Experience: A Graceful New Year

 I was lucky to greet this New Year in the best place possible - on board my favourite ship, the Viking Grace. The New Year's Eve started with a car ride from Tervakoski where I was staying to Turku. Arriving just in time to walk around a bit and do some last minute shopping, I was convinced once again that I really do like Turku.

At 6 in the evening, when the shops closed and shooting fireworks became legal, we drove to Ruissalo, which is an island in the southwest of the city. Since it was dark it was impossible to do any sightseeing, instead we went up to a small floating pier to watch Baltic Princess and the Viking Grace come in.

Baltic Princess came in first..

...and took her spot

I really think her funnel should have the whole frame in white, like on her sisters and the Star.

After a while of waiting, the Grace came in too

Yep, it is her

turning around to back into her spot

Before the Grace turned around it was time for us to drive back to the harbour because the time was right to board. Since she stays in the harbour for just an hour, we parked the car near the harbour and did the check-in right away. Just like last time, the cruise schedules were introduced in the waiting hall before boarding. The introduction was in Finnish, Swedish and Russian, the last of which caused a surprised wow and passionate cheering in the end from the crowd who probably didn't expect that.

After boarding I went straight outside to take photos of the city and fireworks, which proved to be difficult. After trying for about 30 minutes it got a bit cold and I went back inside. 

Leaving Turku behind

Grace's gas tanks, built on the outside for safety

Behind Club Vogue

Smokers' deck as I like to call it and the atrium

Mandatory Funnel Photo

Not-So-Mandatory Fancy Ceiling Photo

My shoes in the cabin "spotlight"

The New Year was celebrated three times - Russian (St. Petersburg) time, Finnish time and Swedish time. We chose to only attend the Finnish time party, not only because it's our time zone but because Finnish time is also the ship's time and it was likely to be the best. In addition to that, when we went to buy the cruise boarding photo we were offered a photo shoot by the photographer. Afterwards, since we were disembarking early in the morning he offered to print out the photos and show them to us some 15 minutes before the Finnish New Year (if you're reading this, thanks a million!). The photos turned out great; we bought two of the best ones, one for each of us. 

Boarding

 It was quite the classic New Year party, with a countdown and dancing and flying confetti in the Vogue club. After the celebration we stayed up for some hours, watching the Långnäs stop, sitting in Retro bar and enjoying.

31.12.2014  23:59:56

The New Year photo posted by the Viking Grace Facebook page; We should be somewhere riiiight behind the blonde head.

After a few hours of sleep it was time to disembark. I have never seen a city as dead as Stockholm at 6:30 on the 1st of January. The first sign of life we saw besides fellow disembarkers was an open McDonald's restaurant at Slussen. We chose to have breakfast there, resulting in probably my weirdest McDonald's experience ever. Unlike the city, it was absolutely packed with a rather colourful contingent, very dirty and seemed to have gone through a few attempts of cleaning with some of the chairs on the tables. There was also a system error that prevented the placing of any orders which made most of the people angry. After we had finally received and eaten our food, we were just about to head out and witnessed attempts to clean up the place - a bucket full of water was thrown to the floor and no one seemed to care besides us. Luckily, we ran outside just in time. 

After leaving our luggage at the hostel we were staying at, we had some 6-7 hours to kill before the check-in opened. The fact we were dead tired and most stores were closed wasn't helping. We looked around a bit in the center and Gamla Stan, then spontaneously took a ferry named Djurgården 10 to the namesake island where we found a really neat buffet restaurant. After killing lots of time eating there, we took a tram back to the center and soon headed back to the hostel on Långholmen island. It was a nice refreshing walk away from the Hornstull metro station, not too far away from the center, especially if you have transport cards. Långholmen is an old prison island, nowadays a popular recreation area with lots of greenery. Since it was cold and we were tired and the island wasn't too appealing in winter, we didn't spend any time looking around, but I'm hoping to return at some point. 

Waxholmsbolaget ferries

Gröna Lund from sea

Leaving the center behind

The courtyard of the buffet restaurant, looking absolutely lovely even in winter.

A nice pillar in a tunnel near Hornstull metro station, made of  bas-reliefs of human body parts

see?

The hostel itself was a remarkable experience too, being entirely prison-themed. Although a bed sheet rental fee came as an unpleasant surprise this time, making the stay somewhat expensive, it was still quite an experience and I wouldn't mind staying there again. 

Luggage locker

Hallways

Entrance to the museum

Our room

Bathroom

Mirror. Selfie not intended, honestly!

After doing the check-in it was finally time for some well-deserved beauty sleep and so we didn't wake up until early next morning, just in time to get ready to board the same sweet Grace again. Before boarding we had breakfast in the same McDonald's restaurant again, which, unlike on the day before, wasn't messy at all. The ship seemed quite empty this time with under a thousand people on board - from being almost sold out before, it was a nice contrast. The whole day on board didn't turn boring for a bit. First of all, after departing, we went to look at the ferries who were coming in one after another.

