She is designed to travel at speeds of up to 46-and-a-half knots, giving a journey time between Portsmouth and the Normandy ports of three hours per crossing.

In January 2005, she was renamed Normandie Express and sailed for France, stopping off in Indonesia to drop off supplies and equipment for the tsunami relief effort.

After calling in at Roscoff to drop off the yacht and being shown off to Brittany Ferries management, she undertook berthing trials in Portsmouth, Cherbourg and Ouistreham before starting service in March 2005.

In mid 2012, Brittany Ferries announced that Normandie Express would no longer operate the Portsmouth to Caen Route in 2013.

Instead, a brand new route was officially introduced, sailing from Portsmouth to Le Havre from May until September, but only on Thursdays and Fridays.