On board the Rostock Gedser ferry: food, shop, decks and prices

The prices on this page come from the notices and screens on board the Berlin during our crossing on 19 February 2025. Scandlines adjusts prices on board, but the level is right, and the krone to euro ratio on the signs is the on-board rate.

Where things are: deck 5 and deck 8

Stairs and lifts lead up from the car decks (deck 3 and deck 5). The signs in the stairwell point to the restaurant and shop on deck 5, and on deck 8 to the coffee bar, seating, the smoking area, the trucker showers, the information desk and currency exchange for euros, Danish and Swedish kroner and pounds. The open deck with benches is at the very top, around the funnels and the rotor sail.

Food and drink: Food Express, buffet, coffee bar

Food Express is the self-service counter: hot snacks, filled rolls, chilled drinks and coffee machines. The screen showed a French hotdog for 35 kroner or 4.70 euros and fries at the same price. There are seating groups with a view outside and a microwave station.

All Inclusive Buffet is the restaurant on deck 5: pay once, then eat and drink soft drinks as you like. The screen at the entrance showed an adult price of 28.86 euros, children pay less. Important: the buffet takes cards only, a sign says so in three languages. On a Wednesday in winter it was half empty; in summer it pays to go straight after departure.

Berlin xpresso is the coffee bar on deck 8 with Starbucks coffee, cake and a view over the bow. For two hours a coffee there and a snack from Food Express is plenty.

Travel Shop: perfume, sweets, spirits and souvenirs

The Travel Shop on deck 5 is smaller than the BorderShop in the port, but enough for two hours: perfume and cosmetics, family packs of sweets, miniature bottles of spirits, soft drinks, toys and Danish souvenirs. Two offers were on display during our crossing:

• Build your own minibar: 5 miniatures (2 to 5 cl) of your choice for 99.95 kroner, which is 13.42 euros. Individually they start at 24.95 kroner or 3.35 euros.
• Sweets: Fazer or Riesen bags of 350 to 400 grams for 39.95 kroner or 5.36 euros.

Beer and wine in quantity are cheaper at the BorderShop at Rostock port, 400 metres before check-in, with parking. The shop on board is for what you forgot and for a small gift.

Seating, views, children, smoking

In calm weather the best seats are outside: benches on the sun deck and along the promenade, sheltered behind the superstructure. Inside there is the lounge with the colourful tiled floor and panoramic windows, seating groups in the Food Express area and the restaurant with tables by the window. Nothing needs reserving; even in summer you will find a seat, perhaps not by the window.

• Children. A pirate-themed play area with a climbing frame, right next to the seating, so parents can stay seated.
• Smoking. Outside only, in the glass-screened smoking area on the open deck. The whole ship is smoke-free inside.
• Slot machines. A separate area with gaming machines, away from the seating.
• Toilets. On every passenger deck, with an accessible toilet in the corridor by the lounge. Truck drivers have showers on deck 8.
• Dogs. Allowed on deck and in the areas without carpet, more on the page Ferry with a dog.

Practical: paying, wifi, your car, arrival

• Paying. Every notice shows kroner and euros, both are accepted, cards everywhere. The buffet is cards only. Currency exchange is at the information desk on deck 8.
• Wifi. Scandlines advertises free wifi. In the waiting lane in Gedser our phone connected but had no internet. Download tickets and maps beforehand.
• Your car. The car deck is closed during the crossing. Take your jacket, charging cable, snacks and the dog lead upstairs. The open stern deck is the only part of the car deck you can see from above.
• Arrival. The call to the car deck comes about ten minutes before berthing. In Rostock the ferry first spends a quarter of an hour going up the Warnow, so no rush in the stairwell.
• Duration. Officially two hours, a little more with a headwind. What costs time on board is the queue at Food Express right after departure: coffee is better fetched after twenty minutes.