Now that we have new hopes that the Covid-19 vaccines might be rolled out in November, December or Q1 2021, we can continue our travel dream.
It’s not that I’ve stopped dreaming, but I had no mood (and inspiration) to write about my travel experience seeing the cases are increasing.
This week, let me share with you my experience boarding a cruise when in Europe. We’ll be boarding M/S Gabriella, a cruise ship that departs from Stockholm, Sweden to Helsinki, Finland.
My Room and My Favourite Spot on the Gabriella Cruise
I love travelling but I never dreamt of boarding a cruise. Luckily, I was able to have the experience even just for one night, thanks to my Northern Europe tour package.
We departed from Stockholm at 16:30 via M/S Gabriella and would arrive in Helsinki at 10:10. With this, I had less than a day to explore and enjoy the cruise.
I was happy to know that my cruise was super big and I felt almost nothing when it sailed. I had no seasickness at all! It’s not a luxury cruise, but it was nice.
My room was located a few levels below. When I was dragging my luggage, I was imagining Jack from ‘Titanic’, with his room down below.
Luckily, my room was decent although it’s small.
There were 2 folding beds attached to the walls, so if I folded them, the room became more spacious. I could even do some exercises! But I had to agree that the toilet was super small.
The good thing was, I had my own room throughout the tour and I was (and is) so petite, so it wasn’t a problem.
The first thing that I did after putting my luggage in my room was roaming around the cruise.
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My favourite spot on the cruise was the highest floor as I could enjoy the scenery. The most beautiful scenery was when we departed. You could see the colourful buildings of Stockholm for the last time.
In the next few hours, there’d be nothing to see besides the sea and the blue sky…
Next, I checked out the restaurants and lounges.
The buffet cost about 20 euro/person – that’s basically around RM100. After I saw the food selections, I felt that they weren’t appetizing, so I had a salmon wrap instead for my dinner.
It’s nice though a bit salty, but it was ok for me as it’s only around 6-10 euro. Plus, the next day I would have a complimentary buffet breakfast, hehe!
A Surprise Birthday Party and Metallica on the Gabriella Cruise
My tour leader, Grace, asked if we would like to gather for karaoke at 8pm and all of us agreed. When I arrived, I saw her and other friends were decorating our table.
It turned out we’d give a surprise birthday party to one of our friends, Julia! Julia was a dance teacher and she came with her husband, who shared the same hobby.
We had a fun karaoke session and almost all of us went on stage to sing a song. For me, the epic moment was when Daud chose to sing Metallica’s songs.
He totally nailed it! But it was very funny because there were some elderly in the room. Luckily, none of them got a heart attack hahaha…
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After the karaoke session ended, we danced for a while and checked out a club. It turned out the club was more packed and happening compared to the karaoke room.
When I walked back to my room, I had this wild imagination that someone would drag me into his, especially since the cruise was so quiet late at night and I was alone.
But luckily, the cruise was very safe and I reached my room safely…
We all know that the cruise industry is hit hard during the pandemic. Hopefully, after reading this article about MS Gabriella and when the vaccines rolled out, you’ll have more confidence in boarding a cruise 😊
