This summer, go and see the sea! Taking a cruise ship and cruising our beautiful coastline of China, from the home port of Shekou, Shenzhen, I boarded the China Merchants Idun and embarked on a five-day and four-night trip to the two cities of the coast. From the moment I boarded the ship, I felt everything. The cruise ship time, all the staff provided meticulous service. There are wonderful programs on the cruise ship, which are full of fun from morning to night. Enjoy the seven major restaurants for free. Enjoy eating, having fun, and drinking until you are slightly intoxicated. Facing the blue sea every day, what trouble can there be?

China Merchants Idun, a special meaning of the ship's name

In 1872, China Merchants purchased the first steam-powered iron-hull ship in my country's history, the Idun ship sailed to Japan for the first time in 1873. It was the first Chinese merchant ship to sail international routes, announcing the beginning of China's modern shipping industry. China Merchants Viking Cruises 'purchase of the Viking Sun and renamed it China Merchants Idun has a special meaning of inheriting and ushering in the present. It is not only the inheritance of the blood of investment promotion, but also demonstrates that China Merchants and China Merchants Group are closely connected, working together all the way, and lasting for a long time. The process is highly in line with China Merchants Group's core values of sharing a common destiny with the motherland and developing together with the times.

Overview of China Merchants Idun:China Merchants Viking Cruises purchased the "Viking Sun" from Italy and renamed it "China Merchants Iton". It carries 930 guests and is equipped with 7 restaurants, 4 bars and complete leisure and entertainment facilities, including well-equipped fitness center, open-air sports deck, 1 Nordic spa, hair and nail salon, 2 heated swimming pools, 1 theater, 2 cinemas, 3 boutiques, More than 2000 carefully selected Chinese and foreign books and more than 400 works of art.

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Day 1 Boarding Day/Shekou Terminal, Shenzhen, Guangdong

Day 2 of Navigation Day/Daytime sea sailing in Xiamen, Fujian, to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the sea and sky; arrive at Xiamen Port at night

Day 3 Landing Day/One-day Tour to Xiamen: Huiheshi Cultural Park-Bailuzhou Park-Gulangyu Island (Shuzhuang Garden-Piano Museum-China Recording Museum-Lijiazhuang)

Day 4 Maritime Day/Xiamen Port-Shenzhen Port

Day 5 Departure Day/Shenzhen, Guangdong

Star hotel on the sea, meticulous room service

Being considerate, I discovered from every detail that in every corner of the ship, as long as I met the staff, they would say hello, and a sense of intimacy arose spontaneously; every day, the room would be cleaned, the beds would be made flat, and every night I had to open the turndown. The tea party that had not been finished was covered, and the data cables that I had left were sorted and tied up;

24-hour room service

Soiled okra, Caesar salad, pasta, burger fries, juice, fresh plum cheesecake...

China Merchants Idun, a star-rated hotel on Sea Mobile, has 24-hour room service so that you can comfortably lie in your room and enjoy your own lunch. On this sunny noon, I ordered a guest room to order food. The real objects were delivered on two large trays, which were still emitting hot air. They were placed on a small table on the balcony and enjoyed delicious food in this private space under the sea breeze.

The sky is blue, the water is blue, the sun is bright, the waves and snow are white, and the sea breeze is blowing against your face. Don't mention how comfortable it is. When you eat in your own guest room, you can dress as you please, and you can feel whatever you want.

The glass railings on the balcony are high enough and safe. The view of the sea is great here. It is also a moving sea view. This feeling is great!

China Merchants Idun-Balcony Room-Star Hotel on the Sea

This was our twin balcony room on the Eaton. It felt so cozy the first moment we walked in. We are going to spend 5 days and 4 nights here. As a guest room on a cruise ship, it is already very spacious. There are two super soft single beds, a comfortable small sofa and small coffee table, and a wide office desk for both working and dressing.

Double pillows give me a good sleep.

Soft fabric sofa that can sit and lie down

The bathroom space is also spacious enough, with a glass shower room that separates dry and wet.

It is equipped with a bathrobe, which I wear when I go to the movies. The air conditioning is so strong that I can keep me warm.

