Cruise Liners Reviews

A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience. Cruising has become a major part of the tourism industry, with millions of passengers each year. The industry's rapid growth has seen nine or more newly built ships catering to a North American clientele added every year since 2001, as well as others servicing European clientele. Smaller markets such as the Asia-Pacific region are generally serviced by older tonnage displaced by new ships introduced into the high growth areas.

Cruise ships operate mostly on routes that return passengers to their originating port. In contrast, ocean liners do "line voyages" and typically transport passengers from one point to another, rather than on round trips. Some liners also engage in longer trips which may not lead back to the same port for many months.

MS Victoria I.
MS Victoria I is a cruiseferry (a ship that combines the features of a cruise ship with a Ro-Pax ferry - roll on/roll off passenger) operated by the Estonian ferry company Tallink on a route connecting Stockholm, Sweden to Tallinn, Estonia via Mariehamn, Finland. She was built in 2004 by Aker Finnyards, Rauma. Although the ship's official name is Victoria I, she is often referred to as Victoria, without the number. This is also the name displayed on top of her superstructure, whereas the name is written in full form in the hull.

Between 18 November and 20 November 2005 the Victoria I made two one-day cruises from Helsinki to Tallinn, the latter of which was a re-election campaign cruise for the Finnish president Tarja Halonen. The use of an Estonian-flagged ship by the president provoked protests from the Finnish Seamen's Union.

General characteristics:
Homeport: Tallinn, Estonia; Tonnage: 40975 GT; Displacement: 4500 metric tons of deadweight (DWT); Length: 193,80 meters; Beam: 29,00 meters; Draught: 6,50 meters; Ice class: 1 A Super; Propulsion: 4×Wärtsilä 16V32 diesels combined 26240 kW; Speed: 22 knots; Capacity: 2500 passengers, 2252 passenger beds, 400 cars, 1000 lanemeters; Yard number: 434.