Russian waterways cruises?

We're trying to decide between Grand Circle Travel's Russian Waterways
trip, which includes hotel stays in Moscow and St. Petersburg with a
river cruise between the two cities, and Viking River Cruises'
Waterways of the Czars, which has a similar itinerary, but you stay on
the boat the whole time. We have seen reviews that said that it takes
hours to get from the ship to the centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg
because of the traffic; does anyone know anything about that? We'd
also like to know what the rooms on the Viking ships are like.

Thanks for any info on either of these trips that anyone can give us.

Leo

St. Petersburg is built right on the Baltic Sea. (check out it's location on
Google Maps) It's not an inland city. The city is built right against the
sea. Large ships dock at the freight piers which are a few miles (like 4-5
as the crow flies) from the center of the city (probably a 20 minute drive
since streets aren't direct). Smaller ships can actually dock on the Neva
River, very close (less than a mile or two) to much of what might be
considered downtown. Close to the Hermitage, etc. Though understand that
other attractions like Catherine's Palace are way outside the city. A good
hour plus ride each way. However, nothing in the city proper was a problem
as far as driving or traffic. Nothing IN the city took hours of driving.

Don't know anything about Moscow.

--Tom



"LeoS" wrote in message
...
We're trying to decide between Grand Circle Travel's Russian Waterways
trip, which includes hotel stays in Moscow and St. Petersburg with a
river cruise between the two cities, and Viking River Cruises'
Waterways of the Czars, which has a similar itinerary, but you stay on
the boat the whole time. We have seen reviews that said that it takes
hours to get from the ship to the centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg
because of the traffic; does anyone know anything about that? We'd
also like to know what the rooms on the Viking ships are like.

Thanks for any info on either of these trips that anyone can give us.

Leo

[Default] Thus spake LeoS :

We're trying to decide between Grand Circle Travel's Russian Waterways
trip, which includes hotel stays in Moscow and St. Petersburg with a
river cruise between the two cities, and Viking River Cruises'
Waterways of the Czars, which has a similar itinerary, but you stay on
the boat the whole time. We have seen reviews that said that it takes
hours to get from the ship to the centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg
because of the traffic; does anyone know anything about that? We'd
also like to know what the rooms on the Viking ships are like.

Thanks for any info on either of these trips that anyone can give us.

Leo

Due to the horrendous visa requirements, I will not go to Russia. The
form is 3 pages long and reminds me of the DD76 I filled out to get my
Secret. Questions like "What professional, social and religious
organizations do you belong to?"

St. Petersburg is about 30 seconds from the sea. Moscow is a 3 hour
train ride.

Dillon Pyron wrote:

Due to the horrendous visa requirements, I will not go to Russia. *The
form is 3 pages long and reminds me of the DD76 I filled out to get my
Secret. *Questions like "What professional, social and religious
organizations do you belong to?"

Gosh, I think I'll put down a membership in the "Red Herring
Society" :-)


-hh

"Dillon Pyron" wrote in message
news

Due to the horrendous visa requirements, I will not go to Russia. The
form is 3 pages long and reminds me of the DD76 I filled out to get my
Secret. Questions like "What professional, social and religious
organizations do you belong to?"

Is that, perhaps, because you are from the USA? I am not but I still had to
fill in a form which, I suppose, was inconvenient but was certainly not
horrendous.

--
SJF

On Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:53:57 -0500, Dillon Pyron wrote:

Due to the horrendous visa requirements, I will not go to Russia. The
form is 3 pages long and reminds me of the DD76 I filled out to get my
Secret

LOL
--
http://www.bushflash.com/idiot.html

It is my understanding that the river boats dock in town. It is the
large ships that dock out of town. They don't go to Moscow which is a
day long trip from St. Petersburg requiring you to give up one of your
two days there.

We have been on a Viking River cruise on the Elbe in Germany. The
cabins were very small but functional. Two beds on either side and when
both open a very narrow walkway between them. One bed doubles as a
"sofa" with bolster pillows on it during the day while the second one
was a murphy bed variety. However, it was easy to pull down if two
wanted to nap at the same time. The bathrooms were "Three S's" (you
can shave, shower, and sh** without moving). I suspect that the cabin
sizes are about the same on all of the river cruise boats.

On the large liners, the ship gets a "blanket" Visa for the people on
their tours so an individual one is not necessary. I THINK if you hire
an independent tour that they get a "blanket" one for you also. I do
know that you need a copy of it before you can get off the ship and
through their customs. It could be since tours are included by the
river boats that they do the same thing about the Visas but don't know
for sure. Seems to me, though, if you stayed in a hotel on land you
would need a Visa.

Tucker in Texas

LeoS wrote:
We're trying to decide between Grand Circle Travel's Russian Waterways
trip, which includes hotel stays in Moscow and St. Petersburg with a
river cruise between the two cities, and Viking River Cruises'
Waterways of the Czars, which has a similar itinerary, but you stay on
the boat the whole time. We have seen reviews that said that it takes
hours to get from the ship to the centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg
because of the traffic; does anyone know anything about that? We'd
also like to know what the rooms on the Viking ships are like.

Thanks for any info on either of these trips that anyone can give us.

Leo

[Default] Thus spake "SJF" :


"Dillon Pyron" wrote in message
news

Due to the horrendous visa requirements, I will not go to Russia. The
form is 3 pages long and reminds me of the DD76 I filled out to get my
Secret. Questions like "What professional, social and religious
organizations do you belong to?"

Is that, perhaps, because you are from the USA? I am not but I still had to
fill in a form which, I suppose, was inconvenient but was certainly not
horrendous.

Could be. Shortly after the US started requiring visas for
Brazilians, guess what!

The US requirement for visas for Russians consits of a couple of
questions, like have you ever been convicted of a violent, sexual or
drug crime. But nothing like the Russian visa form.

[Default] Thus spake -hh :

Dillon Pyron wrote:

Due to the horrendous visa requirements, I will not go to Russia. *The
form is 3 pages long and reminds me of the DD76 I filled out to get my
Secret. *Questions like "What professional, social and religious
organizations do you belong to?"

Gosh, I think I'll put down a membership in the "Red Herring
Society" :-)


-hh


How about the NRA and HCI? Or MADD and the National Association of
Howebrewers?