Birka Stockholm in Stockholm, 13 April 2018

After the recent concentration on the Norwegian Bliss, we return to more normal programming today and look at the Birka Stockholm, which has again changed livery since it was last featured here.

Birka Stockholm

IMO 9273727
Name history: Birka Paradise, Birka Stockholm
Built 2004, Aker Finnyards Rauma, Finland
Tonnage 34 728 GT
Length 177,00 m
Width 28,00 m
Draugth 6,50 m
Ice class 1A Super
1 800 passengers
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 23 400 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Speed 21 knots

The history of the Birka Stockholm is covered in this previous entry. Currently, the ship is in her third livery during her time with Birka Cruises (and, of course, second name), and I have to say she is a prime example of the livery steadily getting worse. The original was beautiful and vibrant (not to mention the fact it featured the colours of the flag of the Åland islands, a nice touch), the second was already pale and boring compared to that, and the current one is just bland. See for yourself below.

The photos here were taken on 13 April 2018 from onboard the Mariella, showing the Birka Stockholm arriving in Stockholm. As always, click on the images to see them in larger size.

At this point the spring was still so early there was no foliage. Today looks rather different.

But as for the livery of the ship... so bland. What were they thinking?

Interestingly enough, this is the first time in the company's history they have the company name painted on the side. In the past, they have had either no text there, or the ship's name in large letters.

As the ship is being marketed sinply as the Birka, it wouldn't be a bad idea to revive the practice of painting only the ship's name (or in this case, the marketing name) on the side.

Still, she's certainly photogenic with the Stockholm skyline in the background.

Kships will return

Birka Stockholm in Mariehamn, 20 August 2014

Birka Stockholm

IMO 9273727
Name history: Birka Paradise, Birka Stockholm
Built 2004, Aker Finnyards Rauma, Finland
Tonnage 34 728 GT
Length 177,00 m
Width 28,00 m
Draugth 6,50 m
1 800 passengers
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 23 400 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Speed 21 knots

Since the Birka Stockholm's history thus far has been covered in two separate entries, I decided it would be prudent to compile the ship's complete history to date in a single entry here.

The Birka Paradise, as the ship was originally known, was the second-ever newbuilding delivered to the Åland islands -based Birka Cruises (previously known under the names Ålandslinjen and Birka Line). She was delivered in November 2004, joining the company's previous newbuilding Birka Princess in service (in the early 1990s Birka had in fact had newbuilding under construction, due to be named Birka Queen, but the bankruptcy of Wärtsilä Marine raised the ship's price so much Birka declined to continue with her construction. In the end the ship was completed for Majesty Cruise Line as the Royal Majesty. Today she sails for Thomson Cruises as the Thomson Majesty).

In service, the Birka Paradise replaced the Birka Princess on the company's main service, 24-hour cruises from Stockholm to Mariehamn. The Birka Princess was transferred to making two-night cruises from Stockholm to Turku, Helsinki and Tallinn. These were not popular and in early 2006 the Birka Princess was withdrawn from service, forcing Birka Cruises once again to revert to one-ship operations (the Birka Princess was sold to Louis Cruises and sunk in 2007 as the Sea Diamond). Due to the withdrawal of the Birka Princess, the Birka Paradise begun making longer cruises out of Stockholm during the summer season.

In June 2009 the Birka Paradise was re-registered, with Stockholm replacing her original home port Mariehamn. This was due to EU legislation disallowing the sales of snus within the Union and onboard ships registered there - except in Sweden, where it continued to be allowed for cultural reasons. As snus sales contribute a sizeable portion of of Birka Cruises' income (this holds true to most companies operating between Sweden and Finland), Birka decided the best option would be simply to re-register their ship. This makes additional sense when you remember that the company markets itself exclusively to Swedish passengers.

In January 2013 Birka Cruises decided to rebrand the ship and their whole product, shifting away from their previous emulation of Caribbean cruise ships and emphasising more their localness and Swedish roots (even if the company is in fact Ålandian). They originally wanted to name the ship simply Birka, as passengers refer to her as that anyway, but as a ship named Birka already existed in the Swedish registry, Birka Cruises had to think of an alternative solution. This was found in incorporating the ship's port of registry into it's name and marketing her simply as Birka. (Although I do wonder, if you're going to market the ship with a different name from the registered one anyway, why just not keep the name Birka Paradise?). Coinciding with the name change, the ship's livery was also altered. The original blue, yellow and red livery, drawing from the flag of Åland, was replaced by a blue & yellow livery drawing from the flag of Sweden.

The photographs below show the Birka Stockholm departing Mariehamn for Stockholm on the morning of 20 August 2014. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

The Birka Stockholm did do a rather nice job avoiding me in good weather. Here the rainclouds make for a nicely impressive background, however.

Birka and pines. As was the case through-out our tour de Åland, the clounds cleared away for the day.

The Swedish flag in prominence.

Notice the unusual way the ship's port of the registry has been rendered on her stern.

