Upon completion, the ship entered service in 1987 for North Sea Ferries, then a joint-venture between Dutch Nedlloyd and British P&O.

The first years it sailed on the Rotterdam-Hull route with sister ship Norsea, replacing Norstar and Norland.

To leave Hull the ship had to squeeze through the lock bow first which only has a few centimetres of clearance on each side.

The ship simply sailed into Zeebrugge harbour, turned to starboard into a docking area just south of Albert-II Dok and backed into the berth, opening her stern door on the linkspan.

[7] Media related to IMO 8503797 at Wikimedia Commons European Seaway