River Victoria

The Russian people were very welcoming and like most/all tourist countries ready to accept the American dollar.  We would remind a river boat cruise as a easy way to see a beautiful country.  But be aware the food on the ship is limiting.

This ship is old and it shows.  Carpet in decent shape and exterior paint is new but rooms were dated, bathrooms small and the lounge furniture must have been the original stuff.

Young staff that tried real hard to please everyone.  Dining room understaffed so service was slow with lots of mistakes on food orders.  Food top notch, nicely presented with suburb wine pairings.

Local tour guides were generally good.  Cruise directors were good but got off on the wrong foot with a lot of passengers that arrived late.  As the cruise progressed they worked hard to regain their momentum.

One bright spot was a Russian Professor who gave daily lectures on Russia and it's culture.

We found the Russian people to be warm and friendly and look forward to going back for another visit but not on a cruise like this.

UniWorld does not own this ship and I assume leases it.  We walked through several of the shipping companies other ships and were amazed at the better condition they were in.  UniWorld needs to reconsider their deal with the Russians.