DESTINATIONS EUROPE | BALTIC SEA
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Marina; Riga,
Latvia; Copenhagen; Gotland Island PICTURES: Shutterstock/Olezzo, Danita Delimont; Mike Louagie/Oceania Cruises; Scanrail/
stock.adobe.com
SELLING TIPS
E Copenhagen and Stockholm are popular start or end ports for Baltic cruises, but there are also no-fly voyages from the UK.
E The region’s history is fascinating, but don’t let it control the narrative. The laid-back lifestyle and fun excursions are an equally big attraction for many travellers.
EWith fast RIB rides, cycle rides and Copenhagen’s Tivoli theme park among attractions, Baltic cruises promise a great family holiday.
BOOK IT
A 10-day trip from Stockholm to Copenhagen on Oceania Cruises’ Oceania Sirena, departing on September 9, 2024, costs from £3,389 including flights and transfers.
oceaniacruises.com
34 8 JUNE 2023
so they could experience the ship and the Baltic – and the signs are that the gamble has paid off. For one thing, Oceania Cruises’ Baltic sailings have
been “extremely popular” this year too, with people “keen to visit the new and exciting” ports that have been introduced, says managing director EMEA Bernie Carter. For another, lines including Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, Azamara and Holland America Line have restarted in the Baltic. Finally, it showed the region can do just fine without St Petersburg. Of all the ports on our cruise – 12 nights from Copenhagen to Stockholm – only Tallinn in Estonia and Helsinki were regulars on the Baltic beat. Kiel in Germany, Ronne and Visby (respectively on the Danish and Swedish islands of Bornholm and Gotland), Klaipeda in Estonia and Riga in Latvia used to crop up now and then. However, Kotka in Finland, our penultimate call, was completely new and took us within about 40 miles of the border with Russia. From this port, Ilana and I had joined a great back-
to-nature hike in nearby Valkmusa National Park, while others went river rafting or on another high-speed RIB. Oceania Cruises isn’t calling into Kotka this year, but sister brand Regent Seven Seas Cruises is, and Oceania will be back there in summer 2024. The other ports are all making a return this summer. From Kiel, passengers can take tours to the former Hanseatic city of Lubeck, spend the day in Hamburg or go beer tasting in a brewery. They can explore Bornholm by bike, dip into medieval history in Visby
33Klaipeda scores on the ‘something different’ front, with kayaking, cycling or an excursion into tunnels dug by the Soviets
or, for something different, join a chef-led tour here to learn about local farming methods. Klaipeda also scores on the ‘something different’
front, with kayaking, cycling or an excursion into tunnels dug by the Soviets during the Cold War to house nuclear missiles that pointed towards London, Berlin and Paris. We loved the Helsinki RIB ride, as well as Riga and
Tallinn, which like Klaipeda were under the Communist thumb from the end of the Second World War until 1991 (Lithuania got its independence a year earlier) and have picturesque old towns packed with half-timbered houses and cobbled streets. In Tallinn we explored tunnels beneath the town – these ones built by the Swedes, used as bomb shelters in the Second World War and reinforced by the Russians in case the Cold War went nuclear. With all that going on, there wasn’t time to miss
St Petersburg, although I doubt that I’m alone in hoping the ships will be able to return there one day, because it is a magnificent city. However, there are many equally wonderful places for cruise lines to visit on and around the Baltic Sea in the meantime.
TW
travelweekly.co.uk
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