route: Saint Petersburg - Moscow
This cruise has been planned for a long time. Tickets for this flight were purchased at the end of January; we had to wait seven long months for departure, but the time flew by surprisingly quickly. Train tickets have been ordered, things have been collected, and head to Leningradsky Station. I must say that our entire extended family went on this cruise.
We arrived at the station an hour before the train departed. I won’t go into details of our train journey to the city on the Neva, but I will say one thing, we give the Grand Express train a solid A for cleanliness in the cars, for service by conductors, for accuracy in adhering to the schedule.
The first day. Saint Petersburg
St. Petersburg greeted us with warm and sunny weather; the driver of the previously ordered minibus met us on the platform and, taking a porter, we went to the station square. I’ll warn everyone, negotiate with the porters in advance and specifically, as they really like to fool visitors. For two large suitcases, which he took to the parking lot, he asked for one thousand rubles (however, he received only three hundred from me - as agreed at the beginning). Don't repeat our mistakes in dealing with such people. Well, okay, we have a long-awaited cruise ahead of us and we’re in a great mood.
Having dropped our things, we went to the Hermitage at the Meteor pier. “Meteor” arrived 30 minutes before Petrodvorets, we were limited in time, and each of us was not in Peterhof for the first time, so we spent most of the time jumping under the streams of joker fountains.
Returning to the city, we visited Palace Square, St. Isaac's Cathedral, and admired the monument to Peter the Great, but we had to return to the river station. After wandering around the piers we returned to the ship. There were five minutes left before the cruise started.
The cruise has begun. "Shevchenko" headed for Valaam. Everyone was invited to a general meeting, where the captain introduced the crew and management of the cruise. Then there was a gala dinner to mark the start of the cruise. We spent the rest of the day on the sun deck, photographing the banks of the Neva. After the ship passed the Oreshek fortress and entered Lake Ladoga, the only strength left was to sleep.
Second day. Balaam
Outside the window is Valaam, the weather is cloudy, but there is no rain. Light breakfast and off to the excursion. The walking tour lasted two and a half hours. Everyone survived, even the oldest Germans.
After returning to the pier, we rented a boat to see the islands of the archipelago from the water. The owner of the boat turned out to be a local resident, in his passport on the registration page he indicated the island of Valaam, cell 114. In the mid-90s, two apartment buildings with all amenities were built for the residents of the island in the city of Sortavala. Those who wanted had the opportunity to move, but Valera refused to exchange stove heating for comfort. He was born on Valaam and wants to stay on the island all his life. I advise everyone to take a boat ride; the impressions are much greater than from a sightseeing walking tour.
After lunch, a meeting of the Russian group took place. The majority of the people on the ship were Germans, a few Japanese and about twenty Russians. As always, among our tourists there were a couple of dissatisfied people who were irritated by the announcements in German, and they did not take into account the guides’ explanations that the majority of tourists were Germans. On all my cruises I always came across these, the most important thing is not to pay attention to them.
A ship's drill was announced. It's fun for everyone. Crowds of tourists in orange life jackets rushed along the deck and laughed loudly. Then the dance school began. Not a single Russian tourist came, but there was not enough room for the Germans. It’s sad, but I think our people are probably embarrassed, but this shouldn’t be done. Active participation in all the programs offered will make it more diverse, and therefore there will be fewer complaints about entertainers and cruise directors. Evening came imperceptibly. After dinner I went on deck to write this story.
A few words about the ship. The motor ship is the newest of all that sail along the rivers of Russia. The motor ship of project 302 MK was built in 1991. Unlike other ships, it has eight double cabins on the sun deck. We were accommodated in cabins 409, 410, 503 on the boat and sun decks.
Linen is changed daily, cleaning is done twice a day, beds are laid out and made, and each tourist is given candy on his pillow before going to bed. In the evenings they distribute information for the next day.
The food is excellent. There are two restaurants on the ship: “Kyiv” on the middle deck and “Odessa” on the boat deck. Two bars, hairdresser, buffet, souvenir kiosk. A special word about the laundry: you hand over your clothes in the evening, and in the morning, after breakfast, they hang clean and ironed in the closet. Very comfortably. In the evening there is live music in the bow bar and dancing upstairs. The cabins on the sun deck are located next to the dance bar, but you can’t hear the music at all, so you can easily fall asleep. This ship does not have a conference room, but when general events take place, chairs are quickly arranged in the dance hall.
