Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Too many Drunks on Tallinn ferry

Approx how many of the people taking the Tallinn ferry on Sunday tend to be drunks? 50%? more than that?





Will I get a %26quot;frustrated%26quot; feeling on these ferries for the 2 hrs?




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My question was regarding daytime ferries - 10am, 12am to Tallinn, 1700, 1800 return to Helsinki




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No, not that many on any of the departures. Especially if you are going to Tallinn on a morning departure, then none. And in summer the crossings are mainly used by families and other holiday makers as a mere means of transportation to Tallinn. Booze cruises are usually arranged on other ships (mainly on Tallink%26#39;s Baltic Princess and its 22 h cruises).





Don%26#39;t worry you will certainly not get frustrated in a mere two hours ;-) . Use the time to admire the sceneries (especially get a glance of Tallinn before the ship arrives in the harbour), visiting shops and perhaps also eating or having a cup of coffee in the restaurants and cafes on board.




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If you go to Tallinn for a day trip, take an earlier ferry from Helsinki to Tallinn to allow more time to see the town!




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Good; looks like for the times I was looking at, it is showing M/S Star and M/S Superstar




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On the fast ships (Star and Superstar) there%26#39;s never high risk for drunks :-) .





Baltic Princess (the booze cruise) has a fixed schedule throughout the year: it departs daily from Helsinki at 6:30 pm, arrives in Tallinn at 10 pm when one-way travellers leave the ship. The booze cruisers continue the party onboard until morning hours. The next opportunity to leave the ship is in the morning and at 1 pm the ship heads back to Helsinki and arrives there at 4:30 pm.





But as you have been advised by many on this forum, you%26#39;d get more out of your day in Tallinn if you take the early morning ship at 7:30 or 8:30 (depending on the day, on Sundays the first departure is at 10:30).




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Stay out of the bars and you won%26#39;t have a problem. Actually, there%26#39;s no huge problem even IN the bars. There are usually more people showing signs of inebriation on the later ferries from Tallinn to Helsinki due to returning booze cruisers, but they are seldom a nuisance.




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I suggest to take Linda Line instead of Tallink, better timetables, better service, faster. Less drunks than on Tallinks wessels.





Anyway, on the way back you cannot be too drunk, since you have to be in shape to carry all the %26#39;almost free%26#39; alcohol from Tallinn to Finland.




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I%26#39;ve travelled on all the ferry lines operating between Tallinn and Helsinki this summer (and for many years previously) and there is a clear connection between onboard drunkenness and the length of the trip. Finns have done this route many times and it gets a little dull, so they hit the bottle.



Linda takes 1½ hours, Viking and Tallink 2 and Eckerö 3 (3½ on the return leg). One nautical hour = three nautical drinks.



The conclusions are obvious.




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The drunks shouldn%26#39;t be a bother unless they throw up on you.





My solution has always been to get drunker than they are. When you are drunk, you don%26#39;t seem to notice people who are less drunk than you are. And then instead of having your ferry ride ruined by a drunk, you can ruin somebody elses.





(Maybe you could even throw up on them!)




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I%26#39;d agree with the recommendation to go on a Linda Line catamaran. You also save time when disembarking because they don%26#39;t carry more than about 200 passengers. The small terminals in Helsinki (Makasiini) and Tallinn (Linnahall) are also more personal.

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