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Tomorrow I go to the Small Claims Court

Despite trying all I can to obtain my refund from this terrible and uncaring Company the Director's and Senior Manger's continue to arrogantly ignore me. So after 142 days I am left with no choice but to take it to the Small Claims Court. Please, please if you are thinking of using this Company, think again they have no respect for their Customers and will keep your money if things go wrong!!!!

Date of experience : October 06, 2020

162 days and still no refund

162 days and still no refund. No one from Planet Cruise is able or refusing to tell me where I am in the refund list. I've been waiting for over a week for the customer care manager to get a response from the account department. Planet cruise obviously work in silos. I cannot understand why departments are not communicating with one another. No one is able to tell me how they are implementing the refund process. I'm sorry to say this company is presenting as shambolic. The only emails I get are generalised that DO NOT answer any questions posed. All I can say is be extremely wary of giving any money to Planet Cruise. Disgraceful

Date of experience : September 29, 2020

Booking ref 942875. I am pleased to advise Company have now paid my outstanding balance in full. Many thanks to Anna for her assistance.

Booking ref 942875. My wife and myself booked a Baltic Cruise. The cruise was cancelled by company who went into administration. We submitted claim through ABTA who eventually paid up less the sum of £346.70 which we were told would be paid by Planet Cruise. They agreed we were due this sum but said ABTA should pay! It is close to a year since these funds were paid. I am extremely disappointed by the shocking customer service we have received and will never use them again.

Date of experience : February 08, 2021

DO NOT EVER BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY THEY…

DO NOT EVER BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY THEY ARE HORRENDOUS. MOVED MY MONEY TO SOMEONE ELSES BOOKING WONT DO WHAT I ASKED HAVE PHONED 8 TIMES IN THE SPACE OF 2 WEEKS TO GET MY MONEY BACK ON MY BOKKING AND STILL NOT DONE IT AND STILL WAITING ON A REFUND THEY SAY THEY GOING TO LOOK INTO AND RING YOU BACK NEVER RING BACK WHEN THEY SAY THEY ARE GOING TO. ONE PERSON DAYS THEY WILL.LOOK INTO THE PROBLEM WHEN YOU PHONE BACK AGAIN THEY HAVENT EVEN LOOKED INTO IT WILL NEVER BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY AGAIN

Date of experience : December 06, 2021

Iglu you are the worst organisation…

Iglu you are the worst organisation ever! You are destroying the lives of people and impacting on peoples health! Continued false promises! You were on ITV yesterday and Wimbledon press I am sure they would love to hear our story!

Date of experience : September 10, 2020

I booked a cruise and stay in the…

I booked a cruise and stay in the Caribbean from Barbados but because of covid we decided to change the cruise to a med cruise later in the year. We were expecting a refund pretty quickly but instead we're still waiting in may for a refund in January

Date of experience : May 13, 2022

Still waiting for OVERPAYMENT REFUND.

Having rebooked a cancelled cruise through Planet Cruise on 12/11/2020 we are still waiting for a refund of £612 which a result of an OVERPAYMENT !! refund due as the cabin rebooked was of a lower price. The rebooked cruise is with the same cruise line. It is now 165 days and counting. Despite several phone calls and emails which tell me my refund is being dealt with still waiting. Had know this would happen I would have gone for full refund Planet cruise have has OUR money since 2/9/2019 when we paid in full for cancelled original cruise. Do not use this company.

Date of experience : April 26, 2021

Still waiting for cancelled cruise…

Still waiting for cancelled cruise refund after 135 days! What is particularly appalling is IGLU/Planet Cruise's refusal to commit to a refund date. This company must be acting in breach of it's travel agency licence - if not, there is a clear case for stronger regulation of such intermediaries given that they are handling significant amounts of customer funds.

Date of experience : August 28, 2020

I want my money back. Its been 9 months.

On April 1st 2020 I paid £466 deposit for a Dubai holiday with Planet Cruise. The holiday was cancelled. To date, 5th January 2021 I have not been refunded. I have written many, many emails, given my details for the refund, been told my claim has been escalated but still no refund. As an older person I should not have this kind of worry in my life. I would like to say that this holiday was not cancelled because of the Covid pandemic. The P and O ship was sold. Selling a ship is not something that happens overnight and I imagine that when the holiday was booked the plan to sell was already in the pipeline,- just nobody told me. Let this be a warning to anybody thinking of booking a cruise with Planet Cruise in these uncertain times. I am now going to take this further. I feel that I have been very badly treated.

