MS Finlandia (1980)
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MS ''Moby Dada'' was a cruiseferry operated by
Moby Lines Moby Lines (Moby Lines S.p.A.) is an Italian shipping company that operates ferries and cruiseferries between the Italian or French mainland and the islands of Elba, Sardinia and Corsica. The company was founded in 1959 under the name Navigazi ...
. She was built in 1981 as ''Finlandia'' for Effoa at
Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Oyj Abp (), trading internationally as Wärtsilä Corporation, is a Finnish corporation, Finnish company which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the Marine propulsion, marine and energy markets. The core ...
's
Perno shipyard Perno shipyard is a shipyard in Turku, southwest Finland, that specialises in building cruise ships, Ferry, passenger ferries, special vessels and offshore projects. The yard area is and is operated by Meyer Turku, Meyer Turku Oy with a dry do ...
in
Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...
, Finland, and placed in service on
Silja Line Silja Line is a Finnish shipping company and cruiseferry brand owned and operated by the Estonian shipping company AS Tallink Grupp, for car, cargo and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden. The former company Silja Oy—today Tallink S ...
's Helsinki—
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
service. In 1990 she was sold to DFDS Seaways and renamed ''Queen of Scandinavia''. From 2010 until 2016, she operated under the name of ''Princess Maria'' for
St. Peter Line St. Peter Line is a Maritime transport, water transport company owned by Moby SPL Limited, a Maltese-registered shipping company, which operated services from Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Stockholm and Tallinn. The company was founded in 2010 with i ...
between Helsinki and
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...
, Russia. In 2016, following the purchase of St. Peter Line by Moby Lines, ''Princess Maria'' was renamed ''Moby Dada'' and was transferred to the Italian registry in November 2016, before being transferred to Moby Lines' operations on the Mediterranean Sea. On 13 March 2025, the sale for demolition to the Aliaga shipyards was announced.


Service history


1981–1990: ''Finlandia''

Originally to be named ''Skandia'', ''Finlandia'' was the first large, modern cruiseferry to be built for Silja Line. At the time she was also the world's largest cruiseferry in terms of passenger capacity, beds and volume. Alongside her sister (and
Viking Line Viking Line Abp is a Finland, Finnish shipping company that operates a fleet of ferry, ferries and cruiseferry, cruiseferries between Finland, the Åland, Åland Islands, Sweden and Estonia. Viking Line shares are quoted on the Helsinki Stock Ex ...
's contemporary ''Viking Saga'' and ''Viking Song'') she was instrumental in changing the Helsinki-Stockholm route from a transportation service into a cruise route. ''Finlandia'' and ''Silvia Regina'' were originally constructed with very 'fat', curving bows to maximise car-carrying capacity, but these made the ship extremely difficult to handle especially during the winter. As a result, the ''Finlandia'' was docked in January 1982 (after just eight months of service) in Wärtsilä's Perno shipyard for reconstruction of her bow to a sleeker form. Following the bow reconstruction, additional rebuilding was done at Wärtsilä's Turku shipyard, where additional cabins were built and repairs were carried out on the restaurants. During her career for Silja Line the ''Finlandia'' enjoyed a special relationship with
Mauno Koivisto Mauno Henrik Koivisto (, 25 November 1923 – 12 May 2017) was a Finnish politician who served as the ninth president of Finland from 1982 to 1994. He also served as the country's prime minister twice, from 1968 to 1970 and again from 1979 to 19 ...
, who was at the time the Prime Minister and later President of Finland. ''Finlandia'' was named by Koivisto's wife
Tellervo Koivisto Taimi Tellervo Koivisto ( Kankaanranta; born 2 January 1929) is a Finnish politician and the former First Lady of Finland from 1982 to 1994. Koivisto is the widow of the 9th President of Finland Mauno Koivisto and a former member of the Finnish ...
in 1981 and the pair travelled on ''Finlandia'' twice while Koivisto was President, first in 1984 on Wärtsilä's 150th-anniversary and again in 1985 when the pair made an official visit to Sweden. In 1985, ''Finlandia''s interiors were heavily rebuilt at Wärtsilä's Helsinki shipyard. In September 1988, ''Finlandia'' was sold to Suomen Yritysrahoitus in order to raise funds for new ships for the Helsinki–Stockholm route. Suomen Yritysrahoitus then chartered the ship back to Effoa for years. In December 1989, Suomen Yritysrahoitus sold ''Finlandia'' to
DFDS DFDS is a Danish international shipping and logistics company. The company's name is an abbreviation of Det Forenede Dampskibs-Selskab (literally ''The United Steamship Company''). DFDS was founded in 1866, when Carl Frederik Tietgen, C.F. Tiet ...
for delivery in May 1990, which was the planned delivery date for ''Finlandia''s replacement . However, due to the bankruptcy of Wärtsilä's shipbuilding division the ''Silja Serenade'' was delayed by several months. DFDS took delivery of the ''Finlandia'' as agreed in May 1990 and
EffJohn Silja Line is a Finnish shipping company and cruiseferry brand owned and operated by the Estonian shipping company Tallink, AS Tallink Grupp, for car, cargo and passenger traffic between Finland and Sweden. The former company Silja Oy—today Ta ...
(merger of Effoa and Johnson Line born in early 1990) was forced to look for a solution for its ship shortage elsewhere.


