The only Czech hotel boat Florentina yesterday undertook a demonstration cruise from Nymburk to Podebrady. This year, Florentina will run regular cruises from Prague to Litomerice and to Podebrady twenty-one times.
The hotel boat Florentina mainly targets Swiss and German tourists of retirement age. It can carry up to 96 passengers, who are looked after by a crew of more than twenty members. Last year Florentina ran 12 week-long cruises, this year almost twice as many are planned.
Florentina was built in 1980 in Berlin, then served as a botel on the Rhine and Danube. In 2008, ownership passed to Evropska vodni doprava, which fully refurbished the boat and presented a vision that has become reality and is still successfully operating today. Last year Evropska vodni doprava sold Florentina to Florentina Botel, which belongs to the Swiss company Thurgau Travel.
