Journey to the “Center” of the World - Pacific Princess Black Sea Review

[stunnedinva]

Thanks for reading...and yes we sailed on June 29...only got about half an hour of rain total :eek: amazing weather :cool:

 

 

 

Thank you! It is a really cool area to cruise....I hope they get to add many more ports in the near future (including Sochi which I think I've seen somewhere?? Maybe another line?).

 

Rico--

We were on this cruise too. From a senior citizen's perspective, it was uncomfortably HOT just about everywhere. I'm glad they've started offering this fabulous itinerary in some cooler months. I believe Oceania includes the eastern coast of the Black Sea on their sailings (Sinop,Trabzon, Sochi).

I'm enjoying your review and reliving our cruise. :)

[RicardoC]

Rico--

We were on this cruise too. From a senior citizen's perspective, it was uncomfortably HOT just about everywhere. I'm glad they've started offering this fabulous itinerary in some cooler months. I believe Oceania includes the eastern coast of the Black Sea on their sailings (Sinop,Trabzon, Sochi).

I'm enjoying your review and reliving our cruise. :)

 

Glad to "take you back" with this review :)

 

It's funny to see another point of view on the weather; as far as I remember the only day I found extremely hot was in Meteora (and maybe Bucharest)...I thought the other stops had a nice Breeze from the sea. I do agree the best time of the year to cruise in that area should be March/April...our spring break cruise two years ago was great. :cool:

[RicardoC]

YALTA, UKRAINE

 

Look how beautiful the Crimean Coast is!

 

Thanks to this one board (you know that one about cruises? :p ) I found out about Sergey and his touring company Yalta Tours, and so we booked a private tour prior to our trip. The cost of the private van (up to 6 people) was $72 per hour including everything and we had to do a $50 deposit prior to the trip. If you want they also offer group tours for $8 per hour per person. We had a brief idea of what to do but decided to decide at the time and just "keep going" until we had to head back to the ship. Our driver and guide were great giving us choices, adapting to your "chill" style of visiting less if it means visiting with no desperate rush, etc. We decided to go the furthest first and make stops on the way back so we headed to Balaklava, the secret soviet submarine base.

 

 

Words can't explain how cool it was to go to this place! I'm not a big "war/military fan" but this was pure history; the conplex of tunnels were built so submarines could easily access them from the apparently calm bay of Balaklava. Inside, a series of channels led to drydocks for the submarines and rooms to storage weaponry. Once the Soviet Union fell and Ukraine became a country they had the place closed but occasional wounds and deaths of those curious enough to enter the abandoned tunnels made authorities decide to open a museum. Today you can see the tunnels, walk around the endless corridors, and even visit the weaponry rooms where they have exibitions of all sorts - from uniforms to ship models to weapons, everything "Soviet". Cool, very cool.

 

 

After that we went to the 360 degree portray of the defense of Sevastopol; cool but to be honest I was still "breathing in" the submarine base so did not enjoy it that much.

 

Part of the portray...they have some objects next to it so it looks 3D/realistic.

 

Physical location of the defense of Sevastopol.

[RicardoC]

YALTA, UKRAINE

 

We decided to visit a small Orthodox Church at the top of the mountain but it suddenly started raining, A LOT, so we went up the small road and went back down only seeing the church from the outside. It looked nice though and I can only imagine the view/nature when it's clear; the Crimeian Coast is surprisingly beautiful, by the way.

 

Livadia Palace...what a view!

 

Even though we didn't have much time I wanted to stop by at the Livadia Palace not only because of he famous Yalta Conference but because it was one of the summer residences of Tsar Nicholas of Russia, and I'm really interested in Imperial Russia stuff. The place is really cool; we have been to St. Petersburg a couple years ago but I had never seen such a huge collection of pictures of the Royal Family (they were mostly taken by Alexandra's personal camera). So pretty much one room is dedicated to the Yalta Conference (where they have the same round table as the famous picture) and all other rooms are about the Tsar and his family. It was a shame we had to go through it so fast to get back in time.

 

I know that table...;)

 

 

We got back to the ship just in time to grab lunch while we sailed from our last stop in the Black Sea. It was different how the ship docks at a public pier full of shops (like a mall) and, since it was saturday, it was PACKED with people as we sailed. They had a little stand to check our documents and the ramp to board the ship in the middle of the crowded pier so it kinda felt like the boarding scene of "Titanic" (at least it did for me :rolleyes: ). It is safe to say Yalta was one of my favorite, if not the favorite, stops of the cruise.

 

[RicardoC]

CRUISING...

 

See ya Black Sea!

