviour Cathedral, past a monument to Peter the Great, and a walking tour along the bank of the Moscow River, to finally meet up with our bus. On board was a snack box for you to eat on the bus or at a nearby park. Then it was onto to see a Russian Folkloric show. Afterwards, it was back to the ship for a late (9:30pm) dinner.

 

Day 3 – Moscow - Optional excursions or a day at your leisure plus an evening Moscow canal cruise.

 

We chose to skip the daytime optional excursions, deciding instead to take the subway back into Moscow to explore a few more subway stations, then headed over to the Arbat Street pedestrian area to find somewhere to eat and to explore. We were specifically looking for a restaurant that served Russian food, so that we could experience the dishes first hand. We eventually decided on the Varenichnaya No 1 restaurant about half-way along our stroll of Arbat Street. After lunch, we continued our walk to the end of Arbat Street. This was where we stumbled onto the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building. After a few photos, it was time to head back to the ship, via subway, to relax for a few hours, have dinner and get ready for the evening canal cruise.

 

Upon our return to our cabin, there was a note from Viking (2 days after boarding) that there wasn’t enough space for us to go on the next day’s Moscow Armoury tour. This was disappointing because we wanted to see the Faberge eggs. We had signed up when we arrived on the board the Ingvar but noticed in Viking’s on board cruise summary that this tour was noted as a “pre-cruise booking”. Nowhere in any of our travel documents did we ever see any opportunities to book excursions prior to our cruise. Had we been informed earlier in the morning, we could have adjusted our “free” day from subway stations to going to the Armoury on our own. This was what some other passengers did on their “free” day.

 

The evening canal cruise was just okay. Because of Moscow’s location in the northern hemisphere, it does not get completely dark. Therefore, some of the buildings that we sailed by did not have their lights turned on yet. Also, we felt Paris and Budapest have a better “wow” factor along the banks of the Seine and Danube, respectively.

 

Day 4 – Moscow - Kremlin visit and sail away from Moscow.

 

Our visit to the Kremlin required you to pass through a security check and we were given a set of rules to follow: stay on the sidewalks and only cross the street at the designated crossings. This is because the Kremlin is a tourist site and the actual location of the Russian president and the government. Our tour consisted of a walking tour of the grounds of the Kremlin and a visit to a few cathedrals and a walk through the Kremlin gardens.

 

Day 5 – Uglich

 

This is a half day stop in the afternoon. Uglich is a small town north of Moscow that was settled over 1,000 years ago. We visited their version of the Kremlin where Dmitry, the 8 year old son of Ivan the Terrible was murdered. Our next stop took us to a home hosted visit to talk to a local family. It was interesting to see and hear about the way of life of a local Russian family. We also sampled sole local moonshine.

 

Day 6 – Yaroslavl – City tour and market visit

This was another half day stop and it rained on our cruise for the first time. We still went out on the Viking tour to see the town, hear about Yaroslav the Wise (must be a relative of Gandalf :)) and visit the city market.

 

Day 7 – Kuzino

The sun came back out but the temperature was still a little cool. We visited a local school and then went to see the Krillo-Belozersky Monastery. Afterwards, we returned to the dock where Viking put on a Viking Show for us.

 

Day 8 – Kizhi

This morning we were given a bridge tour where learned some things about the Viking Ingvar (more on this at the end of this write up) from the first officer. We arrived at Kizhi Island after lunched and went ashore for our tour. The Transfiguration Church is being renovated so you could not go inside. However the smaller Intersession Church is open to visitors.

 

Day 9 – Mandrogi

This was a half-day morning stop at an artists' colony on an island. This is the place to try the Russian Banya experience or hand paint a Matryoshka doll. I thought this was going to be one of the weaker stops of our cruise but it turned out to be the opposite. We could have used another 2-3 hours at this stop. According to our on board local tour escort, this is the place to get your Matryoshka nesting doll. The local artisans spend days and weeks painting these dolls. We learned that 5 is the minimum with the maximum being 60. There was a set of 49 dolls on display in Mandrogi. The level of details painted on these dolls is simply amazing. The smallest doll is the size of your fingernail. I need my reading glasses to see details on this tiny doll.

