I Spent 39 Hours on a GIANT Ferry That Holds 3116 People
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- čas přidán 27. 06. 2022
- Normally when you embark on a cruise you'll have to fill in lots of paperwork, you’ll go through security, you’ll drop off your bags and it can easily take an hour or two. When I embarked my last cruise though the check in process took at most 15 seconds. We scanned a QR code, had a paper ticket printed and just walked onto the ship.
We were boarding the Silja Symphony a ferry that holds 2800 passengers. Over 3 million guests take cruises on these ferries ever year and even though I’ve been cruising on cruise ships since I was a child I have always avoided ferries. My experience with ferries in the past has not be good, I get seasick, I find them boring and I’ve always thought that ferries were something to be endured but definitely not enjoyed. That was until this cruise which changed everything.
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emma@emmacruises.com - Zábava
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.
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.
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?
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!
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.
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.
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 🙂
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...
How great that you made a trip aboard the Symphony! When the Silja Serenade and Silja Symphony were introduced in the early 90's they were REVOLUTIONARY, and caused massive turbulence within the community facing heavy criticism, something that only increased after the Estonia disaster in 1994. However the promenade layout in combination with total overhauls of both ships still call for the two sisters being the most popular ferries in the entire Baltic, while ferries of similar age are being sent to the scrap yard, Silja Symphony stands proud as the Tallink/Silja flagship at over 30 years of age!
also, Silja Symphony played three tunes in August 2017
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
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 😀👏🏼
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.
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 :-)
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!! :-)
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.
The towel being in the bed is very common on the baltic ferries
Great video Emma. This was really interesting. Thank you for sharing about your experience.
You just do such a GREAT job presenting information. Well paced and well articulated.
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 🗼
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.
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.
Great and accurate presentation for the cruise! Our cruises are very different when you compare it to f: ex caribbean cruises. Well done!
Great videos as always. I appreciate you sharing them
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
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.
Thanks Emma for this video. I love learning new things.
Thanks Jan! :-)
What brilliant value!! Impressed. Thanks for that lovely little trip!
I've just discovered your channel looking for storms at sea, and am loving your travelogues 👍
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.
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.
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!
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
I would love to see you try Viking Grace from Stockholm to Turku in Finland:)
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
OOOOOH this was my childhood, living in Sweden having family in Finland 😍
Emma is the best story teller.
I could listen for days
Many thanks for the video! Hopefully you will be visiting Tallinn too soon ;)
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!! :-)
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
Very informative video, thanks for sharing!
I love your style of vlogging and watch every one in its entirety. XOXO
Thanks so much Sheryl, very kind! Appreciate it. :-)
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.
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
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!
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 😀👏🏼
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! 😁❤️
Great video Emma. As a cruiser, I found this quite fascinating!
Thanks John! :-)
Nice video! Some other cruise ferries to try would be: Silja Europa, Viking Grace/Glory, Color Fantasy/Magic and perhaps Mega Andrea/Smeralda.
Hi, Emma: Great video thank you for the information, I'm glad youhad a great time..
That was a very comprehensive review. Thanks. It makes you realise just how short-changed were are on the cross-Channel ferries.
Thank you! 😁❤️
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.
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! :)
Thank you for the video. Also the Blond is a nice look. I'll admit I looked at the date twice. Cheers
The central "promenade" of the ferry gives me a "Deep Space Nine" vibe from the Star Trek.
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!
🎉😂🎉😂🎉😂❤
Great video. Aww the weather in Finland just as well you go could
Go back om board .
Have a lovley weekend 🥰
"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!! :')
nice you made it to try out the ferry cruise. =) too bad the weather wasn't great on your visit in Helsinki.
Thanks Emma. I’ve wondered about Baltic ferries. Now I know.
Another cracking review. Thank you.
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!
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..
Glad to hear u liked the ship :) it is my favourite ship to this day to travel with
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...)
Thank you for the info. Did not know there's a Cruise Ferry. Can't wait for our next European Cruise.
That was amazingly fascinating, never knew these barges existed!
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 😀👏🏼
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 😂 👍🏾
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! 😁❤️
Thanks for another brilliant video Emma - we have seen these ferries while cruising around the Baltic and always wondered what it was like on board!
This looks like a really impressive ship! The central shopping promenade is very cool (and it's amazing that it was the first!) and that cabin was far better than we expected 😀 The bathroom is pretty good too given the ship's age (and who doesn't love lots of pink? 😁)
Would you do this cruise again?
I waited so long for this video! I have been on alot of ferries in the baltic sea.
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.
I've been on the silja serenade, the sister ship of the symphony less then a week ago!
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 :-)
Wow! I'm impressed!!I like this ship more than carnival
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
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 :)
You should try out Viking Glory, the newest cruise ferry in the region!
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.
I enjoyed that. Thanks x
For the price, it looks like terrific value for money! Thank you for the video!
Hi from Nashville, TN. GREAT review!! Ya know, I think we should have a group trip sometime on a cruise! We all appreciate you!!!
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!
Thanks for the video, now I know what to expect with an actual cruise if I ever go. Didn't know big cruise ships have small shops, that's disappointing.
The Riga-Stockholm one is fun because the alcohol laws are different. So sometimes in the store the alcohol section is behind yellow tape.
Cool video! :-) You have to try Colorline cruises! It’s two ferries going between Oslo, Norway and Kiel, Germany. Been on them several times, always very good
lol I'll be sure to check for any camels on my next cruise- great video Emma!
😂😂😂
omg i have waited for you so long to do this. This is the first time I can relate to one of your vidos sine I have been on that same ship 2 times before and live in Stockholm.
Hi Emma. Love your videos. Yiu should see the color line Oslos - kiel cruise. Its a ferry cruise similar to this one but newer. Love it
Brilliantly fascinating! Hope to make it to Stockholm and Helsinki - great insight wonderful preview - Hi Hudson sleepy cat 😎
Meow Meow! :D
Nice to see our baltic sea ferries in this channel. :)
There are ferries/cruises from Stockholm to Tallinn & Riga aswell.
And they have a ferry/cruise ship from Oslo to Copenhagen that is supposed to be similair to these.
13:19 such a cute picture!!!
I had a layover in Helsinki when flying home from France to Los Angeles… I was really bummed we only had 30 min so all I did was rush to buy a key chain as proof I was actually on Finnish land but I would’ve much rather had this excursion of yours… I’m definitely living it through you so thank you for sharing :) I’m a new sub and I’ve been binging your videos
Brilliant vlog!! Would love more ferry operators to do the mini cruises. most routes have been discontinued now.
Thank you! 😁❤️
Wow ferries have come a long way from the old Baltic clunkers we travelled on in the 1980s. Fascinating review thanks!
Thanks Mark :-)
Ferries can be great! Please give more of them a chance. I've been on 3-night trips on Indonesian and Philippine ferries. On one trip I had a cot on open deck. Sunrise was amazing! While my trips were basic, I know that first class was super. Now that I'm a bit older, I'm going to go back and try it first class on my next Asia trip. I've been on a few very nice ferries within Japan and between Japan and China too, although they are not as common now. I'd love to see more ferry videos from you.
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.
Interesting vid! I enjoyed this!
Thanks so much 🥹❤️
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!
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 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.