''Mega Andrea'' is a

cruiseferry A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a cruise ship and a Ro-Pax ferry. Many passengers travel with the ships for the cruise experience, staying only a few hours at the destination port or not leaving the ship at all, while ot ...

owned and operated by Corsica Ferries Sardinia Ferries. She was formerly owned and operated by the

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

-based

Tallink Tallink () is an Estonian shipping company operating Baltic Sea cruiseferries and ropax ships from Estonia to Finland, Estonia to Sweden and Finland to Sweden. It is the largest passenger and cargo shipping company in the Baltic Sea region. It ...

as the MS ''Silja Festival'', and used on their route connecting

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

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 ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. She was built in 1986 by

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 ...

Helsinki Shipyard,

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, for Effoa as MS ''Wellamo'' for use 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 ...

traffic. She was rebuilt in 1992 at Lloyds Werft,

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the Bremen (state), city-state of Bremen. The Geeste (river), River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser. Brem ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

as ''Silja Festival''. In 2008 the ship was transferred from the Silja Line fleet to that of Tallink, but she retained her Silja-prefixed name. After being replaced by MS Isabelle on the Stockholm-Riga route in May 2013 she was chartered as an accommodation ship to

Kitimat, British Columbia Kitimat is a district municipality in the North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member municipality of the Regional District of Kitimat–Stikine regional government. The Kitimat Valley is part of the most populous urban dist ...

. She was then sold in early 2015 to Corsica Ferries.

History

Wellamo

Following the delivery of MS ''Finlandia'' and MS ''Silvia Regina'' for Silja Line's

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 ...

–Stockholm service, Johnson Line and Effoa decided to order a pair of ships based on a similar design for the

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 ...

–Stockholm service. The first of the new ships, named MS ''Svea'', was delivered to Johnson Line in May 1985. The ship built for Effoa was given the name MS ''Wellamo'' (after the goddess of the sea in Finnish mythology, a traditional name in Effoa fleet) and delivered in January 1986. Following delivery she was placed on the

–

Mariehamn Mariehamn ( , ; ; ) is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city. It is mostly surrounded b ...

–

route.MS Wellamo (II)
a
Valkeat Laivat
retrieved 19 September 2007 The Wellamo suffered her first major mishap in July of the same year when she suffered a blackout and was grounded near

. Following the grounding she was repaired at Luonnonmaan Telakka,

Naantali Naantali (; ) is a municipalities of Finland, town in Southwest Finland, and, as a resort town during the summer, an important centre of tourism in the country. The municipality has a population of (), and is located west of Turku. The town h ...

, Finland. In 1989 plans were made for converting the ship to a combined car/passenger/

train ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry Railroad car, railway vehicles, as well as their cargoes and passengers. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with Track (rail transport), railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the f ...

, but these were abandoned. In the summer of 1990 the Wellamo briefly served on the

–Stockholm route, because the new ''Silja Serenade'' was not yet complete, but old MS ''Finlandia'' had to be delivered to her new owners

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 ...

.Valkeat Laivat: Loistoristeilijöiden ja tappiovuosien aikakausi
, retrieved 19 September 2007 During the same year Effoa and Johnson Line merged to form

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 ...

, who now became the sole owners of Silja Line. In the early 1990s EffJohn planned a large-scale reconstruction of GTS ''Finnjet''. However the company could not gather enough funds to realise this project. Instead the money was used to rebuild the Svea and Wellamo. In 1992, Wellamo was docked and rebuild at Lloyds Werft,

. Most notable exterior changes were a new skybar in front of the funnel and a new, more blue-dominated livery. Following the reconstruction the Wellamo was renamed MS ''Silja Festival'' (her sister having become MS ''Silja Karneval''). Around the same time her homeport was changed from Helsinki to Mariehamn.

Silja Festival

Initially ''Silja Festival'' continued on the same route as before, alongside her sister, but following the acquisition of MS ''Silja Europa'' and the subsequent fleet re-organisation there was no longer a need for the ship on the Turku route. As a result, was placed on the

Vaasa Vaasa (; , ), formerly (1855-1917) known as Nikolaistad (; ),Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

route from 20 March to 23 May 1993. When Silja Line began collaboration with

Euroway Euroway was a Swedish ferry company that operated cruise ferries between Sweden and Germany from 1992 till 1994. History Founded by the Norwegian businessman, Elling Ellingsen, owner of Sea-Link Shipping AB, with the objective to set up c ...

in June 1993, ''Silja Festival'' was moved to their

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

–

Travemünde Travemünde () is a borough of Lübeck, Germany, located at the mouth of the river Trave in Bay of Lübeck, Lübeck Bay. It began life as a fortress built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, an ...

–

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

route, sailing parallel to MS ''Frans Suell''. From there on the service was marketed as Silja Line Euroway. A few months later the route was extended to

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 ...

