My husband and I took a Russian river cruise on the MS Zosima Shashkov from St. Petersburg to Moscow through Gate1 Travel in May 2016 and wanted to share our experiences with other travelers interested in taking a cruise on this particular ship.

The MS Zosima Shashkov is owned and operated by a Russian river cruise company called “Vodohov”. It is an older ship, certainly not opulent, but very clean, follows International safety standards, and serves its purpose well.

Gate1 American customers will need to obtain a Russian Visa for your passport and part of the application for the Visa and a “Visa Support Letter (VSL)”. Gate1 will provide a VSL to you 90 days before the cruise begins but it is actually issued by Vodohov. Read more