In the evening, a film was shown in the reading room, which is located in the bow of the middle deck; nowadays this is a rarity; on all ships of projects 301 and 302 these rooms have been converted into bars.
Well, the second day of our journey has ended. Lights out.
Day three. Mandrogi
In the morning we were woken up by bird voices, albeit from the radio. Coming out on deck, it became clear that the ship had been standing for several hours in the morning fog. The motor ship “Petrokrepost” stood nearby, accompanied by two pushers. It is clear that the new owners took a thorough approach to the matter. The ship is being completely rebuilt. "Shevchenko" turned on the radars and quietly sailed to the first lock on our route. All the decks, all the deck furniture, were wet from the fog. The sailors did their best, wiping down the deck facilities entrusted to them.
Twenty minutes later the sun came out and the ship began locking. There were no places on the bow of the boat deck; all the German and Japanese tourists poured out with photo and video equipment in order to take memorable photographs. After the ship entered the chamber, this entire crowd rushed to the stern to take photographs of the closing gates.
We arrived in Mandrogi an hour late. There was no excursion, everyone was left to their own devices. We chose a trip to Lukomorye. Three years ago they made a fairytale trail, with characters from Pushkin’s fairy tales carved from wood. There are also real animals there, I think it’s very interesting for children to see animals from fairy tales: hares (I think these are rabbits), raccoons, moose calves, chickens, pheasants, wild boars. An interesting ferry, if you want to pay less, turn it yourself, but if you don’t want to turn it, pay more. We did everything not to save money, but in order to lose excess weight gained on the ship, because they feed us “for slaughter.” It's a pity that there are no scales on the ship. The food is varied: fish, vegetables, fruits. Prices in bars are very low, although the main range consists of Ukrainian-made drinks (beer, vodka, cognac), but there are various imported vermouths, whiskey, etc.
The ship left Mandrog an hour later than scheduled. We passed through another lock and listened to a lecture on Russian art. Before dinner we went for an evening cocktail. Yes, I forgot to say that prices in Mandrogi for souvenirs have become prohibitive, for example, a simple postcard costs 35 rubles. Horror. In the evening, an orchestra consisting of young guys played. Then dancing. The evening passed quickly, it was time to sleep. Tomorrow we will wake up at six in the morning, the walking tour on Kizhi Island will begin at seven in the morning.
Day four. Kizhi
“Shevchenko” was not late. At six in the morning the birds sang, at six-thirty there was breakfast, and at seven everyone poured out onto the pier. We were lucky, we were the first group to set foot on the famous island, because by eight in the morning there were six ships docked at the island.
The sightseeing tour lasted two hours, after which all foreign tourists rushed to buy souvenirs; they were warned about the high prices in Mandrogi. I won’t describe the excursion, everyone knows everything. At ten in the morning “Shevchenko” headed for Goritsy.
Tourists from Japan were vacationing on the ship, so for the entertainment of the Russian group, the first lecture on the Japanese language was held. We learned the basic words, and then everyone came up to the Japanese and said hello, goodbye and wished them a good mood. The Japanese were delighted. After lunch, the “Walk a Mile” game took place: older and younger tourists ran circles on different decks of the ship. Funny.
At four o'clock in the afternoon the ship entered Volgobalt. Together with “Shevchenko”, “Chekhov” was locked in all the locks. In the evening there was a concert of instrumental music, after which they showed a film for a Russian group. The program is structured in such a way that not a single tourist gets bored.
I forgot to tell you that when the ship was sailing along Lake Onega there was an excursion to the wheelhouse and the engine room. Interestingly, the ship's wheelhouse is moved forward and less obstructs the view from the captain's bridge.
The day ended with dancing at the bar on the sun deck. Tomorrow Goritsy.
Day five. Goritsy
You don't have to get up early today. The ship will arrive in Goritsy at twelve o'clock. But the birds sang at seven in the morning. We spent the whole morning on the sun deck, photographing oncoming ships. Dinner was served very early, at eleven o'clock.
A huge number of motor ships have accumulated at the berths, and as you know, there are few comfortable buses, so only the signs on the windshield were changed: “Mosturflot”, “Orthodox”, “Vodokhod”. Everything is on time.
Having arrived in Kirillov, we didn’t go on a tour with everyone else, but walked through a small gate to the lake, then climbed the fortress walls of the monastery and looked at a new exhibition. We walked separately from the groups, such grace.
