舌尖上的航海丨第21集 酒坛子浸泡的轮船

梅姐是位资深的海乘（邮轮服务员）。

十几年的海上邮轮生涯，足跡几乎跑遍全球；《亚洲之星》《海上皇宫号》《瑪丽皇后号》《环球旅行者号》一这些设备齐全，豪华舒适的邮轮上都留下了梅姐的身影，那些形形色色的，来自世界各地的游客，五花八门的故事，稀奇古怪的习俗…都给梅姐留下了深刻的印象：邮轮不愧为《流动的联合国》，世界真是太神奇！太奇妙了！

做为邮轮服务员，梅姐积累了丰富的服务经验和洞察能力：不通过语言，她只通过顾客的身著行动，就能识别对方的国藉和身份；有秩序排队登上邮轮，清一色戴着宽沿帽的老头老太太，老太太妆化的象“妖婆”，老头带看金丝眼镜，那是日本游客。穿着象女星一般，手里搭着VV包是欧卅的女游客，西服革履，腰里搭着皮制的“零钱包”，皮带上扣着钥匙串的准是中国游客，裹着羽绒服，短髪染成紫红色，红褐色的百分之百是俄罗斯大媽_。

梅姐的精明和勤奋，受到外派劳务公司的好评和重视。一次，她被选派到往返与欧洲各国的，一艘特殊的号称《酒坛子浸泡的轮船》的《月亮王子号》做服务员。

为啥称做《浸泡在酒坛子的轮船》呢？

登上《月亮王子号》之前，梅姐有所耳闻：这艘以芬兰为中心的近海航线的豪华邮轮，主要游客是芬兰人。芬兰人对酒己达到了疯狂崇拜的程度，几乎聊天十句间没有不提到酒的。人们戏笑着说，十句不提酒就不是芬兰人！还盛传一则笑话，一个芬兰男人整天泡在酒坛里，一天不喝酒就活不下去。一天喝得酩酊大醉回到家中，驚叹地对妻子说，一个酒友醉后騎车摔了个满脸花。妻子听后，驚喜地连声说，你该戒酒了吧！谁知回答使人哭笑不得：“你给我准备个头盔，下次出门好戴上！“这虽然是则笑话，却说明芬兰人对酒的留恋和依赖。中国有句俗话，无酒不成席，芬兰人却“歺歺必备酒“，人们调揩芬兰成了“浸泡在酒坛子的国家。

难道《月亮王子号》也与酒有关係吗？为啥叫《浸泡在酒坛子里的轻船》？

梅姐登上《月亮王子号》不久就有了答案；果然名不虚传，地地道道《酒坛子浸泡的轮船》！。创造了《舌尖上航海》饮酒的世界吉尼斯记录！

《月亮王子号》豪华邮轮上下共有八层，每层都有都有足球大的歺厅，酒吧，啇场，游乐园，赌坊，游泳池，观景台鳞次栉比一应俱全…，一艘名符其实的海上乐园，是芬兰有名以来最大最豪华的邮轮，来往北欧几个国家的近海航线。

隨着欧州老年化的发展，许多国家的老年人走上了邮轮。一是养老金足够在邮轮上开支，更重要的是邮轮不仅提供优质服务，还能供老年人健身娱乐活动的没备，更何况“游山玩水”呢！

但是，梅姐登上的《月亮王子号》却是另番景象。

此刻正值欧州春暖花开的季节。《月亮王子号》舷梯旁挤满了等侯登轮的游客：男的，女的，老的少的，焦急地等待舷梯开放的时候。这与梅姐以往服务过的邮轮不同。据说游客中绝大多是芬兰人。

原来这些芬兰人登轮的目的不是旅游而是为了买酒。一位海乘告诉梅姐，芬兰政府为了控制国民对酒的消费，对夲土出售的含有酒精的饮料得以极高的税率，所以芬兰夲土出售的酒价远远高于周边国家，尤其在免税的豪华邮轮上，酒价只有本土价格的一半，因此嗜酒的芬兰人把《月亮王子号》视为价廉的“酒桶”，不是去观光去旅游，而是成葙成葙|购酒，然后躲进船舱开怀畅饮。所以，人们戏称《月亮王子号》1是“浸泡在酒坛里的轮船”。更让梅姐未想到的是，这些芬兰人为了买上价康的酒，往往在邮轮开航前几小时，在舷杨口排上长长的队伍，舷梯刚一打开，人们就蜂拥而上。如果行动迟缓抡不到酒，船票就打了水漂。有人为了购酒，把《月亮王子号》的内部装饰图背得烂熟，以便用最短的路经找到船上的免税酒城。

