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October 31, 2024

In April 2024, the Birka Gotland returned to active cruise service following a lengthy Covid lay-up, a subsequent change in ownership and a thorough refurbishment.

Now jointly owned by Rederi AB Gotland (Visby) and Viking Line (Mariehamn), the former Birka Paradise (2004 – 2013) and Birka Stockholm (2013 – 2019) in her third incarnation regularly diverts from her usual 22 h mini cruises between Stockholm and Mariehamn to 2-day cruises between the Swedish capital and Visby/Gotland.

It is on the departure day of one of her new Visby cruises that we arrive in Stockholm to join the ship for a second time since 2011. Guests who have sailed on the vessel before need to adapt to one novelty at this stage: The Birka Gotland no longer departs from the old “Birkaterminalen” adjacent to the city’s Slussen metro station, but has found a new home instead at “Vikingterminalen” a few walking minutes downriver. The reason is simple: Now half-owned by Viking Line (see Cruising Journal 2/2024), the vessel is free to use not only the ferry company’s very own terminal, but outright the same time slot that was allocated to her former competitor Viking Cinderella is pre-Covid days. With the latter vessel having resumed her car ferry role for Viking Line, both ships even dock next to one another every other day now. Competitors have become colleagues.

What feels like 5,000 people in the cramped ferry terminal turns out to be only a normal full complement of the Birka Gotland – 1,800 happy people of virtually all ages going on a mini-cruise in their home waters. The passenger mix comprises families with their babies as well elderly pensioner couples and everything in between. They all benefit from the Birka Gotland catering to their core demands, offering a casual short break on the Baltic Sea without the disadvantages associated with taking a similar trip on a ferry. That said, Gotland Ålandia Cruises, as the operating joint venture founded by Viking Line and Rederi AB Gotland (“Gotlandsbolaget”) is called, is a purely Swedish product, too. Safety announcements are made in English, and the signs in the buffet restaurants are bilingual as well, but apart from that the onboard language, both written and spoken, is Swedish.

Boarding for the 5 p.m. departure to Visby starts only at 4:15 p.m. which is due to the Birka Gotland’s tight schedule. Unlike “real” cruise ships, the Birka Gotland on both her Mariehamn and her Visby cruises does not spend more than 2,5 hours in the port of Stockholm for turnarounds which reduces the timeframe for cleaning and tidying up to a minimum. But the pattern is well-trained and effective, the Birka Gotland at the time of my arrival onboard appearing as orderly, clean and welcoming as could be.

Two concepts in one

It’s been a few years since I’ve last been onboard, and the ship has been refurbished and rebuilt several times in the meantime, the largest makeover having been her three-week stay at Öresundsvarvet Landskrona prior to her re-entry into service in February 2024. The first change that strikes the eye is “The Lobby” (formerly “Torget”) where the wicker chairs and plastic palms of the past have given way to cozy upholstered yellow vintage-style sofas and round tables that in this guise could also grace a 1950s-built passenger liner. What a wonderful improvement! On the other hand, the large wall picture of the Cunard liner Queen Mary along with the wooden flooring of the arcade on deck 6 has remained in place, giving the Birka Gotland, although built in the 21st century, the feel of a real passenger ship rather than an overnight ferry without a car deck.

Nevertheless, the Birka Gotland hovers between those two concepts. One the one hand, the individual segments of her cruises can be booked as one-way passages as well (making it possible to use the ship as a passenger ferry) and her timetable of mini-cruises to Gotland and Åland remains more or less the same over the year. On the other hand, she does not transport any rolling cargo and at least on her Visby cruises, her passengers can enjoy a full day ashore before returning to the ship for dinner and the overnight return sailing back to Stockholm.

Cabin 9058 opens by means of a QR code printed on the boarding card and is situated on portside on deck 9, above it being only the sun (10) and jogging deck (11). Fitted with a giant bull eye, the view outside is spectacular while wall pictures of parrots and palm trees refer to the vessel’s former incarnation as the tropically-themed Birka Paradise. The metal door to the small bathroom and shower features some scratches and dents, otherwise everything inside, including the bathroom and the carpets looks brand-new. The brass bed lamps together with the Mahagoni-style walls and shelves give the cabin a nice maritime touch.

On what turns into a fairly sunny summer afternoon upon departure, the Birka Gotland glides away from her Stadsgården terminal in time, and the mini-cruise unfolds. Piano entertainer Louice Ottoson takes her place behind the instrument at the yacht-shaped Seglarbaren on deck 6 while, attended by a substantially larger crowd, troubadour Magnus Midelf starts one of many sets of popular Swedish and international country songs on the stage of the aft sun deck. Only shortly interrupted by the passenger muster drill, the passengers soon settle into whatever activity suits them best, making use of their time on the first of two nights onboard.

