My wife is a college history professor and this is one of the "bucket list" trips for her as we approach retirement. We had done the Danube river cruise on Viking several years ago with my sister and her husband but this trip we did alone which turned out wonderfully as we interacted more with others on the boat and met a lot of great people.

We did the Helsinki addition at the front end which was perfect. A few days in a great city and it allowed us to decompress and adjust to the time change before boarding the ship in St. Petersberg.

The ship was older but had been recently completely remodeled by Viking and appeared brand new. The Captain and crew on the ship, especially Margot the tour director were outstanding. Food and accommodations were exvellent. Read more