M/S Rosella

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M/S Rosella departing Helsinki in spring 2006

M/S Rosella is a car and passenger cruiseferry. She was built in 1980 by Wärtsilä Turku shipyard (now Aker Finnyards), Finland for SF Line, one of the owners of the Viking Line consortium. She currently serves on Helsinki - Tallinn route of Viking Line.

1 History
2 Decks
3 Specifications
4 External links

[edit] History

Rosella is the younger, and somewhat larger, sister of M/S Turella. She was originally built for Viking Line's Turku - Mariehamn - Stockholm service, where she replaced her older sister Turella who had served on the route only for 12 months. In 1987 SF Live made an agreement with Stena Line to sell the Rosella to them once the new M/S Amorella was delivered in March 1988. However, the Amorella's delivery was delayed by seven months, meaning the Rosella could not be delivered to Stena in time for the summer season 1988, and SF Line had to pay them compensations. In the end Stena and SF Line reached an agreement where the Turella, which was in better condition and easier to convert for the traffic Stena planned her for, was sold instead of Rosella. As a result the Rosella took over Turella's role on the Naantali - Mariehamn - Kappelskär route, replacing her sister for the second time.

After the collapse of Rederi AB Slite, the other Viking Line partner, in 1993, SF Line was forced to reorganise it's operations. After construction of additional cabins in place of the cardeck on deck 4, Rosella returned to the Turku - Mariehamn - Stockholm route. During the summer seasons of 1995 and 1996 M/S Cinderella replaced Rosella on the Turku route, freeing her to operate car-passenger friendly Naantali route during the high season. After Viking acquired M/S Gabriella in 1997, Rosella started making 24 (later 20/22) hour cruises from Stockholm to Mariehamn under the marketing name Dancing Queen during the winter season, but still returned to the Naantali - Kapellskär route for the summer months. In 1999 the route's eastern terminus was changed to Turku, allowing Viking to give up the terminal at Naantali completely.

Fearing losses after the termination of tax-free sales between Finland and Estonia after Estonia joined the EU in 2004, Viking Line decided to swap the routes of Rosella and Cinderella in autumn 2003. Rosella began a ferry-service between Helsinki and Tallinn with two daily departures from both ports, while the Cinderella took over Rosella's Stockholm - Mariehamn cruise itenary. Due to high prices Rosella's new route was extremely unpopular during the first year and the company strongly considered selling the ship. However, after prices were lowered the ship's popularity increased, to the extent that in 2006 Viking Line decided to order a new fast ferry to replace the Rosella, to be delivered in 2008. Rosella's future after that date is uncertain.

[edit] Decks

Engine room
C-class cabins
Cardeck
1. Cardeck (hydraulic platform that can be lowered to divide the car deck in two giving space for two layers of passenger cars)
B- and A-class cabins, suites
Café Seaside, Sea Shop, children's playroom, "Air seats", smoking room, Pub/Café, Fun Club, Casino
Viking Buffét, B- and A-class cabins, crew accommodations
crew accommodations, sundeck
crew accommodations, conference rooms
Bridge