Nice but not great

River Victoria Cruise Review to River Cruises - Russia

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 74

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
River Victoria

12 Night Imperial Waterways Of Russia (Moscow To St. Petersburg)

Sail date: May 19, 2017

Ship: River Victoria

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 314

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

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.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Tiny shower with stained walls and tile grout. When the ship was sailing there was a lot of loose wall and ceiling tiles shaking. Cabin toward the front of the ship so I was surprised at the amount of mechanical vibrations we felt.

Ship tip

Don't get coffee or tea in any of the lounges. Go downstairs to the coffee bar and bring it back. Free wine is only included with dinner.

Ports of call

Uglich, Russian Federation

3 out of 5

Yaroslavl, Russian Federation

3 out of 5

Goritsy, Russian Federaton

3 out of 5

Kizhi Island, Russian Federation

2 out of 5

Mandrogi, Russian Federation

3 out of 5

CRUISE LAKE LADOGA

2 out of 5

St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

3 out of 5
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1 Comment

WeCruiseToo    7 years ago

Thank you for the nice, honest review. We love river cruising but have not done one in Russia yet, so this information is very helpful.