Our Cruise started from Hamburg, Germany with a train ride to Kiel to board our ship Costa Pacifica, returning to Kiel 12 days later.
Click on each Port below to view photos.
To give you an idea of distances traveled by the cruise ship from one port to the next (Total - 2351 nautical miles. 1 NM=1.15 miles), here are the numbers.
Click on each link to view Blog for that port.
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| Costa Pacifica July 2015 |
To give you an idea of distances traveled by the cruise ship from one port to the next (Total - 2351 nautical miles. 1 NM=1.15 miles), here are the numbers.
Click on each link to view Blog for that port.
- Kiel - Stockholm 597 (1-day cruising)
- Stockholm - Helsinki 260
- Helsinki - St Petersburg 179
- St Petersburg - Tallinn 198
- Tallinn - Riga 303
- Riga - Klaipeda 265
- Klaipeda - Gdynia 177
- Gdynia - Kiel 372 (1-day cruising)
Cruise ships have the process down pat. After all, they have to be able to embark/disembark thousands of passengers each day, at a different port, at different times of the day, and ensure that passengers have a wonderful experience. For the most part, they succeed.
A fear about food poisoning, though rare, is real, and something to keep in mind when you order your dishes. Having gotten smarter with their experience, all meals are still covered on the cruise - room service adds just the service charge, but can be available any time. Drinks, other than coffee, tea, fountain juices and milk for breakfast, and plain ("still") water is still free. Carbonated ("gas") water is not. All other drinks including specialty drinks and alcoholic beverages are extra - unless you purchase an Adult Beverage Package (25 euros per day - very expensive!)
The entertainment was light - a daily entertainment show just before (for second seating) or after (for first seating) was available only half the time, and was mostly dances.
Crew as usual was Indians in the kitchen and security detail, and Filipinos for the rest. Of course, there were other nationalities represented as well. Passengers on this cruise were mostly Germans (because it started from Kiel, Germany), Spanish, Italians - very few English Speaking, and even fewer from the US.
A fear about food poisoning, though rare, is real, and something to keep in mind when you order your dishes. Having gotten smarter with their experience, all meals are still covered on the cruise - room service adds just the service charge, but can be available any time. Drinks, other than coffee, tea, fountain juices and milk for breakfast, and plain ("still") water is still free. Carbonated ("gas") water is not. All other drinks including specialty drinks and alcoholic beverages are extra - unless you purchase an Adult Beverage Package (25 euros per day - very expensive!)
The entertainment was light - a daily entertainment show just before (for second seating) or after (for first seating) was available only half the time, and was mostly dances.
Crew as usual was Indians in the kitchen and security detail, and Filipinos for the rest. Of course, there were other nationalities represented as well. Passengers on this cruise were mostly Germans (because it started from Kiel, Germany), Spanish, Italians - very few English Speaking, and even fewer from the US.
Everything went well with our cruise - including weather which miraculously cleared up JUST FOR US when we reached each stop (who cares if it rains at nights - right?) Best of all, two days in St Petersburg were clear and sunny (almost unheard of for them - just some showers in the morning to keep us humble.) with a local tour company and without a need for visa - was a clear highlight.
On July 11, We accidentally stumbled up on Costa Pacifica in Bergen. As we were walking around, we saw it anchored there. It was returning from its voyage to the northernmost point of Honningsvag - a trip we substituted with our own 6 day version. We probably missed the ship in Tromso by one day.
Photos of the entire trip
Photos of the entire trip
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