The Viking Cinderella is a RoPax - Ferry in 1989 by Wärtsilä Marine Perno shipyard in Turku as Cinderella for the SF Line , one of three owners of the Viking Line was put consortium which is in service. Their standard route, marketed as a short sea trip, leads from Stockholm to Mariehamn and in the summer months with occasional traffic to Riga .
The Cinderella was ordered as the new flagship of the SF Line in the second half of the 1980s. The interior was designed on the basis of the Mariella , but with significantly more space for cabins and passenger areas. Originally, the Cinderella was supposed to replace the Mariella on the lucrative Helsinki - Stockholm route, which in turn was to start a new service from Helsinki to Norrköping . However, this plan was never realized, which is why the Cinderella was used as the third ship on the route from Helsinki to Stockholm and back. The departure days were always Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m. (instead of the normal departure time at 6:00 p.m.). The round trip time was 25 hours (later 24 hours). These short trips quickly enjoyed great popularity, so that as a result, they were also offered on Fridays and Saturdays. In 1988 SF-Line made a short-term plan to order a sister ship to the Cinderella from the Yugoslav shipyard Brodogradilište Split . However, this plan was discarded when it became known that the competitor Euroway had ordered two large ferries there.
Cinderella in the original livery. The panoramic window across the deck can only be found on the starboard side.
In 1993, after the Rederi AB Slite - another shareholder of the Viking Line - had to file for bankruptcy, the Cinderella took over the service of the Olympia together with the Mariella on the Helsinki-Stockholm route. The passenger capacity was increased to 2,700, but soon reduced again to 2,500. In the fall of 1994, she exchanged services with the Isabella to operate 24-hour cruises from Helsinki to Tallinn . The following summer, the Cinderella was used on the route from Turku to Stockholm with a stopover in Mariehamn in order to be able to use the Rosella for the temporary traffic on the Naantali- Mariehamn- Kappelskär route . The use of the Cinderella lasted until the summer of 1996. In addition to the normal missions, the ship was also used for other cruises from Helsinki to Riga in 2002 and 2003 .
At the end of the 2003 summer season, the Viking Line decided to pull the Cinderella off the Helsinki-Tallinn route. The competitor Tallink had significantly increased the pressure with their new Romantika . In addition, when Estonia joined the EU in 2004, the option of duty-free shopping on board ended. In response to these points, the Viking Line had the Cinderella in Naantali extensively converted. She got her new, white color dress, and the flag was changed to Sweden. Since there was already a ship called Cinderella in Sweden , it has been operating under the name Viking Cinderella ever since . The Swedish shipping authorities declared the ship the most environmentally friendly ship under the Swedish flag at the time. Since 2004, the Viking Cinderella has been making 22-hour trips to Riga in the summer months with a stop in Mariehamn in order to be able to guarantee duty-free shopping on board again. The rest of the time, the Viking Cinderella operates on the Stockholm -Mariehamn-Stockholm route. The duration of this cruise is 21 hours. The Viking Cinderella is the last ship in the Viking fleet to operate under the Swedish flag. All other ships were flagged to Finland.
