The ship was built by Slovenské Lodenice at their shipyard in Komárno, Czechoslovakia, and entered service in 1977.

At 3,950 tonnes,[3] Fyodor Shalyapin is one of the world's biggest river cruise ships.

Her sister ships are Valerian Kuybyshev, Mikhail Frunze, Feliks Dzerzhinskiy, Sergey Kuchkin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Aleksandr Suvorov, Semyon Budyonnyy and Georgiy Zhukov.

Fyodor Shalyapin was operated by Vodohod, a Russian river cruise line.

The ship has two restaurants, three bars, solarium, sauna and resting area.