Since this was one of the first trips with passengers, there were a few glitches with crowd control on embarkation at some early ports but that was soon resolved. The ship itself was absolutely fabulous! It was the best designed of the 20 or so ships I have been on over the years. The lectures were fascinating and well presented by experts in their field. The service was excellent as was the food. The only complaint I made was that one of the excursions to a folk song and dance in St. Petersburg was incorrectly labeled 'easy' when in fact there were 84 (I counted them) steps up to the performance (with no elevator). There were soldiers there to assist people up the stairs. I did not feel that this was acceptable for the passengers with mobility issues! No one was warned of this situation before arrival. Those who had signed up should have been made aware of the error in the brochure.