Emerald Destiny

The 2017-built MS Emerald Destiny cruise ship is newbuild riverboat and the 5th vessel in the Emerald Waterways fleet, with sisterships Emerald Star, Emerald Sky, Emerald Sun, Emerald Dawn, Emerald Luna. Emerald Destiny replaced a riverboat named "Emerald Belle", which was destroyed in a shipyard fire in February 2016, just a few weeks before vessel's debut. Rather than repairing the “significantly damaged” boat, the cruise company decided to start fresh with a new one. In 2017 were launched the similarly-designed Star-Ship class boats Emerald Radiance (in Portugal) and Emerald Liberte (in France).

Emerald Waterways is a new river cruise shipping company (2014-established) and brand owned by Scenic Tours (shipowner). Like the new longships of Viking River Cruises, the innovations implemented on Emerald Waterways ships make these vessels an alternative to the ocean "small-ship cruising". Emerald Waterways adds more cruise tour itinerary choices and sailing dates for the aficionados of the all-inclusive European luxury riverboat travel vacations.

Cabins

Most Emerald Destiny staterooms are outfitted with drop-down windows that transform the seating area into a comfortable balcony space. Emerald Destiny has a total of 92 staterooms in 8 categories for 182 guests served by 47 crew members. Excepting the single-occupancy category ES (Emerald Single Stateroom), all cabins are with double occupancy (max capacity 2 passengers per cabin). 75% of all rooms are Suites with a balcony (in-room/step-out veranda).

Shipboard facilities

MS Emerald Destiny has 4 passenger decks (3 with cabins), Horizon Bar Lounge with outdoor Terrace seating (Deck 3 forward), Reflections Restaurant (Dining Room, Deck 2 forward), aft-Deck3 indoor swimming pool/night cinema (covered with sliding roof), wellness facilities (Gym, Spa and Beauty Salon, massage room), Sun Deck (Wheelhouse, games area with giant Tic-Tac-Toe, 3-hole Mini-Golf Putting Green, Walking Track, Sky Barbecue Bar, shaded seating, passenger-use bikes). One lift (passenger elevator) connects all cabin decks.

The ship has two restaurants. The Reflections Restaurant is the main restaurant with open seating and table service. There is also a buffet station at dinner and omelet station at breakfast. The Terrace is the al-fresco dining area - an informal venue for breakfast and lunch. The Horizon Lounge has floor-to-ceiling windows and doubles as a casual lunch restaurant. Weather permitting, lunch and dinner special buffets are held at various times on the open deck.

Note: You can see the CruiseMapper's list of all river cruise ships and riverboats in the "itinerary" section of our River Cruises hub. All companies and their fleets are listed there.

The riverboat's godmother is Mrs. Coleen Christie - Canadian broadcaster, host of CTV News (Vancouver BC). The ship's christening ceremony was on May 9, 2017, held on Danube River in Vienna Austria. Also in 2017 was launched and christened Emerald Liberte (in April, cruising on Saone and Rhone rivers in France / capacity 138 passengers) and Emerald Radiance (in May, cruising on Douro River in Portugal / capacity 112 passengers).

Like most new European river cruise ships, Emerald Sun has a telescopic wheelhouse which can be lowered into the below deck to clear low lying bridges. Ship's wheelhouse is open for passengers to visit on a regular basis.

Scenic Tours (Emerald Waterways) cruise deals are inclusive of wines, beers and soft drinks (at meals), as well as gratuities, transfers and shore excursions within the cost to the overall river cruise tour fare. Flights from London (England) or other regional UK airports are also complimentary.