Tips for a St. Petersburg-Moscow cruise

Wanda Bahde’s letter “Waterways of the Czars” (Feb. ’13, pg. 24), regarding her June 23-July 6, 2012, cruise-tour in Russia with Viking River Cruises (800/304-9616), was spot on. My wife, Paula, and I took the same cruise-tour (albeit in the opposite direction, from Moscow to St. Petersburg), May 17-29, 2013. I would like to supplement her excellent letter with some additional recommendations for those planning a similar trip.

First, consider beginning in St. Petersburg. A new terminal was scheduled for completion at its Pulkovo Airport (LED) in December 2013, but, currently, this airport is not a place where you would care to linger. It’s a point that’s better to fly into than to depart from.

Also, the docks used in St. Petersburg by Viking River Cruises and many other lines are within a half-hour ride of the airport when there’s no traffic. With heavy traffic, which is not unusual, a transfer could easily take an hour, but that’s not bad compared to airport-dock transfer times in Moscow.

The Moscow docks aren’t near either of Moscow’s two primary airports: Domodedovo (DME) and Sheremetyevo (SVO). DME, the airport you’re most likely to use, is quite far removed from them, and transfer times can range from at least an hour (with no traffic) to two hours (more common) or more. SVO transfer times are projected to be about half those of DME’s.

From the US, arrivals into Moscow tend be in mid to late afternoon, just in time for rush-hour traffic. Departures are typically in the morning, often quite early. This means traffic is much more an issue for your arrival than it is for your departure, so, again, if you can, arrive in St. Petersburg and depart from Moscow.

Definitely avoid arriving in Moscow on a Friday or Sunday afternoon, since you can get immersed in weekend traffic either leaving or returning to the city. We arrived at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport at 4:20 p.m. on a Friday. It was almost four hours before we boarded our ship. Fortunately, dinner was served until 10 p.m. 

Likewise, while in Moscow, avoid any excursions to points outside of the city that involve traveling on a Friday or Sunday afternoon. We spent over three hours on a bus sitting in traffic when returning from Sergiev Posad on a Sunday afternoon. 

In any event, on this tour with Viking, you’ll likely spend a discouraging amount of time stuck on a bus.

If you’re flying into these Russian cities from the US, you’ll be dealing with a challenging time zone difference of eight to eleven hours. Arriving a couple of days before your cruise begins is recommended, as it will give you some time to adjust and to explore on your own.

If you arrive a day or so early, stay in a central location, since (as Ms. Bahde observed) your ship will probably be docked well away from areas of interest to travelers. At least the Moscow dock is fairly close to a Metro stop; in St. Petersburg, you might need to take a bus or a taxi to reach the nearest Metro stop. 

It’s important to know the best time of year to book a cruise. 

Our cruise was only the second sailing of the season for our ship, the Viking Helgi (a sister ship to Ms. Bahde’s Viking Truvor). We heard that travelers on the first sailing (May 5-16) experienced snow and ice in one location. We enjoyed warm, sunny weather, with shorts, not jackets, being appropriate wear on most days. Only one day, mid-trip, it drizzled and was cool. 

This was in sharp contrast to the much cooler and wetter weather Ms. Bahde experienced on her cruise five weeks later in the season. Go figure!

The crowds worsen later in the season. I remarked to our tour guide about how crowded the Hermitage Museum was. She responded that it was one of the lightest crowds she’d seen and that by the next sailing and until the fall the crowds would be far worse.

In St. Petersburg, oceangoing cruise ships begin arriving in late May and contribute hordes of tourists. We also heard that, at least outside of the big cities, mosquitoes become a problem beginning in late May or early June. They were not an issue for our cruise. 

I don’t have sufficient information about the fall, but I recommend avoiding summer (June-August).

If possible, it’s a good idea to avoid a ship’s first sailing of the season. Some crewmembers will still be learning their jobs, and the level of service may suffer. On our cruise, there was a noticeable improvement in the quality of service as the trip progressed.

Because of a “sale” discount and a couple of credits (totaling $800 each), we ended up paying $5,200 for our category-AX cabin; this included all meals, most tours and excursions, etc. Since our flights were not booked through Viking, we paid an additional $60 each for each airport transfer.

We booked our airfare with Lufthansa to avoid being stuck with a multistop route (common with these cruises). We flew Charlotte-Munich-Moscow, then St. Petersburg-Munich-Charlotte in coach for $1,388 each.

Viking offers an increasing number of optional (i.e., extra-cost) excursions. For some reason, not all of these are listed on their website. 

Our travel agent, Kinah Chandler of AAA Carolinas, contacted us in early April and recommended that we reserve certain excursions in advance. It’s a good thing we did; one of the tours we booked (“Kremlin Armoury,” at $49 per person) filled up the evening we arrived on board. Another tour, one we decided not to take (“Hermitage Behind the Scenes,” at $129 each) was completely booked before the trip began. 

Viking also runs alternate guided tours (included in the tour price), none of which were listed on their website the last time I checked. In both Moscow and St. Petersburg, one alternate tour was merely a shuttle bus between the ship and the center of the city — handy if you want to explore on your own.

Apparently new for 2013 were alternate walking tours in both cities. These guided tours began with a Metro ride to the city center (the tour company takes care of all transit fares); a bus was used for the return. These tours were scheduled for the same times as Viking’s other, regular bus tours of each city.

By necessity, these alternate walking tours skipped a sight or two covered by Viking’s regular bus tours but provided a much better feel of each city; they also allowed spending less time on a bus. We took these walking tours in both cities and highly recommend them. Be forewarned that both involved a lot of walking!

One issue we were concerned with was access to WiFi. On other river cruises we’ve taken with Viking, the ship’s WiFi was nearly worthless. On this cruise, other than problems during the first couple of days, the on-board WiFi was great. 

STEPHEN O. ADDISON, Jr.

Charlotte, NC

ITN emailed a copy of Mr. Addison’s letter to Viking River Cruises and received no reply.