Our small balcony is actually quite spacious and it is very comfortable to sit here and watch the sea. All the rooms on the China Merchants Idun have balconies ~

Gourmet Moment

Chef's table, chic Southeast Asian cuisine

The chef's table, where you can taste Japanese and Korean cuisine and Singapore specialties. The service program is Western and the dishes are Southeast Asian.

I made a reservation for two. The table for two is relatively small, so that two people can sit closer to each other and make it easier to talk. There is a row of glasses on the table in advance. Red wine and white wine are served together. The two can be served together. Then bubbly water and mineral water are also provided. I usually order black tea, so there are only a bunch of glasses on the table. It is important to drink what you like.

Use the ritual of eating Western food to eat Southeast Asian food. The dishes are served one by one without having to pile the entire table. The table can be kept tidy at any time. Dining here is very pleasant.

Before the meal, I served a plate of crispy chips, which were crunchy and I liked it very much.

The whole environment is relatively elegant, with warm colors and a very mild atmosphere.

The red and white wine is made of an entire wall of partitions, which is a bit grand.

Dinner starts at 6 o'clock, and guests with reservations will come one after another to fill the restaurant

The ingredients in the abalone, mushroom, fish and egg custard are clear at a glance, and the cooking is also very delicious, so they are eaten quickly while they are hot.

Vegetable and fruit seafood salad, lettuce, radish, avocado, and Australian scallops and crab leg meat are also added. They are nutritious and have high appearance, and are a happy look.

Steak, it's okay to serve.

A bowl of rice is also very delicately dressed.

Red hot crab, choose freshly shelled soft-shell crab from Canada, wrapped in tempura powder and fried. The recommended way to eat is to dip it in sauce, roll it up with a burrito and eat it together

Hainan chicken rice is made of optimized chicken legs, and Thai fragrant rice is used for rice

The dipping sauce with Hainan chicken rice is like a seasoning plate. The green one is ginger and shallot, the red one is sweet spicy sauce, and the black one is chicken rice soy sauce

Bak bone tea, freshly poured hot soup, has a more ceremonial feel.

Italian Restaurant-Romance from the Mediterranean Sea

The first pleasure of cruise ship travel is delicious food. On the China Merchants Eton, Manfredi's Italian Restaurant is located on the stern of the first floor. You can taste Tuscan Italian cuisine here. The restaurant is exquisite like a work of art, with classical lighting, patterned floor tiles, and a wall of nostalgic photography exhibition. The portions of the dishes are quite large, and it's too easy to eat. Parma ham and honey melon are really delicious, and Italian ice cream is delicious! Good food and good wine, and you will feel slightly intoxicated after drinking a cup!

Drink wine with meals.

Pre-meal bread.

Served with white wine

In the evening, the first dinner after boarding the ship was able to slowly sail out of the harbor.

The entire restaurant environment is full of classical and romantic atmosphere.

Old photos hang on the walls of the Italian restaurant record the deep friendship between two top cruise ship founders, Manfredi Lefebvre d'Ovidio, founder of Silver Sea Cruises, and Torstein Hagen, founder of Viking Cruises. Mr. Deovieto was Italian, so Mr. Hagen named the Italian restaurant on the ship Manfredi's;

Caprese Salad

cream of mushroom soup

Pan-fried white tuna

Stewed Achyranthes bidentata

strawberry ice cream

At night, the restaurant is not so bright. The light is very gentle and the atmosphere is more romantic.

Global Restaurant-BUFFET Unparalleled Sea View

Universal Restaurant, this is a self-service and no reservations are required, so many people visit it. They like the spaciousness and brightness here. They enjoy the sea while eating. The choices of dishes are also quite rich.

Breakfast is basically eaten here. Too many choices makes it difficult to choose. I have a happy time every time.

Poolside BBQ-You can also barbecue skewers freely on the sea

On a cruise ship, you just can't stop eating! Poolside barbecue, snacks outside the main meal include Chinese barbecue and fruit and vegetable salad. Open up your taste buds and enjoy. Chinese mutton kebabs are great!

the kebabs

Roasted peppers look like very delicious peppers, slightly spicy and tender peppers, which are the most suitable peppers for BBQ.

Self-service vegetables and fruits

Buffet fruit salad

grilled bacon

In fact, on cruise ships, the density of food is too high, and there is no feeling of hunger every day, so just one or two strings is enough. This is the atmosphere.