The restaurants

The Birka Gotland features four restaurants, the main buffet-style restaurant “Sjösalen” and the three special dining venues “Bistro Bakfickan” (French cuisine), “Compagniet” (specialties of the season) and “Salongen” (local and other sea food a la carte), all situated on deck 6. (Deck 6 basically is the restaurant and bar deck onboard while deck 5 mainly accommodates the shopping and entertainment venues which makes orientation onboard very easy.) In addition, fast food and snacks can be ordered from the new “Terrassen” bar on deck 10. If you opt not to make reservations for the restaurants upon booking, be sure to have your ec- or credit card in hand at any time onboard, since all onboard spendings are paid for on the spot. Guests having booked a place in either restaurant should also be advised to stick to the time mentioned on their reservation. Since the restaurants are not large enough to cater to the full complement of passengers at once, seats and tables are assigned in order to accommodate all reservations after one another, so coming late for dinner might cause irritation. After all, this is not NCL’s freestyle cruising, the Birka Gotland fitting four times for instance into the giant Norwegian Prima with her ten restaurants.

Unfortunately, the Sjösalen’s general arrangement and atmosphere cannot quite compete with the buffet-style dining experience on other cruise ships. There’s a constant hustling and bustling of dining guests between the food stations and tables, music to be heard from the arcade outside as well, and the lack of carpets makes the restaurant a rather uninspiring place. That said, the food itself is nothing but fantastic. Whether you opt for cod and fries, beef and casserole or roast pork with jacket potatoes, the mix of typically Scandinavian and international cuisine offers something for every taste. My personal highlight however was pear cheesecake with chocolate powder and mint sauce for dessert – a treat I hadn’t even had on the best cruise ships. As for the drinks, both beer and wine are included in the buffet fare and can be had from self-service taps at the beverage stations. Interestingly, and despite the easy-going overall atmosphere onboard, the Birka Gotland’s passengers dress properly for dinner. There are many polo shirts and dresses to be seen and almost no shorts or baggy T-shirts like it has become common on many of today’s mass-market cruise ships.

As the ship sails peacefully through the Stockholm archipelago, the troubadour continues to perform his songs on the sun deck, albeit in front of a smaller crowd now. Nevertheless, a Swedish summer night is the perfect time to enjoy the outside spaces of the Birka Gotland to the fullest. And there are plenty of those, ideal for after-dinner walks in the fresh air. (Only note that the promenade deck on deck 5 is reserved to “crew only“ in front and cut short by the full-width night club “Backstage” aft.) And if you take a look at the radar mast on top of the panorama lounge while on your deck walk, you can spot not just one, but two shipping company flags flying from it. With the Birka Gotland jointly owned by Viking Line and Rederi AB Gotland, the house flags of either company share the place at the mast in harmony. And have you noticed the ship’s funnel? Yes, it’s got two different sides. Its portside version boasts the square red Gotlandsbolaget logo, its starboard counterpart the yellow and black Viking Line rhombus!

Terrassen and Backstage

Later in the evening, the focus of the onboard entertainment turns inwards. This goes for the night club “Backstage” on deck 5 where the ever-popular karaoke competitions have begun as well as for the “Terrassen” bar and café amidships on deck 10. In fact, the Terrassen area has seen the most radical transformation of all the ship’s onboard spaces during her early-2024 modernization. What has been a tranquil spa, wellness and pool area before has turned into a lively open-air venue, benefitting from the large magrodome in the roof which allows for both rain-proof and clear sky entertainment depending on the weather outside. At 8 p.m. the “Tobbez Trio” has taken the Terrassen stage which has been erected on the planks that cover the former swimming pool underneath. The rebuilt pool area is a welcome addition to the ship’s portfolio of entertainment and dining venues and certainly generates more income than the swimming pool itself, as nice as it may have been for the few guests enjoying an early morning or late evening swim there before. The snack bar cum fast food outlet aft (where you order and pay your food at the counter before it is served at your table) together with the new bar on portside guarantee for a constant stream of guests on this deck which has been somewhat secluded from the rest of the ship before.

