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Contacts

  • Christa Grönlund

    Communications Manager, Finland


    Viking Line Abp PL 119 00161 Helsinki
    +358 9-123 5242
    http://www.vikingline.fi
  • Johanna Boijer-Svahnström

    Vice President Corporate Communications, Headquarters


    Viking Line Abp PL 166 22101 Maarianhamina
    +358 18-277 48
    http://www.vikingline.fi
  • Quotes

    "It was a positive surprise that our first beer became so popular. So we decided to develop another beer in the same vein, Viking Line Lager, which tastes just as good at the vessel's seafood buffet as on the sun deck. As our partner, we again chose the multi-award-winning microbrewery RPS Brewing, which is known for its high quality."
    Ossi Ruusunen, Beverages Manager at Viking Line
    "In purely concrete terms, the relationship is apparent from the ingredients. The aromatic hops in Viking Line IPA come from Nya Zeeland, and the Riwaka hops from the same area also give the new lager a fresh, fruity tone with a hint of grapefruit. The fresh aroma works perfectly with the crisp, malty, slightly nutty  base malt.”
    Heikki Pelkonen, product developer at Rock Paper Scissors Brewing
    "We gave Johan and Kirsi free rein. When we got the proposed menu, we tested it with the recommended wines and didn't want to change anything. It was, quite simply, a perfect match."
    Janne Lindholm, Viking Line’s Restaurant Manager
    "I developed Viking Line’s menu based on sustainably produced ingredients that I personally like. My choices were strongly driven by seasonality. This menu adds lustre to a spring cruise, offering a bit of luxury in the form of food and drinks – I really hope all of Viking Line’s passengers will enjoy it."
    Johan Kurkela, Chef of the Year 2023
    “Even before this, we were Finland’s biggest employer in maritime transport, and the reflagging of Cinderella further strengthens our position. We now directly employ about 2,200 people in Finland both on board our vessels and on land, and we also have an economic impact in different places around the country, in part through our sourcing of supplies and investments. Promoting domestic interests is important to us, and the fact that our entire fleet sails under the Finnish flag is concrete evidence of this.”
    Jan Hanses, Viking Line's CEO
    “Every vessel that starts to sail under the Finnish flag enhances the competitiveness of Finland's maritime transport industry, boosts employment in the country and strengthens national security of supply.”
    Tiina Tuurnala, CE of the Finnish Shipowners’' Association
    "We designed Viking Glory to give people an experience for all the senses: views of the archipelago virtually pour in through the large windows, out on the deck there are lovely sun terraces, the restaurants serve the best food on the Baltic Sea, and wonderful, specially made mattresses await in the cabins."
    Johanna Boijer-Svahnström, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Viking Line
    "Key parts of the concept for our climate-smart flagship are to offer our passengers a lot to choose from and to invest in wellness. This has met the expectations of increasingly quality-conscious and demanding customers extremely well. Finns today are prepared to invest in quality, even luxury. Glory’s popularity played an important role in our record earnings for last year."
    Johanna Boijer-Svahnström, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Viking Line
    “Our customers choose sea conferences above all to combine work and pleasure in a cost-effective way, keep the group together and at the same time meet people’s need for physical meetings, a need that has become stronger in recent years. With our new conference product, we can provide all this in such a way that the carbon footprint of their conference trip is small.”
    Philip Sjöstrand, Head of Sales at Viking Line
    “Emissions from a Green Sea Conference are lower because customers who have opted for such a journey travel using renewable biofuel. We have also carried out a detailed sustainability assessment of the other components that are part of a conference trip. Each year more than 19,000 group and conference events with a total of some 600,000 participants are held on our vessels. This means every choice that increases sustainability makes a big difference.”
    Marika Immonen, Head of Customer Experience at Viking Line
    “Each year, companies set increasingly ambitious sustainability goals, and it has also become more and more important to employees that their employer’s business is sustainable. By choosing a Green Sea Conference, such conference planners are pioneers and can be certain that the emissions from their conference have been minimized. As early as last summer, we started giving our leisure travellers the option of choosing biofuel.”
    Dani Lindberg, Viking Line’s Sustainability Manager
    "For more and more of our passengers, food is the main reason to go on a cruise. We are pleased that we can now offer them so many new things to try between Helsinki and Stockholm. Variety is important since all passengers have their own food experience they are most looking forward to: some like fresh lobster, others want the many fish specialities in the buffet, and still others enjoy a nice long premium breakfast, including sparkling wine, specialist coffee and avocado toast."
    Janne Lindholm, Viking Line’s Restaurant Manager
    "We want to offer the best food experiences on the Baltic Sea. For us, that means top-quality, locally sourced ingredients and ambitiously prepared dishes based on seasonal availability and clean, Nordic flavours."
