Saga Cruises, which is part of the UK based travel to financial services group Saga plc, plans to order a 190 passenger capacity river cruise ship that is scheduled to debut in 2021.

To be known as Spirit of the Rhine, the ship is planned to offer 95 cabins, each with a floor space of 17 square metres.  It will be built at the Vahali shipyard in the Netherlands.

The ship will offer cruises in the Rhine, Main, Moselle, Main and Danube rivers. Saga Cruises also offers cruises in the Ukraine, Russia, Spain, Portugal and Italy.

Spirit of the Rhine is the first river cruise newbuilding of the company and it follows two ocean going ships, Spirit of Discovery that entered service this year and Spirit of Adventure that is due to replace the 1981 built Saga Sapphire next summer.