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| MS Isabella |
| Shipyard: |
Brodogradiliste Split, Split, Croatia |
| Signal letters: |
OIZD |
| IMO no: |
8700723 |
| Launched: |
13 August, 1988 |
| Delivered: |
15 June, 1989 |
| Route: |
Turku — Mariehamn — Stockholm |
| General characteristics |
| Tonnage: |
35,154 GT (gross tonnage) |
| Length: |
171.25 m |
| Beam: |
27.6 m |
| Draft: |
6.26 m |
| Propulsion: |
Four Wärtsilä-Pielstick 12PC26V-400 diesels 24,000 kW |
| Speed: |
21.5 knots |
| Passengers: |
2,200 |
| Passenger beds: |
1,983 |
| Car capacity: |
410 |
| Lanemeters: |
970 |
| Ice class: |
1 A Super |
| Sister ships: |
MS Amorella, MS Gabriella, MS Crown of Scandinavia |
MS Isabella is a cruiseferry, built in 1989 by Brodogradiliste Split in Yugoslavia. She currently serves on the Turku—Mariehamn/Långnäs—Stockholm route of Viking Line.
[edit] History
Isabella is the younger sister of MS Amorella, and was delivered in 1989 to SF Line, one of the owners of the Viking Line consortium. She was originally planned to replace MS Rosella on the Naantali—Mariehamn—Kapellskär route, but the authorities of Kapellskär failed to modernise the port of the town to accommodate a ship of such large size. As a result, when delivered the ship was placed on a new Naantali—Stockholm route for the summer season, and 24 hour cruises from Helsinki for the rest of the year.
In spring 1992 the ship was rebuilt at Naantali with a new skybar on deck 11, new cabins in place of the former second cardeck on deck 5 and her livery was slightly altered by the addition of a red stripe running along the windows of deck 6. After the 1992 summer season SF Line decided to terminate the Naantali—Stockholm service as unprofitable and the Isabella was placed on the Helsinki cruise route all year round. In summer 1993 she made a handful of cruises from Helsinki to Visby. After the 1994 summer season Isabella swapped routes with MS Cinderella and served Helsinki—Stockholm for the next three years. During the summer of 1996, instead of spending the day in Helsinki she made short 'picnic' cruises to Tallinn. These proved to be unprofitable and were terminated after the single season.
In 1997 Viking Line placed Isabella's newly-purchased sister MS Gabriella on the Helsinki—Stockholm route and Isabella joined Amorella on the Turku—Mariehamn—Stockholm route. After this Isabella has occasionally sailed on the Helsinki route when the normal ships of that route have been docked. She was rebuilt with rear sponsons at Naantali in 2000.
In September 2007 the ship was again docked at Naantali. Her tax-free shop, pub and disco were completely rebuilt, and two restaurants based on new concepts replaced two earlier restaurants. In the future Viking Line plan to refurbish all of the ship's cabins as a part of their large-scale fleet rebuilding programme.[1]
- Engine room
- C and economy-class cabins
- Cardeck
- Cardeck (hydraulic platform that can be lowered to divide the car deck in two giving space for two layers of passenger cars)
- A- and B-class cabins
- Sauna, hot tubs, swimming pool, A- and B-class cabins
- Sea Side Café & Internet, "Air seats", children's playroom, information desk, boarding, Tax-Free shop, Pearl Beauty Shop, B-class cabins, crew accommodations
- Viking Buffet, Pub, Food Garden and BBQ House restaurants, cinema, Fun Club, Casino
- Disco, luxury cabins, suites, crew accommodations, sundeck
- Conference rooms, disco, crew accommodations
- Crew accommodations, skybar, sundeck
- Bridge
[edit] References
- ^ (Finnish) Viking Line press release: Viking Linella merkittävä laadunkehitysohjelma, retrieved 23. 10. 2007
[edit] External links
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Viking Line ships |
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| Current fleet |
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| Newbuildings |
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| Former ships |
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