German Princess Maja of Hohenzollern has agreed to name the new passenger ship MS Swiss Ruby on 12th April 2002 (Feb. 19, 2002)

German Princess Maja of Hohenzollern has agreed to name the new passenger ship MS Swiss Ruby on 12th April 2002
Scylla Tours and Geriberz Reisen are delighted that the German Princess Maja of Hohenzollern has agreed to name the new passenger ship MS Swiss Ruby on 12th April 2002. This attractive sponsor will bring an additional festive atmosphere to the event and through her presence she will underline the quality of the new ship - which will be a real gem on the rivers of Europe.

The ship - MS Swiss Ruby
"Small but beautiful" - these three words aptly describe the MS Swiss Ruby. With a length of 85 meters and a breadth of 10.60 meters she is certainly not one of the large, imposing river- cruise ships such as one sees on the Danube, for example. But with these measurements and her shallow draft she will be able to navigate practically all the rivers and canals of Europe. This is also the reason why the naming ceremony can take place in the attractive little town of Rheinfelden, a place which normally cannot be reached by river-cruise ships.

And the MS Swiss Ruby is a real beauty. The interior decoration has been carried out with a lot of love for detail and with only the very finest materials. The comfortable lounge with its bar and dancing area, the spacious restaurant, the sauna and the sun deck are all very inviting. The furnishings and facilities of the 43 double cabins also leave nothing to be desired.
On board there is a relaxed holiday atmosphere - the passengers donít have to worry about anything and are very well looked after by the crew and the restaurant staff.

For the 2002 season the MS Swiss Ruby will be cruising right across Europe for the well known Swiss travel firm, Geriberz Reisen. Some examples of the varied itineraries: Amsterdam - Brussels, Amsterdam - Hamburg - Berlin, Berlin - Prague, Regensburg - Budapest, Budapest - Black Sea.
The maiden voyage, from 13th to 20th April 2002, will be on the classical Rhine route from Basel to Amsterdam.
You will find the details in the brochures of geriberz reisen and Scylla Tours.

The naming sponsor of MS Swiss Ruby - Princess Maja of Hohenzollern
Since her marriage to Prince Ferfried of Hohenzollern, a grandson of the last King of Saxony, in 1999, the charming Princess Maja has attracted the attention of the media like almost no other member of the German nobility.

Born in Dresden in 1972 as Maja Meinert, she certainly did not have an easy childhood in the former GDR. After a failed attempt by her parents to flee to the West, and their subsequent imprisonment, the Federal Republic paid for their freedom in 1980, but their small daughter was able to leave the country only three years later. Until she could leave the GDR, in 1982, Maja grew up in Thuringia with her grandmother and an aunt.
In her new home town of Bad Homburg she attended the local high school. After passing her school-leaving examination and completing a university course in Media Sciences at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt on Main, she moved to Berlin in 1993.
She studied real-estate and property management and worked successfully as a qualified real-estate manager, before changing over to the telecommunications sector, to work as Key Account Manager with Tenovis (Bosch Telecom).
During this time she met and fell in love with Prince Ferfried of Hohenzollern. Since her marriage in Dresden, in 1999, as Princess of Hohenzollern she now belongs to the European nobility and counts personalities such as the King and Queen of Sweden among her close relatives.
The couple do not live at the Hohenzollern Castle in Sigmaringen, but in Berlin. In her leisure time the 29 year-old Maja of Hohenzollern designs and wears extravagant fashions and jewellery, which always cause something of a sensation at official functions.
In her regular newspaper column, ("Castles and Manor Houses in Brandenburg"), which is published in the German Sunday newspaper, "Welt am Sonntag", this lover of literature has attracted considerable attention with her writings about noble families returning to their former homes. She is at present working on a project for a documentary film on this subject.
This creative aristocrat is also devoting time to the planning of her own fashion line, is busy with concepts for a TV format of her own, is a sought-after event moderator and also has the ambition, as a journalist, to examine the most varied subjects.

MS Swiss Ruby - Facts and Figures
Length: 85 m
Breadth: 10.60 m
Draft: 1.10 m
Year of construction: 2002
Passengers: 86 (43 double cabins)
Crew: 22
Decks: Emerald Deck, Ruby Deck, Sun Deck
Cabins: 43 comfortable outside cabins with two beds, radio, colour television, minibar, safe, hair drier, air-conditioning, shower and WC. During the day each cabin is converted into a comfortable sitting room.
Public rooms and facilities: Lounge with dancing area and pianist, Panorama Bar, restaurant, shipís boutique, sauna and sun deck. The ship has the very latest navigation equipment.
Flag: Swiss
Home port: Basel
Shipping Company: Scylla Tours AG, Basel
Builders: Vessel: "De Hoop" shipyard in Heusden (NL)
Interior construction and fittings: Da Capo Shipwrights, Hardinxveld (NL)
Charterer: geriberz reisen, Wettingen (Switzerland)
Captain: Philip Wenniger (NL)
Naming sponsor: The German Princess Maja of Hohenzollern
Cruising routes: The maiden cruise of the MS Swiss Ruby will be on the classical Rhine route from Basel to Amsterdam. In the 2002 season the ship will be sailing right across Europe, for example from Amsterdam to Berlin, from Berlin to Prague or on the Danube, as far as the Black Sea.

(Source: Scylla Tours)