'Mayakovski' out of Moscow - river cruise on the SS Mayakovski between Moscow and St. Petersburg - Brief Article

My wife and I were fortunate to take a river cruise between Moscow and St. Petersburg on the SS Mayakovski. We booked the trip through Value World Tours (Fountain Valley, CA; phone 714/556-8258) and the cost was about $1,400 each. We booked our own airfare on KLM through a consolidator and were gone from Aug. 27 to Sept. 8, '00.

The ship was constructed in East Germany in 1978 and holds approximately 300 passengers.

We were separated into groups for tours and dining: American and Canadian; Dutch and French, and Swedish. There was not much interaction between the groups. Our guides spoke excellent English.

The passenger cabins each have a large window. We were told that some of the upper-deck rooms had refrigerators, but our room did not.

We arrived at the Moscow airport and were greeted outside of Customs by a driver who then drove us to the Moscow North River Terminal where the ship was docked. We checked in and found our cabin to be not overly large but still comfortable. There were two beds attached to the walls, with a table in between. The bathroom had a sink and toilet and offered a novel way of taking a shower (but it worked well). There was plenty of hot water!

We remained in Moscow for the first few days and there were tours to see the Kremlin and Red Square (red actually can mean "beautiful" in Russian as well as being tied to the Communists). Moscow was very clean, with virtually no litter and no graffiti. The weather was perfect for a visit and it was fascinating.

We pulled anchor to the sound of the Russian national anthem and then departed along the Moscow-Volga canal. We were told this canal had been hand dug by gulag labor during the Stalin years.

Along this route we visited various cities, such as Kostroma and Yaroslav, and made other stops on our way to St. Petersburg. There were lots of tours of Russian Orthodox churches. At the request of some passengers, some synagogues were also included. I would have preferred some factory tours, to add some variety.

Our wake-up call came each day at 7 a.m. via the speaker mounted on the wall of our stateroom. Breakfast was served buffet style and consisted of tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, hot cereal, buns and sometimes scrambled eggs. Coffee was served at the table.

Lunch and dinner fare was more varied; we had chicken Kiev, various meat dishes and soups. The food was good but not like that on a Caribbean cruise ship. One night we did not feel like having dinner and stayed in our room. The staff knocked on our door to make sure we were okay!

The staff were courteous, but you can tell that it takes some energy for them to provide for "tourist" requests that come along for special food or side tours along the way.

At the end of the tour, St. Petersburg was a real delight. We saw the ostentatious palaces from the czarist times, the Hermitage Museum and more. It really exceeded expectations and was a great experience.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Martin Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group