Wednesday 3 August 2011

Viking Cinderella cruise


A Friday night party cruise to Mariehamn on Viking Line's MS Cinderella  in July. Frankly, my expectations were low - after all, the cruise cost a lot less than a hotel room in Stockholm. Happily, Cinderella confounded my scepticism. I had a really wonderful experience onboard. 

The above image shows two other cruise ships in Stockholm - The World, anchored in Stockholms Strom, and Birka Paradise. Although the former is a residential cruise ship for the super-rich and the latter is a 22-hour party cruiser, in appearance, they are strikingly similar.

  
Viking Line's terminal.



 Cinderella arrives and meanwhile so do a vast fleet of coaches, bringing Swedes of all shapes, sizes and ages from the provinces for 22 hours of fun and relaxation onboard.


 Birka Paradise leaves for Visby and Bornholm:



The lovely old archipelago steamers Storskar and Blidosund set off on their evening sailings:


While Mariella leaves for Helsinki:


A big crowd of Cinderella passengers wait in the terminal:


Shining up the ship's name:


 My cabin - immaculately ship-shape:



One of Cinderella's more remarkable features is her three-level nightclub. Such places never look good in daylight, though:


The entrance hall:


The remarkable Art Nouveau-themed a la carte restaurant, originally called 'La Belle Epoque':



The 'Guimard' room adjacent: this takes its name from the famous Parisian Metro station architect. It's fascinating to see the 1900s filtered through the vision of a 1980s cruise ship interior architect (Robert Tillberg).


 The Viking Buffet:




 Out on deck, the weather was Mediterranean-like - and the bar came to the passengers:


Norrskar leaves Stockholm:


 ...and passes Aida Sol:


 Enjoying the sunshine as we pull away from the berth:


Amorella inbound from Turku:


 St Peter Line's Princess Anastasia:



 Details of some of Cinderella's passengers' attire:



 Altogether, my fellow passengers were an extremely diverse bunch - and included quite a large number of 'New Swedes' from Iraq, Iran, Palestine and elsewhere. One got a sense of Sweden being a very progressive, tolerant and well-integrated society and Cinderella provided a very wide choice of dining, shopping and entertainment to suit all tastes.


Passing through the narrows at Oxdjupet:



Time for dinner, which began with marinaded herrings:


 Then beef:



 Then fresh strawberries - a Viking line speciality, matching the company livery:


 (Dinner was excellent, incidentally)


 The nightclub in full swing with a lively Swedish dance band:


 The urinal bowls have advertisements so that male customers can contemplate their next drink while excreting the last one:


In the cafeteria, there was a duo playing traditional ballroom dancing tunes for the older passengers to dance to:


 Out on deck just after sunset:



Meanwhile, in the nightclub:



 The next morning, all was quiet:


 Breakfast:



After breakfast, all was still quiet:


 Passing Silja Europa off Kapellskar:


 Luncheon:



On our way into Stockholm, we passed Emerald Princess:


...whose passengers lined the railing to admire. No wonder - Cinderella is a very 'trevlig fartyg' indeed.

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