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Pride of Bilbao (now Moby Orli), an archetypical cruiseferry. Built for Rederi AB Slite for the Baltic cruise market and operated until 2010 by P&O Ferries between Portsmouth in the UK and Bilbao in the Basque Country, Spain. She was sold by Irish Continental Group at the end of her charter to P&O Ferries in 2010 and the operated for St. Peter Line among Stockholm, Tallinn, Helsinki and Saint Petersburg, before being moved to Italy.

A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a cruise ship and a Ro-Pax 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.

Cruiseferry traffic is mainly concentrated 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 acquisition of Silja Line in 2006.

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]

Year Name Tonnage1 Company Traffic area Flag Notes
1956 MV Akdeniz 8,809  GRT Turkish Maritime Lines Mediterranean Sea   Turkey Built 1955
1975 MS Belorussiya 16,331  GRT Black Sea Shipping Company Black Sea   Soviet Union Alongside five identical sisters built 1975–76
1976 MS Napoléon [ fr] 20,079  GRT SNCM Mediterranean   France Sent to Comarit in 2002.
1977 GTS Finnjet 24,605  GRT Enso-Gutzeit ( Finnlines traffic) Baltic Sea   Finland Gas turbine-powered. Also fastest and longest
1981 MS Finlandia 25,905  GRT Effoa ( Silja Line traffic) Baltic Sea   Finland Alongside identical sister MS Silvia Regina
1982 MS Scandinavia 26,747  GT Scandinavian World Cruises [ da],
later DFDS Seaways
New YorkBahamas
CopenhagenOslo
  Denmark
1985 MS Svea 33,829  GT Johnson Line ( Silja Line traffic) Baltic Sea   Sweden
1985 MS Mariella 37,799  GT SF Line ( Viking Line traffic) Baltic Sea   Finland
1989 MS Athena 40,012  GT Rederi AB Slite ( Viking Line traffic) Baltic Sea   Sweden
1989 MS Cinderella 46,398  GT SF Line ( Viking Line traffic) Baltic Sea   Finland
1990 MS Silja Serenade 58,376  GT Silja Line Baltic Sea   Finland
1991 MS Silja Symphony 58,377  GT Silja Line Baltic Sea   Sweden
1993 MS Silja Europa 59,914  GT Tallink Baltic Sea   Estonia Ordered by Rederi AB Slite for Viking Line traffic
2001 MS Pride of Rotterdam 59,925  GT P&O Ferries North Sea   Netherlands
2001 MS Pride of Hull 59,925  GT P&O Ferries North Sea   Netherlands
2004 MS Color Fantasy 75,027  GT Color Line Kattegat, Skagerrak   Norway
2007 MS Color Magic 75,100  GT Color Line Kattegat, Skagerrak   Norway
1May be specified in gross tonnage (GT) or gross register tons (GRT).

List of cruiseferry operators

Åland

Australia

Canada

Croatia

Denmark

Estonia

Faroe Islands

Finland

France

Greece

Ireland

Italy

Mexico

Norway

Poland

Spain

Sweden

United Kingdom

Japan

Gallery

See also

References