Baltic Bliss

The Baltic cruising region refers to the Baltic Sea, an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean that separates the Scandinavian Peninsula from the rest of continental Europe. Stretching from southern Denmark to near the Arctic Circle and from eastern Denmark to southern Finland, the Baltic Sea is the world’s largest expanse of brackish water, fed by freshwater rivers from a catchment area four times as large as the sea itself.

Though the two regions share similar-sounding names, the Baltics are not to be confused with the Balkans. The Balkans are comprised of countries (such as Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey) on the Balkan Peninsula in the southern reaches of Europe. The Baltics, by contrast, are situated at the same northerly latitude as Anchorage, Alaska. Countries bounding the Baltic Sea and its arms, clockwise from the west, are Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany.

The Baltic cruising region is characterized by a variety of landscapes - low, rocky islands called skerries along the coasts of Sweden and Finland, Norwegian fjords, lagoons, inlets, and some of the world’s most fabled cities. On the far eastern edge of the Baltic Sea, Peter the Great’s “window to Europe,” St. Petersburg, is situated at the head of the Gulf of Finland. On the western edge of the Baltic Sea, Elsinore, Denmark, lays claim to Kronborg Castle, the setting for Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” The Scandinavian capitals of Copenhagen and Stockholm, with their myriad attractions, serve as transportation hubs and are where most Baltic cruises begin or end.

One of the world’s most popular cruising regions, the Baltics also are one of the world’s fastest growing cruise markets. Annually, for several years running, port destinations in the Baltics have set records both in the number of cruise ship calls and the number of cruise ship passengers visiting ports.