Russian River Cruises

Russian river cruises have long been popular with vacationers, so it may come as a surprise that a club dedicated to this fine form of relaxation was founded only some years ago.

The fundamental goal of the club is to promote river cruises not in a tourism – business way, but as a hobby. Mikhail Arkhipov, president of the River Tourists’ Club who is also the head of the comprehensive Russian River Fleet and Tourism web site, Infoflot.ru said there are various different types of river cruise tourists.

“Tourists fall into three categories. The first category are people who take a cruise forthe first time, return and then never give it a second thought”, Arkhipov said. “The second category are ‘Drunken Run’ tourists, who go on the cruise to have a good time and forget. And there is the third category [of people], for whom we work, who genuinely love cruises. They prefer to take river cruises over foreign vacations that cost the same sum of money”.

The so-called ‘Drunken - Run’ cruises are in general three – day, round – trip cruises to places such as Uglich or Tver, where the river – goers have things other than The Great Outdoors on their minds. One of the unpleasant things about this type of cruise is that people do not go to observe the natural surroundings, but to get drunk the whole trip. They already start to drink here [in Moscow] and in Uglich it is rare that anyone will get out.

River cruises come in two basic forms, transport lines and tourist lines, and the difference between them is substantial.

The transport lines work basically like bus routes, Arkhipov said. If a person wants to get out at a stop and have a look they can, it’s the same thing with these transport lines.

Transport line cruises offer Spartan facilities, with canteen– style food and minimal entertainment options, while its tourist –class cousins come with cafes, bars, restaurants, discos, reading rooms, sunrooms and cinemas. Naturally, such differences are reflected in the relative ticket prices. A ticket for one person on the 18 – day Moscow – Astrakhan – Moscow route in a two – berth cabin without meals costs approximately 190$ to 220$. In comparison, the Moscow – Astrakhan – Moscow tourist line, to be fair, with full conveniences, will cost 1.500$ per person.

The transport– line’s low prices lead to long lines at the ticket office. “At the moment there is a big problem with getting tickets for the transport lines, people line up all night to get tickets. Yet a night camped out at the ticket booth will not always guarantee you a ticket. I am sure that I will still have to give a bribe to the cashier to procure a ticket”, Arkhipov said

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16