As for the music concerned and judging from the audience gathered there, the Terrassen caters to a more elderly clientele while at the Backstage on deck 5, clearly speaking, it gets loud at night. With the sundeck deserted and the port of Kapellskär passed four hours after our departure, the live band “No Limits” takes over the stage there at 9 p.m. Performing straight rock music, the mix is well balanced between Swedish and English language songs. After all, the Birka Gotland is the sole survivor of what has been a trio of quite different ships sailing on mini-cruises out of Stockholm on a daily basis in pre-Covid days. While the 1953-built Birger Jarl traditionally ranked high among mainly local passengers of roughly the same vintage, Viking Line’s Viking Cinderella was known as the “party boat” and the Birka Paradise/Stockholm with her spa, swimming pool and beautiful panorama lounge attracted guests seeking a more relaxed short break at sea. Now that the former two have left the scene, the Birka Gotland needs to cater to all the different needs and tastes at once at which she excels marvelously. The Seglarbaren with its seemingly endless stream of piano hits is as well attended as the other entertainment venues while the conference area on deck 6 forward in the summer months turns into a giant children’s playground with separate rooms dedicated to underage passengers of all sizes. You can even spot the inevitable small groups of teenagers onboard who trace out the most uncomfortable and inaccessible spaces to group together in order to stare are their cellphones individually.

Whatever occupation you may pursue, the Birka Gotland has something to offer for everyone, and if you’re not bound to leave the ship early the next morning for an extended stay ashore, the first night onboard can be long. After the ship has made a short stop at Mariehamn (for tax reasons) shortly after midnight, the Backstage continues to host the live band and a DJ until the middle of the night. It is not before 2 a.m. that the BIRKA GOTLAND on her overnight sailing to Visby falls asleep for a few hours.

The master and his ship

As the ship docks in the port of the island capital at 9:30 o’clock the next morning, the sky is overcast, so no-one is in a hurry to disembark. After all, there is still plenty of time left to discover the town since the Birka Gotland will not depart for Stockholm before 6 p.m. A double page leaflet informs passengers about busses, taxis and bicycles for hire – the only downside being that, again, all information is provided in Swedish language only. Basically, you can’t get lost in Visby, but a few more concessions to the ship’s international guests would have been nice.

After breakfast, we meet Thomas Jansson, the master of the Birka Gotland. He is sharing the post with Pontus Jönsson, the two captains demonstrating perfectly the joint nature of the vessel’s operation. While Jönsson is employed by Rederi AB Gotland, having last commandeered the company’s car ferry Drotten, Jansson came to Gotland Ålandia Cruises from Viking Line, having been a former master of the Birka Gotland’s long-time rival Viking Cinderella. The same goes for the remainder of the crew and staff as well, with the navigational and engine crew of the Birka Gotland being dominated by Rederi AB Gotland employees and the hotel department mostly being in the hands of former Viking Line staff. There even are crew members onboard who have served onboard during Eckerö Line ownership (pre-Covid), but they all mix and blend well, we’re told.

During a tour of the vessel, Captain Jansson explains which areas have been modified lately to adapt the Birka Gotland to her new role. After all, customer tastes and demands have evolved significantly since the ship’s introduction in 2004 which is reflected in the vessel’s new décor. Furthermore, the swimming pool on deck 10 may have gone, but the spa facilities on the same deck (forward) continue to appeal to a lot of passengers. Therefore, the “Archipelago Spa” has been extended and now also includes a private sauna that can be pre-booked. And the wind-sheltered outside jacuzzis which offer a splendid view of the passing scenery are a favourite among the ship’s old and new passengers alike.

That said and keeping in mind that the Birka Gotland has outlived two direct competitors, not all has been plain sailing for the ship in her first year under joint Gotland/Viking Line ownership. The vessel may be fully booked on the summer cruise I am taking but press articles and quarterly reports suggest that this has not always been the case since the former Birka Stockholm has re-entered service in March. And even with the Viking Cinderella having left the mini-cruise market, there still are other players around who cater to the same clientele, for instance the operators offering mini-cruise products on their night ferries from Stockholm to Helsinki and Tallinn. Interestingly, the Birka Gotland’s two-day cruises to Visby within a short time have proven to be at least as popular as her 22 h cruises to Mariehamn, obviously covering a market niche. Personally, Captain Jansson prefers the “deviation” to Visby over the usual, albeit well-trained short stops at Mariehamn. The same goes for her other Baltic cruises which have led the Birka Gotland to ports like Rønne/Bornholm, Ystad and Härnösand. The latter have also donated harbour plaquettes which are on display on the bridge where the same item from the ports of Mariehamn and Visby are somehow missing.

And his own favourite spot onboard? “The Panorama Bar”, Jansson replies. The observation lounge in the most forward part of deck 10 has remained largely un-altered over the past 20 years and offers a fantastic view over the ship’s bow in the direction of sailing. Just like the officers have on the bridge one deck below, only without the duty to keep watch on shipping traffic, sailing boats or other distractions from their routine.

