Cruise vessels ban booze sales on weekends

The cruise vessel operator Tallink Silja on Wednesday announced that it has stopped selling tax-free shop alcohol to day-cruise passengers aboard its Baltic Princess ship during weekends but only on its way to Sweden from Finland.

The company authorities took the decision following complaints from passengers about noisy cabin corridors, reported the national broadcaster Yle.

Tax-free alcohol, however, will be available on the return trip from Sweden to Finland.

Tallink Silja said it decided to impose restriction on the sales of alcohol to day-cruise passengers on the Baltic Princess on the Turku-Stockholm trip during the weekends.

The restriction, however, will be withdrawn when the ship will return to Turku from Stockholm.

The Tallink Silja authorities said passengers lodged complaints against noise and mess in the Baltic Princess’s cabin corridors. The decision to limit alcohol sales only affects the Baltic Princess, and not the other ships.

Meanwhile, another cruise vessel operator, Viking Line, also imposed similar restriction on alcohol sales to day cruise passengers on two of its ships, the Viking Grace and the Cinderella.

Day cruise passengers aboard the Cinderella have not been allowed to buy tax-free alcohol on Fridays and Saturdays since 2009, with Grace following suit shortly thereafter, said the Yle report.