Cruise through Northern Europe and around the Baltic with Costa Cruises

Cruise through Northern Europe and around the Baltic. It’s so true that when you come to the end of a cruise with Costa Cruises, you honestly don’t know how to get back to your normal routine back on land. The amazing experience, entertainment, sense of being part of a big family, the magical sea and its incredible sunsets, the food (varied and delicious) at all hours, the chance to get to know new countries and cities… it’s marvellous, ladies!!

Cruise through Northern Europe and around the Baltic with Costa Cruises: Saint Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm and Tallinn

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Let’s start at the beginning. It was my very first cruise: so I’d never tried it and I was a bit sceptical of this kind of trip. What if we get bored? What if we don’t have time to explore all the cities that we visit? But now, sitting in front of my laptop back in Florence, let me tell you this: you feel SO weird being back on solid ground after a week of walking around on a moving vessel! The Costa Luminosa, the beautiful Costa Cruises ship that was our home for a week, is incredibly elegant, and designed in the Italian style (you can see all the photos of our suit below!). On board there is a huge spa with a pool, sauna, Turkish baths, and all kinds of spa treatments, plus 4 restaurants and 11 bars, where there is an infinite choice of food and drink. You can go from the buffet to the focacceria, pizzeria, formal restaurant (where there are also themed dinners by the chef Bruno Barbieri or gala dinners) to the Samsara restaurants (asian fusion, our favourite!) and the Club Luminosa (on the top floor of the ship, with an incredible view of the sunset!. Costa is also very entertaining: there’s a disco, a cinema, a theatre on 3 floors, a casino, shops, indoor and outdoor swimming pools with hydromassage, a gym and an outdoor running track. The ship is beautiful and very welcoming (and also organised to make sure everything runs smoothly and you have a stress-free holiday), with friendly and personal staff who are happy to help (like Alex, our cabin manager and Carlos, our waiter), who organise everything so that when you arrive at a new port for excursions (you can choose to go in a group or stay on the ship), and it’s almost a shame to leave them onboard…

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