P&O Cruises’ “Arcadia” berthed Wednesday, June 22nd for her first visit ever to the Port of Kiel, arriving just as the prestigious Kieler Woche sailing regatta marked its half-way point. More than 2,000, mainly British, passengers used the opportunity to visit northern Europe’s biggest maritime sailing event.
“Arcadia” is on a 15-day Baltic cruise which began in Southampton on June 18th and has taken the English cruise ship to Copenhagen before her visit to Kiel. During her stay in Kiel the ship berthed at a cruise terminal which is right in the middle of the action. The large-scale summer festival with its entertainment, cultural, scientific and sport events is within sight of the cruise terminal. Ship passengers can check out the Kieler Woche goings-on in the City Centre itself and by foot along the Kiel promenade while the sailing ships themselves make their way on parallel courses along the inner Fiord.
In addition of course, English-speaking tourists can also take advantage of the classical land excursions, which cover the whole of north Germany. Those attractions range from guided tours of the Kiel Fiord, visits to the UNESCO World Heritage site Lübeck and variously themed excursions to the metropolis of Hamburg as well as to panorama trips to the beach resort of Laboe and the region known as Holstein Switzerland with its state garden show.
The “Arcadia” casts off from the Ostseekai Terminal at around 20 Hours and heads for the Swedish capital Stockholm. Her destinations after that are Tallinn, St Petersburg and Helsinki before she sails back via Zeebrugge to Southampton. The P&O Cruises shipping company is part of the Carnival Cruises concern. “Arcadia” was completed in 2005 at Fincantieri in Italy. She is of 84,342 GT and is 285 m long and more than 32 m wide. The Vista Class cruise ship has 1,010 cabins for 2,016 passengers.
