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The Baltic Sea is crossed by several cruiseferry lines. Some important shipping companies are Viking Line, Silja Line, Tallink, St. Peter Line, Eckerö Line and Birka Line. ==Eastern Baltic== Silja Line and Viking Line operate competing cruiseferries on the routes Stockholm - Turku and Stockholm - Helsinki, calling in Åland (Mariehamn or Långnäs). Additionally, Tallink sails Stockholm - Mariehamn - Tallinn and Stockholm - Riga. Tallink, Viking Line and Eckerö Line compete on the Helsinki - Tallinn route, which is also the busiest route in the Baltic Sea, travelled by over 6 million people in 2008.〔(), The busiest crossing.〕 Baltic routes are mostly served by new ships purpose-built for the routes. Older cruiseferries from the Baltic serve as ferries on other seas, or in some cases, as cruise ships. Viking Line and Eckerölinjen also operate short routes from Sweden to Åland, sailing on Kapellskär - Mariehamn and Grisslehamn - Berghamn. Birka Line, owned by Eckerö, also operates short cruises out of Stockholm. Generally GTS ''Finnjet'' of 1977 is considered to have been the first cruiseferry, she was the first ferry to offer cruise-ship quality services and accommodations, and the first generation of cruiseferries operating from Finland to Sweden were highly influenced by ''Finnjets interior and exterior designs. After the fall of the Soviet Union the route connecting Helsinki to Tallinn became highly lucrative, which led to Estonia-based company Tallink to grow and rival the two long-established companies (Viking Line and Silja Line). Eventually Tallink purchased Silja Line in 2006. The size of Baltic cruiseferries is limited by various narrow passages in the Stockholm, Ålandian and Turku archipelagos, meaning ships not much in excess of 200 meters cannot traffic on these routes. The single narrowest point is Kustaanmiekka strait outside Helsinki, although ships making port at the city's west harbour do not have to pass through the strait. Viking and Silja Line have wished to keep their terminals in the South Harbour however as it is located right next to the city center. The longest ships to maintain scheduled service through the Kustaanmiekka strait were MS ''Finnstar'' and her sisters with a length of 219 meters. The longest ship to have ever navigated though the narrows past Suomenlinna sea fortress was MS ''Oriana'' (260 m), but that was only possible due to extremely good weather conditions. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Baltic Sea cruiseferries」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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