The ship was built by Slovenské Lodenice at their shipyard in Komárno, Czechoslovakia, and entered service in 1983.

At 4,050 tonnes,[3] Georgiy Zhukov is one of the world's biggest river cruise ships.

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

Georgiy Zhukov is currently owned and operated by Vodohod, a Russian river cruise line.

[6] The ship has two restaurants, two bars, conference hall, solarium and library.