Date of experience : January 06, 2021

You just can't speak to anyone one the…

You just can't speak to anyone one the robot chat is useless. Worst customer service I've encountered in a long time.

Date of experience : January 24, 2024

Despite you having my cruise refund…

Despite you having my cruise refund money, still no refund for the cruise sailing 17th March. Sadly also a second cruise now cancelled and know what a battle I'm in for due to your greed!! Worse if all, we have another cruise booked with you next April and still paying each month faithfully! Never ever will I cruise with you/iglu again. So I get an email from trust pilot asking if I will share additional information with Planet cruise, booking ref etc. Immediately provided by me. They send a generic email not even to my email address, but to my husbands who has had zero contact with them whatsoever... Why to him when I am lead passenger and the onky email correspondence in our records? Yes I know why to avoid.... Email is apologising, blaming the pandemic, unable to confirm when I will get our refund but we are priority, blah blah bulls**t. I immediately reply as my husband forwarded the email to me. I made our views abundantly clear and will do everything within my peer now to ensure this company are fully exposed. Never ever will I book another cruise with this abysmal company. Anyone associated with this scandalous behaviour are as bad. 179 days still nothing!!!

Date of experience : September 12, 2020

Ive booked a cruise with this company…

Ive booked a cruise with this company and Ive rung them 4 times to amend the booking. Every time I have been cut off! I have emailed them several times as well and no replies to them either. Absolutely pathetic, with zero customer service.

Date of experience : July 28, 2023

175 DAYS AND STILL WAITING

My Aunt and Uncle were due to cruise with P&O in March 2020. Their cruise which was booked through Planet (owned by Iglu) was cancelled on March 11th 2020. Still no refund after 175 days. Today I have signed the Which petition and enlisted the help of their MP to try to get their refund processed. DO NOT BOOK A HOLIDAY THROUGH IGLU.

Date of experience : September 03, 2020

Do not give this company your money

Do not give this company your hard earned money! Princess Cruise confirm that planet cruise never made the payment for our cruise that we paid for in March! So they have sat on our money since that date. Our cruise was cancelled about 6 weeks later and here we are 153 days on and Planet Cruise still have our £10K! Promised we’d have it in 90 days then 120 days, now I don’t even get a reply from. Absolute shower of a company

Date of experience : October 07, 2020

Absolutely shocking level of service

Planet Cruise should be avoided at all costs as we have had a terrible experience and we have not even left home for our cruise! It all started with the cancellation of our Easy Jet flight and has went down hill from there. We only found out about the cancellation when trying to check in, not sure when Planet Cruise would have told us. Emirates flight not released until we pushed them. Eventually had to contact MSC Cruises to ask them to send our cruise tickets to Planet Cruise as they had not requested them. This was less than 10 days before we depart. Had to rearrange the trains ourselves and the list goes on. When you do get through to customer services [ waiting time easily more than 40 mins] the people do not appear to really understand what they are doing. They will say people are sick or are trainees with minimal support. I requested to speak to Management however you have to wait up to 48 hours to get a call back. 60 hours have past and still waiting... We have paid Planet Cruise in excess of 16,000 pounds for a terrible service. Beware! PS If you press option 1 on their phone line for sales it is answered in approx. 3 minutes!

Date of experience : November 07, 2019

I am posting this as all my previous…

I am posting this as all my previous comments have disappeared still waiting for my refund from March this company is a joke and all I can say thieves

Date of experience : November 16, 2020

Shocking Customer Service

We have not even gone on the cruise yet and I am dreading the whole experience. The customer service is non existent and for the last 3 days I have spent 7 hours on the phone to sort my cruise out. This cruise is one that was cancelled last year due to Covid. We transferred it and expected it to be fine. All paperwork has been sent for last years cruise nothing has been changed i.e. name of ship, cruise date etc. On receiving our tickets and and guest booklet on 9th July I find two balcony cabins that were booked next to each and confirmed on 22nd January 2022 are now 2 decks apart. I have spoken to Planet/Iglu who say that it is Royal Caribbean and that they have had difficulty contacting Royal Caribbean for a response. I have called Royal Caribbean myself tonight to be told Planet need to make the changes as was advised Sunday 10th July. They are unable to make any changes. Where do I go next?????? Planet even told me as a goodwill gesture Royal Caribbean was offering me $100 good will. I have told them I don't want the goodwill I want two cabins next to each other as booked. It is a first cruise for my daughter and family and as my grandson is disabled we wanted to be next to them. No one is helping resolve this. I will not be cruising with RC again and not booking any future getaways with Planet/Iglu. Feeling nervous about the whole situation.

