MS "Olau Hollandia" was the first newbuild ever to be built for Olau Line. Up until that point the company had operated with used ships purchased or chartered from other companies, but after TT-Line acquired Olau in 1979, the new owners invested in building two new cruiseferries for the company. The "Olau Hollandia" and her sister were more than twice the size of the largest ferries operated by Olau before that point (they were also larger than any ships operated by TT-Line at the time). The "Olau Hollandia" was built to be "NATO-compatible", so that she could easily be converted to a troopship if required. She was also built with a thicker hull than normal, enough to be classified under Finnish ice class 1 A Super (the highest possible class) when she began service on the Baltic Sea without any structural changes to her hull.