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?
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.
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.
Technically helicopters can land (well, almost), but Viking Line says that
In more serious cases we can use helicopter transport or evacuation boat.
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
($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.