 

The following day was our third and last sea day. I think I've mentioned before but I wish we had more sea days for this itinerary...something like this:

 

Day 5 Istanbul

Day 6 Istanbul

Day 7 At Sea (instead of continuing straight to Nessebar)

Day 8 Nessebar

Day 9 Constanta

Day 10 At Sea (instead of continuing straight to Odessa)

Day 11 Odessa

Day 12 Yalta

 

Yes, this way the itinerary would be 14 days instead of 12 but HEY, PRINCESS we would have two extra days to "spend" onboard and you could go slower and spend less gas! I know the Black Sea is really small and they would probably have to keep sailing in circles to make the sea days though....but I love sea days and missed them in between ports.

 

Anyways, our third and last sea day would be pretty cool because we would make our way back through the Bosphorous/Istanbul. I was glad the captain "took a while" all night in the Black Sea (he did go further away from Yalta to kill time) so we were in Istanbul after breakfast. Since I didn't have my super exclusive camera (my iPhone) with me when we sailed from Istanbul I managed to take pictures on the way back.

 

 

 

Cool to see how huge the bridges are...too bad not many cruise ships can go under it.

 

Something interesting happened that afternoon; we made our way back crossing the Sea of Marmara when at around 5pm we stopped :eek:

 

Yes, out of nowhere (or at least I didn't hear any announcements) the ship stopped in the middle of the sea. I went to the balcony and not only found out everyone else went to their balconies but that we were "waiting in line" to pass through the Dardanelles...I told you they had waiting lines! If you looked around you could see dozens of other ships (all cargo) waiting as well...pretty cool. As far as I remember waiting only took about 40 minutes and we continued back to the Aegean...:cool:

[stunnedinva]

We got back to the ship just in time to grab lunch while we sailed from our last stop in the Black Sea. It was different how the ship docks at a public pier full of shops (like a mall) and, since it was saturday, it was PACKED with people as we sailed. They had a little stand to check our documents and the ramp to board the ship in the middle of the crowded pier so it kinda felt like the boarding scene of "Titanic" (at least it did for me :rolleyes: ). It is safe to say Yalta was one of my favorite, if not the favorite, stops of the cruise.

 

Yalta was a very cool sailaway, wasn't it? :D

[Wehwalt]

I was on that sailing as well … The weather was very very hot but it was very enjoyable. It is interesting to have another perspective on the cruise. I don't recall meeting you but I'm notoriously antisocial :D

[RicardoC]

 

Yalta was a very cool sailaway, wasn't it? :D

 

Yeah! Not everywhere you get so many people look at your ship...and being on a 600pax one we can say we were more famous (than if we had to share your "fame" with thousands of others, that is) :p

[RicardoC]

I was on that sailing as well … The weather was very very hot but it was very enjoyable. It is interesting to have another perspective on the cruise. I don't recall meeting you but I'm notoriously antisocial :D

 

Hahah it's fine! We also tend to be a bit "closed" because of my parents' english skills :p

[altiva]

ODESSA, UKRAINE

 

 

Today was another "chill" day for us. The fact we had pretty much all our ports back to back was the only flaw of this amazing itinerary, so there were days we decided to take it easy. Odessa was one of them. We woke up and had breakfast at the MDR with no rush (there were usually few tables anyways so it was really fast) and then got off the ship to decide what to do. They also have a building at the pier here so it didn't take long to find a couple options.

 

"Ze" cruise terminal.

 

We decided to do something different; we did a very informal tour with a guy that does it as a hobby (and additional source of income, of course) on weekends. It went more or less like this:

Guy:"On your left you can see a very interesting building".

Me:"What is it?"

Guy:"I don't know! But it is a very beautiful building, yes?"

It was different, and funny for sure.

 

 

A brand new building designed to be exactly like the previous one was...how cool is that?

 

Beautiful architecture throughout the entire city.

 

 

 

Hi Rico, great photos. The green building you are posting on here is

called "Hotel Grand Moscovskaya". It is, indeed is restored. You

guide did not tell you why. When there was a massive immigration to

this area, somewhere in late 18 century, obviously, people wanted

places to live, to shop in and so on. However, they quickly

discovered that there was no wood or stone to create buildings from.

But, after some deliberations, they found out that just under them

was very porous, yellow, light lime-stone. They started excavating

them, and building houses, shops, mansions. You can say that Odessa

built itself from underneath. So, when you look at a historic

building, you should know, that the higher the building is, the

deeper is the pit underneath it. That is why Odessa has the longest

catacombs in the world - about 3000 kilometres. And, while the people

prospect the lime stone from below, creating huge cavities under the

city, they invited world famous architects to build their city.

Unfortunately, like stone, light and porous, was not a lasting

material. Sea salty air and sea winds depleted the buildings in about

a hundred years. The hotel you saw restored was one of those who

succumbed to the local weather really quickly. But, they took the old

plans (from 1911), and not restoring it exactly as it was, exporting

materials from elsewhere. I think you'd agree that it was worth it.

