Time to relive my childhood. I've been on these Baltic ships more times than I can count, but it's been many years since my last cruise. Watching this is like coming home :)
@@EmmaCruises If you want a video idea try going on the discovery princess on December 17th, 2022. Maybe I'll see you there. Love your channel. 🛳️👋 (P.S. It's in the USA)
Same! I’m from Turku so we never took these nice promenade ships when I was a child cause they leave from Helsinki, but we went on the Turku-Stockholm ones all the time. They were big in the 90s depression era and they always give me that vibe, though the new Viking ones from Turku to Stockholm are supposedly more “cruise like” and elegant. I haven’t gone on them yet but do want to try them out at some point!
Royal Caribbean's Executive Vice President for Maritime and Newbuilding Harri U. Kulovaara worker for Silja Line before joining RCI in 1995. Silja Symphony and Serenade were built during his tenure at Silja Line.
If i don't remember totally wrong, Silja Line was the only one to have the patent to promenade for certain time and when it expired RCL bought it. Correct me if I was wrong.
This daily capital connection is significant for both Finland and Sweden (Symphony has a line pair Ms Serenade and they depart each port every other day). Duty free shopping is possible due to the brief night stop in Mariehamn (Åland, which is exempt from VAT). Thanks for visiting, it was interesting to see this "Cruise Ferry" from the perspective of a seasoned cruiser.
And not just Sweden and Finland, for Russia and Norway too, as these ferries act as a bridge over Baltic Sea on the E18 route from St. Petersburg to Kristiansand... In fact it should go to Craigavon N.Ireland, but the "bridge" Kristiansand-Newcastle is broken as ferry connection does no longer exist.
@@mikkorenvall428 no Cruise ships or ferrys go to St Petersburg anymore, and to be honest i dont think there will be any maritime passenger trafic to Russia during this decade.
@@madsbuhris The E18 route to St Petersburg is a road, not a ferry. It's only a ferry between Turku and Kapellskär. But yes, probably not a good time to travel there now.
Nice to see you Emma here in Baltic sea. You have done very well your homework of the Silja Line cruises and information was really accurate. The ship building industry has been very important in Finland and that is the reason that many of those cruise ships you normally visit are built in Finland. I may be wrong but I am pretty sure that the promenade inside cruise ships were invented by finnish designers. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 These boats are now more than 30y.o but they are many times refreshed during the years. Big part of the business of these ferries come from tax free sales, restaurant sales and of course cargo. Emma you have not spend enough time in Nordic countries, otherwise you would know how expensive everything is, not only on those ferries but also everywhere. However many Swedes and Finns take a cruise to buy cheap tax free and enjoy extra nice dinner on these ferries. Next time you come you have to visit the famous ”smörgåsbord” aka buffet and also breakfast when the ship is going through beautiful archipelago. There is other route between Stockholm and Turku and there also another ferry company Viking Line. So you have still lot fo cruising to do. 😎 As a Finn I am so sorry you had such rainy day here in Helsinki. Past days we have had +30 degrees and perfect sunshine.
So enjoyed watching this Emma. In the early 90’s my late dad travelled on this ferry en route to a hospital in St Petersburg. He was part of a team taking lorries of hospital equipment because after the fall of Communism it became apparent how the hospitals had little to nothing for the sick and staff hadn’t been paid for dear knows how long. My dad couldn’t get over how grand this was for a ferry and neither could I when I looked at his photos. Thank you for doing such a fabulous vlog.
I took this ferry at night in July 2022 from Helsinki to Stockholm. It was an unforgettable experience. I don't like ferries in general, but this one is great. The ferry is huge! There are a lot of cabins on the ferry and it's hard to find your own. This is a floating shopping mall. I ate dinner and breakfast. Lots of different kinds of food and drinks. I was at a disco with my friends. There was live music, the band sang covers, of course we danced. You can play at casinos and roulette. The night was short but unforgettable 🙂
I'll just begin by saying I was on the Silja Serenade in 1998 and it was the BEST SHIP I could ever imagine being on even though I haven't been on that many ships in my life. It was like freedom to do whatever you wanted to do whenever you wanted to do it. I don't know what the midnight show was like for you but back in 1998 it blew my mind, and I thought it would just be a boring ship show. But it was anything but. I have nothing but High Praise for this Cruise Line. I would cruise on this thing for weeks on end if I could. Glad to hear that your experience 24 years later is as good as mine was. Although since then, there's a lot more cabin choices than there were when I was on it from what you described and showed, but I too had an inside view of the main promenade.
I've taken the ferry to Finland at least once a year to visit family for my entire life so this trip has become very pedestrian to me. All I do is get on board, buy a snack in the duty free shop, and sit in the cabin or somewhere being bored on the phone/laptop, and praying I will be able to sleep well during the night. So it's super interesting to see it from this perspective again!
Moomins are a Finnish creation, hence why they are on the ferry. I went on the Silja Star from Turku to Stockholm. The Ferry (under another name) sank in the Baltic a few months later in an incident called the Estonia Ferry Disaster
Also can we acknowledge that the literary works of Tove Jansson are different from creating a cartoon character? I really recommend those books, also for adults.
The shop is so big because the main reason people go on this cruises is the alcohol. People buy alcohol in shops and get wasted in the lounge with that alcohol...
I never generally comment on vids. But I just want to say that I’ve been a subscriber for a while and I totally love your enthusiasm and your presentation and editing style. You really take people along on your journey. Pun intended xx
An interesting feature is that cruise tickets (i.e. return on the same day as arrival) are often cheaper than one-way tickets (or return tickets with longer stay in the destination). The idea is that cruise passengers are likely to spend a lot on board, unlike many A to B passengers. It also appears to me, based on my previous experiences, that they have unofficial cruise / ferry sections of the hotel, to separate those who want to party from those who actually travel somewhere. Back in the summer 2021, when ferry traffic was down, they did some longer domestic Swedish cruises on Silja Symphony. I've done two 3-nights trips and it was a lot of fun. As for bringing your own snacks, that's allowed, you just can't drink alcohol in your cabin. (Although it seems that many people do anyway.)
