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Helicopter taxi services are everywhere near the baltic coasts. Can you take a helicopter taxi to a Viking Line cruise ship en route? Or is that not allowed? Are only ambulance helicopters allowed to land on the ships?

I recently asked a Viking Line customer service agent who gave me a quick "no" as an answer but I guess they're not trained to answer this type of question so I wonder what the real answer is if it's something else?

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    Anything is possible if you have the financial means
    – Matt Douhan
    Commented Feb 9, 2020 at 14:56
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    What makes you assume that customer service is not trained to answer such questions? The "real answer" is what customer service tells you. That's basically the whole idea behind customer services.
    – Num Lock
    Commented Feb 10, 2020 at 7:18
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    It might be cheaper to fly all the way to the next country where the vessel stops than arranging and paying everyone involved an extraordinary sum.
    – kiradotee
    Commented Feb 10, 2020 at 17:00
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    I just had a funny thought but wonder if it's cheaper/easier to arrange a helicopter landing without the landing. I.e. flying to the ship and parachuting down... not the best idea, granted, but technically you're not landing with a helicopter...
    – kiradotee
    Commented Feb 10, 2020 at 17:02
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    @Fattie The question already contains the answer; a swift No.
    – MonkeyZeus
    Commented Feb 11, 2020 at 18:14

4 Answers 4

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The answer is probably no for all practical purposes.

In most countries, landing a helicopter on a vessel is a matter of agreement between those responsible for the vessel (e.g. owner and captain), and the aircraft. In addition, there may be flag state requirements on the vessel for manning of the helicopter landing deck with appropriately trained crew and firefighting equipment. Insurance companies may have a say on this as well, as no one wants to lose either a helicopter or a vessel.

So theoretically, you could probably reach some kind of agreement that would allow this, but it seems hugely impractical, prohibitively expensive, and practically impossible.

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    Furthermore, the noise of helicopters doesn't improve the experience of ticket paying passengers in the cruise.
    – Pere
    Commented Feb 11, 2020 at 12:04
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    @Pere Watching a helicopter land and take off would greatly improve the cruise experience for me.
    – Tero Lahtinen
    Commented Feb 11, 2020 at 12:27
  • Also, it seems pointlessly dangerous.
    – Kyralessa
    Commented Feb 11, 2020 at 13:34
  • It doesn't matter, but this answer is simply quite incorrect, guys. There's nothing at all difficult, in any way (expense, insurance, staff etc) about cruise ship + helicopter - simply see my answer. It's a non-issue. By all means, the cruise brand in question may not allow it - sure - But answers which say "it's too difficult!" are, simply, wrong. It's totally straightforward, cheap, trouble free, and not a big deal.
    – Fattie
    Commented Feb 11, 2020 at 18:10
  • Your answer does in no way say that it's either. Having skilled helicopter cdeck crew on board costs money. Insurance costs money. And so forth. It's doable, as your answer (and vessels with helipads) indicate, but that doesn't say anything about the price or the organization needed. To put it another way: it's cheap if you have all it needs. But it's not cheap if you need extra helideck officers or extra insurance.
    – vidarlo
    Commented Feb 11, 2020 at 18:12
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The answer is yes you can and no you may not. Like another answer states, it is about permission and capabilities. They probably have the capabilities for the sake of emergencies. They don’t allow it for the sake of practicality.

Cruise ships contain a lot of guest. A lot of paying guests. A lot of paying guests who don’t own helicopters. Helicopters are extremely noisy. The engines alone can be ear piercing even from a distance. The rotor blade noise adds to that. That is not conducive to a relaxing cruise. Allowing a non-emergency landing for the sake of one guest would not be tolerated. If you have the bird, book your own private boat. They can at least take you to shore where there will probably be a heliport.

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Technically helicopters can land (well, almost), but Viking Line says that

In more serious cases we can use helicopter transport or evacuation boat.

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It's no big deal to have a chopper on a cruise ship, example:

http://travelweekly.com/Blogs/Dispatch/Riding-the-helicopter-on-the-Scenic-Eclipse

enter image description here

($400 a flight)

It's unlikely that the specific cruise brand asked about would have this service, or, it would be widely advertised. Like the other answerers, I have no factual information on whether the specific cruise brand asked about would have this service.

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    The Scenic Eclipse is an Expedition Yacht marketed as a “Discovery” Cruise liner. ** The all-suite, 228-passenger cruise ship looks like a billionaire's superyacht and features an ice-strengthened hull, helipad (two Airbus H130 helicopters), aft marina (for water sports), a fleet of Zodiacs (large-capacity inflatable boats) and a 7-person submarine. ** This ship is for Antarctic Expedition cruises. Not exactly the same class as Viking.
    – Dean F.
    Commented Feb 11, 2020 at 17:09
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    Way fewer passengers onboard with probably half of them wanting to take the big, noisy bird over to disturb the penguins. The average cruise ship can have a helicopter land on it if they have the space. But, it is not worth the hassle to disturb the fare-paying self-loading cargo for the sake of a few people.
    – Dean F.
    Commented Feb 11, 2020 at 17:26

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