Agree, only that a 7-day trip (all inclusive) from London to NY costs from 7 times more than a 48-hour trip with Silja Line.. and must be booked about six months in advance. (Small detail :)
Nah, not really, the majority of the passengers on these booze cruises do not have a car with them, most just party all night and never even disembark at its destination, the most popular booze cruise lines are just an excuse for people to party like animals for 24/48 hours.
Well i would more say its a swizz army knife ship... or a jack of all trades. The ship have plenty of income sources and its kind of the point of them, having as many as possible. While the truck transport is the main income, mostly becasue its year round business. The tax free alcohol is the second largest source of income, and the bar of cause. The restaurant is probobly breaking even and the cabins they are making a loss on between September and May, on the other side making a heafty profit during the summer. One benefit of this type of RO-RO ship is while they having trucks as a main market in September-May, private car is the main market in the summer. They pull down a second RO-RO level from the roof of the truck deck an double up the floor space.
Ok, so unlike company's like Royal Caribbean that is a cruise line company both Tallink Silja and Viking Line are shipping company's and they operated almost every day and round the year and during the summer there is a lot of booze cruises but I have traveled on a weekday in the beginning of december there is not much of a booze cruise.
This is a great video, and really helpful (funny, too!). One question - I haven't booked a cabin on a ferry/cruise before, so I'm a newbie. If I book an A-class cabin with three beds, and I'm a solo traveler, does that mean I have the cabin to myself, or will I be assigned to random cabinmates for the night? Like I said, I'm a newbie. :)
You get it all to yourself in that case! I do that myself most of the time. It's a bit silly when I have a 4-bed cabin all by myself, but that's how it works :D
@@ThreeStarVagabond its true, or they were based on silja symphony sctually. Royal carribean adopted this, and it started appering on their freedom and voyager class ships, and then quantum and oasis.
@@ThreeStarVagabond it's true, the main designer behind Silja Symphony and Silja Serenade is the brains behind Voyager of the Seas and all ships after that with a promenade.
The booze cruises are common enough that the Helsinki Sea Port is actually one of the busiest passenger ports in the world. Impressive given that the country has less than 6 million people. But Åland is actually part of EU, but when Finland joined the union they were given a tax exemption status, so they get to sell the booze more cheaply.
Absolutely love the Moomin themed room! Moomin stuff is a rarity here in the UK but I’ve loved the books since being a kid! I hope you manage to do a video on Moomin World while you’re in Finland 😁
I actually chose the Moomin room especially, 'cause it looked so cute! It's normally a family room - sucks to be the family who didn't get it :D And I had so little time over there now, but I really need to go to the Moomin World next time! :)
If the Mumins are compatible with the category of White Trash, then I proudly confess that I am, too. I know them from my youth's interactive magazine Yps, which was very popular in Germany in the 80s.
I met people on the overnight ferry from Tallinn to Stockholm who fly to Tallinn to shop where booze, smokes, and everything else is much cheaper than Sweden. Then they haul back as much as they are allowed to.
Haha yeah, I think everyone does stuff like that. When I lived in the south of Sweden everyone went to Germany to buy crates of cheap beer. And I hear that Norwegians come to Sweden to buy cheap stuff as well...
Åland is not an independent nation, but a part of Finland with self governance to some extent. But it is excluded from the EU tax system, a demand from Finland in order to enter the EU to keep the maritime industry viable.
@@ThreeStarVagabond we live, we learn. They all have Finnish passports and are in fact Finnish citizens, though a lot of them do not like it. Difference from mainland Finland is that Swedish is the only official language and that the Islands are de-militarised
Lol we got an E cabin when we went from Poland to Sweden. I know what you’re talking about we didn’t even have our own bathroom we had to use the common bathroom. But we slept good.
So... I take it you were drunk then? ;D Nah, just kidding. I've taken the E cabins now and then, but these days I prefer to have a sea view if I can. It's so dark in the morning otherwise!
Best ships SWE-FIN at the moment are the 2 Viking ships on the Stockholm-Turku route. Glory and Grace. Symphony and Serenade are showing their age by now. We'll be travelling on Cinderella next month, the only one of the big ships I haven't been on. I do miss Silja Europa though.
I'm actually going on Glory and Grace in a month... Maybe it's time that I make an updated video about the "Least White Trash of the White Trash Cruises" :D
@@ThreeStarVagabond 😂 My girlfriend and I sailed on Glory last summer. The Kobba restaurant up front is really, really good. I remember when Silja was more up-market than Viking. No more.
@@pcread Nice! I've been on Glory once I think, but it'll be fun to do an evening cruise this time. Yeah, it does seem like Viking are investing a bit more than Silja these days...
