I would recommend to book tickets directly from ferry companies websites as Direct Ferries seems to charge more, also Viking Lines tickets start from 10 euros/way if you buy in advance. Early morning Viking departure have all you can eat breakfast buffet with drinks for only 15 euro, thats the cheapes way to eat full.
The ferry trip is only 12€ if you book straight from eckerö. I recommend to book the lounge also. Its only 25€ and it includes food and snack to eat and coffee juices and unlimited beer,wine
Is it like an airport lounge kind of thing? thats a pretty good deal! Definitely the benefit of Direct ferries is seeing them all on one screen but you pay a premium for that luxury!
Yes similar to airport lounge 😄 its really not bad price if you think how expensive everything is at the cafeteria. Next time if you go to Eckerö,just book it from their website
Just did this journey yesterday on Viking Line - on the sun deck as it was 32 degrees, with a DJ and cocktails! It's the booze cruise for sure, all the Finns were getting off the boat with crates and crates of Long Drink (popular gin based alcopop).
@@JordanandEmily I'll keep it in mind. I'll be in Finland for just over a week. I'll be ringing celebrating the New Year in Jakobstad, before I head over to Sweden.
I will spend Christmas in Tallinn this year, first time in Estonia and i think i will go for one day trip to Helsinki with this ferry, can't wait. Never been in baltic countrys or scandinavia.
@@alupiguscumetre we have this plan as well but for the beginning of November. Do you think a day trip was too much or is it worth trying to staying one night in Helsinki?
i went about 10 or so years ago . on Viking line, there was no lockers etc . food was not bad .. and we walked into town , Finland side ... the sea was frozen when we went .. so half way over .. a huge cloud wall ... appeared.. and on the other side it was frozen sea ice .. cars were driving on the sea, ... awesome ... it was mid feb
When I was a bit younger. We used to do this thing where we booked an early morning trip to Tallinn, but we did not leave the ship until the very evening. You could just cruise the day back and forth and no one seemed to care. Then a night in Tallinn and next day the same whole day thing ending back to Helsinki. Also it was quite easy to bring your own beer glass and drinks to the ship so you could just sitt in the bars, enjoy the music and stuff and drink your own cheap drinks 😂
Ships have their own names, like Finlandia in this case. Shipping companies, like Eckerö Line, use those names in marketing partly since boats are rarely identical and partly to give them more old sea fearing flavor.
@@JordanandEmily In the world of all kinds of brand names, trade marks, company names, parents companies with subsidiaries.... One shouldn't be ashamed at all, if you don't know some random name and the reasons behind it. But the convention of ships having names is really old.
@@JordanandEmily I try to come up with something you perhaps wouldn't know about Finlandia. The name is most known, at least in Finland, as music by Sibelius. Finlandia anthem was adopted by Biafra as their national anthem. You must be too young to remember the Biafra war , but you might have heard about it. Nowadays Nigerian people, even those from that area, don't mention it much. I don't know how painful memory it is for the current generations.
I am not sure how Eckeröline works, but some of those ships do fast trips to helsinki and the later in the evening a slower cruise, where people literarly party hole night, sleep on the ship and then next morning go a shore, and then back later same day, like a mini cruise.
so they go a bit slower so everyone can enjoy?! that sounds like a blast to be honest 🤣 might have to give that a go next time! I hear there is karaoke on some as well!
@@JordanandEmily yeah there is atleast tallink cruise line do those slower ones, been on a few my sefl and it is quite great, but be prepared for huge number of drunk finns hehe, so it can also be a bit messy, but there is karaoke, most the time some live music perfomerce and stuff also.
@@JordanandEmily He was referring to sinking of M/S Estonia in 28 September 1994 there was 989 people onboard of which 852 died. She was going from Tallinn to Stockholm. It was horrible considering how much there's sea traffic across baltic and still so few were saved.
Well in ferry (or actually ship) in cafe its the same prices that you have in airports. Local people (Finns and Estonians who are not first timers) avoid these. The ship's buffet are very high quality but if you just travel Helsinki-Tallinn there is no sense to pay that. If you are going from Helsinki to Stockholm, Sweden, then its worth it. Also in Helsinki-Tallinn ship most of the passengers buy cheap alcohol from Duty Free shop. Ferry companies here have sometimes different advertising campaigns that if you spend 100€ you can have next Helsinki-Tallinn-Helsinki- daytrip for 3€ etc. But those sales work only when websites are in Finnish language. Btw Finnish company Viking Line sold some of its old ships to Australia and now they operate between Tasmania and Victoria. You can still see their Viking Line red colours.
