Woot! Maerose here, writing about “that trip” that got me into a romantic relationship (we talked the talk) with a sweet and handsome Swedish guy. If you are following my blog, you might have read how our first date went, and the succeeding experiences and thoughts with him and about him. We met right after New Year, and one month later, we found ourselves waiting in line to get on to this big Stena Line cruise ship.
Stena Line offers 24-hour, 36-hour, and thematic cruises from Norway to Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the UK, Poland and/or the Baltics. One of the biggest ferry services in Europe, they have 38 ships up to date taking 22 ferry routes in Northern Europe. We didn’t have lots of time, so we could only afford to spend a weekend on the boat. To be honest, I wasn’t really a big fan of cruises, so I had a pretty clean slate ready to get filled with scribbles on how the ride would go.
Cruises like the one we took are very popular for young Scandinavians. While most people take the ferry as a means of cheap public transportation from one Scandinavian country to another, a huge number go on board just to buy tax-free alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, and to party the night away!
I’m not a huge fan of drinking alcohol in a crowd, nor wild-dancing, which the cruise is usually famous for. Nevertheless, my travel buddy and I still had fun sharing great conversations while on board and enjoying “gambling” at the arcade section. 😀
Other activities one can enjoy on-board are: free movie! (They showed The Revenant, but we already saw the movie, so we skipped it.), disco, children’s playroom, and spa. We also had great dinners for both Friday and Saturday at the Metropolitan restaurant which serves high-end dishes. I was pampered to nth level! ❤
The boat left at 7:30 on Friday evening, and by 7am the following day, we were at Frederikshavn in Denmark for the ship’s 2-hour dock. Yep, just two hours. So, we just stayed on the boat, had a nice little breakfast at the buffet section, and went for a little shopping at the tax-free store. Interestingly, one can buy and bring more alcoholic beverages to Sweden and Denmark than one can to Norway. 😛
I definitely enjoyed the de-stressing trip with my travel companion. I loved the beautiful scenery while on board, and we got to know each other better! This is one trip I recommend for budding lovers, to be honest. 🙂 As they say, you’ll never know your partner well until you travel together. ❤
Ha! I remember writing about this cute little Tiger stuffed toy who’s supposed to be my travel buddy. I bought her in the Philippines last December, almost completely convinced that I’d be a solo traveler for several years more. Fate has its own way to surprise us, I guess. 😉
Happy cruising! Cheers to more travels!
To book a ticket or get information about Stena Line and the cruises they offer: http://www.stenaline.no/stenacruise
PinayOdyssey 
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