Returning to the ship, we went to see the interior of Anton Chekhov. We liked the ship and decided that we would spend one of our next cruises on it. After departure, a tea ceremony took place, with an abundance of pastries, jam and other sweets. Before dinner there was a second Japanese language lesson, and after dinner there was an evening of Russian romance. A new film was shown for the Russian group. In the evening there is dancing on the program.
The day turned out to be long, many tourists were waiting for the entrance to Rybinka and Cherepovets, fortunately the weather allowed. Tomorrow Uglich.
Day six. Uglich
In the morning the German guide “sang” instead of the birds. It turned out that Myshkin was overboard. After breakfast the ship arrived in Uglich. I won’t tell you what you already know. The usual walking tour took place. The parking lot in Uglich was delayed for two hours, everyone wandered aimlessly around the city, and if in the morning there were seven ships at the piers, then in the afternoon there was only one “Shevchenko” left. Still, parking for six hours is a bit much for Uglich.
Before dinner, I went to the hairdresser on the ship, just out of curiosity, since in all my cruises this is the first ship where the barber works.
After dinner, the ship passed Kalyazin. Foreigners took photos and videos in the pouring rain. Three hours later we arrived at our native Sosenki - quite late, at the sanitary station. At night we entered the first lock of KiMa and turned towards Tver. Tomorrow in Tver the parking lot is nine hours.
Day seven. Tver
Tver greeted tourists with pouring rain. At nine in the morning the sightseeing tour of the city began, lasted two hours, then everyone was brought to the Tver Art Gallery.
As always, there was an unpleasant moment with the excursion buses. All tourists got the same buses, both Germans and Japanese, but ours found something to complain about. Several people wanted to file a complaint, but soon the rain passed, the sun came out and the conflict resolved itself. After lunch and until six o'clock in the evening we had free time, had a good walk around the city, and saw the Kalinin River Station.
An hour after departure, the captain invited all the tourists to a cocktail, one of the Japanese made a speech in Russian, and the Germans sang a song. During the cruise, everyone managed to make friends - a complete idyll.
The cruise is coming to an end, so we can take stock.
Motor ship. They scrub around the clock, everything is in order, the cabins are cleaned three times a day.
Restaurant. During the seven days of travel, there were no repetitions on the menu, tasty, and most importantly healthy food. The service is fast and unobtrusive.
Bars. The prices are very reasonable, the range is sufficient for a variety of pastimes. The laundry and hairdressing salon are top notch in terms of quality service.
Information. Everything is fine. We give the ship a solid five. They decided to conduct the next cruise on the Shevchenko along the route Kyiv - Odessa - Tulcha - Nessebar.
By eleven o'clock the ship entered the canal, now you definitely realize that the cruise is ending, so go to the bar.
Day eight. Moscow.
Well, here is Moscow, Northern River Station. Home.
P.S. The most important thing is that it’s not so sad to leave the ship, because the next day we get on the train and catch up with “Chapaev” in Cheboksary, and my parents and friends are already there. Like this!
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"Taras Bulba" is the most fun ship in the Urals. It differs from other ships in its wide range of services. For the first time, a basketball and football hall was installed on board the ship, which allows tourists on the ship to play street ball and mini-football. In addition to the full list of free services, tourists on the ship are offered several types of beer free of charge, which are bottled in the bar on the main deck, in accordance with the established operating hours of the bar.
Main characteristics of the motor ship "Taras Bulba"
Overall dimensions of the vessel: length - 95.84 m
Width - 14.38
Maximum height with add-ons - 14.48
The maximum speed of the ship is 23 km/h
Total nominal passenger capacity - 233 people
The vessel was built in Germany in 1958, project number 588
Ship diagram:
Lux
Location: boat deck, bow of the ship
In the cabin: two beds, sofa book, bathroom, hairdryer, air conditioning, refrigerator, DVD, TV, dressing table
Accommodation: 2-bed
Single
Boat deck. In the cabin: one berth, washbasin
1 class
2-berth cabin. Located on the middle deck. The cabin has two berths, a washbasin
Comfort
2-berth cabin. Located on the middle deck.
The cabin has a double bed, a sofa bed, a bathroom with shower, air conditioning, a refrigerator, and a TV.
2-seater
4-seater
Located on the main deck, the central part of the ship.
