MS Esprit

In March-April 2018, the Esprit riverboat was drydock refitted and refurbished. Its passenger capacity was reduced from 118 to 98 (17% reduction) and the staterooms number was decreased from 59 to 49. The ship's reconstruction created larger public areas and bigger passenger cabins. The most extensive changes were done on Ruby (middle) Deck, where the 30x cabins (sized 14 m2 / 150 ft2) were replaced by 20x cabins (sized 21 m2 / 225 ft2). The ship already had 14x suites (sized 28 m2 / 300 ft2). Following the 2018 drydock, nearly 70% of all staterooms are 21 m2. On Diamond (upper) Deck "The Bistro" restaurant was renamed "Arthur's" and upgraded with its own galley (kitchen) and dedicated chef.

The same deckplan changes were implemented to the fleetmates and sisterships MS Treasures (in 2018) and in 2017 - to Swiss Emerald and Swiss Sapphire.

Vessel's construction (hull and superstructure) was done at the Vahali Shipyard in Belgrade Serbia. The 1923-founded Dutch shipbuilding company (Scheepswerf En Machinefabriek Vahali BV) owns and operates yards in Serbia (Belgrade, and Zasavica) and in Holland (Gendt). Vahali Shipyard Zasavica was officially opened in 2013. Following the construction in Serbia, the cruise ship was towed to Holland for final outfitting at Scheepswerf Vahali (Gendt).

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.