It kind of make sense, so they can save on cleaning. This is basically the only way they can clean the ship with out extra personnel. During low season they reserve cabins to be cleaned during travle. And just during high season they have extra personell from land going onboard and cleaning
I like when you cover such ships and trips. The wife and I are not big cruise fans, but enjoy something such at this. A bit slimmed down and simpler. We do not need endless entertainment, just down time. Next time we are in that area, we may have to check this out. Keep up the good work Emma!
I absolutely love when you go on cruises or trips because it means we get to hear all about it, I could honestly watch these videos for hours. Glad you got to go on one!
The competitors Tallink SIlja and Viking Line both are super fun to travel on. Great entertainment, good food (Tallink has the better food) and decently prized alcohol. :) And our Baltic sea is so beautiful during the late spring to late autumn season.
Thanks for covering this finally, Emma, which I believe is one of Europes best mini cruise experiences around beautiful landscape you can get these days. I´ve been doing these trips almost annually with my partner for many years now, and we had planned to go this June again with the entire family to celebrate his birthday. Sadly we had to call it off because the airline cancelled our flight to Stockholm amid this summer´s air travel mess.
Really cool to see you try this one. The prices are not cheap, but if you ever go again (e.g. to Tallinn or Riga), I suggest you get the breakfast. It’s still pricey, but you can sit near a window and enjoy your morning coffee from early morning to almost docking. Also it makes the whole next day on shore easier.
A very good video and very accurate. I think you missed 40.000 island in the archipelago outside the boat. The scenery is so great that we get the "real" cruising ships to Stockholm in the summer, the ones that tours the Caribbean in the winter. I guess our long hours of daylight also is popular with the cruise guests that are not from the Nordics.
That's a really nice cabin everything considered, you'd struggle to get a Hotel room for that price point, it's a minimalist cabin on an older ship but you can see that they keep it updated and modern feeling and it's not just a cashcow to the company. That's a thumbs up from me!
I think I've cleaned cabins in this ship, though it was in a different route. I remember being wowed by the promenade - very, very briefly. The turnaround is very quick.
Solas, states that the muster drill must be within 24 hours, so is the journey is less than 24 hours you don’t need to do it. I hope this answers your curiosity.. It is great to see what this ship is like. There is also Viking ferries that sail from/to Finland from Tallin and Stockholm I used to see them regularly on Baltic cruises. I have always wondered what they are like. Thank you.
Love to see your enthusiasm & smile. Interesting to see a ferry that in some ways looks like a cruise ship. Great video. Thanks for also posting the costs in US$.
Regarding the alcohol, my Finnish mates during the Erasmus called that ship the F**k boat, they usually take it to party all weekend and in the meantime they stop in Stockholm to buy alcohol because it's cheaper than Finland. A similar thing also happen on the Tallin-Helsinki route 😅
Very interesting to see as someone who has done these ferry cruises multiple times. I always forget the ship names, as there are like 4? ships doing the Helsinki-Stockholm route (2 Viking line, 2 Silja) and another 2-4 doing the very similar Turku-Stockholm route, a few ships doing Helsinki-Tallinn route, and they also exchange these ships sometimes... :D But these cruises are always a pleasure, I haven't looked at what a real cruise would cost but I imagine that you would have to burn at least 15 times the money you spend on these mini-cruises. You get a nice little vacation with good atmosphere, drinks, food, and the cheap duty-free. All-in-all, a very nice and easy way to get a little break from everyday life, and a very popular one amongst Finns at least.
It's recommended to book the food buffet in advance, you get good value on the buffet voucher, which is also valid at the a la carte restaurants as well.
great review Emma, appreciated. I was on a similar Ferry entertaining in the 90s when living in and travelling from London, great audiences and so well looked after..Scandinavian simplicity for the Ferrys at its best..
If you want another ferry experience, you can try a Northatlantic cruise on Norrönna from Denmark past the Faroese Islands to Iceland. 48 hours to iceland, and 48 hours back. (Might be a bit pricy...)
My wife, it seems like a thousand years ago, did not want to cruise. We did take a one-night ferry cruise from Portland, ME (USA) to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. My wife loved it! From then on, cruising is all we do. We will be on our 42nd and 43rd cruise this coming Christmas and New Year's. We even moved to Florida to be closer to the cruise ports.
Silji was the very first ferry we took from Finland to Sweden, in the early 90s. And we throughly enjoyed the trip! We were going from Russia all the way to England, land tour, and i would have to say, that it was a totslly enjoyable crossing! Vickie from SE Pa USA
Great video Emma. A brilliant honest review. Hope you do another video of the some of the other Baltic Ferries (Galaxy, Cinderella, Silja Europa etc). Next time try the buffet or one of the restaurants, it’s really one of the highlights. They also do some special cruises during the summer to the Swedish island of Gotland and the medieval city of Visby, which I did once and absolutely loved as the ferry becomes a proper cruise ship for 2 nights! 😀
Emma you did a great job as usual with your presentation of this video. I learned a great deal about this ferry and I have not experienced any ferry like this one. For the price it looks like a lot of fun for not too much money. Thanks for sharing this interesting information about this ferry.
I remember the launch of this ship. It was a big deal with the center promenade. 24 and 48-hour party cruises have been popular in Sweden and Finland since at least the 80`s. Buying alchohol and cigarettes duty free was i big draw and still is as we have very high taxes on those here in Sweden. I played a bunch of gigs with a band about 10 years ago on a couple of these party ships. It was nice to go back and forth for 4-5 days. We even got an employe discount in the duty free shop. Sometimes they had sales on expensive items that didn`t sell that well. I bought a bottle of whiskey for my dad for about €30. I later found the same bottle on the London Whiskey Exchange for £250. So it was double cheap :)
I have the Best memories with this ship. We do Senior Cruise at highscool and its madness. The Cruises happen in february when the sea is fully on ice. Our ship got stuck in the ice and we had to go back to Stockholm in the end. We got a free brunch buffet with wine and beer and i can confirm that the extra 6 hours we had was the Best thing that even happened to bunch on 18 year olds!