[cruisemom42]

Rico, thanks for your amazing posts and photos. I'm looking for just the right Black Sea cruise for 2014.

 

One thing I learned is that summer can be hot in the Black Sea too. I generally avoid the Med in the summer months but for some reason was thinking the Black Sea might be more moderate and bearable. Now I know I want to keep looking for a cruise in spring or fall! :D

[treesah]

Thanks, Rico, for the great review and photos. We're scheduled to cruise the Black Sea beginning of October so your post gave me a glimpse of what to expect. Your parents have done a great job, Rico, you're a very mature young man. Sophisticated, too. (Drinking Veuve Cliquot at an early age).

[Lance1224]

Thank you for your report. Your itinerary is on my bcket list.

Istanbul is an amazing city.:)

[RicardoC]

Hi Rico, great photos.

 

Thanks and thanks for the additional info! Are you from Odessa?

 

Rico, thanks for your amazing posts and photos. I'm looking for just the right Black Sea cruise for 2014.

 

One thing I learned is that summer can be hot in the Black Sea too. I generally avoid the Med in the summer months but for some reason was thinking the Black Sea might be more moderate and bearable. Now I know I want to keep looking for a cruise in spring or fall! :D

 

Hahaha yes if you're not a big fan of the warmer weather you should probably go at another time of the year (I'm not sure but would think the spring is better than the fall). I did a very quick research (for both 2013 and 2014, since not all lines have released their 2014 schedules) and there are fewer, but pretty good itineraries in April/May. Keep in mind that usually the bigger the ship (MSC's Lirica, Costa's Deliziosa, etc. ), the less ports they cover in the area. I think the "perfect" itinerary would be out of Istanbul going all around the Black Sea (like Silversea will offer in April 2014) but that depends on your plans, of course. :D

[cruisemom42]

 

Hahaha yes if you're not a big fan of the warmer weather you should probably go at another time of the year (I'm not sure but would think the spring is better than the fall). I did a very quick research (for both 2013 and 2014, since not all lines have released their 2014 schedules) and there are fewer, but pretty good itineraries in April/May. Keep in mind that usually the bigger the ship (MSC's Lirica, Costa's Deliziosa, etc. ), the less ports they cover in the area. I think the "perfect" itinerary would be out of Istanbul going all around the Black Sea (like Silversea will offer in April 2014) but that depends on your plans, of course. :D

 

Silversea's Silver Wind in April 2014 is one I am definitely considering. Still waiting for all the schedules to come out though.....

 

And yes, I like the smaller ships too.

[mhimb]

Great review! Thanks!

[RicardoC]

Thanks, Rico, for the great review and photos. We're scheduled to cruise the Black Sea beginning of October so your post gave me a glimpse of what to expect. Your parents have done a great job, Rico, you're a very mature young man. Sophisticated, too. (Drinking Veuve Cliquot at an early age).

 

Hahah the Veuve Cliquot :rolleyes:...it was a great sailaway :p

Thanks for reading and for the compliments! I will definitely show this to my parents, but I'll keep it to use when we fight :p

Keep in mind I still have a bit for our last port (Volos/Meteora) but that was it for the Black Sea. Are you also going on the Pacific?

 

 

Thank you for your report. Your itinerary is on my bcket list.

Istanbul is an amazing city.:)

 

Thank you for taking the time to read it! I hope you make it there soon and come back with new feedback :)

[stunnedinva]

Silversea's Silver Wind in April 2014 is one I am definitely considering. Still waiting for all the schedules to come out though.....

 

And yes, I like the smaller ships too.

 

You might want to look at Oceania's schedule too. Their small ships visit the eastern coast of the Black Sea: Trabzon, Sochi, Sinop.

[RicardoC]

Hey everyone I'm just "stopping by" to say sorry I couldn't post the last bit of this today! I have 2 exams tomorrow and an essay due on thursday:eek: so bear with me and (hopefully) I'll finish it up tomorrow night when I get back! :D

 

 

 

Great review! Thanks!

 

Thank you for reading!

 

You might want to look at Oceania's schedule too. Their small ships visit the eastern coast of the Black Sea: Trabzon, Sochi, Sinop.

 

I've been wanting to "try" Oceania; one of my closest friends went on a TA on Marina's inaugural season and was speechless with the ship, service, and food. This cruise should be amazing!

[Onelung]

We are on the Celebrity Black Sea cruise out of Istanbul this September. Can't wait and your review has given us a good insight as to what to expect. Thanks for such a good review and good luck with the exams.

[RicardoC]

We are on the Celebrity Black Sea cruise out of Istanbul this September. Can't wait and your review has given us a good insight as to what to expect. Thanks for such a good review and good luck with the exams.

