Cruises with a difference – cruising the Baltic Sea
When most people think of Cruises, they imagine the Wide Ocean or sand and sun in the Caribbean. However, there are cruising options closer to home. Cruising the Baltic has long been popular among our continental neighbours; because it offers short passages between hosts of interesting places. Many cruise ships will take in such places as St. Petersburg, Tallinn, Copenhagen, Gutenberg, Helsinki and Karlskrona a Swedish town on the UNESCO World Heritage list. You will note that most of these destinations offer a cruise port near the heart of a quaint old city and a variety of other attractions, the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg for example, or the centre of Malmo which is a very interesting mix of ancient and modern architecture. The weather is usually kind; the Baltic rarely suffers from severe storms and high waves. Some cruise itineraries allow you visit all ten Baltic countries in as short a time as two to three weeks, for the record the ten countries are in no particular order; Denmark, Sweden, Latvia, Finland, Norway, Poland , Russia, Estonia, Germany and Lithuania.
Royal Caribbean ship at sunset
The ships used for the Cruises are usually quite new but small compared to those used in the Caribbean cruise industry, a great advantage to my mind as the smaller number of passengers does not overcrowd the cities visited. Other advantages of cruising in the Baltic are; that the departure ports are close to home, currency, because most destinations take Euros, and the English language is widely spoken. Of course, Baltic Cruises are strictly a summer option, the weather, temperature and day length later in the year does not make for an enjoyable experience. Probably my favourite destination on the Baltic is the Finnish capital of Helsinki, what does this have to offer the cruise vacationer? Sightseeing boats, which depart from the Market Place, which is itself well worth a visit. The Finnish National gallery called the Ateneum Art Museum, which has a collection of about 20,000 works of Finnish art and modern art from abroad from 1740s to the present day and is an especially attractive building. The Stockmann department store and the surrounding streets (the Northern and Southern Esplanade, Aleksanterinkatu and Mannerheimintie) that are both picturesque and crammed with wonderful shopping opportunities. My favourite site to visit in Helsinki is the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress, which dates from the eighteenth century; it is on an offshore island and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The expectation of many travel experts is that as people tire of long, expensive flights to the Caribbean before they can start their cruise then Baltic Cruises may show increased passenger numbers. Especially likely to be popular are those cruise itineraries that start and finish near an airport which has the advantage of low cost flights from such airlines as Ryanair and Easyjet. As you can see, it might be worth talking to your travel agent soon about a Baltic Cruise as a summer vacation option.