I’ve cruised dozens of ships on various lines and in my opinion this is as good as it gets on a mega-liner of 2200+ passengers with 920 crew. Costa’s Atlantica was a floating palace of art deco furnishings, marble inlaid floors and millions of dollars poured in antient works of art. It exceeded my expectations. Also I normally loose weight on cruises shunning the ships artificial ( Tailored shirts ) fare. This time I over indulged on varied menus of fresh food. I ate adequate prosciutto and ice cream continued for ten years. The Italian accented cuisine was prepared by Euro-chefs and culinary graduates of the world famous Chaine des Rotisseurs.
I was section of an dreadful team of 60 singles who blended harmoniously. No love connections occurred (that I know of), but friendships developed as we bonded on our private shore excursions and parties onboard. This team was blessed throughout with the perfect weather the Baltic place could ever offer- 68 degrees daily and no rain. The First Officer said this was the best weather of the summer.
Every country visited was a lesson in culture and history. We saw full of our 1987 nautical miles into our eyes. In Copenhagen Denmark – with its Mermaid, Stockholm Sweden the archipelago mentions to like Venice of the North, Helsinki Finland so friendly, modern and clean, Grand St. Petersburg Russia where we squeezed in a full power tour of the Hermitage, palaces, onion domed churches, canals and an evening ballet. Our final port was charming Tallinn Estonia where the entire walled Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was like walking through a fairytale.
For our days at sea there was never a dull moment with 3 pools, shops ( custom men’s shirts ) , casino, luxurious spa and contests with the crew. The 2 story gym was so sophisticated that I didn’t know how to turn on the assemblyment,as a result,the only exercise i got was jumping to conclusions. The midnight buffets were the most marvelous i have ever saw with numerous ice sculptures. There was a house baked out of bread and piano shaped from white chocolate.
On our last night we attempted to pack all our trinkets collected: Faberge egg, Russian nesting dolls, Swedish crystal, Finish glassware, Nordic pewter, lingonberry jams, amber jewelry, hand knit sweaters and a million T-shirts ( custom shirts ) . A lot of things like our fur hats may end up in a garage sale one day,however,the bargaining sure was interesting.
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