 

I'm back! The exams went well and I'll take a break from the essay and try to finish here :D

 

Your cruise sounds great! I didn't know Connie was able to go under the bridges in Istanbul...great surprise :eek: Celebrity is still my favorite (even though we've only been twice on the Solstice) so you'll be in good hands ;)

[RicardoC]

VOLOS, GREECE

 

Our last stop for this cruise...:(

 

This was interesting because we've been to Greece a couple times but there were still some places we wanted to visit, Meteora being one of them. I actually didn't know Volos was the stop to go there until after we booked this cruise so it was very convenient.

 

Today was also my dad's 58th bday :D

 

We decided to take the ship's tour because Meteora is not very close to the port. To be honest I can’t recall the prices for the ship’s tours but in general they (especially those going far from the ports, the ones we took) didn’t seem as overpriced as we have seen in other cruises. Our guide was great and funny like every Greek I have met so far and so the drive passed by fast. She was telling us how anyone could go live at the monasteries for a period of time and participate in all the duties (picture “Eat, Pray, Love”, like my mom recalled) and out of nowhere we could see the giant rocks that make up this exotic landscape.

 

 

Words can't describe how awesome this place is...how come these rocks don't fall!? One thought kept coming to my head - I wouldn't want to be here for the end of the world :eek:

 

Anyways, we visited two monasteries and drove past a couple others (don't remember the names; there are so many names on a trip like this I can't remember all of them...I’m a failure :p).

[RicardoC]

VOLOS, GREECE

 

Keep in mind that there are lots of steps to go up...nothing exceptional but it was really hot that day...

 

The monasteries are amazing for their location and the way they were built and accessed for a long time (nowadays they have roads), but the best are the views!

 

Seriously...what planet are we in?? Amazing!

 

 

You may think they are simple from the outside (of course, they are monasteries!) but the one little church we visited was richly decorated for its small size. The ceiling was all painted with religious accounts, events, etc. and to think they had to build it all climbing up and down still astonishes me. Unfortunately I could not take pictures of it because 1. It was PACKED 2. It was unbearably hot 3. It was dark so my awesome camera (the iPhone) wouldn’t give me a good picture.

 

 

 

[RicardoC]

VOLOS, GREECE

 

After visiting the monasteries we finished up with lunch (the best we’ve ever had on a ship’s tour) provided at a local hotel. Since it was the last day of the cruise I just wanted to stay at that hotel for one or two nights (you’ll understand when you see the pictures) but we had to head back:rolleyes:…oh well…

 

Wouldn't you want to stay here for a couple days?? :cool:

 

 

Boarding the Pacific for the last time...this cruise, that is ;)

[RicardoC]

PIRAEUS, GREECE

 

Unfortunately our adventure (or at least this part of it) is approaching its end. It was the first time we did a "rep-like" cruise that starts in one port (Venice) and ends in a different one (Piraeus) and it was another plus for this itinerary. I was impressed with the amount of people staying for the "Holy Land" cruise that would follow...and boy I was jealous :rolleyes:

 

Anyways, we had breakfast at the MDR (always empty) and left our yatch :( The process was very, VERY fast and easy to the point it seemed we were there as a stop, not the end, of the cruise. Since we all had previously been to Athens and the situation there was..."delicate" we took cabs straight to the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport. Both drivers pretty much took the 30 minute drive to complain about everything going on and the measures taken to relieve it, which gave us a very pessimistic view of Greece's future....sadly.

 

It was time for us to part; my parents and their friends took an Austrian flight to Vienna and spent a couple days there, in Bratislava, Prague, and Paris. I boarded an Aegean flight to Budapest where I was for a week for a music festival with my Hungarian friend and then spent a week in Berlin all by myself because I wanted to visit the Meyer Werft shipyard....worth the total of 10 hours stuck on trains! After all it was a nice, different month in Europe and sooner than I expected I was flying back to São Paulo for 4 days (for a wedding) and then back to Florida.

 

Budapest!

 

Celebrity Reflection at Meyer Werft (SO.COOL:eek:)a couple weeks before its float out.

 

SO

 

Would I go back to the Black Sea? The question is WHEN will I go back!? I really think this place has potential to grow especially as a cruise destination because I think it might even appeal more for some people (like families) given their "recent" historical relevance. I mean, if you have young kids/teens ask them if they'd rather visit ancient ruins (though I have nothing against them, don't get me wrong) or a secret submarine tunnel? That is why I think the Black Sea will be the "new" first choice of European itinerary for most people, but that is my opinion.

 

Would I go back on the Pacific Princess? YES, and any other small ship the circumstances might take me.

 

Would I cruise again with Princess? For sure, depending on the itinerary (same itinerary on a Celebrity ship, for example, still wins).

 

Would I recommend this whole cruise? YES! If you are looking for a cool, exotic, relaxing, learning, great experience you will be in great hands. Go for it! And take better pictures than my poor iphone :p

 

THE END