Ruotsinlaiva
Ruotsin-laiva or ruotsinlaiva (Finnish for "ship to Sweden") or Finlandsfärja (Swedish for "ship to Finland") is a common name for the large passenger ferries (RORO-type) providing daily transport from the Finnish cities of Helsinki and Turku to the Swedish city of Stockholm and back.
Two major rival companies, Viking Line and Silja Line, operate on the routes. Both companies' ferries are mainly coloured white, but Viking Line's trademark colour is red while Silja Line uses blue.
The ferries are huge, compared to the distance they travel. They are mostly about 170-200 metres long, 30 metres wide and as high as five- or six-story houses. Inside, they offer many restaurants, night clubs and tax free shopping, which is the main attraction for many cruise passengers. Ferries are also important means of transport between the two countries and their car decks can accommodate hundreds of cars and dozens of lorries.
The ferries are often criticised because the low prices of alcoholic beverages encourage passengers to become drunk and act like idiots. In particular, on cruises holding a GOOM party, drunken university students can be almost intolerable.
1995 when Finland and Sweden joined the European Union the abolition of tax-free sales on ferry boats travelling between destinations within the European Union made Finland demand an exception for the Åland Islands. The exception allows for maintained VAT tax-free sales on the ferries passing via the islands. Thus the traditional direct Stockholm - Helsinki route of the ferries had to be modified and all ferries nowadays stop briefly at Åland.