Scandinavian Ferry Listing

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

Most Americans familiar with cruising are not familiar with European ferries. The concept of a ferry brings to mind the Staten Island ferry or something to take across Bay Lake at Disney World. In researching our summer vacation this year I discovered that many European ferry lines have ships as big (or bigger) than some of our more familiar cruise lines. We took advanatage of two ferry lines this summer but I thought I'd share a brief listing of Scandinavian/North Sea/Baltic ferry options.

 

Most consist of overnight services but many offer roundtrip "mini-cruises" as well. Most take internet reservations. Meals are extra and often can be purchased on-line but this also allows for a cheaper "no meals" option if you want to do an on-board "picnic" to save money. Like a regular cruise ship, there are swimming pools, saunas, fitness rooms, lounges and discos, etc. I like ferries because for the price of a hotel room in an expensive city, you are transported to a new destination while you sleep. And contrary to popular belief, you do not need to have a car to use a ferry. But if you have a car, you can bring it along too. These are a great way to hop across Scandinavia, stay in each city as long as you desire, and then move on!

 

So here are a few major listings. If the language pops up foreign, look for the link to the English pages. I've only listed some major routes; there are others:

 

DFDS SCANDINAVIAN SEAWAYS www.dfdsseaways.co.uk

Copenhagen - Helsingborg - Oslo

Newcastle - Kristiansand - Gothenburg

Newcastle - Ijmuiden (Amsterdam)

 

COLOR LINE www.colorline.com

Kiel - Oslo

Oslo - Fredrikshavn

Hirthals - Stavanger - Bergen

 

STENA LINE www.stenaline.de

Kiel - Gothenburg

Oslo - Fredrikshavn

 

POLFERRIES www.polferries.pl

Copenhagen - Swinoujscie

 

UNITY LINE www.unityline.pl

Ystad - Swinoujscie (Szczcin)

 

SILJA LINE www.silja.com (select the International link)

Stockholm - Helsinki

Stockholm - Turku

Rostock - Tallinn - St. Petersburg

Helsinki - St. Petersburg

 

VIKING LINE www.vikingline.fi

Stockholm - Helsinki

Stockholm - Turku

 

TALLINK www.tallink.ee/en.html

Stockholm - Tallinn

Helsinki - Tallinn

 

BIRKA CRUISES www.birka.se

Stockholm - Tallinn

Stockholm - Helsinki

Stockholm - Aland Islands

 

TT-LINE www.ttline.com

Sweden (near Malmo) to Germany

 

BobK/Orlando

just off: Sea Princess/DFDS Crown of Scandinavia/TT-LINE Peter Pan

[robsvacation]

Thanks for taking the time to post your list.

 

You might also like to add www.superfast.com for Rostock, germany to Helsinki

 

These vessels are becoming incresingly attractive, in particular look at Color Line's new Color Fantasy which is almost a mini-version of the RCCL Voyager Class Ships. I would love to see a cruise ferry of high quality of the FL-Nassau run.

[dougnewmanatsea]

in particular look at Color Line's new Color Fantasy which is almost a mini-version of the RCCL Voyager Class Ships.

Actually the VOYAGER-class ships are rather a "mega" version of SILJA SERENADE and SYMPHONY if you will.

 

Of course COLOR FANTASY is in the same family as well.

 

All of these ships have the indoor promenade/horizontal atrium.

[robsvacation]

Host Doug

 

I do agree that the horizontal street with interior view cabins originated on the SILJA SERENADE and SYMPHONY, the Color Fantasy Promenade really looks exactly like the Voyager class only a little smaller (seems narrower, is a deck lower).

 

It would be nice to have a ferry of that quality here in North America that could also provide the "mini-cruise" experience. The Scotia Prince route between Portland and New Brunswick is gone. The Alsaka marine highway and BC ferries have overnight ships that are lacking (to say the least) I wonder if a ship like the Color Fantasy was around if the market wouldn't follow.

 

BTW I've done imperial majesty once, and that was enough! If it wasn't for the artifical market created by Ramada and their timeshares thar ship would be long gone! I guess my mini cruises will have to be limited to the occational 2 day thrown our way when the market permits (either west coast repositioning on HAL/Princess, the occational Carnival CTN on the east coast, or the few Celebrity 2-niters that sometimes appear)

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

Rob, we do the 2-nighters as well as they're a great way to experience different ships with a minimal amount of cost and time. We're booked on the Mediterranea in January and am still contemplating the Liberty in November.

 

A colleague of mine is from the Bahamas and he says the Bahamian government will not allow a ferry type ship on a Florida-Nassau route because it would kill local businesses on New Providence and the southern islands. (Because people would flock to Florida to buy products.) It's tolerated on the Florida-Freeport route (Discovery Cruises) because the distance is short anyway and it's been operational in one form or another for a couple decades.

 

Scotia Prince did operate a Tampa - Merida/Cancun route a few winters ago, doing business as the Yucatan Express. I don't think it was successful financially or they would have repeated it. But I could envision Miami - Havana car ferry service sometime down the road.....post Fidel. Otherwise not many routes. And car insurance is an issue. Within Europe the insurance "green card" is generally valid in every country. Your U.S. insurance is only valid in the U.S. and Canada meaning you'd have to buy insurance for another destination like you have to do if you drive into Mexico.

 

One final comment: we did the Silja Symphony back when it was a new ship and the inside promenade was unheard of. I believe the Voyager-class on Royal Caribbean came from the same Finnish shipyards.

 

BobK/Orlando

just off: Sea Princess

next up:

Sovereign of the Seas (10/05)

Costa Mediterranea (01/06)