You look so different with your new hairstyle. I like it! The only European ferry I have taken was from Fishguard in Wales over to Ireland. It was rough and while I have never been seasick on a cruise, I was close to being seasick on that crossing.
7:49 Upon departure, they announce in the speakers about safety in Swedish, Finnish and English. You do not always hear them sometimes if you are in a place with few speakers. 13:48 You are allowed to bring food, but not eat it onboard. You are not allowed to use the products you bought on the tax-free onboard.
Buuuuut everyone does that :) Like. I’ve been on Borge Silja and Viking and, yea, there’s a lot of pre-drinking going on int cabins before you hit the bars :)
While it's not allowed. No-one cares if you bring snacks, food and eat it in your cabin. and it's also very common for young peoole to immediately hit the Tax free shop when ship disembarks, buy alcohol, snacks and do pre-drinking in their cabin (cheaper) before going to the more expensive night clubs on-board (used to do that in my 20s myself too).
great review Emma, congratulation. These ferries are great, even when already more than 30 years old. It is very popular for people of Sweden and Finland going on a so called miniruise. This is very unique in the world. We did several cruise on these ferries, it was always way cheaper to book via the swedish website than the international one.
Nice video and very informative. As an Finnish it was pleasant to watch from different point of view how foreigners sees our cruise ships. Before this video I tought this ship is so out dated and small last time I visited there but lots of has changed. It has sister ship too named Silja Serenade. Loved those British english explanation too cauz sometimes I didn't understood what it meant 😂 👍🏾
Emma, you should definitely try a two nights cruise with Color Magic from Oslo Norway to Kiel Germany. It's also a ferry, but way more luxurious and newer. I've been on many cruise ships, but went on a two nights cruise with Color Magic and it was absolutely amazing. I've also been on Silja Symphony from Stockholm to Helsinki, but Color Magic is way better, and it's way more similar to a cruise ship than Silja Symphony.
They say the best thing about Helsinki is that it is so close to Stockholm...In reality Helsinki is a wonderful city, but it is true that the easy and inexpensive overnight connection between Helsinki and Stockholm is a bonus. The cruise is extremely popular, but the reason is not only the cruise or the ferry, but the time you can spend in Helsinki or Stockholm. The more time you spend in these two capitals, the better they feel, especially in Summer. For tourists from other countries it might be good to know that the Nordics Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland are all usually ranked in the top 5 English speaking countries (as a secondary language) in the world - in the capitals practically everyone speaks decent English.
You've made my wife very happy showing the Moomins on board - but she gets upset when anyone calls them hippos 😉. Now she wants to travel in a Moomin cabin.
Hi, ive been on almost every CRUISEFERRY that cruises between Sweden and Finland. And all of the ships have been very clean and modern. When you use a cruiseferry on northern Baltic Sea, they wont disappoint anyone. The companies makes sure, that the ships are very comfortable, modern and eco friendly also!! I recommend you to try cruise on Viking Line Glory or Grace from Stockholm or Turku. It is very nice.☺️
Symphony and Serenade are probably the finest ships sailing the Baltic sea from a quality perspective. They were built to last in Finland which definitely make the best ships.
I actually when younger and into drinking, we were too hungover to go to Stockholm and the restaurants on board were still closed so we just ordered pizzas to the ship and just stepped of the ship to collect a whole bunch of pizzas. No one minded.
Great Video Emma. I have never been on a cruise ship, but have been on ferry's between UK and Sweden, Denmark, Holland and Jersey. This looks a nice Ferry.
I rode the Alaska marine highway ferry that goes from Washington State up to Alaska. We had a small room. There were very few activities and only a handful of food options, but it was an absolute blast. Less families with kids than a cruise ship and I think that was why it was so fun.
As someone who grew up on at least 1 ferry cruise a year it was very interesting to see this from your perspective. I actually have never been on Silja symphony, we usually went on Viking line or Birka (Birka does not exist anymore) since ever since i grew up silja has been seen as the "party" boat compared to the other two. I haven't been really cruising on these for a few years so I might try and do one this year or next.
It was the other way for me, Silja was the family friendly when I grew up and went to family in Finland, whereas Viking line was seen as the partyboat filled with drunkards
The more correct term is cruiseferry, as it is a mix of both a ferry and a cruise ship, there are many ships like this on the baltic sea, I would personally reccomend the M/S Viking Cinderella in the case that you come back to the baltic sea.
100 euro for a car, Interislander in New Zealand wanted the equivalent of around 250 euro for a 3 hour ferry from Picton to Wellington, I used their opposition for around 150 euro, still a rip off but a smaller rip off. Also you are right about Tallink being a good company to deal with, I did what you did when booking Helsinki to Tallinn and did it the other way, one email sorted it.
Hi Emma, SOLAS requirement for passenger muster drills is if the passengers will be onboard for 24hrs or more. In this instance as you rightly say, it must be completed before departure.
Tallink has the best customer service I have ever seen, when I was on board the Baltic Queen, which sails between Tallinn and Stockholm, my wife got very seasick and they had all medication and comforts on board for her to feel better. And that's for just ONE night!! Tallink is amazing if you ask me!
I love taking the Cape May (New Jersey) to Lewes (Delaware) ferry! It’s super simple to ride, and very affordable if you walk on! Also I think the lack of muster drill was because it is technically a ferry instead of a cruise. The CMLF (described above) does have a mister drill, it just has a short safety video with the basics.