2-seater
Two sleeping places (bunk arrangement), washbasin
4-seater
Located on the lower deck, the central part of the ship.
Four sleeping places (two-tier arrangement), washbasin.
Nutrition
3 meals a day in a restaurant on an order basis
ALL BEER INCLUDED
- This type of service is used only by tourists who have reached the age of 18 on the date of the tour
- beer is bottled only in the varieties established by the administration, in strictly designated places and under the established dispensing regime.
- Beer is sold only in the bartender's container
Additional services
- Excursion services (according to the program)
- Cultural and entertainment program on board the ship
- At the parking lots in the city of Tchaikovsky, the Aqualand water amusement park with an entertaining show program will be offered to tourists.
Diesel-electric ship “T.G.SHEVCHENKO” (“V.I.LENIN”)- a double-deck passenger ship with cabins for 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 passengers. Some cabins were equipped with washbasins. The ship had two restaurants and two salons.
Motor ship "T.G.SHEVCHENKO" ("V.I.LENIN") was built in 1958 at the Národný Podnik Škoda Komárno shipyard in Komárno in Czechoslovakia.
In 1958, the ship "V.I.LENIN" was delivered to Dnepropetrovsk, where it came into the possession of the Dnepropetrovsk River Shipping Company. Here he worked on tourist passenger lines on the lower Dnieper. The diesel-electric ship bore its original name until 1980, when it was renamed "T.G.SHEVCHENKO".
In 1986, the ship "T.G.SHEVCHENKO" took part in the liquidation of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The ship was used as a hotel for the accident liquidators, as well as to supply electricity to coastal services. To use the ship in winter, it, like other ships, was covered with plywood with insulation.
In October 1989, the ship "T.G.SHEVCHENKO", like many of his other “colleagues,” left the base in Strakholesye and was transported to Kyiv in the Hydropark area. However, he was no longer destined to get back into service. The ship was abandoned and began to deteriorate. In 1994, a fire occurred on the ship while it was laid up. As a result, the ship tilted and lay on the bottom.
To date, the ship's hull has been almost completely sawn apart.
Technical characteristics of the ship "T.G.SHEVCHENKO" ("V.I.LENIN")
|
Length |
80 .2 m |
|
Width |
14 m |
|
Draft |
1.9 m |
|
Number of decks |
2 |
|
Travel speed |
20.5 km/h |
|
Passenger capacity |
140 people |
| Maximum passenger capacity | 233 people |
| engine's type | 6NVD48 diesel four-stroke non-compressor reversible |
|
Number of engines |
The motor ship "Shota Rustaveli" was built in 1968 at the shipyard " Mathias Thesen Werft", Germany. There is a beautiful interior on board the liner: paintings, tapestries and ornaments in the Georgian style, bright, spacious cabins with showers, most of which have safes.
For comfortable conditions, the vessel is equipped with stabilizers. For the relaxation of passengers on the ship, there are two swimming pools and saunas, a gym, a massage room, a sports ground on the upper deck, a cinema hall, a disco, seven bars with a menu for every taste, and one of them is a night bar, a casino, an arcade, a children's club, shops , hairdresser and medical center. Motor ship was built by order of the USSR Ministry of the Navy for the Black Sea region and was considered the fourth in a series of five ships of the same type. Was the head liner "Ivan Franko" built in 1964, then launched « Alexander Pushkin» in 1965, « Taras Shevchenko» in 1966, followed by « Shota Rustaveli» and ended the series "Mikhail Lermontov" in 1971.
photographs of the motor ship "Assedo" ("Shota Rustaveli")
motor ship "Assedo"
motor ship "Assedo" in the port of Sevastopol in 2002
motor ship "Assedo" in the port of Dubrovnik
interior in Georgian style
on the deck of the motor ship "Assedo"
cruise ship "Assedo"
gym on board the ship
Since July 1968, passenger liner "Shota Rustaveli" began sailing between the ports of Odessa and Batumi, and two months later reached the shores of Great Britain. At the port of Southampton motor ship took tourists on board and set off on a three-month round the world cruise. The voyage passed through the ports of Las Palmas, Sydney, Auckland, Papeete and Panama. During such a long journey, the ship left almost 26,000 nautical miles astern and crossed the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans, as well as the Tasman and Caribbean seas.
