My 2017

Yet another year has passed and it is thus time to sum it up, unprecedentedly late into the following year, and following an unprecedented blog silence, due to either being extremely busy, or extremely drained, as you will see. However, that does by no means indicate a lack of blog-worthy events, and I do fully intend to catch up on posting the highlights separately.
2017 has generally been somewhat similar to 2016; very eventful and interesting, but also somewhat difficult, I would even go as far as saying remarkably more so than 2016. So, without further ado-

The Saga of the Estonian Main Island Ferries

This is the updated English version of my article that was published in the 1/2017 edition of Ulkomatala, there translated to Finnish by Olli Tuominen and Kalle Id. 

Over the past years there has been a lot of fuss and scandals around the Estonian island ferries, most notably those connecting the mainland to the two largest islands, Saaremaa (Virtsu - Kuivastu) and Hiiumaa (Rohuküla - Heltermaa). In fact, it could almost be said that few people remember any times at all when there wasn't any fuss around the said ferry services.

My 2016

With yet another year behind, it is time to write a summary of what it has been like for me. I noticed quite loud wishes for the year to be over faster, particularly in relation to all the celebrity deaths, but I've always wondered why are people hating on 2016 if it is just a certain period of time, a social construct, like any other year, with no further meaning than what we give it ourselves. And the night between the 31st of December and the 1st of January, like any other night, has no magic powers to end all misery. So in the end, all we can really do is take life as it is, do what we can to make the world a better place and not worry about what we can't do.

Life in Aboa Mare

For now, I thought I'd write a bit about what's been routine since last September, when I started my maritime studies in Aboa Mare. Some may recall how I wrote about my aim to continue in Estonian Maritime Academy multiple times a few years ago, but eventually the prospect of getting my education in English with a broad and international approach made me change my mind about that, as well as my lifelong dream to move abroad, even if not so far.

I'm now in my 2nd year and I can say that the decision has had its pros and cons, but I certainly haven't had to regret it. The system fits me very well, as we usually do only one or two subjects per week, and those subjects change every week. The main downside is that one can't really afford getting sick or being away at sea during some mandatory attendance courses, but in my eyes, the variety such a system allows for is great and definitely makes up for everything.

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: A wave of Baltic Sea ferry madness

In Mid-March, I took another Baltic trip with Sverre, with the two main purposes being to catch the first voyages of the returned Silja Europa, and to celebrate his birthday. We met up in Tallinn; I took a bus from Turku and then Tallink's Superstar to Tallinn. During the two hour crossing I didn't have time for much more than to watch the departure, have a breakfast, and finally, upon arrival to Tallinn, have a nice close first look at the Silja Europa for the first time since 2014, when she left for Australia to serve as floating accommodation for a bit more than a year. In the terminal I was greeted by Sverre and we checked in the nearby hotel Euroopa. The same evening we had a nice dinner in Olde Hansa, my old workplace.

Challenges

You're now reading the result of about a month of failed attempts to bring this blog out of a 6 month hiatus. There has been several reasons why I haven't felt like writing; first of all, I've found it hard for a long time now to keep this blog all about ships as it was initially intended to be. You may have noticed that when I published a row of posts about my World Gymnaestrada 2015 experience. So to solve that, I will call it a personal blog from now on. Afterall, ships are still such a big part of my life that they're surely not going anywhere; I'm just removing some limitations that I've set for myself and hoping that this blog will look and feel a bit more like me.
Secondly, as unlikely as it may sound, so much happened during those 6 months of silence that it simply became too much to write about; and on the other hand, at the same time, while exciting stuff was not happening, I've had a few obstacles to overcome and never found the time or energy to write anything at all.

However, as the happenings in the meanwhile have been far too exciting to just let slip and not share, I will start by getting this blog up to date.

The last thing I wrote down was a trip with my friend Sverre that I had in January. I have travelled with him numerous times since, both in the Baltics and in Norway. In spring, I had some of the most exciting courses at school, in summer I did 58 days of on-board training on Finnsun, a ro-ro cargo ship, and now I've started my 2nd year of school. And those are the topics I will soon post more about.

During my on-board training on the Finnsun I grew to enjoy sights of endless industrial landscapes; sailing into Antwerp through the Netherlands was great in that way, and so was entering St. Petersburg, as seen in this photo.

My 2015

One more year has passed, and as I have done for many years now, it is time to sum it up month by month. As this blog has been quiet for the most of the 2nd half of the year, I will try to make up for it somewhat.

January

Cruise ship calls in Tallinn & Turku 2015

It has already been some time since Port of Tallinn released their cruise schedules. Just as I did last year, I'm going to give an overview of what I'm awaiting most. Since I'm planning to move to Turku halfway through the summer, I will mention that place too. Though, to be honest, the only considerable downside about moving from Tallinn to Turku is having to switch from THIS cruise schedule to THIS one. I guess not many find it worthwhile to sail the archipelago.

