Right before Christmas, R expressed the wish of going on a trip with me, just the two of us. I was excited to spend time some time alone with her and I promised I would come up with a plan for the start of the year. In a mystical alignment of events, I was offered a chance to go on a Helsinki-Stockholm cruise organised by Skidit Festarit. The main theme was Princesses (prinsessabileet). It sounded perfect for us and after going I can safely say it was!

The cruise ship was Silja Symphony, the one with the best reputation for family trips. When we boarded the ship, we were welcomed by live music and few staff members. Our cabin was cosy and spotless. R was excited she could sleep near mommy for two nights and she started unpacking right away. Silja Symphony is fully wheel-accessible, served by several elevators, and has a wide play area for kids (with plenty of chairs for parents to relax, bonus points).

Whenever we had some time to kill, we would visit there. R could play with Legos, relax and watch some TV, dive in the ball pit. Everyday there would be a small scavenger hunt and a prize winner among participants would be drawn in the evening.

On the first afternoon, we had plenty to do. After unpacking, we visited the royal cabin the two guest princesses shared. R was very impressed and I loved all the details. I mean, look at the Little Mermaid’s sleeping buddy, it’s Flounder! The roses, the rose bud lights, the engraved fairytale tome… what a great touch. It made it all more real for the children.

Shortly after, we headed to the Princess bingo game, hosted by a very special guest: Sleeping Beauty. You should have seen the children’s faces when she made her entrance!

She greeted the small guests and proceeded asking the audience what made a good princess. She shared the most important qualities for a princess are kindness and courage. She taught girls how to curtsy like a pro. Playing the role was the talented Juhlaprinsessa and believe me, she was way more than a woman in a costume! She was graceful, sweet beyond measure to all the kids, and really interpreted her character. Totally spot on! We were out of luck, but other young guests won colouring books and princess fairytale books.

After a quick dinner, we enjoyed the puppet show “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” by the renowned company Teatteri Hevosenkenkä. It was so funny that the following day R insisted to watch it again. There were jokes, songs, and a nice underlying message about not being scared by others’ diversity.

After the show it was time to let off some steam at the children’s disco. We were let into the private dance floor and small kids. R had packed two costumes: Elsa’s dress and unicorn. She changed into the latter and pulled off some great moves! The song selection alternated children’s songs with nostalgic and new hits. It was priceless to watch the parents giving in and starting to dance along (guilty, I cannot help it if you put on Bruno Mars or ABBA). Harry, the Silja Line’s seal mascot, paid a visit for a limbo game.

It was close to bedtime when the dance floor cooled off. The Skidit team had planned a soothing moment to end the day. Sleeping Beauty read a bedtime story to her young fans. I had washed and changed R into her night clothes, so that I could put her to bed as soon as story time ended. She didn’t have an ounce of energy left and feel asleep with a contented smile on her face.

We woke up when the ship was approaching Sweden. From our cabin window we could see the iced sea waters and the archipelago surrounding Stockholm, all islands covered in white. We visited the Grande Buffet restaurant and could pick whatever we wanted for breakfast. We are Italian, so we look for sweet flavours in the morning. This is often an issue when we travel, as the offer is quite poor. Well, not on Silja Symphony. Beside eggs, sausages, bacon, and other rich flavory options, we found plenty of sweet ones: fruit, bread and jam, yogurt, cereals, muffins, crepes. With our bellies full, we headed towards our morning warm-up: a dancing lesson with the Little Mermaid to the sounds of Under the Sea.

We spent our day in Stockholm – I’ll leave that part for a separate post – and went back to the ship in the afternoon. We took a chance to rest in our cabin before having dinner at Grande Buffet. On the previous night we had grabbed a quick bite, but now we were ready to take it easy. The buffet had a kids’ section and R could pick her own food. I went nuts on the cheese table. The buffet had everything. Veggie options, meat, fish, cheese, a great selection of desserts (tiramisu in chocolate tarts! I should have bagged a thousand and run). When you travel with picky customers as kids can be, a wide what-you-see-is-what-you-get food selection can be a life saver.

Oh, did I mention kids could get ice cream as dessert? Genius!

After dinner, the Skidit team had planned some serious fun. R insisted to watch the Teatteri Hevosenkenkä‘s puppet show again, then we headed to the dance floor for another grooving session. She dressed up with her Elsa costume and danced like no one was watching (I totally was because she was so cute!). The Little Mermaid came to say hi and dance to a couple of songs. She’s R’s favorite princess, so she sticked close and stole more than a few hugs. And what better finale than Let it go playing? R pointed at her dress and commented excitedly “It’s perfect!”. The cutest and most full-hearted lip-sync interpretation followed. Priceless.

The Little Mermaid wrapped up the evening with a bedtime story. We were heading back to bed, when we heard some live music playing in the Skylight venue. I gave in to vacation’s spirit and allowed some more spins on the dance floor. The early shows for adult guests were family friendly and children were allowed to dance near the stage. The performing group Scandinavian Dancers entertained us with live songs and energetic dances.

Even though I enjoyed all our time on the ship, it was a nice surprise to be able to enjoy a show engaging the adult audience.

We spent our last night on the ship and when morning came, Helsinki was getting close. We enjoyed crepes and fruit for breakfast, played some more in the play area and packed. One thing is sure: we will never forget this magical trip!

What I loved as a parent

The planning and organisation was nothing less than perfect. Every activity was on time. The schedule left time to move across the ship, have toilet or eating breaks. We never had dull moments, yet we didn’t need to run around. On the second day, the organisers made sure we still followed the Finnish timezone: for example, the bedtime story was at 8pm (9pm Finnish time). Silja Symphony and its services are completely child-friendly. I’m a whiner when it comes to service, but I was so impressed by how kind and professional the staff was, a smile always on their faces.

A comment as an expat

I know many of my readers are international and they are probably wondering about the events’ language. All communications on the ship were given in Finnish, Swedish, and English. Most signs had instructions also in Russian. The night shows I watched were in English and performers were international. The Skidit’s programme was in Finnish, but during the bingo game when parents needed to help their kids, numbers were announced also in Swedish and English (which I really appreciated!). In other words, if your child speaks Finnish and you don’t, it’s gonna be fine!

The next cruise is happening in March and has “circus” as a central theme. Another taking place in June will be announced later: make sure to like the Skidit Festarit page to never miss their events and their ticket giveaways. I cannot but recommend you to join one Skidit cruise. Prinsessabileet has been an amazing family experience which overcame all our expectations and left us with precious and royal memories.

We were offered tickets to the Prinsessabileet cruise in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are mine and sincere: more on my working values can be found here.