Viking Helgi Review

The Good Luck Cruise

Review for Europe River Cruise on Viking Helgi
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Quiltsalad
6-10 Cruises • Age 80s

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Sail Date: Sep 2009

We decided to do this at the spur of the moment and were very lucky to get our visa's out of the Russian Embassy in less than a month, also our flight from Seattle to Dulles was a real squeaker. Everyone on board and about to pull away from the gate on time when TSA stopped the flight and made everyone get off the plane along with any and all carry ons. Then they brought out the dogs to sniff the whole plane and all the passengers before we were allowed back on (makes you feel really comfortable huh!) So we were an hour late leaving Seattle and the cruise line had only given us an hour and a half when we got to Dulles to change planes. Very fun to watch me with two artificial knees and my husband with his artificial hip sprinting (I use that term loosely) through the airport along with a handful of other passengers and when we finally got to the gate for the Moscow flight the door was about to close. About 8 of us were the last passengers on board and I was sure we would never see our luggage again when we got there but after they boarded us we sat for about 1/2 hour waiting for the luggage and we all arrived with our bags in Moscow.....so that was the beginning of the good luck.

There were only a couple of cabins left when we booked and we had no idea what was good and what wasn't and we went with cabin 402 (very near the back of the Upper Deck) It was a very quiet room because the hall is a dead end. We could at times very clearly hear the women in the next cabin talking but fortunately that usually didn't last long as they must have been as tired as we most nights. The other Cabin that we were offered was up front by the main bar and lounge and I think it must have been quite noisy. All the cabins on the upper deck looked very nice, windows opens and had an unobstructed view. Beds were very comfy, cabin was always clean and no strange smells from anywhere. My only complaint on the cabin is that they need to some how in-corporate another chair. There was only the one straight back at the desk and it would be nice for the other person to be able to sit comfortably (I was usually hogging the desk chair using my lap top.) Other only major complaint was the slow, slow, slow Internet connection but when we got to St. Petersburg they worked on it for several days so maybe it will be better. At least it's free and having your own lap top is a good idea as it's hard to get on the ship's two free lap tops.

I could have also called this the Church and Icons tour as well. Who knew a communist country would have so many Churches, I would have thought that they would have been destroyed in the Stalin years but many were just turned into storage sheds but not harmed. You do get your fill of churches , it got to be a bit of a joke...."oh boy more icons." I thought perhaps we could have done with a few less Churches and some more time in Museums. Only spending 3 hours in the Hermitage is ridiculous.....you can't even begin to get a taste of it....more like a lick! I would like to see them offer a full day there and skip the city tour half of the day because you see the city when you are doing other tours like the Peter Paul Fortress or the Canal Tours. -

Cabin Review

Cabin A

The only reason I didn't give the cabin a 5+ was that it only had one semi-comfy chair and one desk chair. Would have been nice to have two comfortable chairs. Also the walls were a bit thin as we could hear the ladies next to us every night as they got ready for bed. Fortunately they were early to turn in as we were so it wasn't a big problem. The room was in a quiet location in a dead end hall way. Amenities were very nice, comfy bed and nice linens. Window that opened up for nice breeze if you wanted fresh air. We were on the top of deck (with cabins) and the cabine number was 402 near the very back of the ship.

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