Ooh that’s a good deal with the alcohol! We have heard a lot about the Helsinki - Stockholm line so that might need to be the next one we try! 😂 Wow! That’s so cool there in Aus now! We had no idea - thanks for letting us know!
If you think that felt like a cruiseship: try the cruiseferries Silja Symphony and Silja Serenade. Those ships serves the Stockholm-Helsinki route and those ships have a massive promenade onboard similar to the cruiseships Voyager of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas. Fact is that those ferries were the first in the world with such a promenade and they inspired many of Royal Caribbeans cruiseships even to this day.
@@JordanandEmily There are also two massive cruiseferries that runs on the Stockholm-Turku route named Viking Grace and Viking Glory. They are operated by Viking Line and the Viking Glory was delivered last year so she is brand new. All these ships between Sweden offer pretty much the same things: Multiple bars, restaurants, cafés, casinos, shopping, nightclubs, Spa/Wellness/Gym and pool-areas.
It's maybe not something you expect but Helsinki harbor is the busiest passenger port in the world with 15 million travelers annually. Big part is that you have two European capitals 80km apart divided by sea. Rest of the travel is essentially between Helsinki-Stockholm with even bigger ships than what you travelled there with large promenades and whatnot. It's is also supporting local economy as much of the largest cruise ships in the world are build in Finland. Also Finland is a European Union island essentially, meaning nearly all of the freight comes via ships.
Cruising across the Baltic sea / Gulf of Finland is something that we northern people enjoy most of all. I mean why not combine cruising fun with carferry effectiveness and cheap (ish) sleeping/eating arrangements. :) I highly recommend the Tallinn to Stockholm line (Or better yet, the Helsinki to Stockholm line)
HEL-STO cruises are much better ;) I enjoy them atleast once a year with my girlfriend. Needless to mention how much i like Sweden and Stockholm in general :) Estonian here.
ooh great tip! We had such a good time considering it was a two hour ferry that we booked more out of needing to get from A to B! would love to do more in this area of the world so definitely adding this to our list ☺️
good to know! Maybe when we are back we will do this after exploring Estonia some more - just need to make peace wth the fact we will likely be over budget in Sweden/Stockholm 🤣
You guys are just plain awesome! Thanks for visiting Estonia and for sharing your insights. Your cool personalities, light-heartedness and positivity makes watching your videos a very soul-soothing experience. I can only imagine how much hard yakka you've had to go through beforehand to afford your travels, but totally worth it, right!? Keep on at it and you're always welcome back in Estonia where there's heaps more worthy of covering besides Tallinn! Cheers! :)
There's no such thing. Back when I drove a truck the other ferry operators offered free cabins and food to all truck and bus drivers, but Eckerö didn't and the newer Tallink boats have only like 12 cabins altogether.
Next time you travel please buy a buffet breakfast, hotel style for €18 per person. You can sit the whole time in the restaurant and your stomach and wallet will thank you. You won´t be hungry for many hours.
Nice video. I work on that kind of ship. But Viking Line, M/S Gabriella. Its similar but goes to stockholm from helsinki. One trip takes 17 hours instead of 2,5.
I usually take cabin. I quite often have been driving many hours before coming there. that is nice nap if destinarion or dparting point is different than Helsinki or Tallinna
I would love to do this trip looked at it when I was in Helsinki but didn’t have time before I went up to lapland! I wish I wasn’t so nervous to film back then cos it was the best trip of my life! Seeing the northern lights and Finland is just all round incredible! Great video guys
@@JordanandEmily same that’s all I’m thinking of another trip to film what I missed! I just love making videos now so don’t mind what people think! It’s so rewarding filming and then telling a story with the edit! So happy I hit 1k subs jusy before my last trip! Keep up the great work guys
@@DanUnplanned Great that you saw a little bit more than just Helsinki. Helsinki is a finnish Metropol, and most international, so it really isn't that finnish at all... it's like calling New York USA or London United Kingdom. There is much to see also in smaller cities in Finland, like Jyväskylä, Tampere or Lahti. And those are more finnish in a sence... 😎
Viking and Talink SIljaline are littlebit more costly on ticked side but way more impressive and they also have cheaper food, and cheaper cabins and more comfort, Thought they are ferrys people sometime cruise them, party multiple days on ship what goings foward and back.
