After spending 3 days getting there, we arrived in Moscow. Our first impression of Russia was marred by the almost impossible situation of clearing immigration. No crowd control and no designated queue lines, along with only a few booths open, led to a two-hour wait to get through and into the country.

Stayed one night at the Marriott Royal Aurora which is a short walk from Red square. A very lovely hotel. Not super deluxe but very comfortable. An older building with recent renovations and a very attentive staff.

We boarded the Volga Dream the next evening. The ship is small and very comfortable. Nicely decorated with carpeting throughout. Our cabin was on the Promenade deck and fairly roomy with a queen size bed. Good storage space and an efficient but small bathroom. Lots of room to put stuff in the cabinet under the sink. I looked at a couple of other cabins on the Main deck that only have 2 beds and different lay-outs. Some are quite small with limited storage.

The ship holds 111 passengers and we were at 109. We were 2 of only 8 Americans. Fairly large number of Brits/Scots and a large group of Greeks. Germans & Belgiums were mainly the other nationalities on board. You sit at tables designated by who your tour operator is. No mixing during the trip.

There were two nights in port with touring provided each day. Again the buses were designated by tour groups with about 20 passengers per group. In Moscow we had an excellent guide both days. So you tend to mix mainly with the people you have at your table and who you are touring with during the day. All the groups were in English except for one group of German-speaking guests who had their own bus and German-speaking guide throughout.

There were daily briefings on the next port of call and a couple of concerts in the lounge at night, but no other entertainment. There is a well-stocked library on board and the lounge with the indoor bar. There is also an outdoor bar and larger outdoor sitting area on the sun deck. No pool, and a very small gym (indoors). Deck chairs on the Promenade and Sun decks both aft and along the sides.

Each stop was for only a few hours but with the small villages/towns we had plenty of time to see everything of interest. Some stops we just walked from the ship to the areas of interest with our local guides or we had busses to get us to where we needed to be.

The food was relatively good. Breakfast served buffet style as was lunch. Other than a couple of buffet dinners they were served at the table. Wait staff was excellent as was the rest of the staff. It was a very low-keyed and comfortable experience.

We had two nights on the ship in St. Petersburg with touring there. We then stayed at the Rocco Forte Astoria for 2 more nights. (The hotel is one of TravelStore’s preferred hotels and resorts, so we received upgraded amenities which included a room upgrade, 2 tickets to the Hermitage, tea once during our stay and breakfast every day. Food prices especially in the hotels are very high so this turned out to be a great deal!)  The Astoria is lovely and is in a great location right by St. Isaac’s Square & the cathedral. Nice spacious rooms newly re-done. The hotel has old-world charm. Very high ceilings and good size rooms and bathrooms.  Staff is very accommodating here as well.

I had a terrific private guide pick us up and we did 2 full days with her. We did one very touristy thing and went to the Folkloric show one night. The venue was great in a former Palace and it was surprisingly good.
Read more about European river cruises.

Marilyn Lipsky
marilyn.l@travelstoresa.com

Tags: Marilyn Lipsky, Moscow, Rocco Forte Astoria, Russian river cruise, St. Petersburg, volga Dream

This entry was posted on Friday, July 9th, 2010 at 11:37 pm and is filed under River Cruises, Russia, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.