''Rigel II'' is a cruiseferry owned and operated by the Greek shipping company

Ventouris Ferries Ventouris Ferries is a Greek company that operates ferry services from Italy to Greece and Albania. Routes Ventouris Ferries operates three routes across the Adriatic Sea. * Bari - Durres (Rigel II & Rigel III & Rigel VII) * Bari - Corfu - Ig ...

. The vessel operates between

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

and Durres.

Sister Ship

''Rigel II'' is the first of two

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

s built. The second vessel currently operates for

Grandi Navi Veloci Grandi Navi Veloci (''GNV'') is an Italian shipping company, based in Genoa, that operates ferry, ferries between mainland Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, France, Albania, Morocco and Tunisia. It was established by Aldo Grimaldi in 1992. History GN ...

as .

History

The vessel was launched in January 1980 as ''Visby'' for Rederi AB Gotland. She was the first of two identical ships built by Öresundsvarvet in

Landskrona Landskrona (old da, Landskrone) is a town in Scania, Sweden. Located on the shores of the Öresund, it occupies a natural port, which has lent the town at first military and subsequent commercial significance. Ferries operate from Landskrona t ...

. ''Visby'' entered service between

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

and the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

mainland ports of Nynäshamn and Oskarshamn. In 1987, the contract to run ferry services to Gotland was awarded to Gotlandslinjen. ''Visby'' was chartered to the new operator until replaced by ''Nord Gotlandia'' in 1990. In 1990, ''Visby'' was chartered to United Kingdom-based ferry operator

Sealink British Ferries Sealink was a ferry company based in the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1984, operating services to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight and Ireland. Ports served by the company included: Port of Dover, ...

for service between Fishguard and Rosslare. Following a major refit in Tilbury, the vessel entered service in March 1990 as ''Felicity''. She remained the largest ferry on the Irish Sea until the arrival of ''Isle of Innisfree'' in 1995. ''Felicity'' was renamed ''Stena Felicity'' in 1991 following the acquisition of Sealink British Ferries by

Stena Line Stena Line is a Swedish shipping line company and one of the largest ferry operators in the world. It services Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden. Stena Line is a major unit of Ste ...

. ''Stena Felicity''s cinema was on one of the lowest deck, and close to the centre of the vessel between port and starboard, fore and aft. Adjacent were separate male and female saunas with

Jacuzzi Jacuzzi Brands LLC (; ), through its subsidiaries, is a global manufacturer and distributor of branded baths, hot tubs, pools, saunas and, formerly, aircraft. Founded in 1915 by the Italian family of the same name, Jacuzzi is a federally regist ...

s. Either was an ideal place to cross the

St George's Channel St George's Channel ( cy, Sianel San Siôr, ga, Muir Bhreatan) is a sea channel connecting the Irish Sea to the north and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. Historically, the name "St George's Channel" was used interchangeably with "Irish Sea" ...

in stormy weather because, being so low down and close to the centre of the ship, the rough sea state had very little effect. In 1997, the charter of ''Stena Felicity'' ended. Her place on the Fishguard route was taken by ''Koningin Beatrix''. Following a rebuild in Germany, the vessel re-entered Gotland service in 1998 under her original name of ''Visby''. In 2003 ''Visby'' was renamed ''Visborg'' to release her name for a new vessel under construction in China. In 2003, she was sold to Polferries and renamed ''Scandinavia'' for service between

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

and Nynäshamn. The vessel's last trip between Nynäshamn and Gdańsk took place on 8 May 2015. The ship was sold to

and renamed to ''Rigel II''.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rigel II Cruiseferries Ships built in Landskrona 1980 ships Ferries of Poland Ferries of Sweden