Ten different kinds of herring. Enough casseroles and ham so everyone is guaranteed their share. More dishes than ever! For Viking Line’s Christmas buffet this year, more effort has been put into traditional dishes, fully in line with customer wishes.

Viking Line’s Christmas this year starts on November 21, when the spectacular Christmas buffet and its 105 dishes will be served for the first time in all the company’s on-board restaurants. Nearly 80 per cent of all the delicious food served in the buffet is produced locally – for example, the ham and root vegetables for casseroles come from Finland and the fish is sourced from the Nordic region. The Christmas buffet will be available until Boxing Day, December 26.

About two hundred thousand guests are expected to sit down to enjoy Viking Line’s Christmas buffet, and the company has listened closely to customers’ wishes in planning the menu. That is why a great deal of consideration has been given to the new dishes available for Christmas this year.

“We got so much positive feedback for last year’s Christmas buffet that we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. The most important thing for people is that they actually find their favourite dishes. Naturally, the Christmas buffet should be impressive, and the place filled with Christmas spirit,” says Viking Glory’s head cook, Mikko Martikainen.

“However, last year’s Christmas buffet guests had one clear wish – more sweet options on the dessert table. So this year, along with our metre-long chocolate cake with black currants, we’re serving glögg-flavoured cheesecake, tartlets, Christmas sweets, fresh fruit and of course rice à la Malta (rice pudding with mandarin orange) – without it, it wouldn’t be a real Christmas for Swedes.”

Customers have the highest praise for the smoked whitefish mousse and the charcuterie boxes with delicious cheeses and cured meats. New features this year are hot-smoked salmon served on lemony potato salad in small bowls, a bread station that is 100% gluten-free, and air-cured ham and several kinds of salami now served at the charcuterie table.

10 facts about Viking Line’s Christmas buffet

1. The Christmas buffet will be served on all five Viking Line vessels from November 21 to December 26, 2025.
2. The Christmas buffet has been enjoyed on board Viking Line’s vessels since the early 1970s.
3. Nearly 200,000 guests enjoy Viking Line’s Christmas buffet each year.
4. There are 105 dishes: fish and seafood with trimmings, charcuterie and cheeses, hot meat and vegetarian dishes, and desserts.
5. Some 15 different salads are served. The philosophy for the salad table has changed: instead of mixed salads, now the main ingredients and trimmings are presented separately, for example pickled kohlrabi with truffle mayonnaise and roasted carrots with Nordic pesto.
6. A total of 10 different herring dishes will be served: along with the classic dishes of pickled herring with mustard and with onion, there is pickled herring with fish roe and with horseradish.
7. About 6,000 kilos of ham and nearly 1,700 kilos of traditional lutefisk are served each year at the Christmas buffet.
8. Four kinds of Christmas casseroles are served: potato, rutabaga, carrot and the Swedish favourite, Jansson’s  temptation. Finns love casseroles, and demand remains constant year after year – with potato casserole topping the list.
9. All bread at the bread station is gluten-free.
10. The dessert table is unusually well-stocked: black currant chocolate cake, glögg-flavoured cheesecake, caramel and cinnamon tartlets, rice à la Malta with mandarin orange, Christmas sweets, fresh fruit, date cake, gingerbread macarons and ice cream.