Cruiseferry
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A cruiseferry or cruise ferry is a ship that combines the features of a cruise ship and a Ro-Pax (roll-on/roll-off passenger) ferry. Many passengers travel with the ships for the cruise experience, staying only a few hours at the destination port or not leaving the ship at all, while others use the ships as means of transportation. Some operators prefer to refer to them as "cruise ships with car decks."
Cruiseferries are most common in the seas of Northern Europe, especially the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. However, similar ships traffic across the English Channel as well as the Irish Sea, Mediterranean and even on the North Atlantic. Cruiseferries also operate from India, China and Australia.
Baltic Sea cruiseferries
In the northern Baltic Sea, two major rival companies, Viking Line and Silja Line, have for decades competed on the routes between Turku and Helsinki in Finland and Sweden's capital Stockholm. Since the 1990s Tallink has also risen as a major company in the area, culminating with the acquisition of Silja Line in 2006.
While superficially resembling cruise ships that operate primarily in tropical climates, Baltic cruiseferries will have windows rather than balconies for cabins/suites, plus a higher hull and promenade deck with higher positioning of lifeboats (the height above water called the freeboard), a longer bow, and for additional strength they are often designed with thicker hull plating than is found on cruise ships, as well as a deeper draft for greater stability. Cruise ferries share these above attributes with ocean liners in order to protect against the large waves and cold stormy weather, since cruise ferries are expected to ply the Baltic Sea year-round while cruise ships can only do so in the summer.
The largest Baltic cruiseferries offer many of the amenities found on contemporary cruise ships, including a wide range of restaurants, entertainment options, and health and fitness facilities. However on cruiseferries, many of these facilities such as the pool deck and shopping arcade are fully enclosed due to the cool Baltic climate. Cruiseferry cabins are typically smaller as voyages are only one or two nights, plus food is generally not included in cruise ferry fares, whereas cruise ships usually have itineraries lasting three nights or more and fares are all inclusive.
List of largest cruiseferries of their time
The term "cruiseferry" did not come into use until the 1980s, although it has been retroactively applied to earlier ferries that have large cabin capabilities and public spaces in addition to their car- and passenger-carrying capacity.[citation needed]
List of cruiseferry operators
Åland
Australia
Canada
Croatia
Denmark
Estonia
Faroe Islands
Finland
- Finland Eckerö Line
- Finland Silja Line (operated by Estonia Tallink)
- Finland (Åland) Viking Line
- Finland Finnlines
- Finland Wasa Line
- Finland (Estonia) Helsinki Cruises Line
France
Greece
- Greece ANEK Lines
- Greece Blue Star Ferries
- Greece Hellenic Seaways
- Greece LANE Lines
- Greece Levante Ferries
- Greece Minoan Lines
- Greece NEL Lines
- Greece Superfast Ferries
- Greece Ventouris Ferries
Hong Kong
- Hong Kong Genting Hong Kong (defunct)
Ireland
- Republic of Ireland Brittany Ferries
- Republic of Ireland DFDS Seaways
- Republic of Ireland Irish Ferries
- Republic of Ireland P&O Ferries
- Republic of Ireland Stena Line
Italy
- Italy Grandi Navi Veloci
- Italy Grimaldi Lines
- Italy Corsica Ferries
- Italy Moby Lines
- Italy Tirrenia di Navigazione
Mexico
Norway
Poland
Spain
Sweden
Tunisia
United Kingdom
- United Kingdom P&O Ferries
- United Kingdom NorthLink Ferries
- United Kingdom Brittany Ferries
- United Kingdom Irish Ferries
- United Kingdom Stena Line
Japan
Gallery
- Pont-Aven, Brittany Ferries' flagship.
- M/S Silja Europa, the largest cruiseferry in the world 1993–2001.
- M/S Cinderella departing Helsinki.
- M/S Mega Regina at Ile Rousse
- M/S Color Fantasy, the largest cruiseferry in the world 2004–2007.
- MS Cruise Roma in Civitavecchia, Italy.
- M/S Danielle Casanova in Bastia, Corsica, France.
- M/S Pride of Rotterdam
- MS Galaxy in Helsinki West Harbour.
- MS Scandinavia in Gdańsk, Poland.
- M/S Pearl of Scandinavia in Oslo, Norway
- MV Cap Finistère of Brittany Ferries sailing from Portsmouth International Port, UK for Bilbao, Spain.