Viking Sets to Sail to Ocean
With Viking Ocean Cruises officially has its first cruise ship, the group has embraced a new strategy intended to split its growth more evenly between river and ocean cruising.
“Viking Star”, the first of three cruise ships which Fincantieri is currently building for Viking, was presented today at Marghera shipyard. The other two sister ships are “Viking Sea” and “Viking Sky”, the company said in its press release.
The ceremony was attended by Torstein Hagen, founder and chairman of Viking Cruises, while Fincantieri was represented, among others, by Giuseppe Bono, CEO.
Hagen acknowledged that growth in the river cruise business has been slowing slightly, but he said the company’s total growth would not slow, because the new ocean cruise ships will be coming on line.
“We’re making space for some of our ocean cruisers,” Hagen said. “We want to make sure that’s at least as great a success as the rivers.”
The shift comes against a backdrop of weaker-than-expected sales of European river cruises in 2015.
"Viking Star", like its two sister ships, will be placed in the small cruise ship segment. In fact, with a gross tonnage of about 47,800 tons, it will have 465 cabins with accommodation for 930 passengers.
The ship has been designed by experienced nautical architects and engineers, including an interior design team of London-based SMC Design, and Los Angeles-based Rottet Studios.
Viking Star will board its first revenue guests on April 11 and depart Istanbul, sailing through the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic to Bergen, Norway, where it will be christened on May 17 by Bergen Mayor Trude Drevland, on Norwegian Constitution Day. It will sail in the Western and Eastern Mediterranean, and the Baltic.
