The Pride of Burgundy was initially to be built as the European Causeway as part of an order for four new freight ferries for the 4 hour Dover to Zeebrugge crossing in the early 1990's. The original order with the shipyard was for four identical ferries to be named: European Seaway, European Highway, European Pathway & European Causeway. During the construction of the European Causeway the design was seriously amended and the ship was converted to full passenger status, entering service as the Pride of Burgundy.

The change of plan occurred following the amazing rise in passenger traffic on the Dover to Calais route and the UK Government's decision not to allow any sort of pooling agreement with Sealink. It was believed the the first choice of name was to have been Pride of Lille.

The forward part of deck 7 was designed as passenger cabins for use on the Zeebrugge route, these are still present on the ship after the conversion and are now used by the crew as living accommodation. Unlike the Pride of Kent (ex. European Highway) & Pride of Canterbury (ex. European Pathway) the ship feels very much like a converted freighter. Due to the conversion of the ship during construction, the passenger capacity is the lowest on the route being in the region of 600 passengers less than her converted sisters. Early in the ships career the passenger capacity was increased from 1320 to 1420.