Stuck Viking Star passengers flown to Norway
The passengers of the stranded cruise ship Viking Star were flown from Tallinn to Bergen on Tuesday afternoon.
Viking Star has been stuck in Tallinn for five days, with engine trouble stopping it from continuing its journey.
The 48,000-ton ship lost power in its engines on Friday and was left to wait for a spare part.
While the local tourism industry was hoping for extra revenue, many of the ship's passengers who were hoping to visit numerous ports, were not happy to be stuck.
One of them told ERR News that the company offered just 50 percent of the cruise cost as compensation.
The situation for 930 holidaymakers was made more difficult by the fact that there are not enough international flights from Tallinn to other European destinatons to take people away as swiftly when needed.
Viking Ocean Cruises, the company which operates the ship, chartered two Boeing aircraft on Tuesday to fly passengers to Bergen in Norway. One aircraft left on the afternoon and the other one is due to fly out on Tuesday evening.
The British-designed, Italian-built Viking Star entered service just in April. She is operated by Viking Ocean Cruises, itself a division of Swiss-based Viking Cruises.
Around 500,000 cruise ship tourists visit Estonia each year, each spending on average 50-60 euros.
Editor: S. Tambur