River Cruises in Russia

[etoile]

I would love to see St Petersburg and Moscow by riverboat. What is the least expensive way to do this? Alternatively, do cruises ever end in St Petersburg and then you can travel to Moscow independently?

[Deloresgardella]

I did that in 2000, traveled from Moscow to St. Petersburg. We spent three days in Moscow before and three days in St. Petersburg after. It was great. We docked at several little village on the way. A lot of god shopping had an bar-b-que at one place. The only draw back is they go through about 16 locks and a lot of them are at night which is very noisey.

Delores

[2dogcarol]

After spending 3 days in St. Petersburg on a recent cruise I am very interested in taking a river boat cruise through Russia. Our Denrus guide said that only seeing St. Petersburg is like seeing New York City and thinking you have seen the United States.

[etoile]

Now I want to do a river cruise even more! There are SO many places to visit in the world...Moscow is actually higher on my list than St. Petersburg but my in-laws like cruising so who knows what we will end up doing. What boats/lines are good for river cruises? I know the big names don't do it.

[talyanka]

We just returned from St. Petersburg. Spent there 3 great days with Regatta doing Baltic cruise. We had a private giude there and sometimes she also guides tour groups from river boats that sail from Moscow to St. Petersburg and reversed itinerary. Her recommendation for such cruise was boat MS Chernyshevsky ( Vantage Tours).

[msraye]

I just returned from 5 weeks in Russia on July 10. We did two river cruises with Viking River Cruises.

 

The first was Moscow to St Petersburg stopping at towns and villages along the way. The second was in the Ukraine-Kiev to Kiev- faxcinating - again stopping at cities and villages along the way, like Odessa and Yalta. I recommend them highly.

 

My friend and I booked an apt in St. Petersburg for 2 days (much cheaper than a hotel and there was a washing machine) and took the train from St. Petersburg to Kiev.

 

I very much enjoyed being able to unpack and sleep in my moving hotel. The food was good, most tours were included (few optional tours)and there is entertainment. You are assigned to a bus and a guide the first time out and stay with them throughout.

 

There is less to do than on a large cruise ship but that is balanced by being able to travel on the canal Peter the Great had built, up the Volga and seeing places you would not be able to see.

 

Do go to the River Cruises forum and read about the trips. Not many have done the Ukraine trip but many have done the other. As long as you do not expect the luxury of the ocean liners and can cope with smaller cabins and no elevators you will have a superlative time.