Helsinki to Tallinn Ferry Review – Eckero

For only 19EUR, I took a 2 hour ferry ride on a cruise liner from Helsinki to Tallinn.  This was probably the best 19EUR I’ve ever spent.

There are actually several ferry companies that go between Finland and Estonia.  I priced them out and Eckero happened to have the best price for the time I wanted to go.

When you get on the ship, there aren’t any designated seats.  It’s kind of like eating at a food court.  You can just go and sit wherever there’s an open seat.

With my luggage in hand, I had no plans of carrying with me for the two hours.  I was traveling alone so it’s a hassle to walk around the ship with luggage.

One floor above the ship entrance for passengers was an array of different sized lockers.  I rented a fairly large locker that was big enough for my backpack and my large duffel bag for 4EUR.  The locker only took coins so I was forced to buy something.  I bought champagne for 6EUR.

It was perfect because I didn’t want to carry around any excess coins.  I don’t like coins for two reasons:

• 1. People here you when you walk around.  I like walking around in complete silence.
• 2. They weigh your pants down. Extra weight will slow you down

I walked around a bit and ended up listening to live music in two different parts of the ship.

I then went in search of food.  There was a buffet and a restaurant but the lines were very long.  I ended up going to the cafeteria because the line was short.  If you’ve ever been to the cafeteria in Ikea, this was just a bigger version of that.  I picked up a tray and utensils and made my way down the line.  As I continued to move forward and examined the food, I noticed nothing was in English.  The makes sense since this boat just shuttles between Finland and Estonia.  I wasn’t going to let this stop me from eating.  I purchased the safest looking things I could find:

It was some type of egg bread and a (buffalo?) chicken wrap.  It hit the spot.  People can’t just live on champagne.

With my thirst quenched and my hunger satisfied, I decided to take a chance on video poker.  I put in a 20EUR bill and was expecting to lose it all immediately, but ended up doing pretty well.  When it came to cash out, I realized that all the buttons (not on screen) weren’t in English.  I systematically just started pressing buttons one at a time until it was either another bet or money came out.

When I finally found the right button, I ended up winning 18EUR…but all in super heavy coins.  Dang it.

It was a pretty awesome two hour cruise and I would definitely do it again.

FYI: Beware of 3 hour cruises marketed as “3 hour tours.”  Especially if your riding in a small boat with a millionaire (super suspicious that he doesn’t have his own boat), an actress, a professor, and several other regular people.  Those tend to last only three seasons.