Attractive, modern vessel. (The Super Star) Good shopping facilities. However as a passenger who…read moreupgraded to Comfort Class, I really didn't feel there was value in my choice. Our private lounge was smallish and crowded and the tables and chairs were arranged in groups just as in a restaurant. I had expected a comfortable lounge chair- maybe like a business class airline seat but these chairs were like cafeteria chairs. There were some complimentary snacks but pretty ordinary: crackers, tea and coffee, veggies with a dip for more healthful fare. That was about it. None of it tempted me for a second. As for the prospect of sitting in the cafeteria-style chairs for two hours, I eventually abandoned this lounge and found a more comfortable location in another part of the ship. Skip Comfort Class is my advice.

We took the Star ship twice from Helsinki, Finland to Tallinn, Estonia and vice versa. It looked…read morelike they converted an old cruise ship to an oversized ferry. The ship was spacious and had plenty of space to hold all the passengers. There were lounges and plenty of seating. They had a cafeteria, Burger King, and duty free shopping. They also had a supermarket where you could buy items in bulk. The most popular items were crates of beer and alcohol. Cars and trucks could drive onto the ferry/ship too so if any of you rent a car-- I'm sure you can easily take this to expand your itinerary. You can book your ticket online and then check in. Upon checkin, they'll check your passport. You board the ship about 30-45 minutes before departure. It took us approximately 2 hours to get from one port to the next.

Used this terminal twice- to get to Tallinn, Estonia, and bac again via the Viking XPRS ship. When…read moredeparting from this terminal, they have everyone line up in a large terminal room with insufficient seating and then open the flood gates, allowing everyone to spill onto the ship to try and scout out the primo seats. It's an old fashioned land grab when they open the doors 20 minutes before departure. They don't have sufficient wheelchair services. It's difficult to find a porter with a wheelchair, and things aren't labelled very well. They do offer elevators to get up to the upper decks of the loading platform, but it's a pain to walk up those big ramps with suitcases in tow. There is a cafe here past "security" where they inspect your tickets, but prices were high, and the only stuff they seemed to be moving was beer and coffee. They offer some pre-departure entertainment, with the Viking Cat who comes out and dances to a Finnish version of The Village Peoples' "In the Navy." The dancers who weren't in costume seemed to be half asleep going through the dance routine. In the terminal, there are large signs warning you to watch for pick pockets, and not to bring wild boar into Finland. Take heed! Getting to/from this terminal is easy, as there are taxis right out front, and the streetcar station is across the street from the terminal.

Used the terminal twice. First experience was from Helsinki to Tallinn for a day trip. Second…read moreexperience was the overnight ferry to Stockholm. Helsinki to Tallinn. Complete chaos in the waiting area prior to boarding. They hold everybody in the waiting area until...maybe 20 minutes before departure time. Then they let the floodgates open. OMG the amount of shoving, jostling to get on board was very stressful. It was also extremely hot in the waiting area with all those bodies. Helsinki to Stockholm. Much better boarding process. You got to board as you arrived to the terminal so there is not a mass crowd of people in the waiting area. A 1 star experience and a 5 star experience - averaged it out to 3 stars

The m/s J.L.Runeberg offers visitors and residents a pleasant 3.5 hour (each way) boat trip to the…read moreold Finnish city Porvoo on a restored old metal ship. Time in Porvoo is limited to about 2.5 hours. Adult fare is 39 euros with a BOGO on Mondays. The good: pay as you go food & drink service aboard (booze too), beautiful scenery, free blankets, free relatively fast Wifi. Dogs and bikes welcome. The not so good: In my opinion, they oversell and the boat could be packed with limited comfortable seating. No safety briefing nor mention of the location of life preservers ( I once spent 7 hours clinging to a cooler after my boat overturned in Florida), limited toilets, so go easy on the booze or coffee. It can get chilly while underway, even in July or August, so bring a jacket. Not much ambiance, so bring your headset/earbuds. All in all, if you have about 10 hours to burn in Helsinki and want to go on a decent boat ride with beautiful scenery, I recommend a ride on the Runeberg.

I booked comfort & business lounge. Below are my thoughts…read more Comfort class 7am ride- departed in comfort class. It was nice & quiet and only a few people. The cold breakfast was okay. No "free" hot food or alcohol in this class. Not really worth the price point but it was nice to have some quietness. At the basic fare price, you'll sit with the masses, the hoards of tourists are loud & active as the move about & without the best manners. Business lounge 4pm ride - I was really looking forward to this because my comfort experience went so well. The ticket includes hot food & alcohol. The food & dessert was a bit bland. The alcohol was nice after a long day of exploring. I didn't like the large number of people in business & the some of the loud passengers, lacking manners at the buffet. I thought there may be as much people if not less in business class, but people must want warm food after a long day. The ride was smooth with no issues. Service was nice. I liked the duty free shop but prices are comparable to market, so really not worth buying & lugging things around. Do book ahead for an easy experience.

