The Cinderella was planned in the later half of the 1980s as the new flagship for SF Line. Her interior layout was based on that of MS Mariella but with more space and additional facilities. SF Line originally planned the Cinderella to take over the Mariella's place in Helsinki–Stockholm traffic (the Mariella would have been placed on a new route from Helsinki to Norrköping). The plan was never realised however, and when completed the Cinderella was placed as a third ship on the Helsinki–Stockholm route, with departures from Helsinki on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (at 19:30 instead of the normal 18:00), with a 25-hour (later 24-hour) cruise from Helsinki on Sundays. The one-day cruises proved very popular and after a few years they were made also on Fridays and Saturdays. In 1993, after the other Viking Line partner Rederi AB Slite went bankrupt, the Cinderella took over MS Olympia's place on the Helsinki–Stockholm route, sailing in tandem with the Mariella. At this time her passenger capacity was upgraded to 2,700, but it was soon lowered back to 2500. In autumn 1994 she swapped routes with MS Isabella, returning to making 24 (later 20) hour cruises from Helsinki to Tallinn. In summers 1995 and 1996 Cinderella sailed on the Turku–Mariehamn–Stockholm route, freeing MS Rosella for the seasonal Naantali–Mariehamn–Kapellskär route. In summers 2002 and 2003 Cinderella made cruises from Helsinki to Riga in addition to the normal 20 hour Tallinn cruises.
Viking Line decided to withdraw Cinderella from the Helsinki–Tallinn route after the end of the 2003 summer seasons, due to increased competition from Tallink's newer MS Romantika and the fact that tax-free sales on the route would end in 2004 when Estonia joined the EU. Cinderella was extensively rebuilt in Naantali, and emerged as the all-white Swedish-flagged Viking Cinderella for the Stockholm–Mariehamn 22-hour cruise market. The name change was dictated by necessity as a ship called Cinderella already existed in the Swedish ship registry. In 2003 the Viking Cinderella was declared the most environmentally friendly ship of her size in the world by the Swedish maritime authorities.[5] From 2004 onwards Viking Cinderella made cruises to Riga (via Mariehamn in order to sell tax-free goods) during the summer season in addition to the 22-hour cruises. Viking Cinderella was the ship used in Sweden's Kanal 5 reality show Färjan. Negotiations are underway to restore the Stockholm-Mariehamn-Riga route in 2024.
MS Viking Cinderella is the only ship left in the Viking Line fleet to sail under Swedish flag after MS Rosella and MS Viking XPRS were reflagged to Finland and Estonia in January 2014.
After the joint purchase of MS Birka Stockholm with Rederi AB Gotland, Viking Line announced that Viking Cinderella will be replaced on the Stockholm–Mariehamn cruise service in early 2024. From March 2024, she has instead been employed on the Helsinki to Stockholm route.[6] As a part of this move, the Viking Cinderella was reflagged to the Finnish flag.
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