Ruotsin-laiva or ruotsinlaiva (Finnish for "ship to Sweden") or Finlandsfärja (Swedish for "ship to Finland") is a common name for the large passenger ferries (RORO-type) providing daily transport from the Finnish cities of Helsinki and Turku to the Swedish city of Stockholm and back. The Pride of Burgundy, a P&O Ferries car ferry on the Dover-Calais route A ferry is a boat or a ship carrying passengers, and sometimes their vehicles, on scheduled services. ... RORO is an acronym for Roll On/Roll Off; a type of ferry that carries wheeled cargo such as automobiles, trailers or railway carriages. ... It has been suggested that Hietaniemi beach be merged into this article or section. ... Province Western Finland Region Finland Proper Sub-region Turku City manager Armas Lahoniitty Official languages Finnish, Swedish Area  - total  - land ranked 311th 245. ... The Old town in Stockholm from the air Stockholm â–¶(?) is the capital of Sweden, located on the east coast at the entrance of lake Mälaren. ...

Viking Line ferry: M/s Rosella

Two major rival companies, Viking Line and Silja Line, operate on the routes. Both companies' ferries are mainly coloured white, but Viking Line's trademark colour is red while Silja Line uses blue. Image File history File links One of the huge ferry boats sailing from Mariehamn harbour Photograph taken in August 2001 by Henryk Kotowski and is released under the terms of GNU GFDL File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this... Viking Line is a Finnish shipping company that operates a fleet of large combined ferry/cruise ships between Finland, the Åland Islands, Sweden and Estonia. ... Silja Line ships in Helsinki. ...

The ferries are huge, compared to the distance they travel. They are mostly about 170-200 metres long, 30 metres wide and as high as five- or six-story houses. Inside, they offer many restaurants, night clubs and tax free shopping, which is the main attraction for many cruise passengers. Ferries are also important means of transport between the two countries and their car decks can accommodate hundreds of cars and dozens of lorries. The metre or (in American English) meter (symbol: m) is the SI base unit of length. ... Toms Diner, a restaurant in New York made familiar by Suzanne Vega and the television sitcom Seinfeld Eating Out redirects here. ... A nightclub (often dance club or club, particularly in the UK) is an entertainment venue which does its primary business after dark. ...

The ferries are often criticised because the low prices of alcoholic beverages encourage passengers to become drunk and act like idiots. In particular, on cruises holding a GOOM party, drunken university students can be almost intolerable. Bottles of cachaça, a Brazilian alcoholic beverage. ... GOOM is an annual university students party event held in Helsinki, Finland. ...

1995 when Finland and Sweden joined the European Union the abolition of tax-free sales on ferry boats travelling between destinations within the European Union made Finland demand an exception for the Åland Islands. The exception allows for maintained VAT tax-free sales on the ferries passing via the islands. Thus the traditional direct Stockholm - Helsinki route of the ferries had to be modified and all ferries nowadays stop briefly at Åland. National motto: ? Official language Swedish Capital Mariehamn Governor Peter Lindbäck Premier Roger Nordlund Total Area  - Land  - Water 6,784 km² 1,527 km² 5,258 km² Population  - Total (2002)  - Density 26,257 17. ... Value added tax (VAT) is a sales tax levied on the sale of goods and services. ...

See also

M/S Estonia, a ferry that was operated on Turku - Stockholm route 1980-1990 as Viking Sally M/S Estonia disaster, artists rendering The M/S Estonia was a RORO car and passenger ferry built in 1979 in Germany. ...