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Reviews of “Baltic Queen” cruise ferry?

Posted by (Seattle) on

Hi - Has anyone taken the Tallink Silja Baltic Queen recently and have a review of it? The reviews I’ve found are often many years old and/or minimal info.

Our priorities are a good night’s sleep in a nice room with good beds, and good food. It will be 2 adults and 4 kids, ages 10 to 18, so we likely will get 2 cabins. I was planning to get one of the better cabins, within reason. We don’t care about shows or activities. In fact, the quieter the better.

Background: We’re visiting Stockholm and Helisinki (in that order) in August 2025 but would like to visit Tallinn too. I’m choosing between either going straight to Helsinki and doing a day trip to Tallinn at some point in our stay vs taking the cruise ferry to Tallinn, staying 1 night, and then taking the ferry to Helsinki. I’d prefer the 1 night option, since a day trip seems a bit hectic but reviews online have indicated that the cruise ferries from Stockholm to Helsinki are quite a bit nicer than those to Tallinn, so I just want to consider that before I decide. The pictures of the cabins and restaurants on the Tallink Silja website definitely made me more inclined towards the Stockholm-Helsinki route than Stockholm-Tallinn but maybe they just weren’t doing it justice. Also, it’s just 1 night.

Thanks!

Posted by
7760 posts

There are many reviews online, you can find several. But if you're looking for good beds and good food, you shouldn't be worried. There's nothing wrong with the cabins. And the food selections is a bit smaller compared to the ships from Finland to Sweden, but there are still three restaurants and a café to choose from. So you should be able to find something that suits you.

And yes, Tallinn is worth more than a day trip. I'd even say that Tallinn is worth more time than Helsinki. And both ships take the same route out of Stockholm so the archipelago views are the same.

Posted by
2 posts

If this post is still open, I'd like to ask another question about the Baltic Queen. We are 2 seniors looking to travel with our adult daughter from Stockholm to Tallinn. We would like to book one of the suite rooms so we could all be together, however, the website indicates the room accommodates only 2 adults and 2 children up to the age of 17.

Does anyone know if there are issues booking 3 adults into the same room? Our daughter certainly isn't taking up more space than two 17 year youths might be. And the suite charge is advantageous to the ferry line as the suite is significantly more expensive than a family suite, designed for children.

Appreciate any input. Thank you.

Posted by
8 posts

@diney - This might be too late for your purposes but I would recommend just going ahead and trying it. If it is not allowed, the online system will probably reject it. I would also note that I had to correspond with customer service due to some glitches in my booking experience and they were very responsive and helpful. So you could also just contact them. Having just stayed in a suite I feel like it should be fine space-wise but not sure if there is a policy that prevents it.

Posted by
8 posts

Adding a review here if helpful for other readers.

We took the Tallink Baltic Queen overnight ferry from Stockholm to Tallinn and then a few days later the 2-hour MyStar ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki.

Baltic Queen:
Our cabins were serviceable but the bathrooms did smell somewhat of sewage, as did parts of the hallways. The "disco" was near our room and was quite loud at its peak, but mercifully seemed to shut down around 10 or 11. Overall it all had a very 1980s/1990s US Highway 90 motel vibe. I found this somewhat endearing and not a problem in and of itself and most of our party got a pretty decent night's sleep, which is the important thing. I was initially very put off by the thought of a shower in the cabin bathroom but by morning had gotten over it.

The more disappointing part was that the food options seemed to be of a similar vibe. We wanted to eat at Fast Lane because we weren't that hungry but it looked very unappealing. We ended up eating dinner at the Grill House, which just wasn't very tasty or fresh, and was of course quite expensive. In the morning, we had the "special breakfast" at the Grill House instead of the regular breakfast at the Grand Buffet but also did not find it to be very good, although it was a bit better than dinner. Per Tallink's policies you are not supposed to bring your own meals onto the ferry, so we didn't, but my husband said he saw people who seemed to have brought their own picnic dinners and were eating them openly in the common space. If you expect to be hungry and want a good meal, you might have to resort to the same! Or bring heavy snacks, or eat a big meal before you board.

Mystar:
This ferry was great. It felt fresh and clean (not a whiff of sewage anywhere) and current and we had a very good lunch at the Fast Lane. We didn't have a cabin, so can't compare there, but if the Stockholm to Helsinkini overnight ferries are similar to MyStar I think I would prefer them to the Baltic Queen.

Overall, no regrets. The Baltic Queen is a perfectly good way to get to Tallinn from Helsinki and we survived our 16 hours of mediocre food just fine. However, on ferry quality alone, if I didn't need to do the cities in the order I did, I would have chosen the Stockholm to Helsinki overnight ferry and then done MyStar from Helsinki to Tallinn.

For whatever that is worth!

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