Cruise to Stockholm in the winter? Why yes!
“Cruises” in the Baltic Sea, even in the coldest parts of the year, are extremely popular and very inexpensive and a great way to get between the major cities on the coast, including Helsinki, Stockholm, and Tallinn (Estonia). For our 2018 trip to Helsinki (see here for the itinerary and Helsinki post about our holiday adventure with Alex and Fiona), we decided to take an overnight cruise to Stockholm and back. It left on the evening of December 21 at 17:30 and arrived in Stockholm at 10:00. We left 6.5 hours later and spent the 2nd night on the ship heading back to Helsinki. The time in Stockholm was way too short, but we knew that would be the case when we signed up.
Viking Line’s MS Gabriella- holds 2500 people, 400 cars, and has a number of dining options, a nightclub, a movie theatre, and a whole lotta cheap alcohol. The cheap booze is the main attraction for many. Alcohol in the Nordic countries is very highly taxed, but not on the cruise ships, where the duty-free stores sell people massive quantities of booze. Many people have 2-wheeled dollies to cart their cheap alcohol off the ship.
We did buy this lovely bottle of Nordic Spirits Gin with Akvavit botanicals. Truthfully, I bought it for the bottle (a great example of understated Nordic modern design), but the gin was amazing too. I lugged the empty ceramic bottle back home in my backpack. Since returning, I've researched to see if we can buy it in the US, and alas, we can not.
We got two separate rooms for our family- one for Kevin and me, and one for our 3 kids. Their room had a small window (didn’t matter because it was dark the whole time we were on the ship) and single beds that flipped down from the walls. Available rooms ranged from really cheap inside rooms to more luxury suites on the outside.
For 2 nights and the cruise there and back, it was $222 for the five of us, which is an incredible bargain for the room/beds alone. We did prepay for the breakfast smorgasbord, at 10 euros each, which was fun and a little overwhelming to see all the choices. We loved eating breakfast along the windows overlooking the archipelago as we headed towards Stockholm.
With walks from the cruise terminal and back (and needing to be on the ship 30 minutes before departure), our 6.5 hours in Stockholm was probably more like 4.5 hours or less. Given all there is to see in Stockholm, you can imagine this felt like an incredibly short time in the city, and it was. But given our options, this was the best we could do. If some of the variables were different, I would recommend flying into Stockholm and spending some time there, taking the cruise to Helsinki and flying back out of Helsinki, so you don’t have 2 nights on the cruise ship.
Gamla Stan, the Old Town, is where Stockholm was founded in 1251 and this is where we entered the city. The narrow, cobblestone streets, lined with shops was classic old Europe and very charming. The holiday decorations added to the ambiance and we really enjoyed strolling around this part of the city. According to Visitstockholm.com, Gamla Stan is one of the largest and best-preserved medieval city centers in Europe and one of the foremost attractions in Stockholm.
The Royal Palace, one of the largest palaces in the world, is in the middle of Gamla Stan. Our timing in this part of the city was close to the changing of the guard ceremony at noon, which is a popular tourist activity, so we hung around a bit. Like most changing of the guard ceremonies, it can be a bit like watching paint dry---- except we’re standing still in the cold, which was not great. After realizing this was taking up too much of our valuable time, we left and continued to explore the city.
Vasa Museum
Prior to planning our trip, I had the fortune of giving a museum conference presentation with Bruce Karstadt, President/CEO of the American Swedish Institute. I told him about our trip and asked him what sites he would recommend given our limited time in the city. He wholeheartedly recommended the Vasa Museum. This museum is the most-visited museum in Scandinavia is built around a Swedish warship that capsized and sank in Stockholm in 1628 on its maiden voyage. 333 years after that fateful voyage, the warship was rescued and is the most fully intact 17th-century ship ever salvaged. The building was built around this 226-foot-long vessel that features incredibly ornate carvings
There was a lovely Christmas Market in Old Town, which had the typical spiced mull wine (glögg), cheeses, candy, crafts, and sausages, which came in handy for our boys, as we didn’t have enough time for a sit-down restaurant, as we needed to get back to the cruise ship!
Would we do it again?
Ideally, we’d have more time in Stockholm, but given our overall trip time limitations, this cruise was a nice addition to our time in Helsinki. It was nice to be able to leave the ship in Stockholm and know our luggage and stuff was going to be safe in our room, while we explored. This is the closest thing to a real cruise that we will ever do---but it was worth putting our preconceptions on the cruising-life aside to be able to enjoy another country and of course, the lovely bottle on my windowsill is a great keepsake.
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