Recently I've been out there on the sea again, as I've mentioned countless times. This time I enjoyed cruising on board Victoria I of Tallink with Tõnis and my parents.
As you might have noticed, I was very excited about it, and since the ship didn't leave until 6 in the evening, I got to sleep well and prepare for a good cruise to come.
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| Boarding |
After the ship departed, we spent a while on the sun deck, to watch Tallinn, the leading lights and other ships. Viking XPRS departed right before us, and then Superstar came in. We also passed a strange tanker named Samraa Alkhaleej quite close. The tanker has been standing in the same spot for several months now; I googled the name and found out that she had been leaking due to some mistakes in running the ship. She has been in Estonian waters since February, she's arrested and anchored near Naissaare for a while
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| Viking XPRS leaving |
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| Superstar coming |
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| Leading lights of Tallinn - when the lights are aligned, we're on safe waters |
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| Leading lights of Tallinn - when the lower light is green, we're off the safe waters |
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Samraa Alkhaleej - Not my photo - it was dark and we didn't take pictures.
Photo by Küllike Rooväli |
After leaving Tallinn, we only stayed awake for long enough to see Silja Symphony and Mariella, both heading to Stockholm from Helsinki - after all, we had a long day in Stockholm ahead. Things went a bit differently though. At 5.30 in the morning, I woke up because the ship was shaking. Our ship had arrived to Mariehamn and was maneuvering. I went looking around for about an hour, and I saw Rosella standing in Mariehamn. While leaving the port, I also saw Cinderella for the first, and so far last time. And I didn't take any pictures, because it was dark and she was far away. But she's coming to Tallinn soon anyway.
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| Rosella of Viking Line |
In the morning we all woke up early as planned, to not miss Viking Grace and other Turku-Stockholm ships departing. The timing was good; I missed Baltic Princess, but Tõnis got pictures of her, and I made it to the sun deck right when Viking Grace sailed out from behind an island. Grace's fleetmate Mariella was following us the whole time.
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| Baltic Princess |
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| Viking Grace |
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| Viking Grace |
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| And another Viking Grace |
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| The new and the old |
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| Bye bye Viking Grace |
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| Mariella |
When arriving to Stockholm, we came in right next to Silja Symphony, who had arrived before us.
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| Silja Symphony |
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| That pipe over there left us wondering - is this thing used for tanking the ship? Maybe filling the water supplies? Or removing sh.. um, waste? Or all three? |
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| The Silja and the Tallink |
I liked Stockholm quite a lot. There's lots of islands, which also means lots and lots of boats. We did some elementary shopping (sweets, sweets and even more sweets) and sightseeing (churches, churches and even more churches), and at one point we found ourselves at the shore again. There was a nice view to Gröna Lund, Mariella and several other ships. I was actually surprised by the amount of hotel ships and other vessels in Stockholm, although, considering the geography of the area, it's kind of obvious. I also saw Saxaren and her fleetmates.
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| There is one big advantage that Viking Line has compared to Tallink - best harbour spots ever! |
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| Nice boat huh |
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| Teaterskeppet |
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| Saxaren |
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| Sea trams in Stockholm |
After looking around in the center, my parents returned to the ship, and Tõnis and I went a bit farther to see Isabelle. There was also a ro/ro ferry named Mistral standing between Victoria and Isabelle, and I thought of taking pictures of her too.
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| Isabelle |
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| Mistral |
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| Silja Symphony departing |
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| Bridge view of Silja Symphony and Isabelle departing |
After departing from Stockholm, I kept my eyes open for the ships arriving from Turku.
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| Galaxy |
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| Amorella |
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| Amorella of Viking Line |
After seeing those ships, we went to see our ship better than we did during the first trip. We also did some shopping and partying.
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| Starlight Cabaret |
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| Disco Aluminium |
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| Starlight Cabaret |
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| Lifeboat |
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| Mandatory Funnel picture |
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| Bridge view at night |
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| Lights of Kapellskär |
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| Well, ship people, what ships? |
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| Splash |
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| Rosella in Mariehamn |
After the stop in Mariehamn, we thought of going back to party, but the ship was now swaying really badly and since I was a bit tired and it was hard to stand up, we went to sleep instead. The next morning not much happened besides arriving to Tallinn. I was excited to see a small tugboat waiting in the bridge cam. I hoped that it was there to help us - and as it turned out, it was!
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| Cabin 5728, my home during this awesome cruise |
What a view from the boat! So gorgeous. Views like that remind me of why I love fall so much :) we are looking forward for another! cruise vacation in which I want to travel to Central America. We're actually leaving out of Miami. But I agree, ports in the Caribbean are very close to the city centers and the one we went on actually look us to a private island which was really nice :)
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