Experience: Nightwish-cruise on the Baltic Princess (8-9.06.2015)

Nearly a month ago the ticker I had on the side of the blog ticked to zero as we packed our stuff, drove to Turku, met up with two more friends and cabinmates and headed to the Silja Line terminal. Arriving there well before the boarding time, we did the check-in and went to a nearby bar to wait.

We returned to the terminal and boarded as soon as it was possible and right after boarding headed to the buffet to claim our booked dinner. While we were standing in the line the ship departed, giving me a wonderful view of the Viking Grace.

Boarding a sold out cruise

Boarding II

These Nightwish & Silja Line balloons were all over the place

Leaving the Viking Grace behind

Bye Bye Beautiful

The selection was huge at the buffet and we spent hours eating all we could. I remember especially enjoying the sushi and the ice cream and having a hard time fitting everything I wanted into me.

After the dinner the men went to the cabin while Riikka and I went to grab spots at the Starlight palace for the gig. As the palace got crowded, I had to sneak out a few times to poke the men to come along, because otherwise they would have never squeezed through to get to us. Fortunately in the end I succeeded and soon enough after they joined us, the gig started. I can't complain about the setlist, it had everything I wanted. Afterall, the moment I was most looking forward to of the whole cruise was screaming "WE WERE HERE" at the end of The Greatest Show On Earth. At some point I tried to snap some photos of the band members and when nearing the good part of the mentioned song, I climbed on Matti's shoulders. It was a minute of almost constant eye contact with Marco Hietala, until I was put down again - apparently because a security guard told Matti to put me down.

And since I mentioned my own photos, here's the very best I got - it really wasn't easy to get a clear photo. 

If my memory's not failing me, this one was taken by Matti using my camera.

After the gig the party went on until very late hours when the Starlight palace was closed. Us girls then went to sleep, the men carried on partying in others' cabin parties. Subsequently we girls woke up for the Nightwish-quiz and Bingo the next morning. Alas, we didn't win a meet and greet for our cabin (The quiz was so easy, but there was a few tricky questions such as the amount of words in Ever Dream, and a question about the original singer of Over the Hills and Far Away caused a minor conflict), so we chose to have some fun at the Karaoke instead, after some hard but successful attempts to wake up the men. To my great disappointment there was only 8 Nightwish songs available in the karaoke list, as I had wanted to sing either Ever Dream of the Phantom of the Opera, yet neither were available. So I sang I wish I had an Angel instead. I also remember an outstanding performance of Slaying the Dreamer by a young girl. She did the screaming so well that it's a pity I can't find it on Youtube. 

Later on Marco, Troy and Floor performed an acoustic gig including the first ever live performance of Edema Ruh. Of our gang only Riikka attended it, the rest of us discouraged by the big crowds. Instead, we went shopping, rested some more and chilled in the Piano Bar. 

Afterwards, before our arrival to Turku I took a few photos of the ship and we went to chill on the sundeck, where I bumped into my friend Kalle Id (http://kships.blogspot.com/) who greeted me with the words "So, we did end up on the same cruise!".

Mandatory staircase photo

Quite a pleasant sight on a sold-out cruise

Finnclipper in the Turku archipelago

Mandatory funnel photo

After disembarking I was a bit bummed to discover that I still did not have a single one of those Tallinksilja & Nightwish balloons in my possession. Finally after asking some random people of the whereabouts of the balloon giver, they offered to give me one of theirs. You'll probably never read this, random strangers, but thanks a lot, you made me very happy!

Yay!
Coincidentally, the cruise marked exactly two years since my previous Nightwish gig in Tampere, where I got the bag signed.

Experience: Baltic Queen, aka How To Miss Your Departure

Last weekend I was in Helsinki again to meet some friends. It was initially supposed to be a daycruise but later on I turned it into a weekend trip, planning to return with the Baltic Queen.

I woke up early on Saturday morning to make it on the earliest departure of the day, on the Superstar. It was still dark as I boarded and it was quite difficult to get any good pictures as the ship backed out of the harbour. The crossing was, fortunately, quite smooth. Contrary to many stories I've heard the vibration wasn't remarkable, and the fact that the crossing took 30 minutes less than what I'm used to made all the difference, because it really felt quick. The ship wasn't very crowded either, but what did bother me along with a lot of people who answered my research poll was people sleeping on the couches, taking up a lot of space. For me, it wasn't the space that mattered so much as the spreading smell of socks. 

Baltic Queen next to us in Tallinn

The harbour as we left: Baltic Queen and Viking XPRS, the latter followed us in 30 minutes

Underway

Deck plan

Absolutely packed

La Dolce Vita Bar, extending through 3 decks in the front

Tallink turned 25 recently and the whole ship was decorated accordingly

This is how it really is

Large staircase

Superstar's sister Finlandia near Helsinki

Silja Serenade and Finlandia near Helsinki

Mandatory funnel picture

Silja Serenade near Helsinki

Disembarkation

Thou shalt not under any circumstances go beyond this sign

After getting off in Helsinki I had several hours to kill before an interview meeting. Walking around was quite unpleasant with a heavy backpack, therefore I chose to sit in Kamppi and get some work done instead. The meeting was also a great success but after it finished I was so tired that I called my friend and NW-cruise mate to pick me up and we went to the hotel. We were staying at GLO Hotel in the center of Espoo. It's a very nice place; I really recommend it if you're in Espoo or if you're willing to drive or take public transport from Helsinki.
Later that night we drove back to Helsinki to have a rather late dinner, which proved to be difficult in the center on a Saturday night. All the places were either packed, too noisy or had a long line at the door. After searching for over an hour we found a small pizzeria on a relatively quiet street near Kluuvi. 

