Hotel on the ocean, Buying a Viking grace cruise ticket from Finland to Sweden

The same applies to cross-border ships, just as the plane did to check in and board at the airport two hours before boarding. There are instructions to check in at the port one hour before boarding time, and they checked passport, ticket, baggage as if you were checking departure.

This is a waiting room in Turku, Finland. Although there is a line from Helsinki, Finland to Stockholm, Sweden, I decided to go to Turku, Finland, to take a half-day tour of the Turku and move during sleeping. Because the price is higher and the time to stay on the ship is longer. It makes me save money.

Source: Vikingline Homepage

Finland and Sweden are neighboring countries, but it is not possible to use the train, which is the most comfortable mode of transportation This is because Sweden and Norway are located in the Scandinavian Peninsula, and Gulf of Botnia and the Baltic Sea are between Finland and Sweden. So if you want to stay overnight like me, you can take the night ferry. If you want to move quickly, you'd better take a flight. As you can see from Google Maps, there are a lot of tiny islands that are distributed between Turku and the Baltic Sea, and cruise seem to be getting away with it.

Two typical companies are Viking and Silja Line. I can't think of the reason why I chose the Viking line seven years ago, but I think I chose the Viking line because the Seoksik seafood buffet is very nice and the price difference is not big.

The same goes for European rail tickets, but there are also domestic agencies for all these cruise tickets. Of course, it would be cheap to book directly from the overseas headquarters site, but since it is the first time to book a cruise ship, international and lodging type, the English site was difficult because there are many different kinds of cabins and options. At that time, there were some things that were preparing to travel to Europe for the first time, so I just bought the ticket through the agency website to save my effort.

First of all, there are two ways to go from Turku, Finland to Stockholm, Sweden, by Viking line. There are two types of daytime and night time, and night time is about 100 euros more expensive because and night time is included accommodation. Still, I don't think it's too expensive because you don't lose your time at night and you can sleep too. You waste a little time too if you take a flight. (moving between central city and airport)  But the next time I'm moving from Helsinki to Stockholm, I've experienced a night cruise, so we'll choose a fast-moving flight. It's not as expensive as I thought it would be to fly between cities in Europe.

Access the Viking Line homepage.

1. Select port of departure, round trip/single trip, date of departure, and number of people boarding.

2. The ship that departs at 8:45 a.m. and arrives at 18:55 is Amorella. The ship that departs at 20:55 and arrives at 6:30 a.m. the next day is Viking Grace. Select the desired time zone.

3. Select the cabin type. There are many different types of rooms. First of all, you can choose the type of room you like, depending on whether the bed type is a foldable double bed, whether the window is included, whether the breakfast is included, whether the refrigerator or dryer is included, and whether or not the toilet is equipped with a shower booth.

4. You can add options to your room. Additional charges depend on whether there is a storage space above or close to an elevator or deck. Reservations are made depending on whether you want to add dinner, breakfast, or spa. The dinner seafood restaurant that people usually eat is buffet Aurora Dinner. You can make a reservation by selecting a meal time zone. 

5. If you do not need a hotel or any other reservation, press the Continue button.

6. Check the options selected and the final price, fill in the details, and proceed with the payment.

The caution here is that when you book a dinner, if you go into the wrong area, you have the wrong meal. (It's my story.) I booked a seafood buffet, and there was nothing but a sandwich, so I wondered where the seafood was. It was a separate place to buy and eat, and beyond that area was a seafood buffet. I knew that the next day. Should I be glad I ate my breakfast properly?

Don't mind if you can eat quickly, but it didn't take much longer to get off the boat than I thought. If you want a good breakfast, book for breakfast. Get up earlier and with your luggages (I mean ready to get off cruise) than the entrance time, you'll be able to eat more comfortably. Or you can choose a takeaway or simply prepare something to eat for breakfast before taking the cruise.

As I said earlier, I made a reservation through an agency. Cabin and the options are too many, so if you're worried about it, you'll get an estimate based on the room type and the room type you want. Its fare was more expensive about 30 euros than original homepage.

It was almost 9 p.m., but it was so bright that if I didn't see my watch, I would think it was during the day. Hahaha

The cabins I chose were double room, window, shelf available on top, breakfast and dinner buffet, and the total cost was 274 euros per 2 persons. If you reserve about 240 euros on this site, you can spend 120 euros per night for two people. If you pay for breakfast, dinner, buffet, and ferry boarding, it's worth about 60 euros per person, so I think it's a great price.

It's sunset from the deck. It's not until almost 10pm that you'll be able to see a night view when you travel to Northern Europe in the summer. I was crossing the Baltic Sea on a Viking line. I think it was like Vikings who lived long time ago.

I don't know if they're not supposed to be photographed inside. Or did I not think to take a picture of the amazing scenery I saw for the first time? I was on a boat, I didn't think I was on a boat at all. Not only convenience facilities such as restaurants and spas, but also duty-free shops, bars and clubs were the perfect ship. I think there was an event on the deck in the evening. I could sleep without worry because cruise didn't shak while I was sleeping. As soon as I lie down, I slept. After deep sleep, woke up in the morning and packed up.

There was some episode in the waiting room. Was it first time? I felt racism first in Europe? There were not many chairs in the waiting room than I thought, so I was there an hour ago, so there was not enough room to sit down. I was traveling with my mother and we were seats in separate places. It was far from where I checked in, so I went to my mother's seat around the time I started checking in, and she was standing there. I took a seat after my mother took a seat. I asked her why she was already standing, and she was tackled by a white old man. There were many young people around her, she was in mid-50s, so she was never young, and she was the only colored person. The old man told y mother to get up. My mother couldn't complain to old man in English, like my parents' generation so just stood up.
When racism occurs overseas, people don't help you or against from racism. They act like they're in a separate space. Well, if I was sitting around even if I was not her daughter, I wouldn't be able to say anything to the old man, but I can get up and give up my seat. I don't know there's no culture of concession for elder in the West. I heard that there are subtle racial discrimination in many ways, but I was surprised when I got hit by it for sure from the first trip. Did he do that in front of a lot of people for having seat less than an hour? Whether it was comfortable or not... Anyway he might be lying comfortably in the coffin by now.