Cruise ship towed to Finland

TURKU, Finland, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Passengers aboard the MS Silja Europa -- the Baltic Sea's largest cruise ship -- got an extra day aboard after the ship's rudder broke, officials said.

"At least we got our money's worth," passenger Jaakko Virtanen of Rauma, Finland, said. "We could eat enough, use the sauna and jacuzzi."

The Europa's rudder failed Sunday off the Aland Islands, leaving it to wait for a tugboat to haul it to Turku, Finland, Monday with 1,400 passengers and about 300 crew aboard, Helsingin Sanomat reported Tuesday. The ship had been scheduled to arrive in Turku Sunday evening, Newsroom Finland reported Tuesday.

The broken rudder meant the ship would be out of service for at least a week, disrupting the travel plans of many who had booked holiday passage on the 60,000-ton ship, said Pasi Nakki, a spokesman for the ship's owner, Tallink Group.

"This is a busy period with many bookings for Christmas parties," Nakki said, adding it had yet to be determined how the rudder broke.