Sea Wind in Turku, 15 February 2013

Sea Wind

IMO 7218332
Name history: Svealand, Saga Wind, Sea Wind
Built 1972, Helsingør Skibsværft og Maskinbyggeri, Denmark
Tonnage 15 879 GT
Length 154,41 m
Width 21,04 m
Draugth 5,02 m
Ice class 1B
12 passengers (as a cargo ship), 363 passengers (maximum)
363 berths
60 cars
1 270 lanemetres
4 MaK diesels, combined 7 356 kW
2 controllable pitch propellers
1 bow thruster
Speed 18 knots

For a history of the Sea Wind, see the first entry on her. The photographs in this entry show the Sea Wind departing from Turku on the evening of 15 February 2013, photographed from Ruissalo. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

Sea Wind leads while the brightly lit Viking Grace follows. The Grace is scheduled to depart before the Sea Wind, I think, but her arrival in Turku was delayed.

Onwards to the darkness.

Next time is archive time! We might be looking at old photos from my 2007 Canaries cruise to get some international colour to this blog again. Unless of course I feel inspired to go and take some new photos instead.

Baltic Princess in Turku, 15 February 2013

Baltic Princess

IMO 9354284
Built 2008, Aker Yards France / Aker Yards Helsinki, Finland
Tonnage 48 915 GT
Length 212,10 m
Width 29,00 m
Draugth 6,42 m
Ice class 1A Super
2 800 passengers
2 484 berths
600 cars
1 300 lanemetres
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 32 000 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 24,5 knots

The Baltic Princess, as most of you will probably know, recently swapped routes with the Silja Europa and hence the former now sails as a Silja Line ship between Turku and Stockholm. For the previous history of the Baltic Princess under the Tallink house flag, see this previous entry.

The photographs below show the Baltic Princess departing from Turku on the evening of 15 February 2013, photographed from Ruissalo. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

Photographing departures from Turku during the wintertime does have the problem that when the sky is cloudy (and at least this winter, it was pretty much always cloudy) the city lights up the sky and turns the ship into a dark silhouette.

Notice the new bolt-upright Silja Line logotype on the hull.

Now this is what a proper night-time photo should look like, lighting-wise.

Next time: Sea Wind

Viking Grace interiors, 14-15 February 2013 - Part 2

Following up Wednesday's Viking Grace interiors entry, here is the second and final installment of Grace interiors. For part 1, click here.

In the intervening days after part 1, two other things written by me have also seen the light of day on the internet: Part 2 of my english-language trip report from the Viking Grace is now up at MaritimeMatters, while for those fortunate enough to speak Finnish can read the latest issue of Ulkomatala, which includes a detailed article on the history of Viking Line's Turku-Stockholm services by yours truly.

Viking Grace

IMO 9606900
Built 2013, STX Europe Turku, Finland
Tonnage 57 700 GT
Length 218,60 m
Width 31,80 m
Draught 6,80 m
Ice class 1 A Super
2 800 passengers
2 876 berths
530 lane metres of cars
1 275 lane metres of cargo
4 Wärtsilä dual fuel (LNG/diesel) engines, combined 30 400 kW
2 fixed-pitch propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Service speed 21,8 knots
Maximum speed 25,6 knots

Last time we covered decks 9 and 10, today it's turn for decks 11 and 12.

Deck 11 houses the Oscar à la carte restaurant forward. Adjacent to Oscar is the Seamore Champagne Bar, and aft of these is the Frank's casual restaurant, Wellness Spa and right aft the second level of Club Vogue.

The decor in Oscar is quite restive - except for the gilded ceiling. And, unlike the Sweet & Salty cafeteria downstairs, it manages to look stylish rather than boring.

The restaurant continues aftward on the starboard side in a space with a slightly different styling that can be separated into a cabinet for groups.

Night-time Oscar, facing forward.

A more detailed look on the tables near the windows.

Aft and port of Oscar is the Seamore Champagne Bar (notice the column in the middle actually reads "champance", while the sign outside the space read "champange").

Seamore also functions as an aperitive bar for people dining at Oscar, though the Turku route's schedules are not particularly conductive for such an arrangement, particularly during the evening.

Oscar ceiling light detail.

More ceiling light details, this time from the forward staircase.

The Arcade on deck 11, facing aft from the forward staircase, towards the Atrium.

The three-deck high Atrium, facing forward.

The decorative fixtures of the atrium both move and change colour.

Aft of Oscar and off the Atrium is Frank's casual restaurant, finished in a bewildering array of styles. This central section really reminds me of a school cafeteria.

The service counters - multiple "action station" kitchens, each with it's own menu - are already slightly more adventurous.

The central area near the windows sees the return of the 50s-style space dividers from Buffet Aurora and the grey palette from Sweet & Salty...

...but the two wings of the room with sea views assume a fantastic palette, combined with fantastic modernist lamps.

Entrance to the Wellness Spa. Unfortunately I did not see anything else of the spa as it was fully booked when we tried to go there.

The aft staircase on deck 11. The stairs are colour-coded (by lighting): the forward one is turquise, the midship one yellow and the aft one purple, as seen here.