1990–2010: ''Queen of Scandinavia''

On 6 May 1990, ''Finlandia'' made her last call at Stockholm and left for docking at Cityvarvet,
Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
in preparation for her new service. Five days later she received her new name, ''Queen of Scandinavia''. In June 1990 she began service on DFDS's
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...
Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
route, initially as the pair of , originally MS ''Wellamo'' of Effoa, the ship that ''Finlandia'' had replaced on the Helsinki—Stockholm service. In January–April 2000, ''Queen of Scandinavia'' was rebuilt by
Remontowa Remontowa (full name: Gdańska Stocznia "Remontowa” im. Józefa Piłsudskiego S.A.) is a company and shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland. The yard specialises in ship repair and conversions. ''Remontowa S.''A. is one of 26 companies that make up the Re ...
in
Gdynia Gdynia is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With an estimated population of 257,000, it is the List of cities in Poland, 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in the Pomeranian Voivodeship after Gdańsk ...
, Poland, with rear
sponson Sponsons are projections extending from the sides of land vehicles, aircraft or watercraft to provide protection, Instantaneous stability, stability, storage locations, mounting points for weapons or other devices, or equipment housing. Watercra ...
s and, again, a new sleeker bow. The new bow is especially notable due to the fact that it has no gate or visor, hence the ship's
car deck Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, Trailer (vehicle), trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their ...
s can now only be loaded/unloaded from the rear. Also, a new marine evacuation system was added on deck 9. All the other life rafts were removed, and the new evacuation system features a chute instead. In June 2001, ''Queen of Scandinavia'' was replaced on the Copenhagen—Oslo service by , and she was moved to the
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
IJmuiden n IJ (digraph) and that should remain the only places where they are used. > IJmuiden () is a port town in the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland. It is the main town in the municipality of Velsen which lies mainly to the south-ea ...
route. In September 2002, while sailing to IJmuiden, a woman fell overboard from one of the upper decks in the early hours of the morning. A lifeboat was quickly launched from the ship, while Yarmouth coastguard and other ships assisted in the search. After 7 hours of searching ''Queen of Scandinavia'' continued to IJmuiden and left the coastguard to continue the search, without success. The woman had very little chance of survival due to the height of the fall and the low temperature of the water. In May 2007, ''Queen of Scandinavia'' swapped routes with ''Princess of Norway'', taking over the Newcastle—Stavanger—Haugesund—Bergen route. This allowed DFDS to operate two sister ships, ''Princess of Norway'' and the third ''King of Scandinavia'' on the Newcastle—IJmuiden run. On 26 November 2007 while in the port of Bergen, the ''Queen of Scandinavia'' broke her forward moorings and collided with the expedition ship ''H.U. Sverdrup II''. The ''H.U. Sverdrup II'' was severely damaged, while the ''Queen of Scandinavia'' received only cosmetic damage and was able to depart for Newcastle in accordance with her normal timetable. DFDS Seaways closed down the loss-making United Kingdom—Norway service with the ''Queen of Scandinavia'' making her final sailing on 1 September 2008. Following this ''Queen of Scandinavia'' sailed to
Korsør Korsør is a town in Zealand (Denmark), Zealand, Denmark. It is located in Slagelse Municipality. Until 2007 Korsør was the seat of Korsør Municipality. The town is located west of Slagelse, north-west of Skælskør and connects to Nyborg thr ...
where she would stay until being either chartered or sold. In February 2009, ''Queen of Scandinavia'' was chartered to
Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...
and moved to the
harbour A harbor (American English), or harbour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be Mooring, moored. The t ...
of
Oskarshamn Oskarshamn is a coastal city and the seat of Oskarshamn Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 17,258 inhabitants in 2010. History Etymology Döderhultsvik was the original name before a town charter was granted in 1856. The name was then chan ...
in Sweden for use as living quarters for some 800 workers involved in the upgrading reactor 3 of the
Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant The Oskarshamn Nuclear Power Plant is one of three active nuclear power stations in Sweden. The plant is about north of Oskarshamn, directly at the Kalmarsund at the Baltic Sea coast and with one active reactor, producing about 10% of the elec ...
. While at Oskarshamn on 16 April 2009 a fire started in the ship's engine room at around 11 PM CEST. According to preliminary reports, all 238 people on board were safely evacuated, and the fire was put out by 0:30 AM. Precise reasons for the fire are unknown as of 17 April 2009. The fire damaged the ship's auxiliary engines. On 12 May 2009, DFDS reported they had agreed to sell ''Queen of Scandinavia'' to a new Finland-based company Nordic Sea Line, with a delivery date set for June 2009. Nordic Sea Line planned on using the ship as a floating hotel and conference centre around Northern Europe. However, the sale was cancelled as Nordic Sea Line failed to make the initial payment that was due on 15 May 2009. After the end of the accommodation ship contract in Oskarshamn ''Queen of Scandinavia'' was moved to
Klaipėda Klaipėda ( ; ) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, third-largest city in Lithuania, the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, fifth-largest city in the Baltic States, and the capi ...
, Lithuania, for further lay-up. From December 2009, the ship was chartered to the Danish police as an accommodation ship in
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
.


