Welcome to Your Favorites, where you have the opportunity to share your travel experiences with fellow Internet Travelers around the world.

Silja Line

MV Silja Opera

Your Rating:
Reviewed by:  Patrick Wetter
# previous cruises: 31 to 40
Date of Trip: April 18, 2003
Itinerary: Baltic/Black Sea/Russia

The SILJA OPERA is a ship with an interesting history. Build in 1979 / 1980 as the ferry-ship VIKING SAGA (later SALLY ALBATROSS), it completely burned in 1990 and was reconstructed into a cruise ship for the same company, Sally Line, owned by Effjohn International (today Sea Containers). After 7 years of bareboat-charter to Norwegian Cruise Line and Star Cruises, Sea Containers got the ship back for their Silja Line division and employs it on 2-day cruises from Helsinki to Gotland, Tallinn and Riga.

The ship itself looks nice but it is not to be compared to any other real cruise-product as Silja Line, which is a ferry-operator, is marketing the ship on the mass-market.

The ship has a very nice structure and several interesting lounges and public rooms. After the taking-over by Silja Line, they have added a large tax-free shop and several smaller shops on various decks. A nice lounge is the Stardust Lounge, fitted around the funnel and the show lounge which is settled over two decks with balconies. It gives you , for a while at least, the feeling to be on a megaship. A few things still remain from the NCL and Star operation such as the casino or the addition of 4 supplementary lifeboats.

The maintenance of the ship is quite poor. Everywhere is rust and you never see somebody doing any maintenance at all. Windows are dirty and the rusting decks were covered with blue plastic to avoid slippery surfaces. The ship could be much cleaner !!!

The Magrodome, which was removed during NCL and Star Cruises operation, has been fixed again and is a positive addition when cruising in cold areas.

The food is basic. Apart from the Scandinavian buffets offered in two restaurants (note that there is only buffet-dining !) which had a quite good selection of fish, meat and salads, the small buffet in the Robert's coffee was rather poor. Almost no selection of breads and fruits. Everything has to be paid extra as Silja Line never includes it in the price. the prices for those supplements are extremely high, probably the main winning-source for Silja !

The cabins were of an average size, still in NCL decor. Furniture was ok, some areas although were broken. An extra-fitted hair dryer did not work, neither did a lamp over one of the beds.

The bathroom was equipped with a shower, toilet and washbasin but there was no division between the shower and the rest (which means that all the bathroom gets wet when taking a shower...). There was not enough storage place for toiletries.

Only two towels per person for one cruise were supplied. No cabin service! The cabin could also have been kept much cleaner!

The shows are not of an international standard ! There were very few presentations only - all in Finish and Swedish language.

A pianist in the Opera observation lounge seemed not to be a real singer as his music was quite terrific ! The Karaoke was quite well accepted by all passengers. No presentation of officers and crew.

The ship is employed on short international voyage which means that you won't have a lifeboat drill, neither you'll find any life vests in your cabin.

There has been a sort of child care and an Asian gymnastic course on the pool-deck. If you like to gamble, the Marco Polo (still remains from NCL) is waiting for you. Otherwise the most well-liked activity onboard this ship seemed to be buying all kinds of alcoholic and other stuff in the tax-free shops. Beside that, passengers seemed to easily drink a bit too much...

The ship stops for a day in Riga which is quite a nice city. Excursions are provided by Silja too.

Most of the fellow passengers were from Finland and Sweden. Only 8 from Germany and two from France. It's almost impossible to get any contacts. The ship carries up to 1200 passengers (far too much !!!) by a crew of only 150 ! NCL had 800 pax with 400 crew members which was the much better constellation. So now you'll feel crowded in almost every area, especially while embarking and disembarking.

The crew seems to consist of mostly younger trainees which still need to learn a lot. If you order twice the same drink, you'll get two different ways of mixtures anyway ! There is no service and no finesse at all.

Silja Line operates successful with this concept on the local finish market but the ship could be employed in a much more attractive way with all its facilities ! Here it seems that only the money counts for which a ferry would have been a better choice !