    Janne Lindholm, Viking Line’s Restaurant Manager
    “Viking Line is a shipping company with its roots in this sensitive archipelago. For us, the work to protect and preserve the Baltic Sea is in our DNA. We are ambitious pioneers in this industry and are proud to take this step together with Ports of Stockholm and the Port of Turku in order to get closer to providing zero-carbon cruises and transport on this important shipping route between Finland, Åland and Sweden.”
    Jan Hanses, President and CEO of Viking Line
    “There has always been a focus on environmental work in all of our operations. The Port of Turku is embedded in a very sensitive archipelago, which gives us the responsibility to always respect our surroundings in our daily work. In 2023, we signed Turku’s Climate City Contract, with the goal being for the city to be carbon-neutral by 2029. That is a goal we are working systematically to achieve, so this memorandum to develop a green transport corridor between Turku and Stockholm is a natural step for us.”
    Erik Söderholm, Managing Director of the Port of Turku
    "Timelessness and our passengers' wishes and preferences have been our guiding principles in Cinderella's renovation. Our passengers want to sleep in a restful environment, on top-quality mattresses, preferably double beds, and the best cabins always sell out first. After the renovations, Cinderella will have a total of 223 cabins with double beds in five different cabin categories, starting with the vessel's luxury suites."
    Johan Nordberg, Viking Line’s architect
    "When Cinderella was built, it was our new flagship, and that is apparent in the original luxurious interior features which we certainly want to preserve. The style of interior design at the time the vessel was built is really in right now and is also seen, in addition to the entrance hall, mainly in the Seaview Dining facilities and the buffet restaurant. For that alone, it's worth taking a trip on Cinderella!"
    Johan Nordberg, Viking Line’s architect
    “Cinderella hasn’t been in service to Finland for nearly two decades, and to celebrate its return, we want it to shine as the Baltic Sea’s own Cinderella. In 1964 –  exactly 60 years ago – the shipping company was looking for a colour for the hull of its vessel Apollo, and it took the bold red tone from the Mexican Fire lipstick used by the sister of one of the company’s founders. Since then, this distinct shade of red has been our brand colour.”
    Johanna Boijer-Svahnström, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Viking Line
    “Renewal and maintenance of our vessels throughout their life cycle are an important part of our sustainability work. With these modifications now carried out, Cinderella’s annual carbon dioxide emissions will be cut by 5%, that is, up to 2,500 tonnes, and at the same time the remaining useful life of the 35 year-old vessel will be extended.”
    Dani Lindberg, Sustainability Manager at Viking Line
    We are ending a good year. In 2023, Viking XPRS was reflagged under a Finnish flag, and during the autumn we decided to do the same with Viking Cinderella, which will be reassigned to the Helsinki–Stockholm route in spring 2024. The new financial year 2024 will be both exciting and demanding. We are following economic developments very closely and adapting our operations to meet the challenges we face. Last autumn, we formed a joint venture with the shipping company Gotlandsbolaget with the task of developing and providing cruises with M/S Birka Gotland. We see great potential for this joint venture and have a generally optimistic outlook for Baltic Sea travel
    Jan Hanses, CEO of Viking Line
    "One of the wow factors on Cinderella was the three-storey nightclub, and top-quality entertainment was the vessel's biggest attraction from the very beginning. Whatever the day of the week, it was always a party on Cinderella. Virve Rosti, Freeman & Menneisyyden Vangit, Tommi Läntinen, Kirka, Paula Koivuniemi and Nylon Beat got people to party, as did foreign artists such as Toto Cutugno and Ricky Martin."
    Jamppe Haakana, vessel's former cruise director, now head of tax-free operations on Viking Glory
    "We are just as enthusiastic as many of our passengers in being able to bring Cinderella back to Helsinki to serve together with Gabriella. We have two reasons to celebrate: Viking Line launched its service to Helsinki in 1974 so it's also the 50th anniversary of the route's launch."
    Johanna Boijer-Svahnström, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Viking Line
    “Annual carbon dioxide emissions from our vessels are up to 780 tonnes less compared to if the vessels produced electricity using their own engines when in port. Thanks to the land-based power supply, vessel emissions of particulate matter are also reduced significantly, and no noise in the area is produced from their engines.”
    Dani Lindberg, Sustainability Manager at Viking Line
    “It is gratifying that the ports provide a land-based power supply since the law does not require vessels to use an onshore power supply until 2030. After that time, all vessels in port for more than two hours will have to use a land-based power supply instead of fuel, and the ports will have to make certain that the necessary infrastructure for using such power is in place.” 
    Dani Lindberg, Sustainability Manager at Viking Line
    “The protection of the Baltic Sea is something close to our hearts since our company has its roots in the archipelago and our vessels sail daily through the sensitive natural environments there. We have had long-term collaborations for many years with organizations that promote research on the Baltic Sea and do concrete work to protect the unique nature in this maritime environment. Our shared ambition is to preserve the biodiversity and viability of the sea and its archipelagos.”
