On board the Lev Tolstoy we were greeted by a lady in traditional costume bearing the gift of bread and salt for our "welcoming ceremony" - complying with tradition we broke off a piece of bread and dipped it into the salt before eating it .

The history of our boat is interesting. It was commissioned by high ranking Kremlin officials to host foreign dignitaries in the 1970’s and had been refurbished as a cruise boat in 2007.  We wondered what interesting stories our cabins could tell. Lev Tolstoy can accommodate 160 passengers however 108 were expected to be on board for our cruise.

Russia has a policy whereby only a certain number of river boats can hold a licence at any given time. Even the new luxurious Scenic Tsar is an old boat that has been totally refurbished. You can understand why these restrictions apply as the waterway between the two major cities are controlled by a lock system therefore can become congested with the constant movement of dredges, barges, tankers, cargo and logging boats without overloading it with too many cruise boats.

The Lev Tolstoy was just as I’d imagined her to be. After booking in and being allocated our cabins, credit cards and table number for dinner we went exploring to get our bearings . The boat had everything you need – lovely lounges, several bars, a small swimming pool, a great dining room with each table boasting river views, a tea and coffee station, a library, hairdresser, doctor, masseur, a gift shop, some Gym equipment but best of all four great decks to stroll along.

I was pleased that both Trevor and Sal were impressed with the boat. When you go out on a limb and book something that isn’t mainstream there is always an element of doubt about the product you have booked. Fortunately, we all liked what we saw and were happily looking forward to spending the next 6 nights on board. We would have liked to be spending the scheduled 7 nights but had to be satisfied with 6 nights due to issues with getting back to St. Petersburg in time to catch our flight to London.

I had booked a Junior Suite for Trev and I which ended up being double the size of a normal cabin and included a fridge, TV and sitting area .  For Sal I had booked a twin cabin for single use – so she also had plenty of room. By comparison the European boats are more luxurious than the Russian boats however the Russian cruises are much cheaper therefore an upgrade to a suite is affordable and not cost prohibitive.

After unpacking and stowing the suitcases it was time for the "meet and greet" with all the other English speaking people on board. The meet and greet introduced us to our tour guide Olga who is a 24 year old Russian with the ability to speak four languages fluently. If Olga is an example of modern Russian youth this country is in very good hands. She was the most delightful person to have as our guide.

Our English speaking group was small in number with only 16 attending our first get-together however we did learn that another 7 would be joining the boat the following morning. Our final group of 23 comprised 10 Americans, 3 Canadians, 1 Scot, and 7 Australians plus one honorary member who is Russian but had joined our group with his American girlfriend. The other groups were, Russian, French and the biggest group Spanish.

It was interesting when meeting our group for the first time you could tell everyone was assessing who they would like to share their dinner table with and perhaps more importantly, who they wouldn’t. We were guilty of doing the same and secretly hoped we would be placed with the Scottish sisters as they seemed like a lot of fun. Ironically, although the sisters were both Scottish born, one introduced herself as Australian having been a primary school principal in Tasmania for the past 30 odd years and her sister was a retired accountant still living in Glasgow.

Our wish was granted when we were placed at the same table with the sisters and our sixth table member turned out to be Sylvia, a retired High School Principal from Queensland. So our select group for the cruise had been established and we were more than happy with what had been selected for us.