Viking XPRS is Viking Line's first new building for the Helsinki–Tallinn route. She is the first newbuilding delivered to the company since MS Kalypso in 1990 and also Viking Line's first fast cruiseferry, with a building contract worth approximately 120–130 million euros.[3] The Viking XPRS makes the crossing between the two capitals in about two and a half hours, with two daily departures from each port. The ship is designed with separate cardecks for freight and for passengers cars, and with a limited passenger cabin capacity as she only does daytime crossings. The interiors of the Viking XPRS were designed by Tillberg Design, like those of several of the company's earlier newbuildings.[4]
In April 2009 the Viking XPRS won the award for Outstanding Ferry Exterior in ShipPax Awards 2009, held as a part of the Shipping 2009 conference in France.[5]
The order of the Viking XPRS included an option for two sister vessels.[6] On 2 October 2006, Viking Line announced that this option would not be exercised.[7]
The name Viking XPRS was originally only a concept name for the new ship. A naming competition was held on Viking Line website in May and June 2007, which resulted in over 16,000 name proposals.[8] The concept name Viking XPRS was suggested by many entrants to the competition, and in the end it was chosen as the ship's final name due to it already being well known by the public. The naming ceremony took place on 14 September 2007.
The ship was originally planned to be registered in Finland, with Mariehamn painted on the hull as the home port when the ship was floated out of dry dock. Due to difficulties in negotiations with the Finnish Seamen's Union and the generally higher personnel expenses under Finnish flag, the company decided to move the ship under Swedish flag in January 2008.[9] In March 2008 Norrtälje in Sweden was revealed as the port of registry. But from 24 January 2014 Viking XPRS started sailing under Estonian flag, as it cuts costs for Viking Line. Because of that the ship got a new Estonian crew and all of the signs were changed from Swedish to Estonian and English. The new home port was Tallinn.
Viking Line announced on 7 December 2022 that Viking XPRS would be reflagged to Finland citing that it wished to simplify the hiring process. The ship remained at the harbour for two days from 6 March 2023 and made its maiden voyage under the Finnish flag on 8 March 2023.
Viking XPRS was built at Aker Finnyards' Helsinki New Shipyard. The original delivery date of the ship was set for January 2008,[10] but due to numerous delays the delivery of the ship was pushed back until 28 April 2008. Reasons for the delays included slower-than-planned furnishing works and faults in one of the Rolls-Royce-manufactured propellers. Due to the propeller fault the ship sailed for dry docking at Aker Finnyards' Rauma shipyard on 8 April 2008 where the propeller was changed.[11] The ship was eventually delivered to Viking Line on 21 April 2008.
Viking XPRS had to undergo changes as soon as she was completed, because some of the interior solutions did not work properly and the ship completely lacked a night club.
Viking XPRS made her maiden voyage between Helsinki and Tallinn on 27 April 2008 and entered regular service on the route the following day. Compared to that had sailed on the route the previous year the Viking XPRS attracted a notably larger number of passengers, with a 61% raise in passenger number and 74% raise in vehicles transported between Helsinki and Tallinn between June and August 2008 compared to the same months in 2007.[12] During her first year in service, the ship transported approximately 1,466,000 passengers - more than any other ship that has trafficked in the northern Baltic Sea.
In February 2009 the Viking XPRS was voted as one of the top 5 medium-sized cruise ships in the world by readers of the prestigious Condé Nast Traveler guide, rating higher than the ships of Holland America Line amongst others. Viking XPRS gained top spot in the "shore excursions" category, despite the fact the ship offers no organised excursions. In addition to the fact that the Viking XPRS is not an actual cruise ship, this led to the proposition that the ship's high placement in the ranking was in fact the result of a hoax of some kind.[13]
The ship was renovated in 2015 when a new à la carte restaurant Wine & Dine and a smaller Fashion Shop in connection to the conference rooms were opened. Also the conference room lobby, the children's play room and the restaurant Red Rose were renovated. The outer decks got more seats.
In January 2017 Viking XPRS moved to the Landskrona docks, where the public spaces and cabins were renovated. The ship also got new propellers. During the reparations the ship was temporarily replaced with MS Rosella on the Helsinki-Tallinn route.[14]
From 8 to 24 January 2020 MS Rosella again temporarily replaced Viking XPRS on the Helsinki-Tallinn route because of a dock visit.[15]
In October 2012 Viking Line announced that it would make significant cost cuts on Viking XPRS by reflagging the ship to Estonia. The reason for the benefit was that in Estonia, wages and social costs were 40% lower. The change affected over two hundred employees.[16]
On 24 January 2014 the ship was re-flagged to Estonia, right after returning from repairs which started on 13 January. MS Viking XPRS was the first ship in Viking Line's history to sail under the Estonian flag.
On 7 December 2022 Viking Line announced that Viking XPRS would be re-flagged to Finland. The reason was that Viking Line wishes to simplify the recruitment process and wants to eliminate the middle party from the recruitment process.[17] Viking XPRS departed on her final voyage under the Estonian flag from Tallinn on Sunday 5 March 2023 at 22:15 and arrived in Helsinki on Monday 6 March 2023 at 00:30. The ship then remained at the harbour during the process of reflagging and departed on its maiden voyage under Finnish flag on Wednesday 8 March 2023 at 20:30.[18]
The ship has ten decks but not all are accessible to passengers.
With Viking Grace, Viking Line changed the names of the cabin classes from the traditional letter and number combinations to more descriptive names. The new names were gradually taken into use on other Viking Line ships as well. All cabins have a toilet and a shower.[20]