    Dani Lindberg, Sustainability Manager at Viking Line
    “We are really pleased and grateful that Viking Line has supported our research operations for many years. Nearly all of our research is conducted nowadays with external funding so long-term partnerships are vital to us. With the help of the latest donation, we will continue the work to develop the Monicoast coastal observatory.”
    Joanna Norkko, research coordinator at the Tvärminne Zoological Station
    "Our customers are increasingly interested in what they eat and where their food comes from. We’re focused on finding additional locally sourced products, and the percentage we use is constantly growing. Along with meeting our stringent quality criteria, producers must also be able to supply a sufficient amount of the ingredient."
    Janne Lindholm, Restaurant Manager at Viking Line
    "Last year, our wide-ranging Christmas buffet was particularly praised by customers. They especially appreciated that our Christmas buffet has the right balance of traditional dishes and that, unlike many other restaurants, we don't experiment with all the flavours of the world. For us, Finnish beetroot salad (rosolli) is rosolli and not root vegetable salad flavoured with mulled wine spices. On our vessels, customers can be sure they get exactly what they expect."
    Janne Lindholm, Restaurant Manager at Viking Line
    “There is always a wonderful atmosphere on our special cruises, and they expand people’s notions of what a ship experience is like. These passenger don’t take the special cruises mainly to shop in the tax-free store or marvel at the archipelago views, but instead to enjoy the programmes developed around a shared passion and to meet like-minded people. For us, the special cruises are an effective way to reach target groups that are not interested in traditional cruise products.”
    Jaakko Ahti, Project Manager, who is in charge of Viking Line’s theme cruises
    “I think the idea of age categories will completely disappear in the future, so that the theme itself will be the most important thing. Anyone between twenty and ninety can be interested in fine vintage wines, gardening cruises or metal music."
    Jaakko Ahti, Project Manager, who is in charge of Viking Line’s theme cruises
    "Our customers' knowledge about sustainability in wine production has increased enormously over the past 5–10 years. Making sustainable choices is important especially for young adults, that is, Generations Z and Y. They expect a wide assortment of sustainable alternatives from different wine regions, for different grapes and from different brands."
    Carl Mörn, Senior Category Manger at Viking Line
    "In wine production, many different regional and international certificates are used to describe the wine's sustainability, though the general public is not that familiar with them. We want to make it easy to make sustainable choices so we use our own symbol, which indicates that the wine is sustainable. More information about the wine can be found not just by using the QR code but also from our sales staff, who are trained to talk about the origin of the wines and help customers make sustainable wine choices."
    Carl Mörn, Senior Category Manger at Viking Line
    "Estonia, Sweden and Åland all drew Finnish visitors this summer. Local tourism is apparently more than a passing phenomenon seen during the Covid era – in fact, it has grown further. We also had a really strong offering on all of our routes – for many of our passengers, the sea journey itself is the highlight of their holidays and the most important reason to take a cruise."
    Ninna Suominen, Viking Line’s Head of Marketing
    "Surprisingly enough, South Korea accounted for the largest increase among our international passengers this past summer. South Koreans take group trips and want to visit as many countries as possible on their trip – so cruises are a great solution for them."
    Lauri Orpana, Sales and Marketing Manager who is responsible for Viking Line’s international market
    "Tourists from the Finnish mainland have discovered what is unique and exotic about Åland. We've noted how Finnish customers want an even broader experience of Åland than Swedes and invest in high-quality overnight stays and food."
    Niko Micklin, Marketing and Sales Manager at Visit Åland
    "Viking Glory – our newest vessel – and Viking Grace stop at Åland twice a day. On the sea journey, people can enjoy the unique archipelago scenery year-round – first in the Turku archipelago and then the Åland archipelago. We’ve also noticed in our own operations how local tourism has become popular, and our bookings for the autumn look promising for Åland as well."
    Johanna Boijer-Svahnström, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Viking Line
    “We are proud of our ranking, because we have carried out focused environmental work since the 1980s and also take into consideration the other aspects of sustainability in all our operations. It is very encouraging that, according to the survey, our passengers have the greatest expectations in terms of sustainable development – and they are also the most satisfied with our communication on sustainability.  In order to make sustainable choices, people need knowledge, and we want to give our passengers more and more of this every year.”
    Dani Lindberg, sustainability manager at Viking Line
    “One of our biggest environmental initiatives this year is that we offer our passengers and will soon offer our cargo customers the chance to purchase biofuel to offset the fuel used on their trip. When a passenger booking a trip chooses biofuel, greenhouse gas emissions from their journey are reduced by as much as 90 per cent compared to the other fuels that our vessels use.”
