We wanted to visit Russia and thought that this would be a good way to see our primary interests. The Viking Cruise had an appealing itinerary at a reasonable cost. The staff was lovely....all of them and everyone. Each day the activities were interesting, though we did do quite a few optional tours at an added expense. They were worth the money, and we particularly enjoyed Moscow by night.

There were a couple of wrinkles in the trip. First, we went when the World Cup was in Russia. It wasn't Viking's fault, but the Red Square was closed to tours, so we never got to see it. A number of us thought that Viking should have provided shuttle service in so that we could at least walk around the perimeter of the Square, after the group tours were turned away. There was time the next morning to do so, but Viking elected not to.

We were in cabin 301 which I would not recommend. Though it was large and well appointed, we were woken most mornings when the staff was refilling the beverage station outside the restaurant doors and/or by patrons gathering in front of the doors before the restaurant opened. (In other words, it was a noisy neighborhood due to being the room next to the elevator where the trays of glassware were transported and being next to the restaurant.) It was a big enough inconvenience that I would not accept either that room or the one across the hall on another trip. Read more