Savings on Viking Cruises

Viking River Cruises (www.vikingrivercruises.com) is offering 2 for 1 pricing on many of its remaining cruises for 2013. For example, on a Danube cruise between Budapest, Hungary and Bucharest, Romania the price has been cut by half, to $3,156 per person. The cruise lasts eight days, and the price also includes three nights (total) in luxury hotels in Budapest and Bucharest, a number of sightseeing tours, all meals, and entertainment aboard.

While the price is still substantial, it does offer an easy way to see the countries of Hungary, Romania and a bit of Bulgaria, places that can be difficult to visit on one's own. Viking is also cutting prices on some air fares to connect with these cruises. If you wait until November, air fare for the above cruise from Toronto falls to $797.

The catch is that to secure these deals on Viking cruises, you have to book by the end of July.

If you are among the people who don't need a visa to visit Russia, there are also some good prices on Moscow hotels at the end of August. Hotels.com quotes an average price of $137 per room at the Hilton Moscow Leningradskaya, one of the Stalinist Gothic buildings that ring the city. This is a very good price for a centrally located luxury hotel, and one with unusually interesting architecture.

The church below is St. Andrew's in Kiev, Ukraine, one of the stops on Viking's cruises on the Dnieper River. The architect of this church, Bartolemeo Rastrelli, also designed the Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg.