Viking Cruises has announced a new agreement with Fincantieri shipyard that will likely result in six additional ocean ships by 2027. The new agreement raises the company’s total ship order and options to a whopping 16 – the highest ever for a shipyard from a single owner.
The announcement comes just before the naming of Viking’s fourth ocean ship, Viking Sun on March 8 in Shanghai, China. The vessel is currently sailing the sold-out 141-day World Cruise from Miami to London, and its stop in Shanghai will mark the first time one of the line’s ocean ships has called in China. Sun will also be the first cruise ship to be named in Shanghai.
“When we launched our first ocean ship in 2015, we set out to reinvent ocean cruising. We focus on the destination, and we do not cram our ships with gimmicks and waterslides. Our understated, elegant, award-winning ships are designed to simply enable our guests to better explore their destination.” said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking.
Viking Cruises’ all-veranda ocean ships are 47,800 gross tons and have 465 cabins and hold 930 guests. Viking Sun is the newest addition to the ocean fleet, which also includes Viking Star, Sea, and Sky. The line will welcome two more sister ships in the next two years: Viking Orion in June 2018 and Viking Jupiter in 2019, marking it the largest small ship ocean cruise line. Ten more ships are now on order for delivery starting in 2021, which will bring the fleet to 16 ships by 2027.
