MS ''Isabelle X'' 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 ot ...

Isabella and her sisters
IHS Fairplay, 25 April 2013. owned and operated till July 2023 by the

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n based

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

and in January 2024 sold to Notamare Shipping. 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, Croatia, Split peninsula. History The company was founded in 1922 by a merger of shipyards in the area and has been in its current locati ...

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, enter ...

, Yugoslavia, for

SF Line SF Line was the name of the Finland, Finnish shipping company now known as Viking Line. The company, originally named Rederi Ab Ålandsfärjan, was one of three shipping companies that formed shipping marketing company Viking Line in 1966, the o ...

—one of the partners in the Viking Line consortium—as ''Isabella''. The ship served as refugee housing in Tallinn until 1 July 2023. ''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) in ...

, ''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 abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

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, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

Service history

Prior to entering service ''Isabella'' visited

Pori Pori (; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Satakunta. It is located on the west coast of the country, on the Gulf of Bothnia. The population of Pori is approximately , while the Pori sub-region, sub-region has a population of a ...

, 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 (; ) is a municipalities of Finland, town in Southwest Finland, and, as a resort town during the summer, an important centre of tourism in the country. The municipality has a population of (), and is located west of Turku. The town h ...

–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 was served by frequent passenger ferry services to Mariehamn, Åland, Finland, operate ...

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 by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

summer season, and 24-hour cruises from

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

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 Visby () is an urban areas in Sweden, urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic League, ...

. 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 capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

. 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, Instantaneous stability, stability, storage locations, mounting points for weapons or other devices, or equipment housing. Watercra ...

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 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 ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. 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 1,500 refugees fleeing the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. In January 2024 it was relocated to Canada to serve as a floatel for workers at the

Woodfibre Woodfibre, originally Britannia West, was a pulp mill and at one time a small company town, on the west side of upper Howe Sound near Squamish, British Columbia, Squamish, British Columbia. The mill closed in March 2006. History In 1912, a mill ...

LNG project. In the same month the ship was sold to Notamare Shipping.Tallink Grupp completes sale of Isabelle to Cyprus-based Notamare Shipping Company Limited
Shippax

References

External links

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