Ukraine River Cruise

The ship above is the Viking Lomonosov, which cruises between Kiev and Odessa in warmer weather. It belongs to the Viking fleet (www.vikingrivercruises.com) and offers a way to visit Ukraine, a little-known but very interesting country, at relatively modest cost.
I took this cruise in the summer of 2010 (please see blog posts from the late summer and fall of that year.) While it was not cheap then and is even more expensive now, a minimum of $2438 for the 12-day cruise not including air fare, it does provide a way to visit the highlights of Ukraine without having to grapple with getting around on your own in the Russian language.
And considering that the cruise includes lodging, meals with wine, and a lot of shore excrusions, the price is not exorbitant. What I especially appreciated was that the ship has single cabins, so you are not stuck paying a big single supplement as you are on most cruises if you travel solo.
This cruise covers eastern and southern Ukraine, but I have yet to visit western Ukraine. It's on my list, and I suspect it may be easier for someone like me with little Russian because the language used in the west is Ukranian. Ukranian is similar to Russian, but some of the region was formerly part of  Austria-Hungary and I suspect German may be fairly commonly spoken.