After the notification that we had a plane delay in Des Moines didn't get to Viking, no one met us at the St. Petersburg airport, but the representative who was there to meet another couple helped us get and pay for a cab to get to the port. Embarkation was so easy. Because we had missed an excursion the staff set up a guide and van for 7 of us who had been delayed a day and made every effort to make up for the glitch. The staff was almost the best part of the trip. They were always so helpful with all of our questions no matter how trivial. We were made to feel like family and it was very difficult to leave them all at the end of the cruise.

I very much enjoyed having our three guides going on the entire trip. The classes they gave were very helpful. Each one gave a different perspective of Russian life. Alexi was our favorite. This is one of the most organized cruise I have been on. The process for going on the excursions was so much easier than any other cruise. Most of the excursions gave us a wonderful insight into the country and the people. I did get a little tired of the number of churches we had to visit and Red Square was much more commercial than I thought it would be.

Overall our cruise was a wonderful experience and we are already looking into more Viking cruises since this was our first on a river and first with Viking.