Quote:
Originally Posted by TrvlBug
The river cruise doesn't sound too appealing based on your experience! Maybe we should skip that and just go to Moscow & St. Petersburg and hire private guides. That was our initial plan a number of year ago while DH was still working, however, family illness just prior caused us to cancel the trip. Now that DH is retired we thought we would also do the river cruise. Back to the drawing board and do some more research!
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Well, I should explain a little bit:
DW and I travel to learn about countries, history, politics and people. We have only limited interest in statues, skeletons, paintings, and architecture. To get what we want, we really have to be
in the country.
In our limited cruising experience (2 small ships) we found we were traveling in a sort of Western bubble, with people much like the people we know at home, with familiar foods, and uninteresting accommodations. From time to time we would get into bus bubbles with those same people and take little mini-tours of statues, skeletons, paintings and buildings. Then it was back into the ship bubble until time for the next bus bubbles. Many people really love this, particularly on bigger ships where there are Western style activities and entertainment and the foods and surroundings are familiar. (My sister, not so much: "It was like being trapped in a shopping center for a week.")
In our case, the bubble system does not work. What we try to do is to design a trip where we have a guide and driver for the duration. We learn a lot from the guide while traveling and over dinners; it becomes like traveling with a friend who knows the country. We were extremely flattered in Myanmar last year to be the first clients our guide had ever taken to his home to meet his wife and children. We also avoid the "star" hotel bubbles, seeking instead very small hotels, BnBs, and AirBNBs run by real people, not corporations. We are pleased when we are taken to a restaurant where we aren't familiar with a single dish on the menu.
Small group travel tends towards being bubble-like, but not always. We have had pretty good luck with Road Scholar. (
https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-...e?query=moscow)
So (back to our regularly scheduled program) @TrvlBug, it really depends on what you want. We did not think much about the Viking experience but you may love it. I think the majority of people who travel with them do. If you do go back to the drawing board, I'd suggest
https://www.intltravelnews.com/ as an excellent resource. Buy a subscription and you'll be able to search back issues for subscriber-written articles on private and group travel experiences, including names and contact information for guides and tour operators.