Experience: New Year on Stavangerfjord

Although 2017 has barely started, one thing is for sure - I will remember it as a year I got to welcome on a wonderful cruise. This time it was a special New Year cruise organized by Fjord Line; both the Bergensfjord and the Stavangerfjord were put to do these special cruises, and our choice ended up being the Stavangerfjord from Bergen to Copenhagen via Stavanger, and back. For practical reasons we decided to disembark in Stavanger instead of Bergen, which gave me an additional city to discover.

But before I got to embark on the Stavangerfjord, I had to get to Norway.

Experience: Crown & Pearl Seaways, Bohus & Oslofjord, and best birthday ever!

After disembarking from the Finnsun, I did not actually head home - instead, I flew straight to Norway again and spent a few peaceful days there with Sverre before he had to head back to work on his ship. Nonetheless, already before the end of August I was back in Norway again, this time for a remarkably longer and more adventurous stay, which also included a worthy celebration of my 20th birthday. It also marked the first time I chose to travel to Norway without flying; I started the journey by taking my old favourite Viking Grace to Stockholm.

How to kill time before a trip, the my way.

I'm quite certain I already have shared this "Five stages of travel" graph once, at some point, somewhere; afterall, if I had to choose any picture to describe my life, this would most certainly be it, because while there is a lot more to my life, this is what occupies the largest space in my brain. Though one rather important part missing from the picture would be waiting. Of course, having daily duties to attend to, such as school, helps a lot with making time fly faster. But nonetheless, more than once I've found myself anxiously waiting for a trip with a few too many completely free and unplanned days to get over with first. And how would a travel addict solve such a situation? Of course, by booking a quick mini-trip.

Experience: Cruising with style, part 3 (Gabriella)

 Part 1 here  Part 2 here

Upon arrival to Turku we split up with Sverre for a brief time and I headed home to unpack some extra stuff I had got from Tallinn and Stockholm, that had become a burden to carry along. Later on we met up again in the center, had a relatively modest lunch in Burger King and headed to Best Western hotel to check in and discover that our room was located right across the entrance to the Viking Line terminal, which was particularly nice later on when the Viking Grace came in.

Experience: Cruising with style, part 2 (Mariella)

Part 1 here

Mariella coming to get us

We reached the Katajanokka terminal just in time to check-in and board the Mariella. For me, it was the first "proper" sailing on her, as I had only crossed on her once from Tallinn to Helsinki in August 2014. She has since been refreshed a bit and now I got to do a full cruise on her. It was here that the amazing cabin luck that followed us for the rest of the trip started - we had booked a suite, and of the six suites on board, we were given the only one that has a total of 8 windows on the port side, giving a wonderful view and allowing us to keep an eye out for other ships at almost all times.

Experience: Sailing to Stockholm on the Aurelia + Galaxy to Turku

It has now been two weeks since I last left my Tallinn home. My final destination being once again Tervakoski, and the way I got here being once again somewhat adventurous. It started with a 36-hour non-stop sailing to Stockholm on Aurelia, the largest Estonian sailing yacht. We departed in the evening and the sail out of Tallinn was quite enjoyable, with people telling stories and enjoying the view and the calm weather; on the other hand, it wasn't windy enough to use sails and we lagged a bit behind the schedule. Alas for me, the next time I could just sit outside and enjoy the environment was after we reached the Stockholm archipelago; as we got farther from the coast the boat started rolling quite badly and I failed to prevent myself from getting seasick. On the 2nd day I managed to climb out on the deck a couple of times; the weather was actually wonderful. Soon afterwards we were hit by even stronger winds and higher waves, so I had to resort to curling up in the cabin bed (which, fortunately, was surrounded by walls on three sides), trying not to roll along and crawling to the bathroom every now and then. As we progressed the rolling got so bad that nothing would keep me in place on the bed and I had to lie across the bed and hope to keep myself in place with my legs. Early  in the morning on the 3rd day we finally reached the archipelago, the sea got calm and after some actual sleep I went on the deck to look and steer. That's when I found out we had gained up during  the windy hours and eventually we reached Stockholm only a few hours behind schedule. The weather was lovely and the best part of the whole experience was the fact I lost quite a bit of weight. At this point I would most likely even agree to do it again.

Outbound

Superstar near Tallinn, making impressive waves. Later on we also saw her outbound.

