Uniworld Boutique River Cruises’ official season will kick off in late March, and the countdown has begun as Uniworld will unveil its new Super Ship, S.S. Antoinette, sailing along the Rhine River. Newly built at the De Hoop shipyard in The Netherlands, the S.S. Antoinette will be Uniworld’s largest ship length-wise at 443 ft. and width-wise at 37.5 ft. The public space per passenger, along with the staterooms and suites, will be significantly higher than on comparable vessels.

De Hoop, who has been building ships for over 120 years, has partnered closely with Uniworld, and their sister company, Red Carnation Hotels - a collection of four- and five-star boutique hotels - to set a new standard in river cruise ships. According to Patrick Janssens, owner of De Hoop, “The S.S. Antoinette is a highly customized vessel, more so than any other vessel, and we have used new techniques to optimize it and to make sure that it really is the next generation of vessels for the luxury cruise market.”

Several unique features will make the S.S. Antoinette the most innovative, efficient, and luxurious river cruise ship in the marketplace today. All top deck suites and staterooms offer full open-air private balconies that, with a touch of a switch, will raise the glass to create a completely enclosed conservatory. All staterooms throughout the ship will have their own LCD flat-screen infotainment center, including movies-on-demand, music, news, sports, hotel services, and more. And each suite has an extra TV located on the balcony.

For those who wish to view movies in a more traditional venue, the S.S. Antoinette features the first movie theater on a river cruise ship. Equipped with a 20-seat movie theater, guests can view a range of movies on a state-of-the-art flat screen with Dolby surround sound.

Surround sound is also a feature that can be found as guests swim in the inviting, blue-tiled mosaic, heated swimming pool. With a water depth of five feet, guests can listen to underwater music being piped in as they swim. The swimming pool together with the Serenity River Spa™ and fitness center, provide a host of options for guests to maintain their overall well-being throughout their trip.

The S.S. Antoinette has impressive green credentials as well with a waste-management system consisting of a food macerator and tank, and glass-crunching and compactor machines. Further, she will be powered by a newly developed noise and vibration reduction feature consisting of double-resilient mounted frames for the engine and thruster. And De Hoop has designed the S.S. Antoinette for the highest degree of safety—beyond existing rules and regulations.

“Our goal is to make the S.S. Antoinette set a really new standard in luxury river cruising. Together with Uniworld and the Red Carnation Hotel team, we are going to make this happen, and we are going to be even more proud when the vessel sets sail,” furthers Janssens.