Aidacara

http://www.schiffskoch.com/

The oldest of the lady-faced cruise ships has a rather interesting itinerary this season, stopping in places such as Visby, Mariehamn, Turku, St. Petersburg, Tallinn and Riga among others, but skipping Helsinki and Stockholm. For Turku, she is the first, last and most frequent visitor, as well as the only one to visit more than once. Did I mention I really dig the itinerary?
First call in Tallinn 7. May & in Turku 11. May. 

Norwegian Star

She's adorbs. And visits frequently for the third season in a row. 

First call in Tallinn 14. May

Britannia

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

The most recent P&O newbuild, also the first one with the cruise line's new uniform livery - one cruise fleet less of boring white ships.

First call in Tallinn 6. June

Mein Schiff 4

http://www.ihsmaritime360.com/

Under construction in Turku as I write this, the 2nd newbuild to TUI Cruises will most likely still have a slight smell of construction works when she first calls in Tallinn in early June. 

First call in Tallinn 8. June. 

Louis Aura

www.fleetmon.com

I'm not as hyped about the ship as the cruise line here. Louis Cruises, now known as Celestyal Cruises, has not been seen around here much. Celestyal Cristal from the same fleet has a rather colourful history here on the Baltic Sea (which I've even written down HERE) and many would be happy to see her back in these waters. Seeing the cruise operator around here sheds a ray of hope, although some superstition may still surround the ship, considering the bad luck she had in these waters. 

First call in Tallinn 13. June. 

Disney Magic

www.cruisemates.com

Also mostly about the cruise line - Disney has not been seen here for a long time. 

First call in Tallinn 15. June.

Azores

As well as last year; I barely got the chance to see her and fortunately she will be returning this year. Yet another ship from my narrow selection of vessels with a history worthy of writing down (HERE). Now under charter to Cruise & Maritime Voyages, she's sporting a white funnel and will be renamed to Astoria after this season here. 

First & only call 10. July

Some more ships I'm looking forward to merely for the looks, such as Island Sky, Voyager, Corinthian or Horizon. I'm also looking forward to Magellan, an ex- Carnival / Ibero ship recently acquired by Cruise & Maritime Voyages with her Carnival style funnel still neatly in tact, but her only two calls are in August and September. But speaking of Turku, besides AIDAcara - 

Serenissima, 2. June

www.infoniac.com
Balmoral, 15. July. 

Saga Sapphire, 29. August - definitely a nice birthday present, thank you!

But hey- Turku gets Viking Grace every single evening and a nice shipyard letting out shiny newbuilds every now and then. Though, for some years to come those shiny newbuilds will be exact copies of the Mein Schiff 4. 

P.S. Something totally epic is coming up in about a month.

Meanwhile in Tallin(n/k)

Yet another docking season has come to an end and although some of the happenings have been reflected on my Facebook page, I'll sum them up once more.

First of all, Viking Line's Rosella came to Tallinn for several weeks in January. Among other changes, her livery was refreshed and she now has stripes on her sides similar to those on her newer fleetmates. At first it caused a wave of excitement but when she left the dock and started service again, it turned into disappointment. Many believed that she would look good with stripes, but definitely not the way they were done, the company logo on her sides was also complained about.

Rosella in Mariehamn, photo by Mikael Aaltonen

Protest groups were formed and petitions signed and angry letters sent, many photoshopped-painted their visions of how she should have been done and some mocked:

Actually looks good on the Grace, doesn't it?
By Jonny Albert Hietala

Eventually, we received a confirmation that Rosella is getting her stripes fixed in spring; the shipyard  commented that the mishap happened due to their inability to see the ship from farther away while she was in dock. In the meantime, there is still some time to travel to see her with her current look.

Meanwhile in Tallink - the Romantika, having received more of a negative response from Estonians after her route change, went to a long drydock and still continues to be refit while serving. However I can't say much about the changes happening, because I've never been on board at all.
Many other ships had their regular maintenance. Today Tallink made two announcements.
Firstly, they have sold Regina Baltica and Silja Festival. Both of them had already been chartered for a while, which means that Tallink's own regular service is not affected.

Both the sold vessels in Tallinn, November 2013

Secondly, the intended third Tallinn-Helsinki shuttle vessel was ordered from Meyer Turku. She will be significantly larger than the first two and will be delivered in 2017, 10 years after the first one, the Star, was delivered. She will also run on LNG. 

What she will mostly look like

In addition to all that, the Finlandia was also retouched, but I'll write more of that in my next post.

  

My 2014

Another year has passed and it's about time to sum it up, as I have already done twice before. These summaries help to reflect and have a brief overview of where I started and where I am now. To anyone who reads this it may also serve as a kind of a guide on what to expect from the blog posts of that era. This year I'll also try to include some ship-related happenings that took my interest at that time. Enjoy.

January

 To me, the only remarkable event of the month was a daycruise to Helsinki in the start of it. It involved Viking XPRS I had been on numerous times already at that point, but the return journey was on the beautiful Viking Cinderella who was on the route for only three weeks. It was a lucky catch, because on her usual route, she will remain out of my reach for some years due to age restrictions. Some time after she left both she and Viking XPRS hit the docks and had their liveries refreshed. Viking XPRS was also reflagged to Estonia. 

