Travel All RussiaReviews of travelallrussia.com

My wife and I dealt with Ivan at Travel All Russia in setting up our vacation to Russia last month, which included a river cruise from St. Petersburg to Moscow on the Volga Dream and some optional excursions. Overall, we were pleased with the service rendered by Travel All Russia and Ivan. The Volga Dream was a wonderful ship. The hotels in St. Petersburg and Moscow were as nice as any in which we have ever stayed. Even the hotel in Suzdal, although lacking the splendor of those in Moscow and St. Petersburg, was very pleasant and a nice change of pace. The private tour guides Ivan arranged for us were knowledgeable, friendly, and spoke English quite well. The following comments may be applicable to essentially all tours and therefore may not come as a surprise to those who regularly go on tour type vacations. Although my wife and I regularly travel, this was the first time we have done a structured tour throughout almost our entire trip; instead, we usually learn enough about our travel destination before we leave so that we only use tour guides when absolutely necessary and then only for short periods of time. Having said that, there are some matters which seem to be matter of course for Russian tours, whether handled through the Volga Dream or directly by Travel All Russia. There was a lot of reliance on buses to get around, even when the distance to walk was quite short; there were times when buses made sense but there were other times when we could have easily walked and reached the destination just about as fast as when utilizing a bus. It also seems that the travel companies tend to use the same restaurants which all have remarkably similar fixed menus for the tour groups. On our private tours, which would have been a wonderful time to have experienced something different than the norm, we were still booked for our lunches and dinner at restaurants flooded by other tour groups. On our private tours, we would have preferred either to have not had our meals included, particularly our dinner in Suzdal, so that we could have selected a restaurant not flooded with tour groups, or for Travel All Russia to have provided our guide with greater latitude on where to take us to dine. As the title of our review indicates, some mistakes were made by Travel All Russia and included: 1. Ivan was unaware that some of the sites on our itinerary were photostops without any time to go into the church or other edifice. He had advised that the tour guide could not take us into such sites but that we would still have time to go into them on our own Fortunately, in St. Petersburg, we arrived a day early so were able to see the inside of some of the listed sites on the itinerary. 2. We had requested that our flight be booked through United because I receive a number of benefits when I book through United which I don't receive if the flight, even thought it involves flying on United, is booked through another airline. For whatever reason, our instructions in this regard were not followed and we were booked through Lufthansa rather than through United despite the fact that our flights to and from Germany, where we connected to Lufthansa for getting in and out of Russia, was on United. 3. We were not properly advised on the practice of tipping in Russia or that there would be a suggested tip amount for our time on the Volga Dream. Although tipping was never mandatory, once on board and towards the end of the cruise, we found that the Volga Dream had suggested guidelines as to what would constitute an appropriate tip. With our hectic schedule and the lack of an ATM on board the ship, there were exceedingly few opportunities to stop at an ATM in any of the ports to restock rubles; fortunately, between the US$ we had brought with us and the rubles we had left from our time in St. Petersburg, we were able to leave the suggested tip amount, but just barely. Despite the few mistakes, I would still use Travel All Russia again if I decide to go back to Russia for another trip. The difference is that I now know the areas where I would either need to personally handle matters (such as booking my own airline tickets) and/or be more assertive (such as arranging for my own meals on private tours). In closing, my wife and I had such a wonderful time in Russia that we both agreed it is a country well worth visiting again in the future.

Travel insurance is not offered for this trip. Having to research travel insurance companies was time consuming. You might consider offering a great company like TripMate to your offering. Everything was efficient to date. Sometimes it took a little longer for return phone calls but it wasn't too bad.

Travelallrussia did an excellent job in organizing our holiday. The guides were great. A most pleasurable occasion. I would recommend them to people considering travelling to Russia, The only negative criticism is that the costs are very expensive for any item outside their arrangements.