@@ThreeStarVagabond After the Tallink takeover they lost all ambition it seems. New ships like Megastar and Mystar seem a bit pedestrian. Like the Gabriella, Mariella etc from the 90s. Tallink are concentrating on the Tallinn route. The history of the two companies is really interesting. Heavily linked to fluctuations in the economy. For example, Cinderella was a Silja ship originally and Europe was a Viking Line vessel. Downturns in the economy lead their first owners to sell them to the competitor. Europa is still my fave. She's a hotel for refugees in Rotterdam harbour now.
Haha I doubt that they will change ever! As long as there's people who want these kinds of boats, they'll stick around... Thank you so much for checking it out! :)
@@flantyx Oh I regularly do... Cinderella is my bane. "I have nothing planned this weekend. What should I do? Fuck it, let's go for a cheap Cinderella cruise."
Having traveling between Sweden and Finland for about 50 years with lots of ferries under my feets, earlier the Silja line was more expensive and more class, Viking line was cheaper with a little lower class.
These days class is not the first thing one thinks of when traveling on these boats. I did try the new Viking Glory though - it was nice, but maybe not spectacular.
The promenade was first invented in the Symphony and Serenade. Royal Caribbean liked so much they incorporated that design to their biggest ships. The Icon class still has the same basic principle of having a central promenade, albeit in a much more grand scale.
I've heard people say that, but I can't find any resources to confirm it! You don't happen to know where I could read more about it? That would be excellent to dive more into!
Harri Kulovaara was the guy who came up with the promenade of the Symphony/Serenade and Royal Caribbean's Richard Fain hired him to work for RC to design ships. All of these ships from the Symphony/Serenade are built in Turku, where the biggest ships, including the Icon of the Seas is built. That area has arguably the highest proficiency scene in designing large cruise ships and cruise ferries.
The longest series in Sweden television history was called rederiet and was about a Ferry line company and its ship called Freja It ran for 10 years and 20 seasons
Hi: Three-star Vagabond: Thank you, for posting this video, now I learned about another cruise line that I've never heard of before, keep up the great work.The Silja Symphony reminds of the ferry lines that offer low budget cruises in the United States of America. Nothing fancy, not always kept up, but you can't beat the price because it is cheaper than a cruise with a major cruise line.
I'm really happy that you enjoyed it! It's not really all that low effort - they constantly invest in new ships, for example. But it's just never aiming at a particularly high class of cruises, since they're so frequent and so short (just a couple of days).
It's something you either love or hate, really! Even if I'm being sarcastic in this video I actually love these boats - and I've already gone twice on them this year. But many people can't stand them, and feel like it's a waste of time. It really depends on personal preference.
@@ThreeStarVagabond Thanks for the info! I'm thinking of abandoning the idea of the baltic cruise for a Po&A cruise in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. I think seeing the fjords is probably more worth it. I wish MSC wasn't so bad because their itinerary covers both';the Baltics and Norway's fjords.
@@followmesky Yeah, for a proper cruise that does sound like a better option! And I've actually never gone with MSC so I don't have much to compare with. The P&O itineraries sound pretty good, so I hope you find a suitable one :D
Sail to Tallin then. Estonia is a Baltic state at least. Besides, the old town is beautiful and the Estonians cool. Watch out the street gangs and hookers or you might get robbed. Don’t go out alone after 10 pm.
Always fun to watch your videos! I reacted to the part of Åland being its own nation - kind of is but not because of international treatises that also call for it being demilitarized, or else it should revert to Sweden. Åland is an autonomous region of Finland with a lot of exemptions, in for example EU tax policy, that allow the ferries to sell alcohol duty free. I just had to look it up to understand why.🙂
Haha yes I was a little bit confused when making this video. As in, massively confused. I don't know what I was thinking! Well, I've learned to do better research since then at least :D
I'm riding the ferry from Finland to Sweden this coming winter, Vaasa to Umeå. One of my hobbies is trying to learn Finnish in my spare time. At least in Jakobstad, I can cheat with Swedish.
Nice! I've never taken the ferry up there, but it sounds like a convenient way to get there. Haha, yeah, more people than one imagine know Swedish over there after all.
Why on earth is there no mention of the fantastic island scenery (though there are a couple of glimpses) - tens of thousands of islands along this route. Also, the hardcore boozers take the Tallinn ferry nowadays as the drinks are far cheaper over there. I travel on these ferries a dozen times a year and never encounter serious drunkenness by avoiding weekends, when schoolkids go berserk.
Whoops! Maybe I should make a follow up to this one... Those are some good points! And well, I can mostly only travel during weekends so I definitely don't see the normal ferry days
haha åkte väl typ båt 5 gånger om året när jag var yngre! Fennia , Svea Corona ,Silja Star, Finlandia och Serenade Sista resan till Finland med båt var 2004! Och jag är halvfinne!
Haha, count me in as all of the above! I don´t know how many cruises I´ve been to and all of the memories just floats together. I´ve never been on a bigger boat, maybe I should try that sometime.
Haha, same here. And some of my best party / hangover memories come from cruises. I've just been on a bigger cruise once, and...well...it's fun. But there's a lot of old people there too!
