Celebrity Constellation Helsinki Excursion - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

nu2sea · 06-12-2006, 08:34 PM

Celebrity’s ship tour of Helsinki

By Thursday, May 11th, we have been on the Constellation for thirteen nights and have lost a total of ten hours since leaving home, the last hour disappearing the previous night. And tomorrow would see us in St. Petersburg loosing yet another hour tonight.

How to plan what to see during a nine hour port call to Finland’s capital was one of our first challenges. Wanting to keep the day a light one and recover some sleep, we booked the ship’s excursion Harbor Sightseeing Cruise at 2:30pm. ($54 adult, $28 child) A 2 1/2 hour boat ride in the middle of the afternoon would allow us to sleep in and still enable us to catch a glimpse of the city.

Apparently the 2:30 cruise was full so Celebrity arranged another cruise for 10:15am. So much for well laid plans. At the designated hour we presented ourselves at the Celebrity theater for the circus-like cattle call that Celebrity staff seem to enjoy so much.

It was another blue sky day, but a cold wind was evident in Helsinki that we hadn’t had earlier in the week. The boat had a roomy interior with lots of windows, and an open deck on top for hearty souls who wanted better pictures.

As we toured the Gulf of Finland, our guide seemed just a little hesitant with facts, I’m not sure if it was because we were the first cruise ship to dock this spring or if she really didn’t have any depth of knowledge.

On the way to Suomenlinna she pointed out a SeaCat on its high speed voyage to Tallinn, Estonia. Covering the 60 miles in about two hours, it provided easy, cheap access to Finns wishing to take advantage of the lower prices and lack of steep taxes that they pay at home.

Work on fortifying the island of Suomenlinna began in 1748 and was meant to protect Helsinki from attack from the sea. It seemed to have worked until Helsinki was attacked by Russia in 1808 when it was surrendered.

Out of the water on the island fortress is the submarine Vesikko. Launched in 1933, it served as a prototype for the German Navy’s type IIA U-boats. Today it is a museum.

Suomenlinna once boasted a population of 12,000 soldiers which made it larger, in population, than the City of Helsinki. Today it has a library, health center, shops and school, as well as the Naval Academy. It also operates as a museum and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.

The other islands in the Gulf of Finland provide summer housing for Helsinki residents and wildlife. I have to admit that I ventured out onto the top deck of the tour boat and missed much of the lecture, but really enjoyed the sights and sounds of the harbor. Especially seeing the Viking Ship Mariella docked at the downtown cruise port. She left Stockholm a couple of hours before we did the day before.

When we docked at the downtown pier, we were given time to browse the Market Square before returning to the ship. Although we browsed, I couldn’t find anything to spend my Euros on. Empty handed we returned to the bus for the slow trip back to the Constellation and lunch.

Photos are at: http://www.cruiselineforums.com/gall...ry.php/cat/804

Susan