The passenger ferry operator St. Peter Line and the City of Helsinki have successfully increased cooperation. St. Peter Line will carry cargo, move to a new terminal in central Helsinki and put in traffic the Princess Anastasia ferry every Friday in Helsinki in a creation of a new Five City Baltic Cruise Route connecting the Northern Baltic Capitals. The popular Princess Maria ferry will continue with regular three times a week runs between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg.
St. Peter Line offers year round for all passengers and nationalities up to 72 hours visa free stays in St. Petersburg with these two passenger ferries. St. Peter Line can now offer an attractive new Five City Baltic Cruise Route with visa free stays in the Russian pearl St. Petersburg from one day up to 72 hours (three hotel nights) for passengers from Helsinki, Mariehamn, Stockholm, Tallinn and St. Petersburg travelling with Princess Anastasia or Princess Maria. The leading Finnish hotel chain Sokos Hotels with over 50 hotels in St. Petersburg, Tallinn and Finland is the preferred partner of St. Peter Line.
As a novelty, Princess Anastasia will arrive from St. Petersburg to Helsinki on Friday mornings starting from 5 August 2011. New passengers from Helsinki can start with Princess Anastasia on Friday evening and sail via Mariehamn to Stockholm, Tallinn and St. Petersburg. In St. Petersburg they can stay visa free for two or three nights in a hotel before returning to Helsinki Port either with the other ferry Princess Maria on Thursday morning or the same ferry Princess Anastasia on Friday morning. Passengers from Stockholm can on Saturdays and Wednesdays go for visa free cruises spending from a day up to 72 hours (three hotel nights) in St. Petersburg before sailing directly back to Stockholm or via Helsinki and Mariehamn (in both you can jump off) back to Stockholm.
St. Peter Line is convinced that the above decisions will contribute to further success in improving ferry and cruise communication between St. Petersburg and Helsinki, as well as Mariehamn, Stockholm and Tallinn, and will allow the operator company to increase its fleet.
"We express our sincere gratitude to the Helsinki Port Administration, and personally to Passenger Port Director Heikki Lampinen and to Mayor of Helsinki Jussi Pajunen," say Igor Glukhov, President of St. Peter Line. Glukhov is also grateful to Åland Governor Peter Lindbäck and Mariehamn Port Director Guy Dannström for their help to bring in Princess Anastasia to Mariehamn during the city’s 150 years anniversary celebrations. Glukhov adds that Stockholm and Tallinn authorities and ports have also been most helpful all the time.
St. Peter Line plans in the fall of 2011 to relocate the passenger operations in Helsinki from the Makasiini Terminal to the new West Harbor Terminal, where the facilities are now in the process of complete refitting to provide maximum comfort for the passengers and convenience of cargo handling. This new Terminal is located in central Helsinki in the vicinity of the business and commercial centers. Until completion of the construction works St. Peter Line was granted permission to use the Makasiini Terminal for handling its passenger and cargo traffic which would allow operations with maximum efficiency on round-the-year basis. Starting from August 4, 2011 the ferries of St. Peter Line will be making four regular weekly runs to Helsinki port: as before every Monday, Thursday and Saturday (Princess Maria) and, as a novelty, every Friday (Princess Anastasia).