EPIC CRUISE

This past cruise was the best cruise of the contract. The best ports, the craziest times, with so many good stories.

We went to two German ports first. The first was Kiel, which we were fortunate that there was this huge festival going on there. For about 3 or 4 miles, maybe even more, there were booths with food, huge stages for music, and then tents with lines of tables just like you think Germany’s like. I got off the ship a few times because we were actually docked right in town and until 11pm. At night it was packed with people, big bands with Germany clothing on singing “ZIGGY ZAGGY ZIGGY ZAGGY” and huge glasses of beer. I had sausage, pretzels, ice cream, crepes, and beer (this is over the course of the entire day). I loved it!

The second Germany port was Warnemunde, which doesn’t have much except for a nice beach and a bar at the train station that all the crew were at. So we just sat outside at the train station eating sausage and drinking beer. A pretty relaxing night.

Our next port was Tallinn, Estonia. I had no clue where Estonia was until I had been, but I love it! There was a nice old town with some cool antique shops and beautiful churches and a castle. The highlight of the day was going to this pancake place. It was more like really thick crepes. We all got some and shared them- one with chicken and feta cheese, garlic and cheese, strawberry and cottage cheese and whipped cream. They were all huge and super delicious! Another interesting part of the day was going into this old store that had communist and nazi paraphernalia. It was a little freaky, but really interesting to see these things.

After Estonia was St. Petersburg, Russia, a port I’ve heard is super fun, and it did not let me down! I took the metro into town with a couple friends and did some sight seeing. I saw the Church of Spilled Blood, the Kosov Cathedral, St. Isaac’s Cathedral and spent some time in the famous Hermitage Museum. For lunch we ate at this amazing meat pie shop. They had rabbit and cheese pies, egg and onion, sweet cheese, and some others.  Since we were spending 2 days in Russia, we spent the night/morning at a club in the middle of nowhere. This club had 4 levels, each with its own DJ and dance floor and a bar. The bar was packed full of kids looking like they were 16 years old, and no one spoke English. We basically hung out within our group of about 10, but it definitely made for some interesting conversations with random people. St. Petersburg was beautiful, and pretty fun. But I walked around some areas that were pretty run down, the slums. Near the port area, nowhere near downtown, it was like the projects but with huge Soviet-style stone buildings that could probably withhold a nuclear bomb. Other areas downtown were pretty dirty and sketchy as well. Nonetheless, it was a cool experience going to Russia. By the way, this all happened in an entire 24 hours, without any sleep and going back to the ship once to play for 2 hours.

After Russia we ended up in Helsinki.  I had a really nice day here. In the morning I walked around by myself in the rain to see the main sights- a big church, city hall, the fish market, the beautiful music hall, and walked into some shops. The architecture was very very cool. There were old buildings as well as sleek new ones. In the afternoon I went to a café and walked around more with some friends. It was raining then, and by the time we got to the fish market they were all closing down and selling all their food for cheap, which was amazing cause everything looked so good! I got this huge plate of food with grilled salmon, potatoes, vegetables, a smaller fish I can’t remember the name of, and a beer. All for 9 euros. We were in foodie heaven!!! It was fantastic food! I also had some pastries- a meat pie that tasted like a donut on the outside but with a super tasty meat and rice mixture in the middle. Also a traditional Finnish pastry that’s like a Danish but a thicker dough on the outside, like a donut ball, and then custard and jam on top of it. The dough had some herb in it that I couldn’t pinpoint, but it made it taste a little weird at first. But with the custard and jam it was really good!

If the cruise ended here, I would’ve been happy. But we had 2 days in Stockholm! I went out with some friends ALL around the city. We walked through Old Town that had some cool looking chocolate shops. We tried some and it was some of the best chocolate we’ve ever had. Totally serious! We walked through more areas like new town, the palace, some churches, the opera house, some squares. We found this park that had a parade with a military band going down the street. We later found out it was for Somber Day, a national holiday. I’ll tell you more about it later. At this park there was also a stage with some traditional music (although I don’t know if it was traditional Swedish or something else). Either way, we learned the dances and listened for a little- it was a nice that it had stopped raining at this time for us to enjoy it. At this amazing bakery we found a traditional Swedish pastry that was like a cinnamon roll but more like a danish. We also got lunch at a great gourmet sandwich shop. By that time, we had to start heading back to the ship, so we saw another cool looking church, stocked up on Swedish chocolate bars at a grocery store, and then found the hip area of town. I’m talking bars with some attitude to them, shops that had fashion that the States have never seen before, and some great looking restaurants. I was lost with one of my friends, so we started running in the pouring rain back to the ship just in time for my rehearsal. I made it J

That night, about 50 or more of us crew hopped in a shuttle bus at midnight to take us to a club. This was a Tuesday night. And the club was packed!! Remember Somber Day? I don’t know what it is, but I’m guessing something happened that made them all sad. Anyways, the DJ and all these people were dressed and had make up on like zombies- blood running down their mouths, dark eyes, weird hair do’s. it was the weirdest introduction to Swedish club culture, but also totally awesome! We took over the place and closed the place down at 3am. Everyone was super nice there, even the guys. I fell in love with Sweden that night because I realized people are just genuinely nice here. You go to a club in America and they want to see your ID and give you a hard time just to get in a public place to have fun! No, even the bouncers were nice guys and welcoming. The sun was just starting to set, so it was a little bright out now. So we decided to taxi over to another club. We closed that place out at 5am. Us ship people know how to party at night. Since we’re on the ship every night, we get used to our 1 crew bar and seeing the same people over and over. When we get an overnight, it’s a chance for us to let loose, get off the ship and enjoy nightlife like you “normal” people on land do.

So that was my epic cruise. I had an INCREDIBLE time, but I didn’t get to see nearly as much as I wanted to in every place. I want to visit every port from this cruise many more times. I hope to some day, and I hope you guys consider doing it too, because you will love it!