The Baltic Sea is crossed by several cruiseferry lines. Some important shipping companies are Viking Line, Silja Line, Tallink and Eckerö Line.
Overview In the northern Baltic Sea, two major rival companies, Viking Line and Silja Line, have for decades competed on the routes between Turku and Helsinki in Finland and Sweden's capital Stockholm. Since the 1990s Tallink has also risen as a major company in the area, culminating with acquisition of Silja Line in 2006.
While superficially resembling cruise ships that operate primarily in tropical climates, Baltic cruiseferries will have windows rather than balconies for cabins/suites, plus a higher hull and promenade deck with higher positioning of lifeboats (the height above water called the freeboard), a longer bow, and for additional strength they are often designed with thicker hull plating than is found on cruise ships, as well as a deeper draft for greater stability. Cruise ferries share these above attributes with ocean liners in order to protect against the large waves and cold stormy weather, since cruise ferries are expected to ply the Baltic Sea year-round while cruise ships can only do so in the summer.
The largest Baltic cruiseferries offer many of the amenities found on contemporary cruise ships, including a wide range of restaurants, entertainment options, and health and fitness facilities. However, on cruiseferries, many of these facilities such as the pool deck and shopping arcade are fully enclosed due to the cool Baltic climate. Cruiseferry cabins are typically smaller as voyages are only one or two nights, plus food is generally not included in cruise ferry fares, whereas cruise ships usually have itineraries lasting three nights or more and fares are all inclusive.
Eastern Baltic
Tallink and Viking Line operate competing cruiseferries on the routes Stockholm - Turku and Stockholm - Helsinki, calling in Åland (Mariehamn or Långnäs). Additionally, Tallink sails Stockholm - Mariehamn - Tallinn. Tallink, Viking Line and Eckerö Line compete on the Helsinki - Tallinn route, which is also the busiest route in the Baltic Sea, travelled by over 6 million people in 2008. , The busiest crossing. The fact that this route is so busy (a further 270,380 people flew between Tallinn Airport and Helsinki Airport in 2018) has led to calls for a Helsinki–Tallinn Tunnel.
Baltic routes are mostly served by new ships purpose-built for the routes. Older cruiseferries from the Baltic serve as ferries on other seas, or in some cases, as cruise ships.
Viking Line and Eckerölinjen also operate short routes from Sweden to Åland, sailing on Kapellskär - Mariehamn and Grisslehamn - Berghamn. Birka Line, owned by Eckerö, also operates short cruises out of Stockholm.
Generally, GTS Finnjet of 1977 is considered to have been the first cruiseferry, she was the first ferry to offer cruise-ship quality services and accommodations, and the first generation of cruiseferries operating from Finland to Sweden were highly influenced by Finnjet'''s interior and exterior designs. After the fall of the Soviet Union the route connecting Helsinki to Tallinn became highly lucrative, which led to Estonia-based company Tallink to grow and rival the two long-established companies (Viking Line and Silja Line). Eventually, Tallink purchased Silja Line in 2006.
The size of Baltic cruiseferries is limited by various narrow passages in the Stockholm, Ålandian and Turku archipelagos, meaning ships that traffic these routes can't be much larger than 200 meters. The single narrowest point is Kustaanmiekka strait outside Helsinki, although ships making port at the city's west harbour do not have to pass through the strait. Viking and Silja Line have wished to keep their terminals in the South Harbour, however, as it is located right next to the city center. The longest ships to maintain scheduled service through the Kustaanmiekka strait were MS Finnstar and her sisters with a length of 219 meters. The longest ship to have ever navigated through the narrows past Suomenlinna sea fortress was MS Oriana (260 m), but that was only possible due to extremely good weather conditions.
Tax-free sales
The expansion of the European Union has limited the growth of the industry as duty-free sales on intra-EU routes are no longer possible. However, as Åland is outside the EU customs zone, duty-free sales are still possible on routes making a stop at Mariehamn or other harbours on the islands. Another popular destination is Estonia with its lower taxes on alcohol.
The ferries have been criticized because of the low prices of alcoholic beverages which encourage passengers to become drunk and act irresponsibly. Due to the relatively cheap price of the cruises and availability of duty-free alcohol (which makes it considerably cheaper than on "land" as both Finland and Sweden have a relatively strict taxation of alcohol) many big parties involving vast amounts of alcohol consumption are held on the ships.Silja Line: Special Cruises (Swedish)
Many Finns also buy snus from ferries as its sale is illegal in Finland due to EU regulations.
