a day ago
A satisfying extended taste of Tallinn with Silversea Cruises
TALLINN, Estonia -- I zoomed down the street, carefully skirting the edge of Rannamagi, a lush green space straddling the old and new parts of town.
It was my second day here, and after a full 24 hours spent soaking up the history on a walking tour and meandering around the medieval cobblestone streets of Old Town, it was time to explore the more modern side of the Baltic capital.
When I woke up that morning, I had no solid plans on the best way to do that. But that was the beauty of the Silversea cruise I was on, a uniquely immersive sailing on the Silver Dawn that spent multiple days in each port, which gave me the chance to be spontaneous. It was at breakfast, looking out over the city while enjoying a strong cappuccino and a crispy hash brown, that my plan came into focus: We were going to rent scooters.
The idea had come from one of our servers who had done the same the day before and highly recommended it. Crew members would often leave the ship to explore, and trading anecdotes became a favorite pastime over our week onboard.
I never felt rushed over the two full days we spent here or in any other city we visited, a novelty considering most cruises spend just a few hours in each port. That was by design.
"Overnights and multiday port stays create opportunities for deeper exploration. It also allows for more flexibility in how guests explore -- whether through in-depth excursions, relaxed independent exploration or a mix of both," said Walter Barinaga, the senior director of destination management at Silversea Cruises. "We believe it's an authentic, enriching way to travel and aligns with the expectations of our guests today."
The colorful streets of the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Old Town in Tallinn, Estonia. Photo Credit: Alison Fox
Putting free time to use
Daytrips may still be the norm industrywide, but longer port stops and overnights are becoming more common. Cruise lines like Azamara, for example, make it a point to build evening experiences into their sailings. For Silversea, travelers are more likely to find overnight stops on Grand Voyages and World Cruises. (Our trip was a segment of a world cruise, which can be booked separately from the entire voyage.)
These trips, Barinaga said, are "designed to offer a slower, more immersive experience and bring guests closer to the destination."
That day in Tallinn, we took the complimentary shuttle into town, selected a couple of scooters and zoomed off toward Telliskivi, an art-centric neighborhood just outside of the Unesco World Heritage-listed Old Town.
We spent hours browsing the stalls at the multilevel Balti Jaam Market, sampling chocolates and marzipan and hopping around the once-industrial area now teeming with energy. Once back on the ship, we indulged in a late lunch on the pool deck, taking one last look at Tallinn before heading off toward Stockholm.
Colorful flowers come to life in Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens during spring. Photo Credit: Alison Fox
We had started our journey in Copenhagen, where we spent two full days enjoying the rides at Tivoli Gardens, marveling at the colorful buildings of Nyhavn and sampling beer at the Carlsberg brewery.
We had sailed to Helsinki and Tallinn before finally ending the week in Sweden with a flaky, cinnamon bun-fueled fika, loading up on sweets in a pastel-hued Swedish candy store and collecting coasters in discontinued prints at a pop-up Ikea museum as souvenirs. In each city, we would take our time, only heading back to the ship when we were hungry for dinner or too tired to continue.
There is plenty to do on the Silver Dawn from trivia and bingo to watercolor classes. Photo Credit: Alison Fox
Painting and pampering
Onboard, we delighted in creative smoke-bubble cocktails, competed in trivia, tried our hand at watercolor painting inspired by the cities we visited and indulged in silky bowls of aglio e olio, truffle popcorn and endless caviar -- it became a running joke we had to order the delicacy on something at least once each day.
Over the course of the week, we learned how to cook local dishes like karbonade with a velvety mushroom sauce in the S.A.L.T. Lab (Silversea's Sea and Land Taste program) and were pampered endlessly by our butler, who delivered canapes to our room and even insisted on cleaning my sister's glasses when he noticed they were foggy.
In the end, the ship felt like the best of both worlds, becoming the ultimate luxury, floating five-star hotel we could hop on and off as we pleased, with the added benefit of visiting multiple destinations -- and only having to unpack once.
When asked if there were plans to expand these overnight offerings, Barinaga was coy: "We are continually evaluating our destination experiences to ensure we offer the most enriching offerings to our guests."
