Affordable Russian River Cruise

A number of companies offer cruises on the Volga River between St. Petersburg and Moscow, Russia's largest and most interesting cities. The itineraries include stops at some smaller places that have always intrigued me--places like Yaroslavl and Uglich.

However, the cost of these trips tends to be high. For example, Viking River Cruises(http://www.vrc.com) has a 13-day cruise on the Volga with extensive sightseeing en route and in the two large cities, but the price for 2017 starts at a stunning $6,899 per person, or more than $500 a day. Other providers have similarly elevated prices.

Gate 1 Travel (http://www.gate1travel.com) is now providing similar cruises at much lower cost. Their 12-day cruise next year starts at just $1349 per person. Now the ship is not as fancy as a Viking ship, and perhaps the food is not as good. This is a re-conditioned older Russian ship with smallish cabins. But for a cost of not much more than $110 per night, how can you go wrong? Gate 1 emphasizes that prices may rise if their costs increase, but they would have to escalate a lot to get anywhere near the other lines' rates. Below is the rastral column in the Neva River in St. Petersburg.