Accidents and incidents 10 July 1986, a murder took place onboard MS Viking Sally, and approximately a year after that, on 28 July 1987, another one. Viking Sally was later renamed Estonia. 14 January 1993, MS Jan Heweliusz sank near Rügen island, claiming 55 lives. 4 March 1994, MS Sally Albatros ran aground near Porkkala, causing her to partly sink. 28 September 1994, MS Estonia sank claiming 852 lives. 19 January 2009, MS Rosella had to anchor just outside Mariehamn, Åland due to water in its fuel. When weighing the anchor, she hooked the cables of internet traffic to Åland.Fakta om fartyg: (Swedish) 29 August 2009, a fire was extinguished on MS Finnfellow, carrying 74 passengers at the time.DN: Brand på färja utanför Åland (Swedish) 9 October 2010, MS Lisco Gloria caught fire while travelling through Fehmarn Belt. All 204 passengers and 32 crewmembers were rescued, but the ship was deemed a constructive total loss. 20 September 2020 MS Amorella ran aground in the Åland Archipelago on her route from Turku to Stockholm. All 207 passengers and 25 of the 74 crew members were evacuated. The incident only caused damage to the ship, leaving the passengers unharmed. 21 November 2020, MS Viking Grace ran aground while attempting to dock at Mariehamn en route from Stockholm to Turku. The ship was towed into the harbour overnight and the 331 passengers and 98 crew, who had slept on board, were evacuated later that morning. No investigation was started about the incident.Otkes: Viking Gracen karilleajosta ei aloiteta onnettomuustutkintaa, YLE 27 November 2020. Accessed on 22 April 2021.Matkustajat yöpyvät karille ajaneella Viking Gracella – laivaa ei siirretä ennen maihinnousua, Yle Uutiset. Accessed on 21 November 2020.
Cruiseferries as a cultural phenomenon Many Finns have made their first trip abroad on a cruiseferry. In the first decades, when fashion phenomena arrived in Sweden significantly earlier than in Finland, Stockholm showed people what Finland would look like after a couple of years.Monella lapsella on edessään elämänsä eka laivamatka, Kuljetuslehti 31 March 2022. Accessed on 27 May 2022.Paananen, Seppo: Matka avartaa, Helsingin Sanomat 17 June 1989, p. 18. According to journalist Riku Rantala, a cruiseferry trip is still a manifestation of Finnish culture, like a part of modern folklore: "The ferries offer escapism, glamour and a promise of adventure".Rantala, Riku: "Itämeren huvikeskuksissa on pimeämpi puoli, ja se sai minut otteeseensa", YLE 1 March 2022. Accessed on 27 May 2022.
In the 1990s several organizations held seminars on the cruiseferries instead of in hotels.
History In the early 20th century it was possible to take a personal car over the Baltic Sea as cargo on a passenger of cargo ship, with about twenty cars lifted onto a ship by a container crane. Passenger ship traffic over the Baltic Sea started improving in the 1950s, when the Nordic Passport Union came into force in 1954 and the number of personal cars in Finland started increasing despite the need for import licenses.Vuoristo, Pekka: Lauttabisneksen luvattu reitti, Helsingin Sanomat 15 November 1987, pp. 56-57. However, the Finns were averse to driving in Sweden because of the left-hand traffic until 1967 when Sweden too switched to right-hand traffic. Traffic by charter buses from Finland to Sweden and thereafter to middle and southern Europe also increased since the 1950s.Erikoishuokea loistomatka Hampuriin, advertisement for Suomen Turistiauto Oy, Helsingin Sanomat 2 August 1959, p. 2.Dumell, Mats: Meritie Ruosiin (Sjövägen till Sverige), 2007, video 60 min. Accessed on 5 June 2022.
When car ferry traffic across the Øresund strait between Denmark and Sweden started, the Finnish Car Club, the Road Traffic Association and the Finnish Truck Association started pressuring shipping companies to improve car ferry traffic between Finland and Sweden. The first car ferry connection between Finland and Sweden was a route over the Kvarken, the narrowest part of the Gulf of Bothnia, from Vaasa to Umeå, where the ship Korsholm III of the shipping company Ab Vasa-Umeå started trafficking in December 1958. A group of shipping companies having cooperated for decades, the Finnish Bore and SHO-FÅA (later Effoa) and the Swedish Rederi AB Svea found each other in this regard too and founded a joint company named Oy Siljavarustamo - Ab Siljarederiet in 1957 to handle the ferry traffic. The passenger steam ship SS Silja from Turku and the cargo steam ship SS Warjo from Helsinki were not car ferries as such. Siljavarustamo ordered its first car ferry in 1959, when a competing shipping company Vikinglinjen had entered the market with its car ferry SS Viking, which first trafficked from Galtby in Korpo via Mariehamn to Gräddö in Norrtälje, until its traffic switched to Pargas in Finland to Kapellskär in Sweden.
The first proper car ferries