Anastasia generally gets a bad rap around here - as do Romance Tours in general, though I am a happy veran of them. The company I went with, European Connections, unfortunately stopped conducting them this year, so I cannot recommend them to you.
I have two friends, however that I actually met on my European Connections tour to Odessa who have subsequently taken tours with Anastasia. Both were satisfied and quite happy with the esperience.
Ok guys, I'm feeling generous tonight so I will dispense some free advice:) How would you like to save thousands of dollars and still meet all the women at a social you wanted? Simple, just send a female friend / translator, tell her what you want, and she'll get phone numbers and/or set-up dates for you. You can even sit within eye sight of the entrance, pick-out the ones you want and tell her.
Not a bad idea buffed, but actually you wouldn't save thousands. Maybe a few hundred.
Both of the Romance Tour companies that are still operating will allow you to attend a single Social ala-carte for a few hundred dollars. You can attend more than one on a declining scale.
And your system also requires at least some familarity with the country in question in order to get around and arrange to find a translator wo will work with you covertly. One of the beautiful things about Socials is that they are excellent for guys who have never been to FSU countries before. Everything is taken care of for you. Eventually you graduate to being able to take care of yourself of course.
My first trip was as part of a Romance Tour. My second was on my own to meet a lady that I had bevome aquainted with on that Romance Tour. My third trip (to Latvia) was done entirely on my own. I didn't know a soul in the country before I got there.
At the Romance Social I attended there might have been some difficulty with your technique as well. It was held on the second floor in the dining room of a large hotel. And big burly Russian guys acting as "security" stood several deep at every entrance and exit. You might have been able to catch a few of the girls coming or going - but certainly not at the Social itself. And there was more "security" in the lobby watching for loiterers.