She opened a direct Dublin – Cherbourg route making one round trip at the weekend, with a call to Rosslare outbound in the winter.

After a major refit including the fitting of new ramps to speed up loading and unloading, the ship entered service under the Swedish flag in May 2004.

In March 2009 the Stena Nordica received a £2 Million refit[2] which improved passenger areas and brought the vessel into line with the rest of the Irish sea fleet.

In January 2015, it was announced[3] that DFDS Seaways had chartered Stena Nordica to be the replacement running mate on their Calais route, effectively performing a ship swap.

[6] Prior to entering service on the route, the vessel underwent a refit in Poland, which added new Stena Plus and Hygge lounges on deck 6.