Date of experience : July 11, 2022

Terrible service

Terrible service, waited a week for a reply, and the info was no more than what’s on the Planet Cruise website. Utter rubbish .

Date of experience : September 19, 2022

Thieves! Still not got back my money from a cruise cancelled in May. 167 days £3200, fobbed off god knows how many times with excuses. If you want to lose money go ahead and book. Check out the FACEBOOK IGLU REFUND ACTION GROUP FOR PROOF.

They have stolen my money!!!

I often tune into the Planet Cruise programme on Ideal World on a regular basis and came across the perfect holiday in 2019 sailing on one of the NCL ships to Canada and America in 2020. I was so excited by this trip that I paid a deposit of £450 straightaway to secure it. But unfortunately before I could pay off the rest of it, the pandemic happened and it was cancelled, however I was given the option of transferring it to 2021, which I was more than happy to do! In June this year I received an e-mail to say that yet again the cruise had been cancelled, which was really disappointing, but on this occasion I decided to ask for a refund! In order to get the refund, I had to progress chase on a couple of occasions. I eventually received my refund but minus £50.00. When I asked over a period of 2 months why I was only refunded £400.00, no one could give me an answer as to why they had kept back £50.00. To cut a long story short, at the time of writing this review, they still have not refunded me the full amount, and each time I called them to try and sort it out, I was basically fobbed off. Therefore as far as I am concern they have effectively, STOLEN MY MONEY! Thank goodness I had not paid the full amount at the time for £3,600. All I can say is don’t book with Norwegian Cruise Liner, Planet Cruise, or Igloo whatever they call themselves, as between them they are a total rip off! Just think depending on how many passengers were booked on that ship, if they kept £50.00 back from each passenger, then they have made a lot of money without the ship sailing anywhere! So somebody somewhere is gathering a lot of interests on all our money! These brands as far as I am concern have definitely been damaged, and I would strongly suggest that Ideal World severs their partnership with Planet Cruise as it will also be responsible for damaging their brand, because judging by other reviews no-one trusts Planet Cruise anymore!!!

Date of experience : September 08, 2021

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Russian River Cruise – Waterways of the Tsars

Updated December 14, 2017

// By Margherita

Back to Russia! Did you follow our Russian river cruise in August and September? We travelled between Moscow and St Petersburg on the Waterways of the Tsars Viking River Cruise – here’s what we got up to!

We both share a deep connection with Russia. I was named after the heroine of Master and Margarita , one of the best Russian books of the 20th century. Nick is actually of Russian ancestry – his maternal great-grandparents were from St Petersburg, and spent the best part of 50 years wandering around Europe escaping wars and revolutions, before settling in Australia .

Russia has been at the top of our travel dreams for several years , but somehow something always came up whenever we made plans to visit. Once we couldn’t get a visa on time. Another time we couldn’t get time off. Winter is too cold, summer is too hot.

This year, Russia was one of our travel resolutions . Our desire was for the trip to be special – something different from what we’d done so far. We wanted a higher level of comfort, help with visa arrangements, and a trip that would help us understand the country we longed to visit for so many years . The Waterways of the Tsars river cruise with Viking ticked all boxes, so we made arrangements for a departure from Moscow in late August.

Things to Know Before a Russian River Cruise with Viking

When we announced our friends we would be travelling on a Russian river cruise , some of them were really surprised. A CRUISE? You guys are such hardcore independent travellers! What are you doing ON A CRUISE with all those OLD PEOPLE? True, the average age on a Viking river cruise might be a fair bit higher than 35 – but really, who is to say we wouldn’t enjoy the experience?

This awesome post by One Modern Couple  really nails the point – a Viking river cruise is an experience that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. In their words ‘River cruises are cultural, experiential, educational and scenic. Enjoy the ride, take in the surroundings, learn about the countries you are visiting – from history to local life, food to language – and experience the destinations in a thoughtful way.’ 

Whether you’re 30, 60 or 90, it doesn’t really matter.

Secondly,  who’s to say that travelling in a group is not ‘real’ travel? We have always been (and continue to be) lovers of independent travel, but sometimes you just can’t beat the insights given to you by a local guide . Viking River Cruises offer plenty of guided tours included in the cruise price, all led by experienced local guides.