Birka Stockholm in the Stockholm archipelago, 15 February 2013

Birka Stockholm

IMO 9273727
Name history: Birka Paradise (2004-2013), Birka Stockholm (2013-)
Built 2004, Aker Finnyards Rauma, Finland
Tonnage 34 728 GT
Length 177,00 m
Width 28,00 m
Draugth 6,50 m
1 800 passengers
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 23 400 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Speed 21 knots

The Birka Stockholm is, of course, the same ship known previously as Birka Paradise. For an account of the history of the ship, see this older entry. In January 2013 Birka Cruises decided to rebrand the ship and their whole product, shifting away from their previous emulation of Caribbean cruise ships and emphasising more their localness and Swedish roots (even if the company is in fact Ålandian). They originally wanted to name the ship simply Birka, as passengers refer to her as that anyway, but as a ship named Birka already existed in the Swedish registry, Birka Cruises had to think of an alternative solution. This was found in incorporating the ship's port of registry into it's name and marketing her simply as Birka. (Although I do wonder, if you're going to market the ship with a different name from the registered one anyway, why just not keep the name Birka Paradise?). Coinciding with the name change, the ship's livery was also altered, making it more Swedish by eliminating the original red elements.

The photographs below show the Birka Stockholm in the Stockholm archipelago outside Kapellskär, inbound to Stockholm from Mariehamn on 15 February 2013. Photographed from onboard the Viking Grace. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

Not the best lighting to photograph ships, but it's not every day you get to photograph a ship with a new livery for the first time. And there is something to be said for the winter atmosphere of course.

It doesn't show very well here, but the original symbol on the bow of the ship has been replaced by the funnel symbol of Birka Cruises' parent company Rederi Ab Eckerö.

The new funnel colours are not very much to my liking, the original stripes were much better. White funnels seem to be all the rage these days and they are sooooooooo booooooooooooooooring.

Next time: Probably the Galaxy.

Birka Paradise in Mariehamn, 24 June 2012

Birka Paradise

IMO 9273727
Built 2004, Aker Finnyards Rauma, Finland
Tonnage 34 728 GT
Length 177,00 m
Width 28,00 m
Draugth 6,50 m
1 800 passengers
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 23 400 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Speed 21 knots

For a history of the Birka Paradise, see this entry. The photographs below show the Birka Paradise departing Mariehamn on the morning of 24 June 2012, returning to Stockholm on a 22-hour mini-cruise. Click on the images to see in larger size.

The trees were just too photogenic to pass.

In fact, they were so photogenic I decided to include a second similar photograph.

Okay, so maybe that was also because getting a forward-angle photo of the ship without any trees in the way was quite difficult. ;)

Maybe I should have adjusted the horizon in this shot a bit more.

I love the lighter cloud above the superstructure.

If you look closely, you can see the steel letters reading "Mariehamn" (the original home port) between the ship's name and the current homeport Stockholm on the aft-

Birka Paradise, 13 December 2008

Birka Paradise

IMO 9273727
Built 2004, Aker Finnyards Rauma, Finland
Tonnage 34 728 GT
Length 177,00 m
Width 28,00 m
Draugth 6,50 m
1 800 passengers
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 23 400 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Speed 21 knots

I think I said just about everything there is to say about the Birka Paradise in the previous entry about her. So, moving on to the picture:

Birka Paradise in Stockholm on 13 December 2008. Click on the image to view full size.

An exceedingly successfull "night-time" photograph is you ask me. Though in actual fact the time was 15:40... which gives you an impression of how early it gets dark here in the North.

Birka Paradise, 1 October 2010

Birka Paradise

IMO 9273727
Built 2004, Aker Finnyards Rauma, Finland
Tonnage 34 728 GT
Length 177,00 m
Width 28,00 m
Draugth 6,50 m
1 800 passengers
4 Wärtsilä diesels, combined 23 400 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Speed 21 knots

Birka Paradise was the second-ever newbuilding delivered to the Åland islands -based Birka Cruises (previously Birka Line). She was delivered in November 2004, joining the company's previous newbuilding Birka Princess in service (in the early 1990s Birka had in fact had newbuilding under construction, due to be named Birka Queen, but the bankruptcy of Wärtsilä Marine raised the ship's price so much Birka declined to continue with her construction. In the end the ship was completed for Majesty Cruise Line as the Royal Majesty. Today she sails for Louis Cruises as the Louis Majesty).

In service the Birka Paradise replaced the Birka Princess on the company's main service, 24-hour cruises from Stockholm to Mariehamn. The Birka Princess was transferred to making two-night cruises from Stockholm to Turku, Helsinki and Tallinn. These were not popular and in early 2006 the Birka Princess was withdrawn from service, forcing Birka Cruises once again to revert to one-ship operations (the Birka Princess was sold to Louis Cruises and sunk in 2007 as the Sea Diamond). Due to the wtihdrawal of the Birka Princess the Birka Paradise begun making longer cruises out of Stockholm during the summer season.

In June 2009 the Birka Paradise was re-registered, with Stockholm replacing her original home port Mariehamn. This was due to EU legislation disallowing the sales of snus within the Union and onboard ships registered there - except in Sweden, where it continued to be allowed for cultural reasons. As snus sales contribute a sizeable portion of of Birka Cruises' income (this holds true to most companies operating between Sweden and Finland), Birka decided the best option would be simply to re-register their ship. This makes additional sense when you remember that the company markets itself exclusively to Swedish passengers.

Photographs below show the Birka Paradise arriving in Stockholm from another cruise to Mariehamn. Photographed from onboard Viking Line's Gabriella. Click on the image(s) to view full size.

On Stockholms ström, with Djurgarden in the background on the left.

A better view of the ship in the delightful autumn weather, still on Strömmen.

Passing the Gabriella en route to her quay. Behind the ship on the right is Beckhomen island with it's shipyards.

Passing further, with Stockholm's delightful cityscape in the background. Just visible in front of Birka Paradise's bridge is Ånedin Linjen's vintage cruise ship Birger Jarl, briefly laid up due to SOLAS 2010 regulations (reportedly she got a six-month exemption within days from this and is back in traffic now).