First of all, Silja Serenade of TallinkSilja, from Helsinki

Fortunately that morning wasn't near as foggy as the time I was taking photos of the Grace from her sister Silja Symphony.

Soon after her came Princess Maria of St. Peterline. Usually on the Helsinki - St. Petersburg route, I believe she was doing a seasonal cruise that brought her to Stockholm.

Built in 1981, still going strong

Bye bye

Soon afterwards, the Grace's fleetmate Gabriella followed, coming from Helsinki.

The only decent side view I got of her

Three in one

And finally, after a while of waiting, TallinkSilja's Romantika came in too, from Tallinn.

By the time she turned her back to us, the other vessels were long out of sight.

Absolutely Mandatory atrium photo that was taken in the meanwhile. That place looks totally different each time. 

Yes, we felt quite welcome, thank you ☺

Soon afterwards it was time to claim our spa reservation. The spa is probably my favourite place on the Grace; in addition to the majestic view out of the panorama window, the nice hot saunas and a snow cave, it's the small things that matter. For example the provided robe in addition to the usual towel, shower gel, shampoo and conditioner next to every shower, free fruits and water, and I couldn't help but notice that even the pool ladder side rails were heated.

As we were getting out of the spa the ship started rolling heavily, which was a sign of leaving the Stockholm archipelago. We killed some time in Retro bar until the Mariehamn stop when I went to take pictures. The weather outside was a weird mixture of very nice and very unpleasant; I didn't like the heavy rain at all, but sailing through a double rainbow was lovely. 

out near Mariehamn

Meanwhile on the other side

Baltic Princess heading out to continue to Turku

Galaxy following to continue to Stockholm

Sailing to heaven

Amorella and port of Mariehamn

After the Mariehamn stop I had to dry myself once again since I was absolutely soaked. Some more time was killed in the Retro Bar and in the shopping world once it opened. Unfortunately we were a tad too late for the Bingo, so instead we went to Rockmore Bar to wait for the karaoke to start. There low amount of passengers kind of reflected, although there weren't many seats available, it took a while to get the show going. Still, I sang some songs as well as many others did. The selection was at least as wide as on the Silja Symphony, but to me it seemed to be a much better selection, with at least 10 Nightwish songs in addition to many others. In the end I was very proud of myself for getting Matti to sing the Phantom of the Opera with me. After the karaoke it was just about the right time to pack up and get ready to disembark. Since it was quite late when we arrived back in Turku, we drove straight home, ending the best New Year celebration I've had so far.

Experience: Silja Symphony (21-23.12.2014)

Some days ago I finally had the chance to cruise on another #1 of my bucket list, the Silja Symphony. I was accompanied by my dear mother who had cruised on her in 1993, just two years after she started service and barely a month after she lost her status of the world's largest cruiseferry to Silja Europa. My mother wanted to return ever since, since the cruise was for her the first trip out of the former Soviet Union and she was awestruck. For me the Silja Symphony (along with her sister the Silja Serenade) was the only ship on the Northern Baltic Sea that had the chance to impress me as much as the Viking Grace did.

10 points to whoever spotted that this is, in fact, Silja Serenade. After the recent dockings the most notable exterior difference between the two sisters is the seal on the funnels - on the Silja Symphony he is smiling while on the Serenade he isn't. 

For us the trip started with crossing to Helsinki on the good old Viking XPRS. We spent most of the time in the Dance Pavilion, since it's quite remote, dark and also silent, at least in the morning. I ended up running to the Blue Deli a lot and I couldn't help but notice the music in the Viking's Inn pub - all the world famous Christmas songs in Finnish.

After getting off in Helsinki the first thing we did was walk to the South terminal where the Silja Symphony was already waiting. Although she wasn't leaving anytime soon we needed to leave behind our horribly imbalanced suitcase which was a pure pain to carry along (resulting in me swearing and cursing at it countless times as it flipped over again). After dropping it off we climbed the high hill right outside the terminal to take some photos.

On the other side of the hill we found the German church where a service was just about to finish; we heard the organ play and just as we got outside again the church bells started ringing. Later on we met up with Matti, went to Kynsilaukka restaurant again and walked around a bit. Since the ship was leaving already at 5 in the evening we didn't actually have that much time and therefore we had to return to the terminal soon. The check-in lines were quite long and I didn't see any check-in machines either. After a while of waiting we finally got our boarding cards and Matti waved us off.

German Church

Morning view of Katajanokka

Mikael Agricola Church which was, unfortunately, closed.

St. Henry's Cathedral

Organ of St. Henry's Cathedral

Embarkation, at last!

The first wow - I had imagined the promenade to be lower and more narrow. 

Deck plans

Mandatory funnel photo

Leaving Helsinki behind on the darkest day of the year

Promenade from above. Our cabin was on deck 10, which is the 2nd highest on the promenade.

Atlantis Palace

Stairs from the promenade to the Grande Buffet

Rear end of the promenade

Rear end of the ship

Grande Buffet outside...

