In early March, Viking Cinderella’s passengers will have four new restaurants and two new bars to choose from when the vessel is placed in service on the Helsinki–Stockholm route, working in tandem with Viking Gabriella. Along with good food, there is also the promise of first-class service since many people were keen to work on board the vessel, which has now been reflagged under a Finnish flag.

For Finnish passengers, good food is by far the most important ingredient for a successful cruise experience. That was a finding in a market survey* just carried out on Viking Line’s behalf. Of the survey respondents, 20 per cent indicated that food was the most important thing. In second place was good company, mentioned by 7 per cent of respondents.

In early March, foodies will have much more to choose from when Viking Cinderella adds four new restaurants on the Helsinki–Stockholm route: The Buffet, which offers nearly one hundred different taste experiences; the à la carte restaurant Seaview Dining; Ocean Grill, which specializes in grilled food, and Melody, which serves relaxed casual food.

“For more and more of our passengers, food is the main reason to go on a cruise. We are pleased that we can now offer them so many new things to try between Helsinki and Stockholm. Variety is important since all passengers have their own food experience they are most looking forward to: some like fresh lobster, others want the many fish specialities in the buffet, and still others enjoy a nice long premium breakfast, including sparkling wine, specialist coffee and avocado toast,” says Viking Line’s Restaurant Manager, Janne Lindholm.

“We want to offer the best food experiences on the Baltic Sea. For us, that means top-quality, locally sourced ingredients and ambitiously prepared dishes based on seasonal availability and clean, Nordic flavours.”

Over the past twenty years, Viking Cinderella has mainly served Swedish customers sailing between Stockholm and Mariehamn. The change in route does not have any major effect on the restaurants’ culinary approach or menus.

“Good food is also important to Swedes, which means Cinderella’s restaurants already maintain a high standard of quality. Nowadays the taste preferences of Swedes and Finns are very similar, so in the buffet for example we’ve only made small changes. Herring will play a greater role than seafood, and Swedish specialities such as surströmming (fermented herring) and rice à la Malta (rice pudding flavoured with orange) will make way for dishes more in line with the taste of Finns,” says Janne Lindholm.

Viking Cinderella has two bars: Bottega Prosecco Bar, which as the name indicates specializes in prosecco, and Admiral Hornblower’s Pub, with its comfortable leather sofas, hardwood bar counter, pub quiz and traditional ballad singer – features that customers have enjoyed ever since Cinderella was launched. For people who want to party, there are also the bars in the Étage nightclub.

With Viking Cinderella now being placed in service on its new route, the vessel has been reflagged to a Finnish flag and the crew has largely been replaced.

“The new crew on Cinderella is mostly Finnish, and our customers can be certain they will be served in Finnish in the restaurants. When we started looking to hire restaurant staff for Cinderella, we had loads of applications from people who work on our other vessels. Along with good food, our passengers can thus also expect thoroughly professional and enthusiastic service, whichever of Cinderella’s restaurants they choose.”