Prinsessan Christina was built in Denmark in 1969 for Sessan Line's Gothernburg-Frederikshavn service. After a sale to JCE Safe ten years later, without a change of name or route, the ship later became Safe Christina in 1981, and saw service at Ramsgate (for Sally Line). After a brief period running back on her original run for a new Safe venture nin 1982, the operation and its ship was bought out by Stena, who had themselves taken over Sessan in 1981. Resuming her original name, Stena used the ship mostly around the lesser routes in the company's Scandinavian network, both under Lion Ferry and Stena brandings. Further renamings followed: Stena Nordica in 1983, Europafarjan I in 1985, Lion Prince in 1986 and Stena Prince in 1998.
Finally sold in early 1999, she was acquired by TRIS for operations between Genoa and Sardinia (Palau) as Commodore. TRIS service ceased in 2002, and for a while the ship's future was uncertain. However, in early 2003 she was purchased by ENERMAR (a company in which Moby Lines had a substantial stake), renamed Palau and returned to her Genoa-Palau route. This continued until the end of the 2004 Summer season, after which the vessel was chartered out for service on the Adriatic, still under the name Palau, between Bari and Durres in Albania. She returned to her Palau route for the Summer months of 2005 but was sold permanently to Di Maio Lines in October of that year. For 2006 and 2007, Di Maio superceded ENERMAR and she operated on a variety of routes to Sardinia. In early 2008 however the ship was sold to a Dutch company called C-Bed, renamed Wind Solution and refitted as an accommodation ship, before unexpectedly arriving in Grimsby where she began use in her new role. |
