We got a great deal to go on the last cruise of the season. Free airfare and a reduced price. The weather was not good, it rained or was cloudy nearly every day which was not the fault of Viking. The food was excellent and the waitstaff could not be more friendly and accommodating. they had things to do while sailing such as lessons in basic Russian and Russian history which helped when visiting sites.

The original flight scheduled was not good with multiple stops, but for an additional $50 we were able to upgrade to a one stop flight each way on British Air and Lufthansa. It was well worth it since the original airline was substandard American Airlines. We had flown international with them in the spring and it was terrible.

Our biggest complaint was the excursion to Peterhof in St Petersburg. It was billed at a 5 hour tour of “The Russian Versailles,”. The cost was about $150 each. The fountains were closed because of the time of the year, which we understood. However, they did not allow enough time to visit the gardens which we understood to be fantastic. We left the ship at 9AM and arrived at 10:10. We were told we had 20 minutes to see the gardens which meant we could run out for 10 minutes and run back for the palace tour. While the palace was nice it was similar to the included incursion of the Palace of Catherine the Great only smaller. Even though it was the end of the season the crowds were huge and going through the place was slow. When the tour was over we were told we had another 20 minutes to get on the bus at 12 PM that meant we had to skip the gardens again. I can't imagine what would happen in the summer. My suggestion would be to skip Peterhof save the $150 each and go the the included Palace of Catherine the Great;