2010–2016: ''Princess Maria''

In early 2010, ''Queen of Scandinavia'' was chartered to
St. Peter Line St. Peter Line is a Maritime transport, water transport company owned by Moby SPL Limited, a Maltese-registered shipping company, which operated services from Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Stockholm and Tallinn. The company was founded in 2010 with i ...
for use on a new route operated by the company between
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...
and
Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
. She was renamed ''Princess Maria'', re-registered to Malta and entered service on 21 April. In February 2014, ''Princess Maria'' was used as floating hotel during the
Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...
in
Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from  – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...
, along with the second passenger ferry of
St. Peter Line St. Peter Line is a Maritime transport, water transport company owned by Moby SPL Limited, a Maltese-registered shipping company, which operated services from Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Stockholm and Tallinn. The company was founded in 2010 with i ...
, '' SPL Princess Anastasia'', which passed through the
Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Europe from Africa. The two continents are separated by 7.7 nautical miles (14.2 kilometers, 8.9 miles) at its narrowest point. Fe ...
on 16 January 2014.


2016–2025: ''Moby Dada''

In 2016,
Moby Lines Moby Lines (Moby Lines S.p.A.) is an Italian shipping company that operates ferries and cruiseferries between the Italian or French mainland and the islands of Elba, Sardinia and Corsica. The company was founded in 1959 under the name Navigazi ...
acquired shares in St. Peter Line, with the intention of moving ''Princess Maria'' to Moby's operations in the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...
, with ''Princess Anastasia'' remaining with St. Peter Line. On 8 November 2016 she completed her last sailing for St Peter Line and two days later was renamed ''Moby Dada'' and brought under the Italian flag of registry whilst docked in St Petersburg, Russia. As of June 2017, ''Moby Dada'' is operating between the French port of
Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionBastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...
,
Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...
. She is painted in a multicoloured livery featuring
Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...
characters, with the hull painted predominately red on the port side, and predominantly blue on the starboard side. In September 2017 Moby Lines accepted an agreement with the Spanish Ministry of Home Affairs ( Ministerio del Interior), for the purpose to lodge Spanish police officers in case the government were directed to intervene in the announced independence referendum in Catalonia on 1 October 2017. The ''Moby Dada'' was laid up in the
Port of Barcelona The Port of Barcelona (, ; ) is a major port in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Its are divided into three zones: Port Vell (the Old Port), the commercial/industrial port, and the logistics port (Barcelona Free Port). The port is managed by the Port ...
as an accommodation service to the around 1000 police officers that had been ordered to participate in the government intervention in the elections. On 13 March 2025, the sale for demolition to the Aliaga shipyards was announced.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moby Dada Ships built in Turku Ferries of Russia Cruiseferries 1980 ships DFDS