View from the cabin window on a good day

A day and a half later

Baltic Princess in the archipelago

Viking Grace, shiny and beautiful as ever, also outbound. 

As I mentioned, the weather in Stockholm was gorgeous. We parked the boat near Gröna Lund, I went to the center and met up with a friend, later on I chose to buy a transport day ticket and take the most out of it, so I ended up walking around a little in almost every corner of central Stockholm. At one point I took the ferry from Gamla Stan back to Djurgården and picked up my suitcase. I'm not quite sure what exactly was happening, but the entire city was full of old vehicles, both cars and public transport. I also witnessed some kind of a parade thingy at the Royal Palace, which included seeing both the King and the Queen.

Mariella and Cinderella

I was just wandering around thinking of heading to the harbour when I passed the royal palace and saw a bunch of guards, so I chose to stick around and see what's happening...

... when His Majesty passed by.

Quite an impressive escort

As I walked on, some more marching squads passed.

Soon afterwards it was time to head to the harbour. As I arrived, Galaxy was just coming in and Silja Symphony was surprisingly still in. 

Fishies at the crowded terminal

Seems like Silja Symphony was in to stay; when I checked Marinetraffic the following day though, she had made it to Helsinki.

The Galaxy was surprisingly full for a Sunday evening; the Symphony next to us on the other hand seemed empty. For some reason I thought that the huge crowds in the terminal were waiting to board the latter, but unfortunately for me, all were boarding Galaxy. I had an E-class cabin, which is right above the nightclub. The only thing I chose to do that night was participate in the ship's karaoke, which had an unusually low attendance rate and quality of performances. Fortunately I didn't stand out in those terms, since I somehow managed to choose all the wrong songs. Due to it being Sunday, the free cabin party from down below didn't last for too long and I got about as much sleep as possible with the time zone change and early arrival in Turku. 

Mandatory funnel photo

Experience: Romantika + Rosella + Galaxy (+Star)

I haven't given any music to accompany my posts for a while, so here goes:

A bit over a week ago I chose to do a little trip before getting to my vacation destination. Briefly - if a normal person was to go from Tallinn to Tervakoski, they would take a boat from Tallinn to Helsinki and ask the driver to pick them up from there. Now, here's what I did.

In the evening of Saturday the 14th I met up with Anneli and Taavi at terminal D in port of Tallinn. We boarded the Romantika and set sail to Stockholm. We all booked a cruise, but for me it was just a one way journey. Before departure Anneli and I went to the sundeck to look at Sea Wind depart (which she did not, since it was Saturday), Viking XPRS depart and Finlandia come in. Since it was freezing, I chose not to wait for the Superstar to come in, instead I went to rest in the cabin for a bit. Some hours after the departure I went to explore and shop. The weather was nice with almost no wind at all, so it felt like in the middle of the archipelago - slow, still, almost boring. Alas, I had no luck in the raffle that took place in the Starlight Palace. I chose to go to sleep early, knowing that I was about to get no sleep for 36 hours, but since our cabin was far aft, it was easier said than done. The constant low frequency sound and the insane vibration once we reached Mariehamn kept me half awake through the night.

Approaching

Mandatory funnel picture

Sea Wind just standing there and totally not departing

Viking XPRS freeing her spot for Finlandia

Finlandia taking the spot

Nope, still not departing

Calm seas

The next morning I got off the ship and immediately headed for the center where I spent my day walking around and shopping a bit.

Beautiful morning in Stockholm

Bye~

Crowded street

Bridge to Skeppsholmen

Teaterskeppet

af Chapman

Arctic Sunrise

Cinderella arriving, Gabriella hiding behind her and Djurgården 10 passing by

Birka coming in

Gröna Lund!

Royal Opera House & St. Jacob's Church

Riddarholmen

Klara Church

Stockholm City Hall and some other houses

After a nice long day in Stockholm, when Romantika had already started her return journey, I sat on a bus in the center of Stockholm and headed for Kapellskär to board Rosella with my friend Nelly on board. The time on board was mostly spent eating in the Bistro Buffet, which offered delicious meat and wine.

Yum 

Mandatory staircase photo

Infamous hull stripes

Just as we got off the Rosella, Gabriella had come in as well. After taking a few photos, Nelly, Mikael and I headed a bit south to do some shipspotting.

