Meanwhile in Tallin(n/k)

Yet another docking season has come to an end and although some of the happenings have been reflected on my Facebook page, I'll sum them up once more.

First of all, Viking Line's Rosella came to Tallinn for several weeks in January. Among other changes, her livery was refreshed and she now has stripes on her sides similar to those on her newer fleetmates. At first it caused a wave of excitement but when she left the dock and started service again, it turned into disappointment. Many believed that she would look good with stripes, but definitely not the way they were done, the company logo on her sides was also complained about.

Rosella in Mariehamn, photo by Mikael Aaltonen

Protest groups were formed and petitions signed and angry letters sent, many photoshopped-painted their visions of how she should have been done and some mocked:

Actually looks good on the Grace, doesn't it?
By Jonny Albert Hietala

Eventually, we received a confirmation that Rosella is getting her stripes fixed in spring; the shipyard  commented that the mishap happened due to their inability to see the ship from farther away while she was in dock. In the meantime, there is still some time to travel to see her with her current look.

Meanwhile in Tallink - the Romantika, having received more of a negative response from Estonians after her route change, went to a long drydock and still continues to be refit while serving. However I can't say much about the changes happening, because I've never been on board at all.
Many other ships had their regular maintenance. Today Tallink made two announcements.
Firstly, they have sold Regina Baltica and Silja Festival. Both of them had already been chartered for a while, which means that Tallink's own regular service is not affected.

Both the sold vessels in Tallinn, November 2013

Secondly, the intended third Tallinn-Helsinki shuttle vessel was ordered from Meyer Turku. She will be significantly larger than the first two and will be delivered in 2017, 10 years after the first one, the Star, was delivered. She will also run on LNG. 

What she will mostly look like

In addition to all that, the Finlandia was also retouched, but I'll write more of that in my next post.