Evergreen Tours is giving Australians another vessel to cruise around Europe in, with plans to construct a fifth ‘Star Ship’ named Emerald Belle.
The 182-passenger river ship will be sister to Emerald Star, which launched in April last year; Emerald Sky, which took off in May 2014; plus Emerald Sun and Emerald Dawn scheduled to commence sailings later this year.
Emerald Belle will be built in the same configuration of her sister vessels and is expected to launch next year.
According to Evergreen’s general manager Angus Crichton, the ‘Star Ships’ vessels have been particularly popular amongst cruisers because of their ‘stylish’ and ‘innovative’ designs.
“With Emerald Belle joining the fleet in 2016 Evergreen guests will have an even greater choice of sailings and stateroom availability on these award-winning river cruisers.”
Angus Crichton, Evergreen Tours general manager
Onboard, the ‘Star Ships’ have 72 suites and 20 staterooms, plus they’re among the first river ships in the world to have solo cabins (two) onboard.
Rooms start from 130 square feet for solo cabins and reach 315 square feet in the Owner’s Suite.
The Owner’s Suite is comprised of a separate, closed off bedroom, a separate lounge area, an outdoor balcony, a walk-in wardrobe and a complimentary mini-bar stocked with wine, beer and soft drinks.
All classes of cabin are equipped with iPod and iPad docking stations and speakers.
Cabins are designed with an indoor balcony complete with a decked area and an open-air system. The top half of the floor-to-ceiling panoramic window drops down to allow an open-air opportunity at the touch of a button, and top suites separate the balcony from the cabin with sliding doors.
Unique to ‘Star Ship’ fleet is the 24m2 onboard heated swimming pool with a retractable glass. The pool areas transforms into a cinema in the evenings.
Onboard guests can choose to dine at two restaurants – Reflections, the main dining room; or The Terrace, which is only open for breakfast and lunch.
There’s also an onboard hairdresser, massage therapy room and fitness area.
For Emerald Belle itineraries check out Evergreen’s ‘Deluxe Europe River Cruising 2016 Preview’ brochure.
The program has a range of European river cruising itineraries for 2016 and earlybird deals such as ‘Fly Free’ prices, free cabin upgrades and solo savings.