Rosella

Gabriella

Silja Serenade, Gabriella, Rosella

Gabriella leaving

Romantika coming in. According to my ticket, I was supposed to be on board.

Romantika backing into Mariehamn, with my friend Anneli apparently somewhere in this picture

Romantika opening her ramp, ...

... letting in exactly two and a half cars, ...

And closing the ramp.

Bye bye! 

After the shipspotting I was dropped off in the center (if you can say so) of Mariehamn in front of the Tallink office about an hour before the taxi. The following hour consisted of trying to remain sane, trying not to freeze and overstressing about the taxi. Fortunately there was wifi and some silent music was playing at the entrance of what seemed to be a small shoping center right next to the office. Nevertheless, mostly due to the cold and the fact I was very tired and the city was dead, it was possibly the longest hour of my life. Finally, about one minute after the right time when I had already gone insane about five times, the taxi came. Turned out I was the only one taking the transport that day. It was a service taxi provided by Tallink to get me to Långnäs. The ride took about 30 minutes - just enough for me to unfreeze - and when I made it to the terminal, it turned out I was the only one boarding Galaxy from Långnäs that night. I did the check-in, waited for about 10 minutes and then the check-in guy gestured, meaning that my ship was arriving and it was time to board. He accompanied me the whole walk down the gangway and connected it to the ship with assistance from the ship's crew. I walked on board feeling like a princess and the moment I stepped on board they started to dismantle the whole thing again. I highly doubt there was any cars boarding that night, so the whole experience made me feel unusually important.

Långnäs terminal at around 2:35 at night

Galaxy's livery details

Waiting as they pave my way to the ship

Now before I carry on to what happened on board and the rest of my journey, I would like to take a minute to appreciate the taxi driver, the check-in guy and every one of those people who go to work in the middle  of nowhere in the dead of the night so lunatics like me could majestically board their night ferries.

And now, when it comes to what happened on the Galaxy - briefly, absolutely nothing. The other 372 people on board were nicely tucked in their cabins, everything on board was closed and the ship was dead except for one kind crew member at the information desk. I found my happy place in being able to take photos of the ship's interior without fearing to invade anyone's privacy. 

Deck plans

Even Starlight palace was closed

Windows on the Romantika (above) and Galaxy (below)

I looked...

...far and wide...

... for signs of life, ..

... Alas, ...

... I did not find any.

Not even Joe would keep his doors open for me.

When the doors are open, it's so easy to just walk though without noticing the name of the place you're going.

That was not the case here.

Fortunately, it was not all closed doors everywhere.

What I liked about the Galaxy was the simple three colour layout. Not quite sure if her two sisters have the same - didn't notice anything on the Baltic Queen, not that I was looking. Feel free to enlighten me.

Blue bow area staircase

Green staircase midships

And red aft staircase. Notice the works of the Estonian artist Navitrolla in the staircases; he also did the livery art. 

 After looking around on board I chose to curl up near the information desk and have a little "power nap", which was probably not such a great idea considering I was feeling much worse afterwards. After about an hour of napping I noticed some people appearing and by the time the sun rose and we started nearing Turku, the ship started to look like almost 400 passengers on board. After recovering from the shivers I got up and went out to take photos.

Sunrise

Mandatory funnel photo

Turku lights

The ship in morning sun

At last. 

The earliest morning hours I spent mostly trying to kill some time near the harbour and later in the center. Afterwards it got a bit warmer and I finally met up with Matti who came to pick me up. We met up in the train station and went for a walk, had a lunch on board the Bore where I stayed in August, and headed home to Tervakoski where I spent the following week watching the northern lights, the solar eclipse and having a full time vacation.

That wonderful flower sculpture again

The rusty object in the foreground is a crushed bulbous bow removed from a ship after it ran aground. Thanks to Micke Asklander for refreshing my memory - the bulbous bow belonged to Transgermania who was later known as Eckerö Line's Translandia.  

After a wonderful vacation it was time to return home. This time I opted for the normal way and took the Star home. I would probably not even mention this but the sea was nice and stormy, nothing like it was during my journey a week earlier. In fact, we were told over the speakers to avoid going outside and be careful while moving around the ship three times. The spray easily splashed up to 8th deck windows and I felt like on board a ship at last.