Meals were always excellent – breakfast and lunch included a combination of buffet and à la carte specialties, while dinner was always à la carte. Every day we were given the choice to sample some Russian specialties, like beef stroganoff, borsch, pelmeni, solyanka and lots of delicious desserts.

Another great plus of a Russian river cruise with Viking is that during sailing time lots of cultural activities are on offer – things like cooking demonstrations, Russian language lessons and lectures about Russian history and culture, led by the local tour escorts who were with us for the whole duration of the trip. On top of that, every day we received a briefing detailing the following day’s activities, optional excursions and that night’s menu.

Whenever we passed points of interest on the boat, such as Mother Volga statue or the sunken Kalyazin Cathedral, we were always called out on the loudspeaker to make sure we wouldn’t miss them. There was no pressure to join in any of the activities – we could spend the whole day chilling on the deck or on our veranda, looking at the beautiful colourful churches built on the riverbank, surrounded by nothing but nature.

Waterways of the Tsars – the Itinerary

The Waterways of the Tsars cruise is 13 days long, starting either in Moscow or in St. Petersburg . Most Russian river cruises had always been described to me as ‘Volga Cruises’ – in fact, our boat cruised along a variety of waterways, including the Moscow Canal, the Volga-Baltic Waterway, the Rybinsk Reservoir, Lake Onega and Ladoga (the two largest lakes in Europe) and the Neva River (the shortest in Europe!)

Here’s a map to give you an idea of the route.

Days 1-4 Moscow

Three days were barely enough to get an idea of how amazing Moscow is. Our days were packed from morning to night with tours and activities – from visiting Moscow must visits like Red Square, the Kremlin, the Moscow Metro and the Arbat, to quirky locations like the Museum of Cosmonautics , located in one of Moscow’s best districts for Communist architecture (one of our passions!)

Even though our itinerary was packed full, we managed to spend half a day touring Moscow independently , visiting some of the sights mentioned in The Master and Margarita – Patriarch’s Ponds, both Bulgakov Museums and Sparrow Hill. Let’s just say that we need to get back to Moscow soon to explore more! Meanwhile, here’s our things to do in Moscow for first timers article, detailing our Moscow visit with Viking.

Day 5 Uglich

After setting sail from Moscow, our first stop was Uglich , a cute town on the Volga River, famous for its pretty churches and for being the location of one of the darkest chapters in Russian history .

After the death of Ivan the Terrible, his youngest son and heir to the throne Dmitry was exiled to Uglich, where he was murdered at the age of 10. Suspicion fell on the tsar’s chief advisor, but Dmitry’s cause of death (i.e. throat slitting) was ruled to be an accident. This episode started a period of political unsettlement, that ended with the start of the Romanov dynasty.

We spent an afternoon around Uglich , starting with a home visit of a local family where we had the chance to try homemade grain vodka (the best we’ve had in Russia) and a variety of pickled vegetables, tea and cakes. Then, we toured the Kremlin – the word ‘kremlin’ actually means fortified city, and several Russian cities have one. Moscow’s Kremlin just happens to be the best known!

Day 6 Yaroslavl

The following morning we reached Yaroslavl , a much larger city compared to Uglich. It looked like the perfect Russian city – large enough not to get bored (there was even a cat cafe!) but small enough not to get frustrated with the traffic and crowds found in Moscow or St. Petersburg.

Our Yaroslavl visit was centred around four points of interest . The centre of Yaroslavl is located on the Strelka, a promontory formed at the confluence of the Volga and Kotorosl rivers. Our first stop was the covered market , where we tasted some local products, and then we headed to the Church of Elijah the Prophet , where we had a guided tour (and played with some cute cats). Afterwards, we visited the Governor’s Mansion , now an art gallery. We were welcomed by some beautiful ladies in period costumes, and treated to a music concert. Our final stop was the Yaroslavl Kremlin , where we admired the façade of the Dormition Cathedral, destroyed by the Bolsheviks and rebuilt and reopened in 2010 in time for Yaroslavl’s millennium celebrations.

Before heading back to the ship, we stopped at the lookout over the Millennium of Yaroslavl Park at the end of the Strelka – the flowerbed right in the centre displays a bear (Yaroslavl’s coat of arms) and the city’s age – 1006 at the time of our visit. Looking good!

Day 7 Kuzino

Kuzino is a small village in in the middle of nowhere – we visited on a chilly and rainy morning, to visit the stunning Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery , the largest in Europe. The Monastery is surrounded by walls and located on the shores of Severskoye Lake, with waters so pure that boat traffic is prohibited.

