The vessel soon became too small to allow for the increasing passenger and cargo traffic on this route, and in October 2010 it was replaced by the larger catamaran MV Jean de La Valette.

[8] The vessel operated year-round scheduled routes between Malta, Pozzallo and Catania in Sicily, and Reggio Calabria on mainland Italy.

[5] On 21 December 2007, Maria Dolores carried the first Maltese passengers able to travel without passports to Pozzallo, on the same day that Malta joined the Schengen Area.

[9] This led to Virtu Ferries ordering a larger catamaran, the MV Jean de La Valette, in April 2009 – just over three years after Maria Dolores entered service.

[9][10] The Jean de La Valette, also built by Austal, replaced Maria Dolores on the Malta-Sicily route in October 2010.

Embarkation of the passengers took longer than expected, and the vessel left Libya on 25 February, arriving in Malta on the same day.

[2] The vessel was operated by Inter Shipping SRA on a time charter basis on routes between Tarifa in Spain and Tangier in Morocco[2] until this service was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[13] On 2 April 2022, during Pope Francis' visit to Malta, he traveled on board the Maria Dolores in an hour-long journey from the Grand Harbour to Mġarr, Gozo.