MS ''Isabelle'' is a

cruiseferry A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a cruise ship and a Ro-Pax ferry. Many passengers travel with the ships for the cruise experience, staying only a few hours at the destination port or not leaving the ship at all, while oth ...

Isabella and her sisters
IHS Fairplay, 25 April 2013. owned and operated by the

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

-based

Tallink Tallink () is an Estonian shipping company operating Baltic Sea cruiseferries and ropax ships from Estonia to Finland, Estonia to Sweden to Sweden and Finland to Sweden. It is the largest passenger and cargo shipping company in the Baltic Se ...

. She was built in 1989 by

Brodosplit Brodosplit is the largest shipyard in Croatia, located in the Supaval bay, on the north side of the Split peninsula. History The company was founded in 1922 by a merger of shipyards in the area and has been in its current location since 1932. ...

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, entertai ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

, back then

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

, for

SF Line SF may refer to: Locations * San Francisco, California, United States * Sidi Fredj, Algeria * South Florida, an urban region in the United States * Suomi Finland, former vehicular country code for Finland In arts and entertainment Genre ...

—one of the partners in the Viking Line consortium—as ''Isabella''. The ship is currently serving as refugee housing in Tallinn. ''Isabelle'' has three sister ships, one in the Viking Line fleet, ''Gabriella'', one in the Corsica Ferries fleet, ''Mega Victoria'' and one operated by

DFDS Seaways DFDS Seaways is a Danish shipping company that operates passenger and freight services across northern Europe. Following the acquisition of Norfolkline in 2010, DFDS restructured its other shipping divisions ( DFDS Tor Line and DFDS Lisco) ...

, ''Crown Seaways''.

Concept and construction

''Isabella'' was the second of two sister ships ordered by SF Line from

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

for Viking Line service (the first sister being ''Amorella''). Order for ''Isabella'' was placed on 4 February 1986, her keel was laid on 15 September 1987, and she was launched on 13 August 1988. She has twelve decks. Delivery to SF Line took place on 15 June 1989, and on 20 June 1989 the ship left Yugoslavia for

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

Service history

MS Isabella saaristomerellä 2008-05-19 cropped

Prior to entering service ''Isabella'' visited

Pori ) , website www.pori.fi Pori (; sv, Björneborg ) is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäki River, west of Tampere, north of Turku and north- ...

, Finland where the ship was displayed to the public on 3 July 1989. She had originally been planned to replace ''Rosella'' on the

Naantali Naantali (; sv, Nådendal) is a town in southwestern Finland, and, as a resort town during the summer, an important tourist centre of the country. The municipality has a population of (), and is located in the region of Southwest Finland, west ...

–Mariehamn–

Kapellskär Kapellskär () is a port about north of Stockholm, in Sweden. It is located by the Baltic Sea, in Norrtälje Municipality, Stockholm County. Services The port is served by frequent passenger ferry services to Mariehamn, Åland, Finland, operated ...

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

northern hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the Equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined as being in the same celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the solar system as Earth's Nort ...

summer season, and 24-hour cruises from

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

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 car deck 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 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 ''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 Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

. These proved to be unprofitable and were terminated after the single season. In 1997 Viking Line placed ''Isabella''s newly purchased sister ''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

sponson Sponsons are projections extending from the sides of land vehicles, aircraft or watercraft to provide protection, stability, storage locations, mounting points for weapons or other devices, or equipment housing. Watercraft On watercraft, a spon ...

s 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. Viking Line had plans to refurbish all of the ship's cabins as a part of their large-scale fleet rebuilding programme. In January 2013, ''Isabella'' was replaced by the newbuilding ''Viking Grace''. She then temporarily replaced the docked ''Amorella'' from 16 January to 11 February. After that she was laid up in Turku awaiting her entrance on the Helsinki–Tallinn route for the summer season starting in May 2013. This was in case no buyer for her was found. Since the summer of 2012, ''Isabella'' was on sale on the international market. On 5 April 2013, Viking Line announced that ''Isabella'' has been sold to the competitor

. This meant that ''Isabella'' will not sail on the Helsinki–Tallinn route as originally planned. According to the CEO, "some 10 000 bookings" were affected by this but they were all be compensated. ''Isabella'' replaced ''Silja Festival'' on the Stockholm–Riga route. In April 2013, ''Isabella'' was renamed ''Isabelle'' and her port of registry was changed to

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. From late April 2013 until 5 May 2013, she was in Tallinn for maintenance and repainting. On 6 May she made her first voyage on the Riga–Stockholm route. In April 2014, on board a passenger was found dead from unknown causes. Since April 2022, the ship is acting as temporary accommodation for 1500 refugees fleeing war in Ukraine.

References

External links

Viking Line official website for ''Isabella''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isabella Ferries of Finland Cruiseferries Ships built in Croatia 1988 ships Ships of Latvia