Pretty amusing to watch that you tried to use as little money as possible, because those ships/ferries are planned for consuming as much money as you can. And that’s why the ticket prices are quite cheap. It was hilarious to see you bringing food and chocolate to the ship. 😀
I had a dreadful ferry experience from Italy to Greece on an orchestra tour. Seating was basically old airplane seats in rows all facing the same direction. I remember the food being extremely greasy. 10 hours long with absolutely nothing to do. Our tour director put on Finding Nemo on his laptop, and the ferry was so loud you couldn't hear anything so I had to rely on subtitles 🤣. On top of that, the back window of our coach was blown out when heading into the parking, so we were driving around Greece with a plastic tarp covering the hole and exhaust pouring into the coach. 🤢 All that to say, I'm amazed and glad to know there are amazing ferry experiences available.
Well they are Essential overgrown ferries. At some point there was surely a Security announcement , rather than a muster drill. Hope you had a good one 😊
They always do safety announcements after departure and in every cabin there is a sign on the cabin doors where your nearest assenbly station is and what the alarm signals stands for.
Heck yeah love the Siljaline/Tallink cruises nice and chill. The 2hr ferry is also nice between tallin and helsinki. And recently i saw a P&O cruise ship in helsinki.
You should try the Color Line ferries from Oslo to Kiel they are a similar concept to Silja but more modern and in my opinion very similar to some RCL ships, they are the biggest ferries in the world at roughly 75000 grt and have facilities like slides and a fantastic two level aft mdr.
Ooo gonna have to try that! I live close to Gothenburg so now I’m thinking along the line of Gothenburg-Kiel-Oslo-Kiel-Gothenburg, or Gothenburg-Kiel-Oslo and then train or plane back to Gothenburg (taking the ferry back to Kiel and then back to Gothenburg sounds more tempting though)
The Color Fantasy/Magic were built at the same shipyard more than a decade later, so naturally they are an evolution to the Silja Serenade/Symphony; I still think the latter ships have a better exterior design though.
@@ReyOfLight Color Line Kiel-Oslo and Stena Line Kiel-Gothenburg are like day and night for a ferry experience - whilst Color Line is really an experience very similar to a cruise ship, with lots of dining, shopping, and entertainment options, Stena Line is just a ferry - comfortable enough, but don't expect more than modest, acceptable accomodation and catering so you will have a good night's sleep and not arrive hungry at your destination, but that's it.
I giggled at the name *Silja Serenade* because it sounded like Silly serenade and reminded me of Merry melodies and Silly Symphonies cartoons. I had images of you being bashed with a frying pan and seeing pink elephants whilst a *1 ton* anvil was dropped on you 😝🤣😘
Time to relive my childhood. I've been on these Baltic ships more times than I can count, but it's been many years since my last cruise. Watching this is like coming home :)
Hey Aurora! I hope I showed everything you would want to see :D Thanks for watching 😀👏🏼
@@EmmaCruises If you want a video idea try going on the discovery princess on December 17th, 2022. Maybe I'll see you there. Love your channel. 🛳️👋
(P.S. It's in the USA)
Same! Ive been going with Tallink Silja So many times! Baltic Ferries are the best!
Same! I’m from Turku so we never took these nice promenade ships when I was a child cause they leave from Helsinki, but we went on the Turku-Stockholm ones all the time. They were big in the 90s depression era and they always give me that vibe, though the new Viking ones from Turku to Stockholm are supposedly more “cruise like” and elegant. I haven’t gone on them yet but do want to try them out at some point!
@@EmmaCruises How was the food?
This ship "invented" the "Royal Promenade", that was later copied by RCCL, Color Line and finally MSC:
Thanks for watching 😀👏🏼
Royal Caribbean's Executive Vice President for Maritime and Newbuilding Harri U. Kulovaara worker for Silja Line before joining RCI in 1995. Silja Symphony and Serenade were built during his tenure at Silja Line.
Yeah she kinda said that in the video.
If i don't remember totally wrong, Silja Line was the only one to have the patent to promenade for certain time and when it expired RCL bought it. Correct me if I was wrong.
@@blegi1245 Kulovaara is my mother's classmate from many decades ago. He's certainly had an interesting career. 👍
This daily capital connection is significant for both Finland and Sweden (Symphony has a line pair Ms Serenade and they depart each port every other day). Duty free shopping is possible due to the brief night stop in Mariehamn (Åland, which is exempt from VAT). Thanks for visiting, it was interesting to see this "Cruise Ferry" from the perspective of a seasoned cruiser.
Thanks Thomas! Yes! I did wonder why we stopped there, ha ha. Thanks for watching 😀👏🏼
@@EmmaCruises It´s so the we who lives on Åland islands can get to and from the island for reasonable prices 😄
And not just Sweden and Finland, for Russia and Norway too, as these ferries act as a bridge over Baltic Sea on the E18 route from St. Petersburg to Kristiansand... In fact it should go to Craigavon N.Ireland, but the "bridge" Kristiansand-Newcastle is broken as ferry connection does no longer exist.
@@mikkorenvall428 no Cruise ships or ferrys go to St Petersburg anymore, and to be honest i dont think there will be any maritime passenger trafic to Russia during this decade.
@@madsbuhris The E18 route to St Petersburg is a road, not a ferry. It's only a ferry between Turku and Kapellskär. But yes, probably not a good time to travel there now.
Nice to see you Emma here in Baltic sea. You have done very well your homework of the Silja Line cruises and information was really accurate. The ship building industry has been very important in Finland and that is the reason that many of those cruise ships you normally visit are built in Finland. I may be wrong but I am pretty sure that the promenade inside cruise ships were invented by finnish designers. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 These boats are now more than 30y.o but they are many times refreshed during the years. Big part of the business of these ferries come from tax free sales, restaurant sales and of course cargo. Emma you have not spend enough time in Nordic countries, otherwise you would know how expensive everything is, not only on those ferries but also everywhere. However many Swedes and Finns take a cruise to buy cheap tax free and enjoy extra nice dinner on these ferries. Next time you come you have to visit the famous ”smörgåsbord” aka buffet and also breakfast when the ship is going through beautiful archipelago. There is other route between Stockholm and Turku and there also another ferry company Viking Line. So you have still lot fo cruising to do. 😎 As a Finn I am so sorry you had such rainy day here in Helsinki. Past days we have had +30 degrees and perfect sunshine.