The next day was spent mainly looking around stores and having a break at some cafe every now and then. I chose to have an early three course dinner at restaurant Kynsilaukka, mainly because it's one of a few places accepting Bitcoin payments. The menu was rather interesting, every dish was somehow made with garlic, including garlic beer, which was quite bitter and garlic ice cream, which must've been one of the most interesting dishes I've ever had, in addition to being quite delicious. 

Garlic ice ceam

In the evening we met up briefly with another NW-cruise mate; in the middle of the meeting I realized that I had miscalculated my time quite badly and hopelessly missed the Baltic Queen departure. Fortunately I was helped out and returned with the Finlandia on Monday morning. The weather was very windy and the ship was rolling heavily. I had many opportunities to take great photos of passing ships but due to the weather and the fact I was extremely tired I skipped it and had a nap instead, while listening to the Bingo game in Telakka bar.

Princess Maria in Helsinki

Mandatory funnel picture - the most notable exterior difference of the two sisters, besides the livery of course.

Another major difference between the two sisters is that bar Nosturi on the Finlandia is on two decks, not three like the Dolce Vita on the Superstar.

Otherwise, although the interiors are obviously quite different, it's easy to tell that Finlandia and Superstar are sisters. Here's the deck plans of the Finlandia for easy comparison. 

And to answer the question in the title - if you're already dense enough to actually wish to miss a departure, finding an excuse to do so or the necessary miscalculations shouldn't really be a problem. Loads of bad luck might sometimes also help.
I would like to thank Timo & Tove for meeting me and sharing memories, Riikka for making the time for a meeting despite your schedules, and also Matti for making most of this possible, keeping me company throughout my stay and saving me from thick trouble after the missed departure.

Maybe next time.

End of peak, start of another

By now, the cruise season is long over, but I'm still yet to share some happenings from before and after it ended; besides the long journey I had in August which I reported very thoroughly, I have been lucky to attend and photograph many interesting events and visiting ships.
For example, early in September there was an event, during which Port of Tallinn was offering bus excursions to the harbour of Muuga. The bus took us to the entrance of the harbor where we had to pass through radiation detectors and get back on the bus. Although I would've liked to walk to look around beyond the places where the bus took us, the transport was still needed because the distances there are really long. From the bus windows I saw many different buildings with various purposes.

Ammonium fertilizer storage, built to minimize the damage in case of explosion by directing the force upwards

Cranes. One of these can still be seen in the passenger harbour in the center of Tallinn as a remain of it's former purpose as a cargo harbour.

Oil storage tanks

Logs...

Grain conveyor..

... and storage building, which can be seen from very far away.

container terminal

coal terminal, currently not in use

View from farther away. The guide's talk about all of the facilities being directly linked to the piers made me wish to actualy see a pier, but that was unfortunately not possible. The harbour is large and very efficient and it could apparently serve many more ships than it's currently serving. 

In addition to that, about a week ago three warships and a submarine from the Netherlands visited the passenger harbour and two of the warships were briefly opened to all visitors. The security at the harbour was surprisingly strict, all the visitors were taken to the ships by bus; before boarding Amsterdam, the largest of the ships, visitors had to leave their bags and movement on board was allowed in only one set direction.

Evertsen

Equipment

Another ship, the Zeeland, was berthed alongside; Victoria on the background.

Star backing out...

... and turning around

Tanker Viimsi leaving the harbour after bunkering Victoria

Busy day

Tug life

Corridor on the Evertsen

From the Netherlands. Helicopter deck on the Amsterdam. On the right the single crane in the harbour, which I mentioned earlier.

Viking XPRS arriving

No zoom; great way to see a bulbous bow in action.

Friendly crew

the submarine Bruinvis

In the meanwhile, Silja Europa sailed to her final destination in Australia. After my previous post about her she sailed to Naantali for a refit and briefly returned to Tallinn, sporting a new Bridgemans livery. I last saw her on the 11th of September while volunteering on a sailboat named Lulu. I planned on taking pictures of her, but as soon as we got close enough, thick fog rolled in. The next evening she set sail towards Australia and arrived at Barrow Island on the 24th of October.

Photo from www.laivakuvat.com

Now for the news. In late September, Tallink and my favourite band Nightwish announced that two Nightwish cruises will take place in June 2015, on board the Baltic Princess, starting from Turku. Now, anyone who knows me even a little should understand why missing that was simply not an option. The major obstacle was the fact that booking opened up in early October, with earlier booking advantage to members of Club One and some mysterious Nightwish fanclub, of which no one I know had heard anything. Fearing that the tickets would sell out before I manage to get the funds to book myself a cabin, I put up an announcement on the Finnish Nightwish forum looking for cabin mates using my Club One advantage. Although it turned out that I wasn't getting the advantage code due to being a member of the Estonian Club One and not the Finnish one, it was still successful. Three people contacted me within a reasonable time willing to join, I got the code from a Finnish friend (Thanks Olli), the negotiations went very smoothly and I booked the cruise within the advantage time. I have already met two of my cruise mates face to face and I consider them new friends. I have also added a countdown ticker to the blog.