Star Clippers to offer Baltic Cruises

Tall ship sailing specialists Star Clippers will offer their first ever Baltic cruise season in 2012

Star Clippers will offer the chance to sail into some of the world’s greatest ports on a magnificent fully crewed square rigger, the 170 passenger Star Flyer

As well as visiting ports such as Copenhagen, St Petersburg and Stockholm, Star Clippers will sail to destinations with a long-standing love and appreciation of tall ships, including Kiel and Warnemunde/Rostock in Germany, where the vessel’s visit will coincide with the amazing and jaw dropping annual Sailing Parade which is a gathering of some of the world’s most stunning tall ships.

There will also be calls at smaller ports rarely visited by bigger cruise ships, giving Star Clippers’ guests a chance to appreciate the beauty of the islands and coastlines of the Baltic and Scandinavia without the crowds. This is truly a chance to sail in luxury and to appreciate the beauty of these tall ships.

Highlights include:

• A five-night voyage from Southampton to Hamburg, via Amsterdam, departing May 5, 2012, including two full days at sea to enjoy the sensation of sailing on an authentic tall ship.

• A seven-night voyage returning into Southampton, departing Hamburg on August 25, via Amsterdam, Ijmuiden, Antwerp and Zeebrugge, presenting another chance to sail up the Solent in one of the most dramatic-looking ships afloat.

• A series of two- and three-night mini-cruises out of Hamburg and Warnemunde/Rostock, a German port with a great sailing tradition, to coincide with the 2012 Sailing Parade of tall ships.

• Five, six and seven-night sailings to and from from Warnemunde/Rostock, visiting ports in Germany, Denmark and Poland, as well as Sweden and Oslo. The five-night voyage calls at Copenhagen, Ronne/Bornholm and Gdansk, for example, while a six-night sailing from Warnemunde to Oslo on August 12 calls at Ronne-Bornholm, Copenhagen, Halmstad, Goteborg and Marstrand.

• Seven night voyages featuring Olso, situated at the head of a dramatic fjord. Oslo to Copenhagen, for example, calls at Marstrand, Goteborg, Halmstad and Helsingborg in Sweden; and Kalundborg in Denmark, finishing in Copenhagen.

• A highlight of the season will be three ten or 11-night voyages round-trip from Stockholm, with an overnight in St Petersburg. Ports of call on the 10-night sailing departing July 21 include Visby, Tallinn, St Petersburg, Helsinki, and two additional ports in Finland, Hanko and Mariehamn-Aaland. Sailing from Stockholm is particularly special and Star Flyer will be a magnificent sight as she leaves the historic harbour of the Swedish capital and glides gracefully through the archipelago of hundreds of tiny islands.