The stand out feature was the quality of the guides. They made the experience a real education. Russia was a bit of a surprise for these two Aussies. Viking/Russia had been recommended by fellow passengers on the Pandaw on the Irrawaddy (their 8th river cruise). They listed this Viking cruise as their best experience. Their recommendation was based on the quality of the guides. They had not warned us about the complexity (or expense) of obtaining a Russian visa!

Be prepared for the traffic in both St Petersburg and Moscow. Chaos! It can take several hours to do the short trip from the St Petersburg airport to the ship. The Moscow airport we used (Domodedovo) was a long way out of the city. We had a lot of time there and it was EXPENSIVE. The plane to London was overbooked by about 50 passengers and they had to bump some of us up to business class (thank you British Airways).

It would appear that not many Aussies travel on Viking. I assume that they go on Scenic. There were only about 8 Aussies and two Kiwis. The great majority were Americans and about 20 Canadians (appeared to be from a card club). There was one young family from Canada - dad (an ex-Russian ballet dancer), his wife and two teenage children.and added interest. It was not a bad mix. We have been on cruises before (Cambodia) where passengers were predominantly from Canada and gave the impression they dad graciously allowed us to make up the numbers on "their" cruise. Read more