... and inside

Mandatory staircase photo

Corridor

First thing two women like us would do on Silja Symphony - shopping, shopping, shopping! My first advice for those cruising on her in the future: Plan a budget at least twice as big as the initial cruise fare for the ship alone!

A map showing the ship's location on the route - actually working, unlike that on the Silja Europa when she was on the Tallinn-Helsinki route.

A very handy addition, also.

Most of our first evening was spent shopping and spying on the cabins across the promenade. In fact, I believe that promenade is probably the best cabin class one can have on the Symphony, because the perks of seeing the life on the promenade and the nearby cabins add a whole new value to the cruise. When it comes to the price, promenade cabins are the step between inside cabins (which there aren't so many) and window cabins; I definitely suggest going promenade.

Although we woke up early next morning (especially me, messing up the hours once again!), getting out of the ship took us almost until midday. First of all I had to spot the outbound Turku ships in the thick fog, then have some breakfast in the Grande Buffet and get ready. 

Baltic Princess in the mist

A small ferry connecting two islands in the Stockholm archipelago

Viking Grace, who almost went unnoticed; fortunately, she blew her fog horn like a good ferry and I noticed her when she was in 10 o'clock direction from me.

Victoria I in Stockholm. This view immediately reminded me of my cruise on her a bit over a year ago when I was standing on the side deck just like that, looking at the Silja Symphony right there. 

The selection in the Grande Buffet was quite satisfactory and finding a seat was never a problem, although it was evident that the crowds passing through every morning are huge. The crew was working hard too - the dishes disappeared moments after the customer left, almost like magic. 

In Stockholm the shopping spree continued - it took me less than an hour to get rid of the little SEK I had exchanged for the shore leave; after that we switched to window-shopping, which resulted in getting quite a collection of business cards from different stores. Also did some walking and sightseeing, but since the weather wasn't the best, we returned to the ship about an hour before the departure, if not more.

Stockholm christmas market

Some Stockholm findings - excluding the chips, which were from the ship's store.

 By the time the ship departed I was already in the ship's spa. I had thought that there is no way a ship spa located on the upper decks with huge panorama windows can leave me unimpressed, but alas, I found one. The lack of directing signs left me very confused, there were way too few showers and the locker room was very narrow. The three pools seemed quite fine for a cruiseferry spa and I actually felt some envy looking at the kiddie pool which had a fun slide, but what did disturb me was the relatively freezing water in the pools. Although I put up with cold very well, I'd still expect the bubbling bath to feel warm, not slightly cold that took some time to get used to. The scenery was quite nice, but that's about it, I'd say. The price, fortunately, wasn't sky high either; I got what I paid for. Later in the evening I felt like participating in the karaoke, which took place in the New York Club & Lounge above the spa on a whole separate deck around the funnel, which could maybe be called the 13th deck, although it was marked with a star instead of the numeration. After the karaoke the party started in the same place, although the majority of the crowd was at Atlantis Palace, it was still quite nice.

At some  point during the karaoke event we called in Mariehamn, arriving just as Mariella was leaving, side by side with the Rosella who spends her nights in Mariehamn.

Me and Harri the Seal who also seemed to have a long night out. In addition to him, Santa Claus and Moomintroll were on board.

The next morning we also woke up early, went for the breakfast and tried to get off the ship as late as possible. It was cold in Helsinki and the contrast felt huge - we went from fat spoiled pigs with spa access, fine food, candy, alcohol and cosmetics, a great view from the cabin window and entertainment programmes we were too lazy to attend to shivering girls with no home. First of all we dropped off the annoying suitcase (this time I just counted the times it flipped over to stay calm - until I lost count at around 10) and sat in the terminal cafe for much over an hour watching the snowploughs at work. Afterwards we went for a walk and stepped in a few small seemingly 2nd hand boutiques, where the shopping spree unexpectedly continued. We returned to Katajanokka over two hours before our departure, did the check in and sat down to wait. During the return journey we were far too tired to do anything, spending most of the time sitting apathetically at the Dance Pavillion.

Disembark

To sum up, Silja Symphony is a great choice definitely worth her price. The feel on board was quite glamorous, the shopping and partying possibilities are great. I also found the ship easy to navigate (as long as you get the side of the promenade right), although it was very easy to confuse the direction of the ship while on board. To me an extra cherry on the cake was the fact that the ship is almost entirely symmetrical, built up and designed very rationally. Before cruising on her she looked much smaller on the outside, but after seeing the interior her actual size hit me and now she seems much larger on the outside, too. Compared to another great ferry, the Viking Grace, she is definitely much more majestic; the interior design on the other hand is well overshadowed by that of the Grace, not to even mention the spa. The overall impression was great though; I could've easily lived on board for longer, she would work quite well as a cruise ship. I definitely recommend her to everyone, especially the promenade cabin, and I'm quite certain I'll be cruising again on either her or the Serenade soon.