M/S Amorella

M/S AMORELLA

Built : 1988 Split, Croatia

Length : 169.4 m

Passengers : 2,480

Kobba Klintar Pilot Station 

Åland Islands, Finland

60°01'46" N / 19°52'57" E

Sent by Anne from Ylivieska, Finland.

MS Mega Victoria is a cruiseferry owned by Corsica Ferries. She was formerly owned by Viking Line as MS Amorella and operated on the route Turku–Mariehamn–Stockholm and from 2022 Helsinki–Mariehamn–Stockholm. She was built in 1988 by Brodosplit in Croatia, then Yugoslavia.

Amorella has three sister ships: Gabriella in the Viking Line fleet, Isabelle operated by Tallink and Crown Seaways, operated by DFDS Seaways.

Amorella was ordered in 1986 by SF Line, one of the partners in Viking Line consortium. Although Brodosplit outbid other shipyards, the Finnish State offered to subsidise construction of the ship if she was built at a Finnish shipyard. This was a common practice in the 1980s to bring more jobs to Finland, but this time SF Line declined and had the ship built in Yugoslavia. The original planned delivery date for Amorella was in March 1988, but due to delays in construction she was not completed until September, which meant SF Line was forced to operate the lucrative summer season with old tonnage.

Except for short periods of time in 1997, 1998 and 2002, Amorella has always served on the Turku–Mariehamn/Långnäs–Stockholm route, making her the longest-lasting ship on that route. Originally she only called in Mariehamn during day crossing, but in July 1999 she had to start calling at the Åland Islands in both directions to maintain tax free sales on board, and as a result a call at Långnäs was added to the night crossing (read more).