Kirillo-Belozersky was founded at the end of the 14th century, and had its heyday between the 15th and 17th century, when Russia’s tsars and noblemen (including Ivan the Terrible!) paid frequent visits and showered the monks with icons and precious gifts. Luckily the Bolsheviks spared the monastery from destruction, turning it into a museum instead. The day we visited was the feast of the Assumption and the churches were crowded with locals, but we had a lovely guided tour of the museum and time to appreciate its beautiful icons.

Day 8 Kizhi (Sailing)

Whenever travelling, you always need a plan B. Autumn was well on its way by the time we reached the northernmost section of our cruise, and we were held at a lock for the best part of one night due to thick fog . This meant we had to sail the whole day and miss out on Kizhi , a tiny island on the northern side of Onega Lake, famous for its spectacular wooden churches.

We were all disappointed when boat staff made the announcement – personally, Kizhi was one of the stops I was looking forward to the most, after reading about it on the Guardian and knowing that the site is very difficult to visit without a river cruise. However, we didn’t mind too much because we were both suffering the consequences of the previous night’s vodka tasting , organised by Frank, the hotel manager who also happened to be a real vodka connoisseur!

Viking staff were really amazing at keeping us busy during the sailing day with activities like guided tours to the wheelhouse, the room where the captain and sailors pilot the ship.

Day 9 Mandrogy

The last stop before reaching St. Petersburg was Mandrogy , a village on the banks of the Svir River, built in 1996 as a replica of a village destroyed during WW2. A Russian businessman had the idea of ‘rebuilding’ Mandrogy to provide a stop to river cruise passengers before reaching St. Petersburg. So, the village is not actually ‘real’ – it’s more of an open air museum. Cute little painted houses were built around a little forest, with people in traditional dress showcasing traditional crafts and selling souvenirs.

Those in search of souvenirs loved Mandrogy – the quality of matrioshka dolls, icons and other handicrafts was far higher than anywhere else we had been. We are not into souvenirs, but if there was a place to get something, Mandrogy would be it. The village was pretty, but it felt a bit fake for us – kind of like a tourist amusement park. Which in a way, it is.

However, we did enjoy Mandrogy for two reasons – the first was the chance to attend matrioshka painting workshop  where we decorated our own matrioshka dolls. That’s the best kind of souvenir in my opinion! The second was the delicious piroshki place where we had some delicious buttery pastries filled with green onion and egg. Just ask Viking staff and they’ll point you the way to the piroshki place!

Days 10-13 St. Petersburg

After 6 days spent cruising, covering a distance of 1800 kilometers, we made it to Saint Petersburg . We had three gorgeous sunny days, and the city dazzled us with its beauty and artistic wealth – after all, it’s UNESCO-listed ! There’s no way I can convey everything we saw and did in three days in just a couple of paragraphs, so watch this space – a St. Petersburg article is coming soon!

There are several St. Petersburg experiences already included by Viking in the tour price – a visit to the Hermitage Museum, a ballet performance, a visit to Catherine Palace in the village of Pushkin and a St. Petersburg city tour, either on foot or by bus. On top of that, we also joined some optional tours – a river cruise, a morning tour to amazing Peterhof Palace and my very own favourite, a Cossack performance!

Things to Know Before Travelling to Russia

• Make sure you sort out your Russian Visa on time . Viking Cruises helps with an invitation letter that you can use to apply for your own Russian visa at your closest consulate – the process is pretty straightforward, provided you are applying in your own country, and takes approximately 2-3 weeks.
• You can also ask Viking to sort out your Russian visa for an additional charge . This is especially convenient if you live in the US or if your hometown doesn’t have a Russian consulate.
• River cruises of Russia only run between April and October, when the waterways are not frozen. The weather can be change dramatically between Moscow and Saint Petersburg , the latter usually being much colder than the former. Make sure you check the weather reports before packing!
• English isn’t widely spoken around Russia , not even in the main cities. If you’re planning to spend some time travelling independently, learning a bit of Russian is a VERY good idea. The Russian language classes we had on board came in very handy!
• Russia’s currency is the rouble , which fluctuates quite a bit. Larger cities are full of moneychangers, and some souvenir shops (like those in Mandrogy) also accept euro and USD.

We would like to thank Viking Cruises for having welcomed us aboard the Waterways of the Tsars cruise.

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2 thoughts on “Russian River Cruise – Waterways of the Tsars”

Truly amazing place & photography! I loved the view of church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, looks awesome. I enjoyed reading. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Thank you for reading! It was a fab trip!

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