So enjoyed watching this Emma. In the early 90’s my late dad travelled on this ferry en route to a hospital in St Petersburg. He was part of a team taking lorries of hospital equipment because after the fall of Communism it became apparent how the hospitals had little to nothing for the sick and staff hadn’t been paid for dear knows how long. My dad couldn’t get over how grand this was for a ferry and neither could I when I looked at his photos. Thank you for doing such a fabulous vlog.
Oh goodness wow. Thanks for watching 😀👏🏼
I took this ferry at night in July 2022 from Helsinki to Stockholm. It was an unforgettable experience. I don't like ferries in general, but this one is great. The ferry is huge! There are a lot of cabins on the ferry and it's hard to find your own. This is a floating shopping mall. I ate dinner and breakfast. Lots of different kinds of food and drinks. I was at a disco with my friends. There was live music, the band sang covers, of course we danced. You can play at casinos and roulette. The night was short but unforgettable 🙂
I'll just begin by saying I was on the Silja Serenade in 1998 and it was the BEST SHIP I could ever imagine being on even though I haven't been on that many ships in my life. It was like freedom to do whatever you wanted to do whenever you wanted to do it. I don't know what the midnight show was like for you but back in 1998 it blew my mind, and I thought it would just be a boring ship show. But it was anything but. I have nothing but High Praise for this Cruise Line. I would cruise on this thing for weeks on end if I could. Glad to hear that your experience 24 years later is as good as mine was. Although since then, there's a lot more cabin choices than there were when I was on it from what you described and showed, but I too had an inside view of the main promenade.
Haha, a-maazzzing!! :-)
I've taken the ferry to Finland at least once a year to visit family for my entire life so this trip has become very pedestrian to me. All I do is get on board, buy a snack in the duty free shop, and sit in the cabin or somewhere being bored on the phone/laptop, and praying I will be able to sleep well during the night. So it's super interesting to see it from this perspective again!
Moomins are a Finnish creation, hence why they are on the ferry. I went on the Silja Star from Turku to Stockholm. The Ferry (under another name) sank in the Baltic a few months later in an incident called the Estonia Ferry Disaster
she was built in 1980, her name was Viking Sally under Viking Line
MOOMINS ARE SWEDEN
@@JokinIsCool no, they are Finnish.
@@helene4397 and @taneliniskanen
The author who wrote the Moomin stories have roots in both Finland and Sweden, so you can stop fighting already.
Also can we acknowledge that the literary works of Tove Jansson are different from creating a cartoon character? I really recommend those books, also for adults.
You have brought back memories as I did the same trip on the same ship many years ago. It did encourage me to start cruising x
Thanks Dan! I hope you enjoyed it :D
The shop is so big because the main reason people go on this cruises is the alcohol. People buy alcohol in shops and get wasted in the lounge with that alcohol...
I never generally comment on vids. But I just want to say that I’ve been a subscriber for a while and I totally love your enthusiasm and your presentation and editing style. You really take people along on your journey. Pun intended xx
Awh Martin! Thank you for taking the time to write this one, that's very kind of you to say and I appreciate it :-)
Emma is the best story teller.
I could listen for days
An interesting feature is that cruise tickets (i.e. return on the same day as arrival) are often cheaper than one-way tickets (or return tickets with longer stay in the destination). The idea is that cruise passengers are likely to spend a lot on board, unlike many A to B passengers. It also appears to me, based on my previous experiences, that they have unofficial cruise / ferry sections of the hotel, to separate those who want to party from those who actually travel somewhere.
Back in the summer 2021, when ferry traffic was down, they did some longer domestic Swedish cruises on Silja Symphony. I've done two 3-nights trips and it was a lot of fun.
As for bringing your own snacks, that's allowed, you just can't drink alcohol in your cabin. (Although it seems that many people do anyway.)
It kind of make sense, so they can save on cleaning. This is basically the only way they can clean the ship with out extra personnel.
During low season they reserve cabins to be cleaned during travle. And just during high season they have extra personell from land going onboard and cleaning
I like when you cover such ships and trips. The wife and I are not big cruise fans, but enjoy something such at this. A bit slimmed down and simpler. We do not need endless entertainment, just down time. Next time we are in that area, we may have to check this out. Keep up the good work Emma!
I absolutely love when you go on cruises or trips because it means we get to hear all about it, I could honestly watch these videos for hours. Glad you got to go on one!
Thanks so much, that's very kind. Appreciate it! :D
The competitors Tallink SIlja and Viking Line both are super fun to travel on. Great entertainment, good food (Tallink has the better food) and decently prized alcohol. :) And our Baltic sea is so beautiful during the late spring to late autumn season.
Nice video! Some other cruise ferries to try would be: Silja Europa, Viking Grace/Glory, Color Fantasy/Magic and perhaps Mega Andrea/Smeralda.
You just do such a GREAT job presenting information. Well paced and well articulated.
So cool! I’ve worked on Silja Symphony for about 15 years ❤️
Thanks for covering this finally, Emma, which I believe is one of Europes best mini cruise experiences around beautiful landscape you can get these days. I´ve been doing these trips almost annually with my partner for many years now, and we had planned to go this June again with the entire family to celebrate his birthday. Sadly we had to call it off because the airline cancelled our flight to Stockholm amid this summer´s air travel mess.
Really cool to see you try this one. The prices are not cheap, but if you ever go again (e.g. to Tallinn or Riga), I suggest you get the breakfast. It’s still pricey, but you can sit near a window and enjoy your morning coffee from early morning to almost docking. Also it makes the whole next day on shore easier.
