Hi everyone,
Traveling from Stockholm to Helsinki in July 2018. Any recommendation on which line to take? Also any insights to what “inside berth” is like. We are not budget travelers, more interested in comfortable, spacious berths, and good food and entertainment values. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Haven't done it but have heard from others about "booze cruise" party boat noise making sleep difficult.
http://baldpacker.com/viking-booze-cruise-stockholm-helsinki
RS explains how the duty-free works:
https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/cruising-in-scandinavia
The fares are reasonable because many locals sail to shop and drink
duty- and tax-free. It's a huge operation — mostly for locals. The
boats are filled with about 45 percent Finns, 45 percent Swedes, and
10 percent cruisers from other countries. The average passenger spends
as much on booze and duty-free items as for the boat fare. To maintain
their tax-free status, the boats make a midnight stop in the Åland
Islands — a self-governing, Swedish-speaking province of Finland
that's exempt from the European Union's value-added tax.
Go with Silja, Viking has a reputation for being a "party boat". A few years back I rode Silja from Stockholm to Helsinki. Midway through the journey the boats from both companies dock at some island for a short time. When the Viking boat pulled along side our ship, everyone on the Viking boat was drunk stupid: yelling obscenities, and throwing beer bottles in our direction.
It's an amazing journey, one of my most memorable travel experiences! The scenery is stunning as the ship navigates around the seemingly endless archipelago outside of Stockholm. I was upgraded to one of the expensive cabin classes, forget the exact category but the room was fantastic; there are picture and descriptions of the cabins on the website. When you get sick of the scenery there are a lot of activates around the ship: shopping, casino, cinema, bars, restaurants. Live entertainment was a Vegas style magic show. The early show was family friendly, the late night version was the same except the female assistants were topless. Between the two shows the room was a disco with a live band.
I’ve taken both Silja and Viking. My last trip in 2014 was on Viking. I would choose the one that gives you cabin you prefer at the best price.
An inside cabin has no windows.
On the Viking Line, we had an excellent meal in the Food Garden restaurant. In general, the restaurants have better food than the buffets, but lots of people like the novelty of a smörgåsbord.
Thanks, very helpful advice.
