The former Baltic cruiseferry Isabelle in her days with Tallink. She is now in Canada as a ‘floatel’.
JOHN PAGNI
Canada’s Bridgemans Partnership completed the purchase of the 35,154gt former Baltic cruiseferry Isabelle from Tallink Grupp on 31 January after the vessel, delivered from the Brodosplit facility in 1989 and originally running as Isabella, joined them on charter last year.
The entire interior, offering 2,166 beds mainly in two- or four-berth cabins, has been put through an extensive refurbishment before the start of the ship’s time as a static floatel in Northern Canada for workers on the Woodfibre LNG site. Now renamed Isabella X, the ship is anchored off Nainamo, opposite Vancouver in the Strait of Georgia on Canada’s west coast. As Isabella, she started life with Viking Line, serving Turku-Mariehamn-Stockholm. The ferry was then sold to rival Tallink, which put her on its Stockholm-Riga route. She was Latvian-flagged, with the Latvian capital as home port.