这次《月亮王子号》是由芬兰的赫尔辛基开往瑞典的斯德哥尔摩。

梅姐按排好游客后，被喚到酒城维持秩序。

免税酒城》设在船歺厅一隅。此刻歺厅里已经挤满了人，长长的购酒大军足有几十米长

《月亮王子号》在碧兰的大海里缓缓行驶看，人们並没有被眼前波光粼粼景色吸引。而是手里拿到酒并子的人立刻开始了”酒精派对”：三五成群，歺厅里，走道里，舱室里…甚至厕所里，成伙结队地聚在一起，边说笑边狂饮。

整个船舱充满了浓郁的酒精味，《月亮王子号》成了名行其实的《酒桶》世界！

梅姐将一对半醉的芬兰青年夫妇扶坐在椅上，方才知晓这对夫妇为赶到《月亮王子号》上喝上一顿酒，专程座飞机赶来的…。

几个航次后，梅姐找到了芬兰人嗜酒的原因：芬兰人爱酒与其居住的环境和地理位置有密切关系。芬兰人居住在欧州平均纬度最靠北的寒冷地区，冬季长达六个月之久，很少有机会开展室外活动，暂短的夏季，人们利用放假的机会躲进森林小屋里和宝贵的大自然生活在一起。大多数芬兰人性格内向，喜欢孤独和独居生活。一般都是喝酒，桑拿，烤香肠，唱酒…渐渐芬兰成了人们常说的“酒坛子里浸泡的国家”。

在“酒坛子“里生活久了，许多芬兰人养成了嗜酒的习惯，認为喝酒不是坏事，尤其是年青的帅哥，酒不喝到一定程度，连开口搭讪女孩子的勇气都没有。芬兰政府明文规定，午夜12奌之后不得派对扰民，酒吧凌晨3点前必须关门。但是这一规定，並没有阻止芬兰人的嘻酒爱好，成群结队地躲进遍布芬兰森林各角落的森林小屋，这里配有烧烤屋和桑拿房。每到周未，成群结队穿流不息的人群赶到这里，随看森林小屋的袅袅轻烟，一股股酒香飘然而至…。

为了控制国民对酒的消费，芬兰政府大幅度提高了酒的税率，嗜酒的芬兰人最终选择了免税的豪华邮轮《月亮王子号》。

《月亮王子号》最终成了《浸泡在酒坛子的轮船》，而享誉世界航运界！

Mei is a veteran seafarer and a cruise attendant.

After a decade of drifting at sea, Mei left her mark on countless cruise ships all over the

world: The MV China Star, The SS Palace, the RMS Queen Mary, and the SS Globetrotter -

Mei had worked on all of them, interacting with guests from all cultures and backgrounds,

listening to their riveting stories, and taking part in their unique customs… She believed that

cruise ships could be compared to a United Nations Assembly room at sea, where she could

learn from and speak to anyone she wanted to.

As a cruise attendant, Mei had accumulated an abundance of experience in recognizing

and deducing the personality and nationality of her guests before they even utter a single

word. For example, the old couple wearing straw hats with golden-rimmed sunglasses who

waited patiently to board the ship in an orderly manner, had to be from Japan. The tall woman

dressed like a movie star with a designer handbag on her arm was probably from Europe, the

man who wore a suit and leather shoes with a pair of keys attached to his belt buckle was

definitely a Chinese tourist, and the middle-aged lady who had the hair dyed purple with a

down jacket was 100% from Russian.

Mei’s work ethic and cheerful attitude was often praised by the cruise company.

Eventually, she was promoted and assigned to a luxurious European cruise ship named The

Moon Prince, which was nicknamed “The Steamship Soaked in Wine” by some of her

coworkers.

“But how did it get this fascinating nickname?” Mei asked her colleagues, but no one

could give an exact answer.

Before starting her position on the Moon Prince, Mei was informed that since this

beautiful cruise ship centered its route around Finland, a majority of its guests were Finnish.

People from Finland are well-known for their fondness for alcohol, and some cruise

attendants joked that if the guest could speak ten sentences without asking where the alcohol

was, then they were definitely not Finnish.

So perhaps the nickname of the Moon Prince had something to do with how its guests

loved to drink…

Mei had her answer shortly after she stepped onboard the ship. The Moon Prince was

definitely soaked in wine, and even won a world record for the largest amount of alcohol

consumed on a cruise ship.

The grand interior of the Moon Prince had eight stories in total, with a famous

restaurant, bar, shopping district, children’s play area, casino, swimming pool, and

observation deck on each floor. The Moon Prince was a playground on the ocean, and was the

most sizable cruise ship from Finland.