Explore Home Lounge, where you can taste Nordic snacks while looking at the sea

The exploration home lounge space is inspired by the Viking sailing era and is full of a strong spirit of adventure. The first floor is a leisure and dining space, and the second floor is mainly a display and reading space.

The ground is covered with an exquisite walking carpet, and the sofa is covered with a fur carpet. It is Nordic reindeer skin. Sit down and feel the temperature from Northern Europe.

Explore the upstairs space of Home Lounge, a super comfortable reading space.

The legendary treasure chest of Viking pirates contains a long-handled ax

Bookcase and art display

Mysterious snake-head wood carving

Voyager's Globe

English afternoon tea

Winter garden afternoon tea and sea viewing moment

A platter of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, the fruits on the boat are so fresh!

Smoked salmon and rose sandwich has a high value and a good taste.

Beautiful cream strawberry pie

Afternoon tea is a very relaxing moment to look at the sea, drink tea, taste some, and chat with friends.

The snow-white waves stirred up by the side of the boat were endless...

Winter Garden-Sunlight shines from the Tree of the World

The winter garden is located in the seventh-floor boat, next to the swimming pool. What I fell in love with at first sight is its spatial design. Daylight shines in from the top, making the entire hall very bright. Especially on sunny days, the light is separated by frames, and the contrast between light and dark is very strong, giving a sense of future forest.

The spatial design of the winter garden uses Norse mythological stories as inspiration elements, such as the Tree of the World and the two crows of Odin, the king of the gods.

Cozy table space for 4 people.

The winter garden metal hollow sculpture partitions are inspired by art sculptures from the Wigland Sculpture Park in Oslo, Norway

There are 2000 Chinese and foreign books on board. I like the most relaxing moment. I find a small sofa by the window and read a favorite book facing the sea. It's a relaxing and beautiful time.

Private breakfast on the balcony, intimate collision of the sea and delicious food

I had breakfast on the balcony, mainly for taking photos. The glass railing has a good view. The food and the sea can be well integrated into the same picture.

The fruits and sun eggs we ordered are rich in colors and pleasing to the eye. We can order more fruits for taking photos and make them look on camera!

It feels so romantic to eat like this! Couple tours are highly recommended!

Micro-smoking moment

lobby bar

There are many places worth exploring on the China Merchants Idun, such as this lobby bar, which you will always pass by several times. Sophie, a friend of the hardcore cruise ship, shared with me that the sofa in the lobby bar is the most comfortable place on the ship. I also found it particularly interesting here. You may encounter a wonderful piano performance show and occasionally a guitar show. Lying on the sofa and having a drink will be a wonderful slow cruise time.

lobby bar

lobby bar

lobby bar

The two beautiful characters of the "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" entertainment team have beautiful flutes and romantic guitars.

Lobby bar, a cozy space

viewing balcony

Having a glass of wine and looking at the sea from the stern, I couldn't feel better. The blue sky and sea, the continuous snow-white waves rolling on the stern, and the tail waves of the cruise ship are a wonderful program that I will never get tired of watching.

Xiamen Special Cocktails

The sea breeze is gentle,

This beautiful sea makes me intoxicated...

1872 Bar-Nostalgic Romantic Moment

There are many local wines suitable for drinking on the China Merchants Idun. There are a total of 5 bars on the ship where you can taste different styles of cocktails. First of all, I recommend 1872 Bar, where you can taste cocktails with Chinese characteristics. Order a cup of 1872 Cocktail, which represents the history of China Merchants Group, and serve it in a thin-mouthed white jade bottle. It is very Chinese.

From 10:00 to 12:00 p.m., the Mad Hatter Band performs in Bar 1872. You can hear many nostalgic classics. At this moment, everyone is intoxicated in the beautiful old times.

1872 Bar, where you can taste Chinese specialty wines

The comfortable little sofa can bury everyone in, have a drink with friends, relax and enjoy the music.

Explorer Bar

The "Explorer Bar", named after the father of the chairman of Viking Cruises Board of Directors, pays tribute to his lifelong spirit of explorers. Sparkling wines, cocktails, wines and spirits are available here. Whether day or night, guests will be able to have unique fun drinking here.

