We're home from our 9 week European trip which included 3 Ama Waterways cruises, the final one being Moscow to St Petersburg on the AmaKatarina. Although our food was far better than reported on Tsars, it still isn't up to Western Europe Ama cuisine. Even though the meat wasn't overcooked, they have inferior quality and they try to "Westernize" it. The lunch time stews, stroganoff, goulash & chicken in a gravy were very tasty and they should concentrate on that type of selection at dinner. The soups & salads were very good and breakfast was plentiful. 2 meals we had off the ship as part of the full day tours were excellent. The borscht on the ship was good but the borschts we had in towns had more pork and flavor in them. The wine on board was good. They had Spanish & Australian occasionally but the Russian Cabernet was very good and we drank that at the bar as well (after the Russian vodka starter of course.)

It was the first cruise of the season and a lot of the crew were new and still learning. After 6 months or more of not speaking English they were a bit rusty but tried really hard. The onboard guides & cruise director spoke excellent English and did an excellent job. Other than one cold morning in St Petersburg, the weather couldn't have been better. It was sunny & warm every day and the small towns we visited were a real treat.

There was a restaurant at the dock where we were tied up in St Petersburg and we ate there one night. It was an Azerbaijan restaurant and the food & wine were excellent.