 

Day 10 – St. Petersburg - Catherine Palace and City tour

We arrived at our final destination early this morning. After breakfast we boarded our bus to visit the Catherine Palace. We returned to the ship for lunch, then it was back onto the bus to start our city tour of St. Petersburg. We drove down Nevsky Prospekt, visited the Peter & Paul Fortress, the Church of the Spilled Blood and St. Isaac’s Cathedral. This sampling left us with the feeling that we would like to come back and spend a week or two in St. Petersburg alone. After dinner, we went to the optional Cossack folkloric performance

 

Day 11 - St. Petersburg - The Hermitage and Russian ballet

Today we went to the Hermitage and then chose to stay in town for the afternoon before attending the ballet performance of Swan Lake. The Hermitage is like the Louvre, you are only going to see a sampling of artwork on display. You could spend days exploring this museum. However, in July it is very crowded. It would be better to come back in the fall or if you want the place to yourself, visit it in the winter. After our tour we had five hours before the ballet, instead of going back to the ship, we stayed at the Hermitage for a few more hours, then explored some of the city as we walked over the theater.

 

Day 12 - St. Petersburg - Peterhof Palace and Canal cruise

We boarded our bus after breakfast to drive over the see the Peterhof Palace. When we arrived we were the first group there and had to palace to ourselves. Our guide told us that this was only the second time in 13 years that she has experienced this. Compared to the crowds at the Hermitage, this was heaven. The tour of the palace follows a guided path so we were always the only people in the room, since we were the first group. Our tour ended at 10:45am so that we could go outside (and join the crowds) to see the fountains start up at 11:00am. After some free time to explore the gardens it time head back to the ship for lunch. We signed up for the afternoon canal cruise of St. Petersburg. This was much better than the Moscow canal cruise. Afterwards it back to the ship to pack and get ready to go home.

 

Day 13 - St. Petersburg - Disembarkation

We had almost perfect weather for this cruise and today was no exception. Temperatures were a few degrees warmer than normal with each day being sunny and 25 to 29 degrees. The only blemish was on our visit to Yaroslavl, where it rained during our visit. It also rained during the Cossack performance and the ballet performance, but by time the shows had ended, so had the rain. So we were not affected by the rain.

 

Today was travel day for everyone with the first group leaving at 3:00am and the last at 1:30pm. Our flight was at 10:00am, so we disembarked at 7:15am. True to Viking standards, they supplied a full size coach to take 12 of us to the airport, which was a 15 minute drive.

 

Musings and Random thoughts

• We learned that the Viking Ingvar was built in 1990 and its’ displacement is 3,800 tons.

• The ship docks in St. Petersburg during the winter and is frozen in by ice.

• From our observations when walking past open cabin doors on the fourth deck, the following cabins have a pole in the middle of the stateroom near the bed: 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 422, and 423. Cabins 418 and 419 have a double poles (about a foot apart) in their rooms. You will notice similar poles in the public spaces of the ship so they are probably there for structural reasons. Thus the cabins on the lower floors (3 and 2) may also have poles in their rooms. When comparing cabins on different decks, note that 312 is not below 412, instead it is 302, so 302 may have a pole in their room as well. Perhaps other travellers can verify this.

• From my research online, most of the cruise companies have to use Dmitriy Furmanov class of cruise ships when operating in Russia. Viking promotes that they actually own their ships instead of leasing them. Thus, Viking has made some modifications to their vessels. Some of these changes are noticeable when passing a sister ship from another cruise company.

• Viking has removed the windows of the passenger cabins on decks 3 and 4, and replaced them with sliding doors and balconies. It seems that they made extensive renovations to the interior of the ship as well. The passenger cabins were expanded from the original sizes, thus reducing the passenger capacity. This is noticeable when I was on my balcony. You could see the welds where the windows used to be, as they do no line up with sliding doors that replaced the windows. From every other passenger ship that we passed on the river, the Viking ships were the only ones with a balcony. All the other ships had operable windows with a promenade deck going around the perimeter of the ship. So if you want a balcony, you will have to book with Viking.