The Explorer Bar, a semi-circular small bar with a beautiful background wall.

Are there twelve constellations on this background wall?

Art moment

Immersive artistic atmosphere

Cloisonne art

The multicolored lichen garden under the staircase in the atrium showcases the natural scenery of Scandinavia. It is inspired by wild lichens in the Fense Plateau of Norway.

The main staircase is set against a replica of the Bayeux tapestry, the most famous work of medieval art in the Western world.

The stairs on each floor of the ship display a replica of the Tanum rock painting "Buhus Rock Painting"

Senguan Shengyan Banquet "Ancient and Modern Harmony" Carrying "Yi"

The musicians on the China Merchants Idun presented us with a feast that intertwined classical charm and modern style, and resonated with Eastern and Western instrumental music.

The guqin performance is unparalleled through the ages.

According to entertainment director Miss Wan Huan, this little flute brother is called Wang Zhenkang. He plays the flute very well, has a good appearance, and has a very classical temperament.

The little guitar brother is very powerful. He can play the guitar backhand. He is so handsome and his music is not inferior to his appearance.

The lighting is beautiful and magical, classical and modern, perfectly integrated on the same stage.

The audience is enjoying this musical feast.

"Encounter Monk" Exhibition

On the China Merchants Idun, we met the digital art exhibition of the famous Norway expressionist painter Edward Munch. Edward Munch may not be familiar with the name, but I believe you must have seen his "Scream". It is anxious but impressive. Since the age of 12, Monk has created more than 2000 works in more than 60 years. He is an artistic business card of Norway.

Exhibition of Edward Munch's works

Taste home lounge selects kung fu tea

For the "Tea Art Moment" performance, the Taxiang Home Lounge selects Kung Fu tea sticks!

Nordic style + Kung Fu tea, a big collision between Chinese culture.

Leisure moment

Xingkong Theater

Star Theater is also one of my favorite places on the China Merchants Idun. It has wonderful performances and can also watch movies. It feels great to watch movies on a cruise ship. Sitting on the soft sofa, eating popcorn and drinking Champagne, I am so happy! There is a movie every day, and I have to go to it every day!

Spend a wonderful time at the Star Theater.

Mr. Zhang Jinbao is the lead singer of the Mad Hatter band from 1872 Bar. Before becoming a singer, he was still an excellent dancer.

Staff of China Merchants Idun

Champagne moment

Among the entertainment team "Eight Immortals" of China Merchants Idun is only one little fairy, a young lady playing the piano.

The chefs of the China Merchants Idun, we rely on them for our delicious food! Very important.

Everyone enjoys a wonderful musical moment together.

Central swimming pool

Enjoy the sun and the pure pool

Next to the pool is Chipan Bar, where you can order drinks!

The top cover above the central swimming pool can be opened. I heard that the captain will open it when it is sunny. You can sunbathe beautifully here!

Central swimming pool

infinity pool

The infinity swimming pool is located at the stern, and there is also a massage pool next to it. The infinity swimming pool is not big, but the scenery is good. Internet celebrities on the boat must check in to take photos. It will look good no matter how you take it.

Pool photo taking and check-in POSE demonstration

At night, the infinity pool is as beautiful as a gem, and the night view is also quite beautiful!

Gym-New Cruise Fitness Experience

The easiest thing to do on a cruise ship is to gain weight. Seven restaurants are constantly feeding delicious food. It would be strange if they didn't weigh two kilograms after a week. If you have time, you should also exercise. The gym of China Merchants Idun is quite large and spacious. It is divided into several areas, a running area, a rolling area, and a yoga area. It is relatively fully equipped.

Facing the treadmill of the sea, looking at the sea while running, it is still constantly moving. The blue sea, this kind of exercise makes people feel relaxed and happy!

Facing the sea, the stepper

SHOPPING

Shopping on cruise ships is not the main promotion. The China Merchants Idun also has several shopping stores, which bring together oriental elegance and Nordic fashion and other ingenious products to meet tourists 'needs for purchasing souvenirs.