    Dani Lindberg, sustainability manager at Viking Line
    “The proximity to the sea and maritime passenger service between Turku and Stockholm are an important part of our city’s identity and attractiveness. Smooth commuter traffic by sea is an important competitive factor for businesses in our region. It is impossible to imagine Turku without Viking Line and the sea link to Stockholm that this passenger service enables. For 50 years, Viking Line has shown courage in renewing itself and investing to strengthen this vital link.”
    Minna Arve, the mayor of Turku
    “Finns became really interested in taking a cruise in the 1980s. The Turku vessels played an important role in this boom, and the mini cruises in particular drew people from different parts of the country. Trains and tour operator buses stopped right outside the terminal.”
    Johanna Boijer-Svahnström, Viking Line’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications
    “Viking XPRS’s current bookings are well above last year’s level, and for certain days we’ve already exceeded our 2019 figures. July also looks promising.”
    Minna Tuorila, Commercial Director at Viking Line
    “Gabriella and Cinderella offer a wide range of cruise ship services, excellent shopping options and lovely sun decks. Sailing with them, for example, a family with children can take a 6.5 hour cruise that costs less than a day at an amusement park. During the summer, all of our vessels have a Ville Viking Adventure Island, which provides a lot of activities and different game opportunities for children. A new feature on our vessels this summer is the theme room developed around the launch of LEGO’s new Ninjago products.”
    Minna Tuorila, Commercial Director at Viking Line
    "This really is an important milestone in our more than 40-year journey towards sustainability. We are the first shipping company on the Baltic Sea to offer passengers the option of reducing their carbon footprint by replacing LNG with renewable biofuel. Many of our passengers have asked for such an option, and we are really pleased that we can now engage them even more in our work for the environment and the Baltic Sea."
    Dani Lindberg, Sustainability Manager at Viking Line
    "Through our project work and partnership for the sustainable maritime transport of the future, we have gained a great deal of knowledge and information to support our own sustainability work. Carbon-neutral maritime transport still lies in the future, but it is no longer a utopian dream. Our goal at Viking Line is to be among the first when the time comes."
    Jan Hanses, President and CEO of Viking Line
    “The artist Tiina Elina Nurminen’s fantastic, vibrantly coloured and detailed works of art had already made an impression on us. We also know that she loves cruises and the Viking Line vessels in her home town. So it was a natural choice to commission her in particular for the prints on our new reusable carrier bags. Passengers carry her bags from our vessels all across Finland and out into the world, providing enormous exposure for her works, which sparkle with the joy of life.”
    Dani Lindberg, Sustainability Manager at Viking Line
    “This project with Viking Line is an incredibly wonderful thing for art activities for people with special needs. Combining art with reusable carrier bags in itself is a fantastic idea. It is also encouraging for other artists with special needs that Viking Line commissioned works from Tiina Elina Nurminen, and it gives them faith in their own work. People with special needs rarely have their voice heard in society. Art is a vital channel of expression for them, and the importance of the art studios in this context is irreplaceable.”
    Sirpa Taulu, Executive Director of the Kettuki European Outsider Art Association
    “We are proud to support and be part of the 2023  MICHELIN Guide Ceremony for the Nordic Countries. MICHELIN Guide distinctions and food tourism go together, and for more and more of our passengers our food is the main reason for taking a cruise. Our goal is to offer the best food on the Baltic Sea and to continuously raise the level of ambition in our kitchens. We have long worked in partnership with the Swedish National Culinary Team and have also been involved in and arranged the Chef of the Year contest.”
    Janne Lindholm, Viking Line’s restaurant manager
    “A professionally skilled and engaged restaurant staff is the most important guarantee of quality for us. Without our talented employees, we would not be able to serve the best food on the Baltic Sea. It feels like a big honour to be able to present our knowledge and our food philosophy to guests at the Nordic MICHELIN Guide Ceremony. Our Åland roots are clearly reflected in the ingredients we have chosen and in the servings – just as they are reflected on our customers’ plates.”
    Janne Lindholm, Viking Line’s restaurant manager
    "There is great interest in Cinderella, and ticket sales have been lively ever since we announced that the vessel will return to Helsinki over the summer. For some of our customers, Cinderella is an old friend whereas for others the vessel is a new acquaintance that they absolutely want to experience,"
    Ninna Suominen, Vice President of Marketing at Viking Line
    "Stockholm is also really attractive this summer. The Swedish krona is cheap, and Stockholm is literally overflowing with interesting events for the whole family. In the city this summer, people can take part in royal festivities: King Carl Gustaf was crowned 50 years ago and Gustav Vasa was crowned 500 years ago. The amusement park Gröna Lund is celebrating its 250th anniversary, and after a visit to the amusement park people can conveniently take the city boat Emelie from the island of Djurgården to the city centre."
    Ninna Suominen, Vice President of Marketing at Viking Line
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