Viking River Cruises will easily
fill the 10 longships launched
last week and the 12 more to
come next year.
THE popularity of European river cruising is
so hot right now that Viking has only 1% of
cabins left to sell this season.
Despite increasing its capacity by 40% in
2013, the line reports barely any availability.
“If you go on our website and try to make a
booking for Europe this year, you’ll find that,
through the end of October, out of 50,000
cabins that we had for sale, we only have 600
left,” said Torstein Hagen, chairman of Viking
River Cruises, at last week’s christening of 10
newly built ships.
“It’s jam-packed full.”
Viking entered the Guinness Book of Records
on 20 March for ‘most ships inaugurated on
one day by one company’, although two of the
vessels were excluded as they started sailing
late last year before being officially named.
The first-of-its-kind simultaneous christening
ceremony in Amsterdam debuted the Viking
Aegir, Atla, Bragi, Embla, Forseti, Jarl, Rinda,
Skadi, Tor and Var, with six of the ships named
via satellite from the shipyard in Germany.
Teresia Fors, the company’s Australian
managing director, said it was a “proud
moment for us proud Vikings”.
“Obviously, it’s a show of strength but it is
really meeting the demand.
“We can’t build the ships fast enough.”
Fors urged Australians to book early – in
March, April or May – for 2014.
“You’re not going to get a better deal later,
you need to commit early or else you won’t
get on board,” she said.
The 190-passenger ships feature energyefficient
hybrid engines that reduce vibrations,
an indoor/outdoor dining area, the two largest
river cruise suites in Europe, seven two-room
veranda suites, 39 cabins with full-size
verandas, and 22 French balcony cabins.
The new ships will sail the line’s most popular
European itineraries: Tulips & Windmills (10
days, Amsterdam-Antwerp-Amsterdam);
Passage to Eastern Europe (11 days, Budapest-
Bucharest); Romantic Danube (8 days,
Budapest-Nuremberg); Grand European Tour
(15 days, Amsterdam-Budapest); Danube
Waltz (8 days, Passau-Budapest) and Rhine
Getaway (8 days, Amsterdam-Basel).
On all Viking river cruises, Australian
passengers have an open bar and no tipping.
See www.vikingrivercruises.com.au.