Landing Day

One-day tour in Xiamen

This is the first time that the China Merchants Idun has stopped in Xiamen. A welcome ceremony was held at Xiamen Port. On the balcony, we saw the sound of gongs and drums on the shore, as well as dragon dance performances. Everyone witnessed this moment in history.

The China Merchants Idun stops in Xiamen for one night and one day. We have one day to disembark and board the shore to visit Xiamen. How to arrange the day's time? If we were here for the first time, we could sign up for a small group activity organized by a cruise ship at our own expense. So we signed up for the Huiheshi Cultural Park in the morning and the Gulangyu Music and Culture Tour in the afternoon. After breakfast, we arrived at the scheduled time. We gathered at the scheduled place. Under the guidance of the little red man, we got off the boat and boarded the shuttle bus and headed straight to the travel destination. There are small red people and tour guides leading the way, as well as explanation earplugs provided by the cruise ship. You can watch the exhibits and listen to the explanation along the way. The tour guide can hear it clearly without having to follow closely. It's so worry-free if someone leads the team! If you are not interested in the activities arranged on the cruise ship, you can also choose to travel freely, as long as you rush back to the cruise ship within the specified time.

With a small group, our one-day tour in Xiamen is very rich: Huiheshi Cultural Park-Bailuzhou Park-Gulangyu Island (Shuzhuang Garden-Piano Museum-China Recording Museum-Lijiazhuang)

Huiheshi Cultural Park

Huihe Stone Cultural Park is located in the center of Xiamen Island. There are Chinese poetry cultural corridors, celebrity stone carving art corridors, stone carving museums, Qi stone exhibitions, intangible cultural heritage shadow carving shows, outdoor stone carving landscapes, etc. The park has a beautiful environment and a rich exhibition content. It is worth spending half a day here to visit it. The most eye-catching intangible cultural heritage sculpture is also the Stone Sculpture Museum, where there are many stone statues of Guanyin in different postures and exquisite carvings. There is also a Manchu and Han Full Feast Stone Banquet, which is worth a visit

Celebrity Stone Carving Art Corridor

Stone Sculpture Museum

Huihe shadow carving is a traditional art with a national intangible heritage. Such paintings are engraved on the plane of a stone. When you look closely, it is a dot matrix bitmap. How many thousands of dots do a painting cost? These dot matrices are all made manually, one needle at a time.

The needle used in Huihe Shadow Carving. This "needle" is a bit big. It's made of metal. I tried it on and found that it weighs several kilograms. It's just a small dumbbell.

The little sister dressed as an intangible cultural heritage inheritor who holds such needle-piercing paintings all day long can also pierce precise patterns, which is not only a special test for her brain power, but also her arm.

Huihe Shadow Carvings

Huihe Shadow Carvings

The Manchu and Han Feast and Strange Stone Exhibition. This table of delicious delicacies is all stone, which can only be seen but not eaten.

Collection of Stone Sculpture Museum

The Stone Sculpture Museum houses many stone statues of Guanyin in different postures.

In the gender culture exhibition area, there are more than a dozen exquisitely carved red lacquer cabinets. When you open the door, you will discover the secrets inside.

Outdoor stone carving landscape

bailuzhou Park

Xiamen Bailuzhou Park is a fresh urban park. It has big green lawns and is a good place to take a walk and relax. There is a lake here called Qiyu Lake. There is a tall sculpture of the Egret Goddess in the center of the lake, which is a representative city sculpture of Xiamen City. There is also a famous sculpture "Return" at the entrance of the park. When the park was built in 1997, it was built to commemorate the return of Hong Kong. This time, I took a cruise from Shenzhen to Xiamen to start a one-day trip to Xiamen. I spent some time stopping in Bailuzhou Park and enjoying this intoxicating green.

Sculpture of the Egret Goddess in the Heart of the Lake

The perennial banyan tree array brings shade to citizens in summer

Frangipani is in full bloom

Xiamen Ferry-Sanqiutian Wharf

We want to go to Gulangyu Island and need to take a ferry to board the island. It coincides with the weekend. It is really crowded with people. Gulangyu Island is so popular. We queue up to buy tickets and board the boat. After boarding the passenger ship, there are too many tourists and seats are limited, so we just stand next to the railing on the second floor. It's quite pleasant to have the scenery standing next to the sea breeze. It takes more than ten minutes to arrive.