February

A quiet and difficult month that to me was mostly about getting started at a new job I didn't need to seek for long. I still work there now. This blog hit 10 000 views, which is by now much over 2,5 times that. 

March

On the first of March I was so happy that the cold and dark winter months are finally over, until the snow came down again the next day. Nevertheless, after letting go of something that had been deteriorating for months, my life got eventful. I won the single main prize at an essay contest with my essay on piracy and copyright protection and did a rather spontaneous daycruise to Helsinki on the Viking XPRS for my first pay. 

April

Although not as eventful, April was great. I did a lot of walking and shipspotting as the weather got better. In addition to that I was making plans when the cruise schedules were published and in the end of the month, the first cruise ship, the Discovery, called here in Tallinn. Unfortunately, the beautiful ship is no more since she was scrapped in October. I also tried the Titanic Voyage annual roleplay which ended for me when I accidentally returned to my cabin when it was already submerged. On the last day of the month I was lucky to interview the head of the Estonian branch of Eckerö Line, who was very helpful and hospitable.

May

  In the beginning of the month I gave my bicycle a new look and rode it extensively over the month. I witnessed the opening of a new cruise quay and the calling of the largest ship ever to sail these waters, the Royal Princess. I also got another, seasonal job and had a weekend trip to Helsinki on the Finlandia, which turned out quite fun and random, despite the fact I had been making preparations for a while.

June

Most of the month was spend working hard and looking at wonderful cruise ships as I had the access to see them close up. Mariella and Gabriella of Viking Line started doing quick trips to Tallinn which was also a thing to see. Had the chance to see David Guetta live in Tallinn. In the end of the month I took a very useful practical sailing course. 

July

As the month begun, so did the planning and preparing for a longer trip. I attended the Estonian Song Celebration, this time as a seller (I have participated as a singer numerous times before).  On the 6th I visited a calling ship for the first time with a bunch of friends who came here from Finland to see her. The ship was Gann - a Norwegian school ship who does some cruises during the high season. I spent a day working on a sailboat, transporting passengers between two harbours for Tallinn Maritime Days. On the 24th I visited another calling cruise ship, the Legend of the Seas, after being invited by a kind crew member I had met at work. On the 27th while the weather was very lovely here in Tallinn, it was raining and flooding and Stockholm and Mariella broke loose from the quay.  

August

ERROR:
Month way too

eventful for just

one image

Choosing a photo for July was hard enough

A big part of the month and the big memory overshading everything else was the two week trip I had in the middle of the month. Shortly before it started, Silja Europa made her final trip on the Tallinn-Helsinki route; she was replaced by Baltic Queen and to replace the latter, Romantika came to Tallinn from Riga. My trip involved Helsinki, Tampere, Turku, Mariehamn, Stockholm, Kirkkonummi and Helsinki again, each one of the five Viking Line vessels I had not yet sailed on (Mariella, Viking Grace, Rosella, Amorella, Gabriella), many old and new friends, three amusement parks and a waterpark. Altogether the trip is without doubt the brightest memory of the year - perhaps the fact it took me 5 posts to sum it up shows. The experience also remarkably changed my future school preferences. Shortly after the trip I officially became an adult. 

September

Early in September I finally received my GMDSS Restricted Operator's licence, having completed the course more than a year earlier. Later, just when I entered the cruise area to take the final photos of the season of Mein Schiff 2, my loyal camera broke down and I got it fixed some weeks later. On the 11th I worked as a volunteer on the sailboat LuLu, taking a bunch of tourists on a fun ride on the bay. We started with sailing closer to the Silja Europa who was laid up in Paljassaare, but as the fog rolled in I couldn't see her anymore and I haven't ever since. I also took a guided tour to the Muuga cargo harbour. In the end of the month my favourite band announced an upcoming concert-cruise on the Baltic Princess (yet to happen) and I immediately looked into options to attend... 

October

... and on the first days of the month it bore fruit as I booked the cruise together with three people I had never met before. I met one of them face to face very soon afterwards and his help was irreplaceable when I had a weekend trip to Helsinki later that month, going there with the Superstar but hopelessly missing Baltic Queen to return home. Before the trip I finally moved out from under the rock when I received my final birthday present, my first ever laptop. 

November

Compared to the previous months, November was relatively quiet and difficult. I saw Tarja Turunen live which was a very nice experience. Plans were made for the end of the year. Tallink announced intention to build a new LNG ferry for the Tallinn-Helsinki route and plans to move Sea Wind to Tallinn-Vuosaari route, where she's already serving as I write this. 

December

For the caption this photo may need, see previous post

Early December was mostly spent working and trying to get everything over with at school. After that was done, I cruised to Stockholm on the Silja Symphony. After the cruise I spent only two days at home and then left for the other home in Finland to spend the rest of the year there and welcome 2015 on the Viking Grace, who had become my favourite ferry during the year.

To sum up, last year was nothing like I expected it to be - it was much, much better and definitely by far my best year yet. To continue what I said last year - 2015 has some even more serious competition. Right now it's looking very promising and will probably bring major changes I'm quite looking forward to. 

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.