. After the Euroway service was terminated in April 1994, ''Silja Festival'' was moved back to the

Kvarken Kvarken ( (as opposed to South Kvarken); ) is the narrow region of the Gulf of Bothnia separating the Bothnian Bay (the inner part of the gulf) from the Bothnian Sea. The distance from the Sweden, Swedish mainland to the Mainland Finland, Finnish ...

to operate from Vaasa to Umeå and

Sundsvall Sundsvall () is a city and the seat of Sundsvall Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It has a population of 58,807 as of 2020; more than 95,000 live in the municipal area. It is Sweden's 21st largest city by population. Old town i ...

. Around this time Silja Line made an agreement to sell ''Silja Festival'' or her sistership ''Silja Karneval'' to Norwegian ferry operator Color Line. Although ''Silja Karneval'' was the ship finally sold to Color, the new owners had presumed they would be getting ''Silja Festival'' and had made promotional posters for their new ship accordingly. As a result, the Silja Karneval was confusingly renamed MS ''Color Festival''. On 2 September 1994, ''Silja Festival'' was moved from Vaasa to serve the Helsinki–

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

route. For the summer of 1995, (26 June to 14 August) she served Vaasa–Sundsvall again, then returned to Helsinki–Tallinn. After the charter agreement of MS ''Silja Scandinavia'' ended in April 1997 On 5 April 1997, Silja Line switched the ship's flag from Finnish to Swedish and put her back on Stockholm–Mariehamn–Turku service, where she remained until 2008. ''Silja Festival'' was replaced on the Turku–Stockholm service by on 23 July 2008. Subsequently, ''Silja Festival'' was moved to the

n ship registry, repainted with

logos, and entered service on Tallink's Stockholm–

route on 2 August 2008. Despite being moved under the Tallink brand and marketed as "Festival", the ship's registered name remained as ''Silja Festival''. On 5 April 2013, Tallink announced the purchase of Viking Line's ferry

MS Isabella MS ''Isabelle X'' is a cruiseferry

which then replaced MS ''Silja Festival'' on the Stockholm-Riga route on 6 May 2013. MS Isabelle, which became the new name in the Tallink fleet, has more passenger and car capacity which is needed to meet the increased demand on the route. ''Silja Festival'' sailed to British Columbia, Canada in March 2014 to be used for accommodations for construction workers helping to construct

Rio Tinto Alcan Rio Tinto Alcan is a Canada-based mining company. Headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, it is a subsidiary of global mining conglomerate Rio Tinto. It was created on 15 November 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto's Canadian subsi ...

's new Aluminum Smelter. While in

the vessel was assigned the name "Delta Spirit Lodge". Silja Festival remained moored at Rio Tinto's dock for just over a year prior to departing for Italy at the end of April 2015. Now she is called by her new name "Mega Andrea". And now she has enough work at Corsica Ferries in Italy. Her home port now is Genova.

Decks

Engine room On a ship, the engine room (ER) is the Compartment (ship), compartment where the machinery for marine propulsion is located. The engine room is generally the largest physical compartment of the machinery space. It houses the vessel's prime move ...

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ** Filmmaking, the process of making a film * Movie theate ...

# Engine room, Tourist II-class cabins,

sauna A sauna (, ) is a room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a sauna is used to meas ...

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

and hot tubs #

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 ...

## Car platform, can be lowered hydraulically to divide the car deck in two giving space for two layers of passenger cars # Seaside, Tourist I and Tourist I S-class cabins, ''Lobby shop'', ''Siljaland'' children's playroom, information desk, boarding, crew accommodations # Silja, Seaside, Tourist I and Tourist I S-class cabins, crew accommodations # Suites, Silja, Seaside, Tourist I and Tourist I S-class cabins, crew accommodations # ''Dancing Palace'' night club (level 1), ''Captain's Grill'' restaurant, ''Trattoria'' restaurant, ''

Café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

Martim'', ''Sailor's

Pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

'', ''

Buffet A buffet is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners serve themselves. A form of '' service à la française'', buffets are offered at various places including hotels, restaurants, and many social eve ...

Veranda'' # ''Dancing Palace'' night club (level 2),

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

conference room A conference hall, conference room, or meeting room is a room provided for singular events such as business conferences and meetings. Room It is commonly found at large hotels and convention centers though many other establishments, including even ...

s, tax-free shop, perfumerie # Panorama bar, crew accommodations,

sundeck A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary or upper deck is the horizontal structure that forms the "roof" of the hull, strengthening it and serving as the primary working surface. Ve ...

# Crew accommodations #

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

Silja Festival 2003 deck plans
a
Valkeat Laivat
retrieved 20 September 2007

References

External links

''Mega Andrea'' at marinetraffic.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mega Andrea Ferries of Italy Cruiseferries Ships built in Helsinki 1985 ships