Lena River Cruises

Lena River cruises are available on the Mikhail Svetlov and the Demian Bedny. Both ships were built in Austria in 1986 and are virtually identical. They carry about 150 passengers in 4- and 2-person cabins and suites, each with a private bathroom with shower. There is a restaurant, bar, reading room, movie theater, hairdresser, sauna, gift shop and doctor on board. The food and service in the restaurant and bar are excellent; vegetarian meals are available upon request.

The Mikhail Svetlov is piloted by captain Alexander Lozhkin and a crew of 37. Lozhkin worked on the Demian Bedny for three years, beginning in 1988, when the first foreign tourists - Americans - sailed south of Yakutsk. Since then he has worked on the Mikhail Svetlov. He has carried such noteworthy passengers as President Yeltsin, Prime Minister Chernomyrdin, Prince Philip and Patriarch Alexei II. In addition, in a program initiated by President Nikolaev of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), 6000 underprivileged children sailed on the Mikhail Svetlov in the summers of 1995 and 1996.

This summer, the ships were chartered from LenaRechFlot by the German tour company Phoenix Reisen, in partnership with the local firm, Orthodox Cruises. The US cruise tour operator OdessAmerica plans to charter the ships in 1988 for four, one-week cruises, two from Yakutsk to Tiksi, and two in the opposite direction (for information, call 800-221-3254).