• Part of the sundeck on deck 5 is sheltered, whereas on other cruise lines, their sun deck is completely exposed.

• In both, Moscow and St. Petersburg, the ships dock 2 to 3 abreast. This means that from your balcony, you will be looking into another cabin a few feet away. While you can close your drapes (or choose not to), if you sit out on your balcony, you will not have any privacy. This would be okay for a day or two but since you spend 7 out of 12 nights in Moscow or St. Petersburg, which means your balcony view is impeded on more than 50% of your cruise.

• The coffee/expresso/hot chocolate machine outside the restaurant uses syrup for your drink. It would nice to get a cup of coffee from real beans.

• There are now two places to see the Faberge eggs, the Moscow Armoury and the Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg. Viking offers an optional excursion to the Moscow Armoury but not the Faberge Museum.

• There were two optional tours (Moscow Armoury and Privileged Access to the Hermitage) from Viking that was noted on their onboard tour list as "pre-cruise booking". However, no one that we talked to (other passengers and the program director) knew anything about this. Both tours had limited space and seems some passengers were given an opportunity to sign up for these tours prior to boarding the ship. Nowhere in any of our travel documents or online at the Viking website did I see the opportunity to sign up for these tours prior to the cruise. While we were not interested in the Privileged Access to the Hermitage tour, we did want to go to the Moscow Armoury. During the orientation talk on the first day of our cruise, the Program Director told everyone that as long as you signed up for each tour before the deadline, there would be no confirmation provided. You should just assume you are going on the tour and show up at the designated meeting time. Thus it was disappointing to receive a note from Viking at the end of our "free" day and the night before the morning tour ( two days after the submittal deadline), that we would not be going on the Moscow Armoury tour. Had we been told one day earlier, we could have tried to go to the Armoury on our own, as other passengers had done.

• When talking to another passenger who went on the tour, they were proactive and went to the reception desk the day before to confirm whether they were going on the Armoury tour. At first, reception said they could not confirm, but after some persistence, they were able to get confirmation that they were included on the Armoury tour. So, lesson learned, if a certain tour is important to you be proactive and follow up.

• The busy schedule in St. Petersburg and the limited operating hours of the Faberge Museum did not permit us an opportunity to attempt a visit the museum.

 

I did take some photos during the cruise (1,391 to be exact) with some of them of the interior and exterior of the Viking Ingvar. I will try and post them later or you can send me your email and I will send them to you.

 

Thanks for your great review. I have seen several negative reviews, not yours, but how would you rate the staterooms, food, and excursions? My friend and I are going on this same trip August 21. I'm an experienced world traveler but have never taken a river cruise before. I know it will be different and can't, shouldn't, be compared to an ocean cruise.

[cormike1]

We did our Russian river cruise quite a few years ago with AMA and had to get our own Visa as we hired a private guide and driver through Red October for 2 days while in Moscow. Our travel agent used a company to take our passport, etc. to the Russian embassy for the Visa. While on the Baltic cruise with Princess, we were included under a group Visa but as one of the above posters stated, we had to stay with the tour and could not go away on our own. It is an amazing country to visit and your posts bellemere brought back lots of wonderful memories. Thanks for posting!

[Dreamer 75]

You're welcome. This board has always been a valuable source of information to me.

 

Other items that came to mind:

• When you check-in, Viking holds your passport for the first day. Probably to show Russian authorities when everyone has boarded. You can get it back the next day and lock it in your room safe. You don't need your passport to go ashore.

• When you go ashore, you hand in your room key and reception will hand you a credit card sized ship ashore pass. This has your name and room number on it. It also has the port address in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in Russian on the back. So if you get lost, a taxi can get you back to your ship.

• When you return to the ship, you hand in your pass for your room key. This enables Viking to keep track on who is ashore and who is onboard.