Passenger ship chartered by various foreign companies " Grandi Viaggi», « Italnord», « Orientourist», « Transtour" and others. The guests of the comfortable liner were tourists from the republics of the Soviet Union, including prominent personalities - on August 20, 1973, Vladimir Vysotsky, Marina Vladi and her two sons, Pierre and Voldemar, traveled on the ship.
In 2002, after completion of lengthy repairs in the port of Sevastopol motor ship with a new name " Assedo» (in reverse order it means Odessa is the ship’s home port), as the property of the company " Kaalbye Shipping Ltd Ukraine", began to commit cruise voyages in the Black, Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas, as well as visiting the ports of Western Europe.
Soon after long transitions, the technical condition liner " Assedo» deteriorated and no longer met the ever-increasing international requirements, and on November 28, 2003, the ship was sent for cutting into scrap metal to the Indian port Alang.
the fate of other ships in the series turned out differently
Motor ship "Ivan Franko» head series cruise ships After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it was the first to be scrapped in 1997.
motor ship "Ivan Franko"
motor ship "Alexander Pushkin"
motor ship "Alexandr Pushkin"
motor ship "Alexandr Pushkin" in the port
Liner " Alexander Pushkin» after construction in 1965, she made voyages on the cruise line Leningrad and Montreal, and later, after refitting in Germany, the ship began to cruise around the world with passengers from Germany, Great Britain and France. In 1992, after a short period of inactivity in the port of Singapore, the ship was sold to the company " Shipping & General"and sent to Greece for major refurbishment, renamed " Marco Polo" In 2000, the ship became the property of the company " Orient Line».
liner "Marco Polo"
bar on the ship “Marco Polo”
library on board the Marco Polo liner
A significant reconstruction was carried out, after which liner found a second life. Four passenger elevators, swimming pool, casino, library, bars, famous restaurant " Seven Seas» with 450 seats. Salon for performances " Ambassador"for 438 visitors, and the dance salon for 220 people. On
Motor ship "T. G. Shevchenko"- a four-deck passenger river vessel, built in September 1991 at a shipyard in the city of Boitzenburg (Germany).
After construction, the ship received a name and entered the Intersectoral State Association, where it was assigned to Kherson. In the first half of the 1990s, the ship was not used for its intended purpose due to lack of loading: from 1992 to 1995 it was used as a floating hotel at the marine terminal in Odessa. At the same time, the sea liner “Taras Shevchenko” (Ivan Franko type) of the Black Sea Shipping Company was also stationed there. To avoid confusion, Ukrrichflot changed the name of its vessel to "T. G. Shevchenko."
Since 1996, T. G. Shevchenko" began to make cruises on the route Odessa - Kyiv. For operation on the Black Sea on the main deck of the vessel, all observation windows were replaced with portholes.
In 2003, the ship made a unique voyage: on one cruise it called at the ports of Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Russia, visiting, respectively, the cities of Nessebar, Tulcea, Odessa, Yalta, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Saratov, Samara, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod , Kostroma, Yaroslavl and St. Petersburg. The cruise was dedicated to the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. Starting from this year and until 2006 inclusive, the motor ship “T. G. Shevchenko" made cruises from Ukraine to Russia, lasting more than three weeks, calling at Moscow, Tver, St. Petersburg, Tchaikovsky and other cities.
From 2007 to 2010 inclusive, the ship again operated on the Black Sea and the Dnieper (Bulgaria - Romania - Ukraine). The operator of the ship was the Russian cruise company Orthodox.
In August 2010, the motor ship “T. G. Shevchenko" was withdrawn from cruise work and sold from the company "Ukrrichflot" to the Kazakh company "Caspian Ak Zhelken", for use as a floating hostel for workers of the Kazakh oil and gas industry, located in the northern part of the Caspian Sea. After the necessary modernization for this, which took place in Astrakhan in 2010-2011, in the spring of 2011 the ship changed the Ukrainian flag to the Kazakh one, and its home port of Kherson to Aktau.
From the spring of 2011 to the autumn of 2014, the ship operated in Kazakhstan, and from the autumn of 2014 to the present time, Shevchenko has been working as a floating hostel at the Russian oil and gas company Lukoil, also located on the Caspian Sea, 190 km from Astrakhan. In March 2016, the ship received its home port of Novorossiysk. The shipowner is the shipping company "Ark".
In mid-October 2018, the ship arrived in Rostov-on-Don, where it will undergo re-equipment and modernization, after which it will go into operation and begin river cruises with foreign tourists.