That long straight walk from the Viking terminal to Stockholm center is "the longest straight in the world" and we all know why. But that was our via dolorosa to the Burger King, our mecca, for a very long time before they finally opened shop in Finland. And if you see Finns singing Finlandia in Sergels torg then that would be a group of students doing their pilgrimage. That's a way of showing the new kids from the forests around town in Helsinki (Sergels torg and Tallinn are the most western and southern parts of Helsinki in case they don't teach that in your schools).
@@companyjoe I had no idea about the Finnish side of these traditions! That's bloody amazing - I think I've missed those students but I'll have to keep my eyes open after knowing about this :D
Many thanks for a very entertaining video. Like others in the comments, you’ve inspired me to go on this type of cruise! I didn’t know about the Åland Islands - very interesting.
Åland (Ahvenanmaa in Finnish) is actually part of Finland while being much closer to Sweden, but somehow they are independent and nobody knows or cares how or why, or what does it mean. Except surely the Ålanders probably know. They seem to care about not speaking Finnish. For the rest of us somehow magically that turns into tax free booze on the ships, so ... hooray! Also in the year 1845 the British bombed the fortress in there and we (I guess that would be us Finns then) will never forget! Though, to be very technical about little details, back then it was part of Russia, as was the whole of Finland. But since the Russians tend to forget a lot of things related to its past we can't count on them to be complaining about it.
Yes! I've learned that lesson harshly after this video - I have no idea what I was thinking when I said that.... I felt that I had to go to Åland as well recently just because of that blunder...
What an entertaining and informative video, thank you. I had been thinking about taking one of these ferries, but seeing your video has made me decide not to. Not my cup of tea, and not at my age (63). I think my girlfriend and I will fly instead 😉
I am exaggerating just a bit just so you know! During weekdays it's quite slow and not at all as "white trash party"-ish as I'm describing. But still, if the activities on board don't appeal, then flying just might be more enjoyable :)
Yeah, I just showed a couple of them. There's a blackjack table and some more slots - not sure about roulette. It's not really a lot of focus on the gambling, except for blackjack which is an evergreen on the boats
@@ThreeStarVagabond hur dyrt ar det nufortiden? Jag bor i England nu, men jag ska halsa pa mamma och resten av familjen I sommar med mina barn, sa jag far se om mamma vill aka till Finland med oss
I like the views of the pine covered islands you have there in Sweden. How do you say white trash with the swedish language?trasigt medelsvensson?? Lol 😬
It looks really nice - but after a few years you get tired of pine trees everywhere :D Haha! We don't really have a good generic term. It's a mix of various terms for low-income people, or people from small villages, etc.
I appreciate the humour 😁but the bulk of the cruise ship passengers on M/S Sereneade / Symphony are probably middle class including many families. But true, you wont find the elite or upper echelons onboad. You should takeTallink from Helsinki to Tallinn for the full wt experience
Really? I've never gone on that route. Now I'm REALLY curious what that's like. I should do a full triangle Stockholm - Helsinki - Tallinn - Stockholm :D
I'm writing from the Talliina to Stockholm ferry, the Baltic Queen. It's much nicer than the Viking Lines I took over the past week. This has several Duty Free shops, while the Viking Cinderella only had one. Much higher level of food on this ship, but higher prices. The Duty Free prices are significantly higher on this ship. There is a Gourmet Dining area, must make reservations. Since I've been on three ferries in a week, it wasn't for parties, but for transportation. Sure, I could have probably flown for less, and much faster, and who can forget the maritime disasters on these ferries in the past. Bring your bell bottoms and get ready to boogie! As there is still ice in the sea, and winter conditions, there's not much happening on the Sun Deck except for truly addicted and desperate smokers.
I agree that Tallink/Silja often has a bit nicer boats, but there's usually more party on Viking. But that depends a lot - I've been on some nice Viking boats, and had good parties on Silja too. Still, that sounds like a great way to get between the cities. It might take a bit more time, but it's so relaxing and enjoyable - like you say :D
Tax free cheap beer is because on international waters, not because of Åland. Or how you can explain tax free beer in between Estonia and Finland cruise ships? ;)
Don't come here with your logic and your critical thinking! But seriously, Åland actually demanded from EU to be considered a special zone to allow the tax free shopping. I'm not sure if there's actually much international waters between Sweden and Finland, since both archipelagos stretch out so far... Buuut I'm not going to look it up right now! :D
Åland is not an independent nation, better person, but belongs to Finland, unfortunately. It’s a tax pit for the mainland. The reason why the ships stop there is because it doesn’t belong to the EU. That’s why they can sell things tax free.
@@ThreeStarVagabond yes. But there was a insane expansion of it in the 80s untill the crash.. well. Granted, the crash really effected viking line the most.
Oh damn, it was great to meet you! And you know, I actually watched you guys playing and had a beer up there. But I was unfortunately way too tired to stay up late for the poi