Visby

Gotland Ålandia Cruises offers two organized excursions in Visby (a 3,5 h panorama tour of the island of Gotland by bus and a 1 h hop on/hop off bus), but the best way to discover the charming seaside town with its cobblestone streets, abundance of flowers and medieval ruins is to go ashore by foot. With the Birka Gotland partly owned by Rederi AB Gotland, the vessel conveniently docks in the ferry port rather than the international cruise pier outside of the town, so the walking distance into the city is short. And if you’re lucky and experience Visby on a sunny summer’s day, make sure you extend your visit to the limits. Be it the picturesque park “Almedalen”, the busy “Store Torget” with its stands selling local sheep furs or arts and craft, the mighty Visby cathedral or the ruins of medieval churches like St. Karin or St. Nicholas, in every way Visby is a welcome break from the bustling city life of Stockholm or the rural tranquility of the Swedish lake regions.

Therefore, it is not before 3 p.m. that onboard the Birka Gotland the troubadour unpacks his guitar on the stage of the sun deck bar on 10 or that DJ Baldry resumes his efforts in entertaining the returning crowds in the Terrassen Bar and lounge on the same deck. At that time (and as promised by the captain a few hours before), the magrodome covering the Terrassen stage has indeed been opened, giving the venue the welcome atmosphere of an open-air sailaway party. Ever-popular cover versions of Elvis Presley and Paul Simon hits (sun deck bar) and Abba classics (Terrassen) contribute to a very laid-back onboard flair upon a much-to-soon departure from Visby at 6 p.m.
The sky has turned to blue when we let the Gotland ferry Gotland slip by before saying Good-Bye to Visby ourselves. The Birka Gotland is in full cruise mode now, all the sun loungers and even the outside jacuzzis occupied and her passengers lining at the railing to watch the island disappear on the horizon. In the aft sun deck bar, with troubadour Johnny Sörman taking over as the head of musical entertainment, many people spend the summer evening on the calm Baltic Sea with a book in hand, playing cards and/or having drinks in the sea breeze until the sun sets around 9 p.m.

At the Backstage meanwhile, during the blue hour the amateur karaoke performances leave a lot be desired which may be attributed to the fact that the contestants have already started to ingest one or two drinks from the nearby bar. That said, the atmosphere is fantastic and this will remain so until the night club closes sometime in the middle of the night. If you haven’t had dinner yet, now is also the perfect time to do so, the whole of deck 6 actually transpiring a lovely smell of seafood that is hard to resist. Or do you prefer quality time with your kids? Then the conference area is the place to go where table tennis and table football tournaments are in full swing. Only those totally undecided what to do on board may watch the screen where all four Rederi AB Gotland ships can be followed on their respective course towards Gotland or the Swedish mainland including their speed. The latter, however, is impressive, the three modern shuttle ferries Gotland, Visby and Drotten achieving 27 knots or more.
From 9 p.m., the live band takes the stage in the nightclub on deck 5 again, and unlike the Seglarbaren with its Abba tunes and Swedish folk songs, be prepared for some loud rock music here. Arriving at “Saturday Night’s alright for Fighting“ and “I need a Hero” later during their set, the floor vibrates and the room has become so full that there’s hardly a possibility to enter or get through. If the Viking Cinderella has been the party boat par excellence on the Baltic Sea before Covid, she has found a worthy successor in the Birka Gotland afterwards!

Mariehamn and back

Depending on how long your party went, you may or may not get up the next morning when the ship arrives for a short one-hour stop in Mariehamn at 07:30 a.m. Time may not allow to go ashore this time, but the glimpse of the capital of the Åland islands is worth as well. Unlike the early afternoon when the large car ferries from Stockholm and Turku/Finland make their intermediate stop here in short succession, this place in the morning hours offers a tranquil view, the scene dominated by the Pommern, a 1903-built tall ship serving as a floating museum and hotel vessel right behind the ferry terminal.

Leaving Mariehamn in our wake, the remainder of the mini-cruise is the ship’s 6 h trip from the Åland islands back to Stockholm. Again, the beautiful summer allows for the magrodome to be opened, the Birka Gotland is full of live music everywhere you get, and there is plenty of opportunities to do some sunbathing or just enjoy the passing archipelago scenery from the panorama bar or one of the ship’s promenade decks.

When Stockholm comes in sight at last at 2 p.m., it’s time (at the latest) to pack your belongings and say Goodbye to the Birka Gotland. Docking next to TUI Cruises’ enormous Mein Schiff 1 makes you realize how small the Swedish ship actually is, yet she offers all the amenities that make a 2-day mini cruise to Visby worthwhile. If you plan to spend your vacation or a city trip in the Stockholm area, don’t miss the chance to step onboard the Birka Gotland for one of her short cruises to Mariehamn or Visby. This is definitely the icing on the cake before you start or when you finish your holidays in Sweden.

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Kai Ortel

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