Cruises from Kyiv

Kyiv is not the departure port of any cruise liner, and no MSC, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Costa, or Celestyal route starts in the Ukrainian capital. But it is from Kyiv that the whole chain of the trip is easiest to build, since this is the city with the widest choice of transport connections within the country. Buses and trains leave for the western border every day, and dozens of travel agencies and carriers offer organized group transfers straight to airports in Poland, Slovakia, or Hungary. From there the route is standard: a ground segment to the neighboring country, then a flight to one of the European ports of embarkation, most often Barcelona, Venice, Civitavecchia near Rome, Genoa, or Piraeus near Athens. Airports in Warsaw, Krakow, or Rzeszow open up the widest choice of connections to the Mediterranean, so Kyiv residents usually find it easier to pick a flight convenient by time than residents of smaller cities. This does not mean the road is short: it takes more than one day once you count the ground segment, the border, and the flight, but Kyiv still has the largest choice of directions and carriers. When planning the trip, budget time not only for the cruise itself but also for the road there and back, and keep the transfer agency contact details on hand. We laid out the full step by step route with options in the article "How a Ukrainian can get on a cruise: the road to the port."