A very good video and very accurate. I think you missed 40.000 island in the archipelago outside the boat. The scenery is so great that we get the "real" cruising ships to Stockholm in the summer, the ones that tours the Caribbean in the winter. I guess our long hours of daylight also is popular with the cruise guests that are not from the Nordics.
Unfortunately the scenery isn't that great on Helsinki - Stockholm route. You have to cruise from Turku to really experience the archipelago.
Wow! I wish I lived in Europe of the UK so this was accessible for me. A mini-cruise! Just what I would love to do. Thanks for sharing, Emma!
That's a really nice cabin everything considered, you'd struggle to get a Hotel room for that price point, it's a minimalist cabin on an older ship but you can see that they keep it updated and modern feeling and it's not just a cashcow to the company. That's a thumbs up from me!
I think I've cleaned cabins in this ship, though it was in a different route. I remember being wowed by the promenade - very, very briefly. The turnaround is very quick.
The central "promenade" of the ferry gives me a "Deep Space Nine" vibe from the Star Trek.
Solas, states that the muster drill must be within 24 hours, so is the journey is less than 24 hours you don’t need to do it. I hope this answers your curiosity.. It is great to see what this ship is like. There is also Viking ferries that sail from/to Finland from Tallin and Stockholm I used to see them regularly on Baltic cruises. I have always wondered what they are like. Thank you.
"Like if you ordered a cruise ship from Wish." 😂🤣 Probably not a quote they'd put in the brochure, but I loved that description so much.
Glad you got the reference!! :')
Great and accurate presentation for the cruise! Our cruises are very different when you compare it to f: ex caribbean cruises. Well done!
Love to see your enthusiasm & smile. Interesting to see a ferry that in some ways looks like a cruise ship. Great video. Thanks for also posting the costs in US$.
Thanks Tom, I always try :D
Regarding the alcohol, my Finnish mates during the Erasmus called that ship the F**k boat, they usually take it to party all weekend and in the meantime they stop in Stockholm to buy alcohol because it's cheaper than Finland. A similar thing also happen on the Tallin-Helsinki route 😅
YES!! Ha ha. Good fun :-)
It's Tallinn, not Tallin
It was in my youth during 90s, when these ships were called "porauslautta". Drilling rig in english.
@@kutkitket3570Admittedly sounds like not too a 🛢️ far-fetched an idea 🗼
I love your style of vlogging and watch every one in its entirety. XOXO
Thanks so much Sheryl, very kind! Appreciate it. :-)
Very interesting to see as someone who has done these ferry cruises multiple times. I always forget the ship names, as there are like 4? ships doing the Helsinki-Stockholm route (2 Viking line, 2 Silja) and another 2-4 doing the very similar Turku-Stockholm route, a few ships doing Helsinki-Tallinn route, and they also exchange these ships sometimes... :D But these cruises are always a pleasure, I haven't looked at what a real cruise would cost but I imagine that you would have to burn at least 15 times the money you spend on these mini-cruises. You get a nice little vacation with good atmosphere, drinks, food, and the cheap duty-free. All-in-all, a very nice and easy way to get a little break from everyday life, and a very popular one amongst Finns at least.
Thank you for the video. Also the Blond is a nice look. I'll admit I looked at the date twice. Cheers
OOOOOH this was my childhood, living in Sweden having family in Finland 😍
I’m like waking up my husband to tell him we can go ferry cruising! I think he took it the wrong way, but it looks like so much fun!
🎉😂🎉😂🎉😂❤
It's recommended to book the food buffet in advance, you get good value on the buffet voucher, which is also valid at the a la carte restaurants as well.
Thanks Emma for this video. I love learning new things.
Thanks Jan! :-)
great review Emma, appreciated. I was on a similar Ferry entertaining in the 90s when living in and travelling from London, great audiences and so well looked after..Scandinavian simplicity for the Ferrys at its best..
If you want another ferry experience, you can try a Northatlantic cruise on Norrönna from Denmark past the Faroese Islands to Iceland. 48 hours to iceland, and 48 hours back. (Might be a bit pricy...)
Great video Emma. This was really interesting. Thank you for sharing about your experience.
Wow. This was so interesting. I had no idea a ferry could be anything more than a “bus” on the water!
I am from Stockholm Sweden and i am glad that you enjoyed the ferry/Cruise that my family always use when traveling to Finland
Sorry for my english
Thank you so much for sharing!!! From the most important to the littlest detailes like cola...I would love to go one day!
Haha, do it :D
My wife, it seems like a thousand years ago, did not want to cruise. We did take a one-night ferry cruise from Portland, ME (USA) to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. My wife loved it! From then on, cruising is all we do. We will be on our 42nd and 43rd cruise this coming Christmas and New Year's. We even moved to Florida to be closer to the cruise ports.
Silji was the very first ferry we took from Finland to Sweden, in the early 90s. And we throughly enjoyed the trip! We were going from Russia all the way to England, land tour, and i would have to say, that it was a totslly enjoyable crossing! Vickie from SE Pa USA
I would love to see you try Viking Grace from Stockholm to Turku in Finland:)
Great video Emma. A brilliant honest review. Hope you do another video of the some of the other Baltic Ferries (Galaxy, Cinderella, Silja Europa etc). Next time try the buffet or one of the restaurants, it’s really one of the highlights.
They also do some special cruises during the summer to the Swedish island of Gotland and the medieval city of Visby, which I did once and absolutely loved as the ferry becomes a proper cruise ship for 2 nights! 😀
Ooo yes that would be fun. Thanks for watching 😀👏🏼
Emma you did a great job as usual with your presentation of this video. I learned a great deal about this ferry and I have not experienced any ferry like this one. For the price it looks like a lot of fun for not too much money. Thanks for sharing this interesting information about this ferry.
Thanks for watching Scott! :)
That was a very comprehensive review. Thanks. It makes you realise just how short-changed were are on the cross-Channel ferries.
Thank you! 😁❤️
I remember the launch of this ship. It was a big deal with the center promenade.