At the end of the day, there's generally not a lot of variation in fairies. They transfer you,…read moregoods and potentially your car from one spot to another. This ferry from Helsinki over to Tallinn, Estonia It was pretty easily on the coolest one we've ever been on! This is not your standard ferry, like you see in Seattle. This is a straight up re-purposed cruise ship with something like eight floors to hang out on! There are a couple concentric areas with play rooms and lots of large benches and tables to spread out on. We hunker down on one of those, and near the playroom, for both the trip there and the trip back. The play room kept the kids busy for the entire two hour ferry ride, and had plenty of room for them to hang out in. There were a numberDifferent places to grab food as well as a number of bars if you felt like 9 AM drinking was in order. There were also spots to head outside And look at the ocean. Overall, this is really as good as a ferry can get this coming from somebody who is ridden the Seattle ferries for a long time! In addition, Estonia was absolutely awesome and it's a place you should definitely see if you have a chance. Overall, this is the way to travel by sea out of Helsinki

Have you ever wondered what riding in a toy boat on the open seas might feel like? What about…read moresitting on a stranger's lap or queuing up for an Irish coffee and a pack of cigarettes even though you're not a smoker just because you think maybe you'd like to take it up before you drown? Well...Linda Line in foul weather is just the mode of transport you've been looking for! Kidding! (kind of). I've taken Linda Line so many times - obviously I like it. In good weather, the speed and price can't be beat. Don't get me wrong, I love a good old rollicking ride on Eckero or Tallink, but with a toddler in tow (Omg! I'm a mom! I have a lump of noise covered in dirt on my hands and his offspring, too!) and a husband I can barely understand half the time, 1.5 hours is about all I can take in a confined space on a large body of water. Take the game "20 questions", multiply it by 11.9 and you have the sum of 1.5 hours of being Me. If you have a kid or a short temper, Go VIP or Comfort Class over Tourist. If you are 18-22 and stay in hostels/ are backpacking around (I don't judge - I've been there and Tourist Class would have seemed like a night at the Ritz) tourist is a good, cheap way to go. Upgrading to Comfort/VIP class is only 15e more expensive per adult and 5e more for kids. If you have Tourist Class tickets but take a massive enough stroller/pram, they will have little choice but to send you to Comfort Class, so it could be ok to chance it in that case and hope for the best. In VIP/Comfort Class, you'll board first and it will happen in an orderly fashion. In Tourist, you will board in a long ass line and you'll wish you'd arrived earlier, so you didn't have to take those seats in between the singletons who don't want to sit next to other singletons but also don't give a shit that there are groups of people/families who may wish to sit together. Just ask those people to move. Don't expect miracles, though - these people don't care about you. Then pray your kid pukes so you can really drive home the point that if daddy had been sitting in that seat, poor Singleton wouldn't be covered head to toe in little Tommy or Janie's breakfast. The Linda Line is clean, Comfort Class or VIP is really spacious and comfortable and the service is table side so you don't even have to get up. There is better food and sometimes it's free. So is alcohol. You're (I'm) going to need that. Even Tourist Class is ok considering the brevity of the trip. The boat really can get knocked around pretty good so take some dramamine before you go. The alcohol shop is well-stocked considering it's the size of a NYC closet and carries chocolates and booze for dirt cheap. The food, drink, and cigarettes are also super crazy inexpensive and not bad at all. Lunch in the upper classes is actually Price:Quality very good. Bottom line: Get to Tallinn fast. Take Linda Line. Don't be cheap: upgrade a bit for a better experience. Or don't and take someone you really like being close to. Just make sure to brush your teeth and take breath mints because you will be REALLY CLOSE. Leaving on a Friday vs. a Saturday = a 30 euro different. So try to leave a day early or travel mid-week. Highly recommended in the areas of cleanliness, service, speed, and comfort. Prices are competitive with Eckero and Tallink, depending on the day. Bon Voyage! PS- they weren't even assholes about my son projectile vomiting all over their (very) clean seats in VIP section recently. They probably talked mad trash about us after we left. But they were very efficient and business-like about the whole situation while it was happening. And happening again. And again. And then during the clean-up phase. Thanks again! See you next week, Linda!

My trips to and from Tallinn were both on time, easy to find in both cities and were comfortable in…read moretourist class.

Took this Ferry to Tallinn for a tour. Arrived early to the…read moreWest Terminal and the check-in station opened up around 7:30. You have to board 45 minutes before departure. The Ferry was scheduled to leave at 9. After Passport check, the boarding gate is on the second floor. The Ship actually has floors with Cabins. I saw a Casino as well Bingo was being played. A couple of stores and apparently alcohol is much cheaper in Estonia so many were getting their supply to bring back to Helsinki. A few options for food, coffee, cocktails on the different decks. Sky Deck is on the 9th floor where you can have some nice views. Not quite Cruise Ship level but they're doing their best. There was a lively one man band on the return trip (6:30 departure) which was fun. A little over 2 hours from Helsinki to Tallinn. Plenty of tables but they fill up fast so good to grab one right after boarding.

Excellent way to get from Tallinn to Helsinki. Recommend splurging for the Lounge. It was only $50…read morea ticket and you have private access to snacks, beverages, restrooms and comfortable seating. The trip was 2 hours and 15 minutes. The ship is clean and crew are very organized

This is the ferry terminal where the various boats go on the overnight trips from Helsinki to…read moreTallinn. We had heard it was commonplace for people from Finland to go over for several hours of more affordable shopping then ride right back the next day. We used the Tallink ship as an actual mode of transportation to our next stop on the trip. The street care stops right outside and the terminal was relatively nice. Kinda crowded at the beginning but not so bad once you made it on the boat. Staff was helpful. Beer and snacks were expensive; our last taste of Finland price before finding out how incredibly cheap it was to be in Estonia. Views of the city and harbor from the upper deck of the boat were great.