I did a cruise from St Pettersburg to Moscow in June 2014. I found the staff to be very friendly and helpful especially the hostess who was appointed to the English speaking people on board. If you are expecting to fine the cabins/food/wine at the standard of a high class cruise liner you would pay 3 times as much for, you will be disappointed. If you are looking for value for dollars paid, you will not be disappointed. The cabins are small and the bathrooms a bit of a challenge but clean. The off shore excursions were the best I have encountered, local people with a great passion for what they do. I would recommend this cruise if you are looking for a good experience of the culture and scenery of Russia.

Chose TAS as it appeared to offer more bang for the buck than other companies-I looked at and spoke with 10 travel agencies,plus my nephew and cousin as both are very familiar with Russia prior to deciding. More day tours were included in their package than anyone else.Cost per person was 2000.00 excluding air fares and most meals except for breakfast. We chose the 2 cities group and went in sept of 2014. I booked sept 2013 before the issues began with the Crimea and the Ukraine. These events raised a lot of concern particularly with my adult children.My niece and I decided we did not wish to lose our money and went. We tacked on an extra day at the beginning and 2 at the tours completion through TAR so had extra costs which were well worth it. Ben Schulze at TAR is a gem. No question was too small and everything that we requested worked out well. The majority of people were friendly and helpful. I am elderly and both on the Metros and busses I was immediately offered a seat if there was standing room only. our group of 16 was very international-Australia, US, UK, Ireland, Canada and South Africa were represented and we almost all enjoyed each other. The tour included airport transfers, all admission fees, train transfer to St Petersburg, all breakfasts and 2 lunches and visa application if handled through TAR. We were a mixed group of ages , the guides were good and we found we could eat reasonably particularly in St Petersburg as there were a lot of restaurants near by. this was a tour which flew by. I would have liked the opportunity to have had an evening session discussing present day Russia as it is a vast and fascinating country-I left with more questions than answers. my niece and I chose to visit the Blockade Museum and an enormous cemetery in St Pete to pay our respects to the thousands of regular citizens who died during the siege of Leningrad in WW2. Both were powerfully moving and I was glad that we went. There is much more to tell but hope that this helps anyone thinking about going-do go! Mary O'Donnell

Only difficulty I had was getting along in the city by myself. I had difficult time getting a cab back to the boat. Different prices were quoted, most of them much higher than usual. Is there any way to control cabs and help foreigners from some events that are often visited by tourists? (ie. operas, ballet, dances, concert)

Sightseeing days in St. Petersburg were too short (10 AM - 2:30 PM); would have liked to have seen more. On the one full day, we did not have enough free time to fully walk around and explore. Hotels in both major cities were wonderful. It was great to be so close to the Kremilin from the hotel. I expected this so I'm not complaining, but lots of down time on the river cruise; only about 2 hours a day for shore excursions. This is no ones fault; it's just the nature of the beast. Ship was much better than one I had on the Yangtze in China in both accommodations, programs and food.. Optional Moscow subway tour is well worth it but pass on the Moscow at Night tour. Dinner at the Moscow Hard Rock Cafe was not a highlight! Guides provided by Travel all Russia were outstanding; some of those by the river cruise company left a lot to be desired. In sum, very good value compared to other trip prices I researched. Aerflot flight was a pleasant surprise going over (very roomy economy section), but not so coming back (different plane). Be aware that seats are not assigned until you check in, so get there early. In addition to the suggestions by the tour just to pack summer clothes, make sure you bring rain gear and warm clothing. You will probably need it. Plenty of free bottled water was made available; that was nice and unexpected.

I had excellent service from Travel All Russia in getting a three-year multiple entry visa for trips to Russia and so far there have been no glitches in receiving inside-Russia train tickets. However, I suggest that in future when sending me tickets or passports via Fed Ex Signature Required they give me a tracking number in their email notifying me that the material has been sent to me so that I know to be home when Fed Ex is likely to deliver. I was sent my passport on a Wednesday, two business days delivery, and because of Fed Ex's screw-ups I eventually had to go to a downtown office to pick up my passport, and didn't actually have it in hand until a week and one day after it was sent. But this was all due to an excess of caution on the part of Travel All Russia, so that's really a good thing.