MS Baltic Queen

MS Baltic Queen is a cruiseferry owned by the Estonia-based ferry operator Tallink. The ship was built by the STX Europe shipyard in Rauma, Finland.

Concept and construction
Initially known under the project name Cruise 5, Baltic Queen was ordered from (what was then) Aker Yards shipyard in Rauma, Finland in April 2007. She is a sister ship to MS Galaxy and MS Baltic Princess and Tallink's fifth newbuilt cruiseferry. The ship's planned route was a mystery to the general public for a long time, until on 11 November 2008 Tallink revealed that she would be placed on the Tallinn–Stockholm service on completion. The ship was launched from drydock and officially named Baltic Queen on 5 December 2008. By this time the shipyard had been renamed STX Europe. Tallink took delivery of the ship on 16 April 2009.

Service history
Baltic Queen entered service on the Tallinn–Mariehamn–Stockholm route on 24 April 2009, replacing Tallink's first newbuilt ship MS Romantika, which was moved to the Riga–Stockholm service. Baltic Queen's Tallink Silja fleetmate MS Silja Europa encountered problems with her steering on 22 November 2009, and she had to be taken out of service for repairs. As a result, the Baltic Queen was moved to the Turku–Mariehamn–Stockholm service as a temporary replacement from 26 November until 11 December 2009. From 7 August 2014 the ship started sailing from Tallinn to Helsinki, because MS Silja Europa was chartered to an Australian company due to its high fuel costs. MS Baltic Queen was then replaced with MS Romantika on the Tallinn-Mariehamn-Stockholm line. At the end of 2018 once again it is on the Tallinn–Mariehamn–Stockholm route.