Not only did the energetic youths of Finland love the Moon Prince, older generations

liked to visit, too. Retired individuals could buy a ticket for the Moon Prince with just their

retirement bonus, and more importantly, the Moon Prince provided both high-end service for

the elderly and specific equipment and activities that catered to older people’s interests!

However, the Moon Prince that Mei boarded was vastly different from her expectations.

Mei began her new position on the Moon Prince at the beginning of spring, when the

ocean breezes blew a little warmer and the flowers at the port slowly blossomed. The ramp

leading up to the cruise ship was filled with guests: both men and women, young and old

waited excitedly for the gangway to open. The majority of guests appeared to be Finnish,

which was different from other cruises that Mei had served on.

It turns out that these Finnish guests boarded the Moon Prince not to travel, but to buy

alcohol. One of the seafarers told Mei that in order to control the consumption of alcohol in

Finland, the Finnish government highly increased the tax rate of alcoholic beverages sold in

the country. So the price of drinking in neighboring countries was much lower for Finnish

people, especially on tax-free cruise ships where the cost of alcohol was only half of what it

was in Finland. That’s why Finnish nationals who loved drinking liked to sail on the Moon

Prince not to go sightseeing, but to buy alcohol by entire boxes and crates, and then retreat

back to their cabins and drink themselves under the table. That was the reason why people

jokingly referred to the Moon Prince as the “Cruise Ship Soaked in Wine”.

What was even more astounding to Mei was that many of the Finns would line up hours

before the gangway opened just to get a good deal on alcohol. They flocked onto the ship as

soon as the doors opened, and if they were even a minute too late to the bar or the liquor

store, then they considered their tickets wasted. The most extreme drinkers even memorized

the interior design of the Moon Prince so that they would get to the duty-free liquor store

before anyone else.

This time, the Moon Prince was sailing from Helsinki, Finland to Stockholm, Sweden.

Mei was assigned to manage the liquor store after checking in her guests.

The duty-free liquor store was situated next to the onboard restaurant. The queue to the

store extended all the way into the restaurant, and could probably measure to several miles

long. Even though the Moon Prince sailed on a borderless ocean of beaming blue, the guests

didn’t pay a single ounce of attention to the exceptional scenery, and cheered as they got their

hands on cheap alcohol, setting their party into motion straight away. In the restaurant, in the

cabins, on the observation deck, in the casino - friends and even strangers gathered together,

gulfing down shots and exchanging stories and laughter with one another.

The smell of alcohol filled every corner of the Moon Prince, quickly transforming the

luxurious cruise ship into a heaven for alcoholics.

Mei stayed around the restaurant to ensure the safety of her drunk crew members. One

couple quickly became wasted and unable to stand for a minute longer, so she helped them

back to their cabin. On their way, the couple drunkenly told Mei that they had flown to

Helsinki from a small town in Finland just to get a taste of the cheap alcohol.

After a few voyages with the Moon Prince, Mei figured out that the reason why Finnish

people loved to drink so much may have something to do with the environment and

geographical location of Finland. Finland stood at the northernmost point of Europe, where

the weather was persistently cold and chilling. Winter in Finland extended for half of the

entire year, sometimes preventing the citizens from holding activities outdoors, and during

summer the Finns made use of this precious time and liked to camp out in forest huts and

appreciate nature. A majority of Finnish people were also quite introverted, and preferred to

live in peace and silence. They generally enjoyed drinking, going to saunas, eating sausages,

and singing with one another. Alcohol was essential to their way of life.

Many Finns believe that drinking wasn’t actually a bad thing, but instead an honorable

tradition. Particularly for younger, introverted men, they may not even have the confidence to

speak to people they’re interested in without the help of a little alcohol.

The Finnish government had set down many rules that conflicted with Finnish drinking

habits: no parties were allowed after 12am, and bars must be closed after 3. But these

regulations did not stop the Finnish people from drinking: after closing hours, they retreated

back home or to their vacation houses in the forests, which were complete with barbecue

grills and sauna rooms. On the weekends, the delicious smell of meat and alcohol flowed out

from numerous houses, and the sound of laughter could be heard almost everywhere…

No matter how the government tried to stop Finns from drinking, they always seemed to

find a way. Now, the Moon Prince, which allowed them to drink cheap alcohol however they

wanted to, became the Finns’ second home.

The Moon Prince was undoubtedly a cruise ship soaked in wine, and was a strange yet

endearing cruise that grew to be beloved all around the world.

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