Sanqiutian Wharf is one of the docks on Gulangyu Island. After disembarking from here, we officially started our Gulangyu music journey. We took the shuttle bus and circled the island halfway to our destination Shuzhuang Garden.

Gulangyu-Sea Romantic Garden

The beach of Gulangyu Island is full of tourists, and laughter fills every corner.

A very poetic alley full of green

There are many beautiful ancient buildings on Gulangyu Island, some of which are open to visit. If you have time, you can have a good visit.

Famous fallen trees in Gulangyu

shuzhuang garden

Shuzhuang Garden on Gulangyu Island is a distinctive seaside park and an exquisite Jiangnan garden with mountains, water, pavilions, and villas.

Halfway up the mountain, Sister Yi could no longer walk and kept taking pictures of the scenery. Then we took check-in photos of each other. The entire Shuzhuang Garden is green, which is so eye-catching.

Tourists seem to be walking among paintings.

Tourists are moving scenery on the seaside trails. They should be very beautiful when the weather is good.

It comes from the Encyclopedia Jie: The 44th Bridge is the main scenery of the whole park. It is named because the owner was 44 years old when he built the bridge. There are gates under the bridge that introduce seawater into the park, forming three places: the sea, the outer pool and the inner pool, hiding the sea in. Due to the twists and turns of the bridge, it is like a swimming dragon. There are fish viewing platforms, moon-crossing pavilions, and thousand-wave pavilions on the bridge. There are couplets in the moon-crossing pavilion: "The long bridge supports the sea 3,000 feet, and the bright moon floats in the sky twelve columns." On the moonlit night, sitting in the pavilion and watching the bright moon in the sky, its silent shadow makes people think. The sound of the waves under the moon is as soft as a whisper, as if talking to someone. This is the best place to travel on a bright moon night.

piano Museum

Take the China Merchants Idun to visit Xiamen, the outstanding sea garden, start a journey of Gulangyu music and culture, and walk into the Piano Museum in Shuzhuang Garden. It was converted from the earlier "Tingtao Xuan" and displays more than 70 harpsichords, including the American "Steinway" piano from the first half of the 19th century and the Austrian "Bossendorf" piano; there are precious gold-plated pianos; the earliest four-corner piano and the largest upright piano; the oldest crank piano, etc.

This piano is the only piano that can be played in the museum. If you catch the performance time, you can hear the musician playing "The Wave of Gulangyu"

The piano museum's clavichord collection

China Record Museum

The China Record Museum, which was converted from the century-old villa "Huangrong Yuantang" in Gulangyu, collects many old records and surrounding materials. It is my country's first national-level comprehensive record-themed museum and a national key cultural relic protection unit.

Exterior of the villa "Huang Rong Yuan Tang"

Some Chinese records are collected and displayed in the museum. They are old and have no timbre. Some can be auditioned.

My friends and I sat here quietly listening to an old record of "Night Shanghai". The voice was a little mottled and trembling. It was the charm of the 1930s. The beautiful singing brought us back to that old time.

The album cover at that time still looks very classic now.

The large copperplate embossed background wall shows an ancient grand concert.

This was the first phonograph invented by Edison.

Many records, videos, and books displayed in the museum tell the history of the development of real Chinese records.

Lijiazhuang-New Sihai Accompanying Ceremony Experience Hall

Finally, I visited Lijiazhuang, a very exquisite three-story red brick villa.

The interior of the villa is also beautiful.

Psychedelic crystal chandeliers.

Climbing to the rooftop, you can have a very wide view and overlook the many ancient buildings on Gulangyu.

After visiting Lijiazhuang, it was getting late. I took the ferry back to Xiamen and returned to our Eton cruise ship to continue the following voyage. I continued the day of cruising at sea that day. This time, we ushered in beautiful weather, blue skies and white clouds, and I was cheering in my heart.

Leaving is for the next meeting

Good time passed quickly. Before leaving the ship, a farewell party was held on the cruise ship. The staff on the cruise ship made their appearance one by one. Everyone was sincerely happy and thanked them for their dedication and bringing us a wonderful journey. Farewell is not the end, but for a better meeting next time. I have fond memories of the China Merchants Idun and look forward to meeting again next time!