you found the booze cruise. Mostly people drink on these boats and thats why they are over the top for a ferry. Finland places a high alcohol tax where Estonia does not (or much less). Mostly here in Estonia we used to go to Ikea every now and then. Now we have one so no need. The other boats are far nicer and its a decent family trip if you want to just hang out for the day. I hope you enjoyed your time in Tallinn
@@JordanandEmily basically yes, and get Chinese food. Eventually you could pay for people with a van to go for you. Now we have a small Ikea from 2021 in Tallinn.
@@JordanandEmily Both booze cruise and public transport, Jordan & Emily got the smallest and oldest ferry :) There also is a large Estonian community in Finland, people travel back and forth. Now they even have plans for a 30-minute rail tunnel between Tallinn to Helsinki, that would link Finland's rail system to Central-Europe. And create a twin city basically.Tallsinki? Hellin? :D
The ferry / cruise ship is a Finnish thing - many of the the very large cruise ships in the world are built in Finland. Like the biggest of them all, Icon of the Seas. One of the reasons is that for several reasons Helsinki and Stockholm have for long been connected with ferries, and to some extent also Finland and Germany. Finland and especially Sweden being a wealthy country, the ferries soon started to look a bit like the real luxury cruise ships, which were designed and built at the same time in Finland.
Never been to Finland. So looking forward to your vlogs. My biggest interests would be the lakes and also to see more of their writing script. That's a really good price for the ferry. You look after your budgets so well.
The cabins come in handy when a) you take an evening departure and you stay on the ship after it docked and leave the ship shortly before it returns. You get a reasonable night's sleep. b) keeps the ship flexible to operate on other routes.
It's good if you do a day trip to either city and are knackered on the return trip. Also great for storing luggage or having a party with cheap tax free alcohol. Also great for lorry drivers. I think they have showers and a lounge as well.
It is convenient to spend the night on these ferries. At 10 pm you leave Tallinn and at 6 am you arrive in Helsinki. The cabin costs about 80-100 euros.
@@JordanandEmily My info is 3y old because I moved back to Helsinki from Tallinn. Viking Line is a good middle-ground and docks closer to midtown Helsinki Some of their ships are also fast. TallinkSilja has the newest and best ships, but can be pricey unless you have a membership card. There used to be (now bankrupt) Linda Line who had fastest and smallest ships. It was also cheap, but the ships could not handle rough weather so there were lots of cancelations. Of course all of the prices depend on the time of day, week, year and there are other factors like how fast the line is, how often the ships travel etc.
@@JordanandEmily To add one major factor too... It probably won't apply to the early-morning trips on any of the lines, but drunk Finnish people. Especially on weekend, or near-weekend trips. The cheaper it is, the more there are. This can be a fun experience for someone to witness the first time, but also a nightmare, if one does not like drunk people. Tallink ships are the most expensive and also the largest. Less likely to encounter these people, and more room to also "escape" them. This is not to say the booze-cruisers have any intentions to harm anyone, are dangerous or would purposefully bother anyone else on board. But for a Finn using these services regularly, it's a massive cause of secondhand-emmbarrasment, when people of all age- and social brackets completely lose self-control.
This is actually just one (and the oldest of them all) of 5 ships that each cruise between Helsinki and Tallinn a couple times a day. The newest ship is even bigger then this one and set sail for the first time in december 2022 😀 Tells something about the amount of passengers taking this route daily.
There is reason for that, Helsinki Tallinn ferry line is the world busiest passenger ferry line, pre covid numbers were over 9 million passengers in a year, more than Finlands and Estonia population all togehter. All ships are Ro-Ro pax, so they have all possible facilities on board, main one is tax free shopping, all ferries are built in Finland, no used or old ones. For example on longer routes like Tallinn to Stockholm thats a 18 hours cruise ride with all the cruise festivites on board.
