The trip was wonderful. The Tolstoy ship, although their lowest rated, was great.
I'm really glad we upgraded to the jr. suite. Clean and comfortable with an incredible staff. Both our guide and our server went above and beyond to make sure we were well looked after.
The cruise itself was incredible. We enjoyed the fall colors the whole way. As expected, the weather didn't allow for sun bathing, but we didn't take the cruise for that.
St Petersburg was awesome. I'm glad we got there a couple of days early as there was so much to see and the mooring of our ship was quite a distance from the center.
When I first read about the stops along the way, I thought they might be horribly touristy and hokey, but we found them to be very interesting and enjoyable.
We lucked out as to our tour group size. We were only 10 in the English speaking group.
Some suggestions for future guests. Buy whatever snacks, wine or liquor you want for your cabin in advance. Second day in Moscow, stay in the city after the Kremlin tour and take the Metro back. It's easy and the other alternative involves 3 trips in the bus, each trip is an hour..
Also, if you would like to have more than one glass of wine with dinner, reserve or pay for your selection on the first few days as they run out of most of the good reasonable priced wines. That may not always be the case as we had a large group of French on this trip. Who knows. Also, if you like cream in your coffee, bring it with you as they serve a reduced fat milk. These are minor tweaks, because overall, it as a fantastic trip. We were thrilled with it.
Thanks. Memories to treasure.