24 and 48-hour party cruises have been popular in Sweden and Finland since at least the 80`s.
Buying alchohol and cigarettes duty free was i big draw and still is as we have very high taxes on those here in Sweden.
I played a bunch of gigs with a band about 10 years ago on a couple of these party ships.
It was nice to go back and forth for 4-5 days. We even got an employe discount in the duty free shop.
Sometimes they had sales on expensive items that didn`t sell that well. I bought a bottle of whiskey for my dad
for about €30. I later found the same bottle on the London Whiskey Exchange for £250.
So it was double cheap :)
What brilliant value!! Impressed. Thanks for that lovely little trip!
I have the Best memories with this ship. We do Senior Cruise at highscool and its madness. The Cruises happen in february when the sea is fully on ice. Our ship got stuck in the ice and we had to go back to Stockholm in the end. We got a free brunch buffet with wine and beer and i can confirm that the extra 6 hours we had was the Best thing that even happened to bunch on 18 year olds!
Oh goodness wow, ha ha ha. Thanks for watching 😀👏🏼
These luxury ferries blow my mind. I've seen footage of the ones in Japan. This is the first I've seen in Europe.
Just wanted to say I love all your videos, Emma. So informative and fun and your editing is fantastic. ;-)))
Oh hey!!! There you are. :D
If I lived closer, I could see doing this for a fun weekend get away! Thanks Emma!
Yess, it's not so much a cheap weekend away when adding on flights, but good fun :-)
That was amazingly fascinating, never knew these barges existed!
You look so different with your new hairstyle. I like it! The only European ferry I have taken was from Fishguard in Wales over to Ireland. It was rough and while I have never been seasick on a cruise, I was close to being seasick on that crossing.
The towel being in the bed is very common on the baltic ferries
I've been on the silja serenade, the sister ship of the symphony less then a week ago!
I've just discovered your channel looking for storms at sea, and am loving your travelogues 👍
Glad to hear u liked the ship :) it is my favourite ship to this day to travel with
7:49 Upon departure, they announce in the speakers about safety in Swedish, Finnish and English. You do not always hear them sometimes if you are in a place with few speakers.
13:48 You are allowed to bring food, but not eat it onboard.
You are not allowed to use the products you bought on the tax-free onboard.
Buuuuut everyone does that :) Like. I’ve been on Borge Silja and Viking and, yea, there’s a lot of pre-drinking going on int cabins before you hit the bars :)
@@fredskronk it's against the tax-free rules. you can be fined by the customs, but that almost never happen.
While it's not allowed. No-one cares if you bring snacks, food and eat it in your cabin. and it's also very common for young peoole to immediately hit the Tax free shop when ship disembarks, buy alcohol, snacks and do pre-drinking in their cabin (cheaper) before going to the more expensive night clubs on-board (used to do that in my 20s myself too).
great review Emma, congratulation. These ferries are great, even when already more than 30 years old. It is very popular for people of Sweden and Finland going on a so called miniruise. This is very unique in the world. We did several cruise on these ferries, it was always way cheaper to book via the swedish website than the international one.
Great video Emma. As a cruiser, I found this quite fascinating!
Thanks John! :-)
Nice video and very informative. As an Finnish it was pleasant to watch from different point of view how foreigners sees our cruise ships. Before this video I tought this ship is so out dated and small last time I visited there but lots of has changed. It has sister ship too named Silja Serenade. Loved those British english explanation too cauz sometimes I didn't understood what it meant 😂 👍🏾
Emma, you should definitely try a two nights cruise with Color Magic from Oslo Norway to Kiel Germany. It's also a ferry, but way more luxurious and newer. I've been on many cruise ships, but went on a two nights cruise with Color Magic and it was absolutely amazing. I've also been on Silja Symphony from Stockholm to Helsinki, but Color Magic is way better, and it's way more similar to a cruise ship than Silja Symphony.
Try Fantasy or Magic :) Both are almost a 100% similar! Magic is a few years newer, but still!
@@athath4289 I agree. They are sister ships and it doesn't really matter whether you're on Color Fantasy or Color Magic.
i personally like the silja ferrys a little bit more than the color magic/fantasy, but hey are still really amazing ships
Thank you for the info. Did not know there's a Cruise Ferry. Can't wait for our next European Cruise.
They say the best thing about Helsinki is that it is so close to Stockholm...In reality Helsinki is a wonderful city, but it is true that the easy and inexpensive overnight connection between Helsinki and Stockholm is a bonus. The cruise is extremely popular, but the reason is not only the cruise or the ferry, but the time you can spend in Helsinki or Stockholm. The more time you spend in these two capitals, the better they feel, especially in Summer. For tourists from other countries it might be good to know that the Nordics Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland are all usually ranked in the top 5 English speaking countries (as a secondary language) in the world - in the capitals practically everyone speaks decent English.
Great video. Aww the weather in Finland just as well you go could
Go back om board .
Have a lovley weekend 🥰
You should try out Viking Glory, the newest cruise ferry in the region!
You've made my wife very happy showing the Moomins on board - but she gets upset when anyone calls them hippos 😉.
Now she wants to travel in a Moomin cabin.
Hahahaha, sorry!!! ;)
Wow! I'm impressed!!I like this ship more than carnival
Thanks Emma. I’ve wondered about Baltic ferries. Now I know.
Hi, ive been on almost every CRUISEFERRY that cruises between Sweden and Finland. And all of the ships have been very clean and modern. When you use a cruiseferry on northern Baltic Sea, they wont disappoint anyone. The companies makes sure, that the ships are very comfortable, modern and eco friendly also!! I recommend you to try cruise on Viking Line Glory or Grace from Stockholm or Turku. It is very nice.☺️
Symphony and Serenade are probably the finest ships sailing the Baltic sea from a quality perspective. They were built to last in Finland which definitely make the best ships.
I actually when younger and into drinking, we were too hungover to go to Stockholm and the restaurants on board were still closed so we just ordered pizzas to the ship and just stepped of the ship to collect a whole bunch of pizzas. No one minded.
