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The Polferries ship, M/S Scandinavia departs from Nynäshamn ferry terminal, at 17.30 and it's just 10km from us, so it's a nice easy first leg of the trip. This ferry was built in 1980 in Sweden and is capable of carrying up to 1888 people, and over 500 cars. The ship is 146metres long and has 11 floors which include a 200 seat cinema, children's play area, and the usual cafe, bars and restauarant facilities. Although built in 1980, it's first voyage under the Polferries name was in August 2003, it was purchased from another ferry operator, who run services to the island of Gotland. We wait around at the terminal for quite a while as there is a mass of people in front of us. Tickets in our pockets, we head through passport control and onto the ship without too much trouble. Our cabin is on deck 7, of the ship, with 4 beds, a bathroom and a window to look out of - it's quite basic. Before we get to the cabin though we need our keys, and spend time searching for the right reception. |
Once inside we think about how we'll spend the next 19 hours before the ship reaches it's destination in Gdansk, Poland. 
A knock on the cabin door, and it's a maid with more towels for us, she puts them on the top bunks, and says something in Polish to us. We wonder for a while whether this means we are expecting guests to our cabin, but luckily no-one arrives. We have a look round the duty free, one shop for cosmetics and perfumes, another for drinks, smoking materials and confectionary. They are quite small, by usual Duty Free shop standards, and all the prices are in Swedish Krona (SEK) only. The alchohol seems to have some really good bargains, for instance 1litre of Kamen Vodka (UK made) for 35SEK (£2.30). There are around 20 other Vodka's to choose from, including Polish and Swedish brands. We decide that Poland will be even cheaper, so only buy one bottle here, just enough for the trip. Other bargains were 
Naploleon Brandy for less than £2 a littre bottle, Gin (60%) for £4 a litre, White rum just £3 a litre. So some bargains to be had, and unusually the cashier didn't require the tickets to be stamped to say what we'd bought, so in fact we could have bought a lot more than the 1litre each of spirits, and quite easily got away with it. As well as spirits, there was a reasonable selection of wines from around the world (none Polish thank god), with prices from 16SEK (just over £1 a bottle), and famous name beers also at good prices. Cigarettes and Tobacco were very cheap by UK, and even Swedish standards, with prices as low as 8SEK a packet, yes that's just over 50pence for 20! Quite stormy out on the sea, the ships rocks and sways a little. Karolina suffers a sickness feeling and spends some time in bed. Sean explores the bar, and the gaming machines. Karolina later joins, but we soon both head back to the cabin to conserve energy for the next day.
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