• We were warned and reminded about pick pockets in Moscow and St. Petersburg. A couple of passengers that failed attempts happen to them in St. Petersburg. Both occurrences were at the Hermitage, where it was very crowded, with tour groups and people constantly jostling for space.

• Currency is Roubles. Coins come in 1, 2, 5, 10 roubles. Bills are 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 5000 denominations.

• Our Viking guides provide advice on each tour whether ATMs are available.

• Viking advises tips to be in US$, so you only need Roubles for local cash purchases

• Currency on the ship for shore excursions and on-board charges is in Units, which is equivalent to Euros. Yes, it is a fictitious currency. Viking alluded that is was a work around to meet Russian regulations. It seems they either have to use Roubles or a non-country currency. Hence. The "Unit" currency.

• The Viking guides also plan for washroom breaks before or after the tour. Most are free, but there were two occasions where we had to pay. Once at the Yaroslavl City Market (15 Roubles per person) and the other time at the Peter and Paul Fortress (20 Roubles pp) in St. Petersburg.

• We took mosquito repellent on this trip, but did not need it at any of our stops. However, if you have space I would pack some, in case you need it.

• We should have take sun screen and a hat, the weather on our trip was warmer than normal.

• Viking provides umbrellas for your use. Sometimes there is an umbrella cart near the gang plank, when it is obvious that is going to rain. If not, just ask reception and they will get it for you.

 

We never encountered any open animosity or hostility during our visit. But remember you are a guest in a foreign country. The Russian people have a different perspective on current "hot" world issues. It is best to leave politics behind and enjoy the rich history and culture of the Russian people.

Thanks so much for all your quotes, they are very helpful. How would you rate your experience on this trip? I asked before, but I thought I might not have done it correctly.

[nana541]

Thanks so much for all your quotes, they are very helpful. How would you rate your experience on this trip? I asked before, but I thought I might not have done it correctly.

 

 

Hi Dreamer75, glad you found some current reviews on the actual River Boards....

 

You are going to love Russia!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Host Jazzbeau]

Welcome to Cruise Critic, dreamer75.

 

It isn't considered good form to quote lengthy posts unless you are referring to something specific (and even then you can delete the irrelevant parts between the html

commands).

 

There is another recent review of a Viking cruise on this itinerary that you might also want to read:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2053274

 

Enjoy river cruising!

[Dreamer 75]

Didn't know exactly how this all works. I was just glad to get on the boards and maybe still don't - trial & error.

[nana541]

Be sure and click on the link given by Host Jazzbeau! It's another great review!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[nana541]

Didn't know exactly how this all works. I was just glad to get on the boards and maybe still don't - trial & error.

 

 

Use the "quote" feature with care :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Dreamer 75]

Thanks

[RHexplorer]

Hi Dreamer75,

Sorry for the delayed response, I have not a chance to check in on the boards lately.

 

My wife and I enjoyed this trip immensely. It would probably rank a 9 out 10 for us.

- Weather was perfect (it only rained 1 day).

- The rivers, canals and lakes were calm.

- This was our second trip with Viking, and I am sure it will not be the last.

- The onboard and local guides provided by Viking helped enhance our trip with their in-depth knowledge of the places we visited. It is easier to ask questions with a real person than follow an audio guide in a museum. In our case, the onboard Viking guide was also licenced to conduct local tours in St. Petersburg. So on our visits to the palaces and the Hermitage, she was a wealth of information, from identifying brush strokes and small details on da Vinci and Rembrant paintings.

- Many excursions are included as part of the cruise package. I would admit that if it were the normal "pay per excursion" plan, we would have skipped a few of these excursions. Yet, this is where our vacation got better. By attending these excursions (since they were already included), it gave us a new perspective of the culture and traditions of the Russian people.

- The intent of this trip was to travel and experience a different part of the world, not lie on a beach. The trip achieved this goal completely.

- As with any vacation, go with an open mind, don't let minor inconveniences bother you.

- On this trip, everything right for us. Flights were on time, no diversions on the river, great conversation with fellow passengers. We did not want to come home.

 

Hope your trip will be equally enjoyable.