Great Video Emma. I have never been on a cruise ship, but have been on ferry's between UK and Sweden, Denmark, Holland and Jersey. This looks a nice Ferry.
Thank you! 😁❤️
I rode the Alaska marine highway ferry that goes from Washington State up to Alaska. We had a small room. There were very few activities and only a handful of food options, but it was an absolute blast. Less families with kids than a cruise ship and I think that was why it was so fun.
As someone who grew up on at least 1 ferry cruise a year it was very interesting to see this from your perspective. I actually have never been on Silja symphony, we usually went on Viking line or Birka (Birka does not exist anymore) since ever since i grew up silja has been seen as the "party" boat compared to the other two. I haven't been really cruising on these for a few years so I might try and do one this year or next.
It was the other way for me, Silja was the family friendly when I grew up and went to family in Finland, whereas Viking line was seen as the partyboat filled with drunkards
Many thanks for the video! Hopefully you will be visiting Tallinn too soon ;)
Not sure if anyone’s said it already, but at least in Finland we call these cruises and cruise ships and not ferries. Interesting difference!
I found your channel the other day and I've binged almost all your videos. They're all so cool and insightful! Thank you!
That's amazing, thank you lots!! :-)
The more correct term is cruiseferry, as it is a mix of both a ferry and a cruise ship, there are many ships like this on the baltic sea, I would personally reccomend the M/S Viking Cinderella in the case that you come back to the baltic sea.
100 euro for a car, Interislander in New Zealand wanted the equivalent of around 250 euro for a 3 hour ferry from Picton to Wellington, I used their opposition for around 150 euro, still a rip off but a smaller rip off. Also you are right about Tallink being a good company to deal with, I did what you did when booking Helsinki to Tallinn and did it the other way, one email sorted it.
nice you made it to try out the ferry cruise. =) too bad the weather wasn't great on your visit in Helsinki.
Hi Emma, SOLAS requirement for passenger muster drills is if the passengers will be onboard for 24hrs or more. In this instance as you rightly say, it must be completed before departure.
Yesss, so we didn't do one :D
they were less than 24hrs on board - went off in helsinki
As someone who even has a Moomin tattoo, I feel I now really need to go on this trip 🤗
For the price, it looks like terrific value for money! Thank you for the video!
Wow ferries have come a long way from the old Baltic clunkers we travelled on in the 1980s. Fascinating review thanks!
Thanks Mark :-)
Tallink has the best customer service I have ever seen, when I was on board the Baltic Queen, which sails between Tallinn and Stockholm, my wife got very seasick and they had all medication and comforts on board for her to feel better. And that's for just ONE night!! Tallink is amazing if you ask me!
I love taking the Cape May (New Jersey) to Lewes (Delaware) ferry! It’s super simple to ride, and very affordable if you walk on!
Also I think the lack of muster drill was because it is technically a ferry instead of a cruise. The CMLF (described above) does have a mister drill, it just has a short safety video with the basics.
I love the cape may Lewes ferry too!
Pretty amusing to watch that you tried to use as little money as possible, because those ships/ferries are planned for consuming as much money as you can. And that’s why the ticket prices are quite cheap. It was hilarious to see you bringing food and chocolate to the ship. 😀
I had a dreadful ferry experience from Italy to Greece on an orchestra tour. Seating was basically old airplane seats in rows all facing the same direction. I remember the food being extremely greasy. 10 hours long with absolutely nothing to do. Our tour director put on Finding Nemo on his laptop, and the ferry was so loud you couldn't hear anything so I had to rely on subtitles 🤣. On top of that, the back window of our coach was blown out when heading into the parking, so we were driving around Greece with a plastic tarp covering the hole and exhaust pouring into the coach. 🤢
All that to say, I'm amazed and glad to know there are amazing ferry experiences available.
Yeah that's my vision of ferries... bleh haha.
Excellent review! Love all the detail. May have to try this someday. The only ferries I have been on are in Seattle. Love those.
Thank you! 😁❤️
Well they are Essential overgrown ferries. At some point there was surely a Security announcement , rather than a muster drill. Hope you had a good one 😊
They always do safety announcements after departure and in every cabin there is a sign on the cabin doors where your nearest assenbly station is and what the alarm signals stands for.
Heck yeah love the Siljaline/Tallink cruises nice and chill. The 2hr ferry is also nice between tallin and helsinki. And recently i saw a P&O cruise ship in helsinki.
You should try the Color Line ferries from Oslo to Kiel they are a similar concept to Silja but more modern and in my opinion very similar to some RCL ships, they are the biggest ferries in the world at roughly 75000 grt and have facilities like slides and a fantastic two level aft mdr.
That does sound amazing! :-)
Ooo gonna have to try that! I live close to Gothenburg so now I’m thinking along the line of Gothenburg-Kiel-Oslo-Kiel-Gothenburg, or Gothenburg-Kiel-Oslo and then train or plane back to Gothenburg (taking the ferry back to Kiel and then back to Gothenburg sounds more tempting though)
The Color Fantasy/Magic were built at the same shipyard more than a decade later, so naturally they are an evolution to the Silja Serenade/Symphony; I still think the latter ships have a better exterior design though.
@@ReyOfLight Color Line Kiel-Oslo and Stena Line Kiel-Gothenburg are like day and night for a ferry experience - whilst Color Line is really an experience very similar to a cruise ship, with lots of dining, shopping, and entertainment options, Stena Line is just a ferry - comfortable enough, but don't expect more than modest, acceptable accomodation and catering so you will have a good night's sleep and not arrive hungry at your destination, but that's it.
I giggled at the name *Silja Serenade* because it sounded like Silly serenade and reminded me of Merry melodies and Silly Symphonies cartoons. I had images of you being bashed with a frying pan and seeing pink elephants whilst a *1 ton* anvil was dropped on you 😝🤣😘