Aftmost on deck 11 is Club Vogue. All photos from there were included in part one of this series.

The sole passenger-accessible spaces on deck 12 are the extensive outer decks. Unfortunately, due there being windbreakers, the deck area is bloody cold during the wintertime.

To emphasise the environmental friendliness of the Viking Grace, Viking Line chose to alter their traditional funnel colours and paint the funnel all white. The result is less attractive than the original (the funnel is also quite small, probably also in an attempt to make it look more environmentally friendly).

During night-time the funnel is impressively lit though.

The big thing on the Grace: the LNG tanks on the aft deck. Although it whas been previously reported the ship would currently run entirely on diesel (due to the fueling infrastructure not being ready), there is always a small amount of gas carried and used, so that the LNG systems don't go "cold".

Next time: Baltic Princess (for real this time, I promise).

Viking Grace interiors, 14-15 February 2013 - Part 1

As some of you have perhaps noticed, the first part of my english-language travel report from onboard the Viking Grace is up at MaritimeMatters here. Since the trip report is up, I though it prodent to put up a more through collection of photos from the ship here. As there are almost 50 photos overall, I decided to break them into two separate entries. Today we will look at decks 9 and 10, while the next installment will deal with deck 11 and 12.

Viking Grace

IMO 9606900
Built 2013, STX Europe Turku, Finland
Tonnage 57 700 GT
Length 218,60 m
Width 31,80 m
Draught 6,80 m
Ice class 1 A Super
2 800 passengers
2 876 berths
530 lane metres of cars
1 275 lane metres of cargo
4 Wärtsilä dual fuel (LNG/diesel) engines, combined 30 400 kW
2 fixed-pitch propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Service speed 21,8 knots
Maximum speed 25,6 knots

The Viking Grace is notable, amongst other things, for her unusual interiors. They have been designed by the Finnish architecture firm dSign Vertti Kivi, who have also designed a horde of different things on dry land but never anything afloat before the Grace. The cabins and cabin corridors on the other hand have are the works of another Finnish architectural practice, Korpi & Gordon.

Deck 9 contains the navigation bridge forward, followed by cabins, the reception, conference rooms, a large tax-free supermarket and a teenagers' room.

The cabin corridors have extremely interesting carpeting. Apparently the carpets are identical on each deck with the exception that each deck has it's own identifying insect. On deck 9 this was a butterly, on one of the lower decks it's a ladybug.

An inside double cabin; not large but perfectly adequate for a 23-hour cruise. The floor may look like wood but it's ain fact a carpet patterned to look like wood.

On the port side there is a three-deck high atrium (spanning deck 9, 10 and 11), with a large panoramic window similar to that onboard the 1989 Viking Line ship Cinderella.

The lovely mrs Id demonstrated the functionability of the atrium sofas.

The Teens room is also on deck 9, located out of the way along the connecting corridor to the aft staircase, essentially inside the horseshow-shaped tax-free supermarket.

Deck 10 has, the following spaces, fore to aft: Aurora Buffet restaurant, Sweet & Salty cafeteria, Rockmore Bar, Retro Bar and Vogue night club.

The servery areas of Buffet Aurora have a fairly boring colour palette. It lets the foods stand out, for sure, but perhaps a little colour wouldn't have hurt.

The kids' table is somewhat more interesting. Also notice it's actually been designed for children, heightwise.

The actual eating areas of Aurora share similar patters but different sections have different colour schemes. Here were are looking aft on the starboard side.

Looking forward on the starboard side; notice the Alvar Aalto -style space dividers in the background.

Port side facing aft (towards the entrance), with yellow as the dominating colour.

Sprinkled amongst the more modernist chairs and tables are these odd retro things.

Totally random Buffet Aurora ceiling shot (with regards to Peter Knego).

The port side arcade aft of Aurora.

The Sweet & Salty cafeteria is located midships on deck 10. This also functions are a food outlet, with a self-serve buffet from which you pay according the weight of your portion.

The items served at Sweet & Salty are tasty but in terms of decor it is definately the most boring space onboard.

Aft of Sweet & Salty there are two different bars on either side of the funnel casing. On the port side is the Rockmore disco, which oddly lacks a dance floor.

Rockmore details. The space also functions as an access corridor to the Vogue night club aft and it gets irritatingly crowded easily.

On the starboard side from the Rockmore Bar is the Retro Bar, which features karaoke and the other forms of "traditional" cruise ferry culture. While these are not my favourite things onboard, Retro was clearly the most popular venue onboard.

Karaoke in full swing.

Club Vogue is a two-storey venue furthest aft. All of my Vogue photos are in fact from the upper level on deck 11, but I'm including them here for the sake of balancing the number of photos in the two entries,

It might be just me, but I think Vogue looks like a set from a 1970s science fiction movie.

During daytime Club Vogue is slightly less red and the ceiling lights look even more impressive.

Club Vogue's bar on deck 11.

At the very aft of Club Vogue there are large windows overlooking the ship's stern.

The dance floor in night-time mode...

...and day-time mode.

Next time: part 2 of the Viking Grace's interiors.