Viking River Cruises a leading world river cruise line, announced today that it has commissioned six more Viking Longships for delivery in 2013. The six vessels will be joining Viking Freya, Viking Idun, Viking Njord, Viking Odin, which will be christened on March 21, 2012, and Viking Embla and Viking Aegir, which will be delivered later in 2012.”The new orders reflect the great interest in Viking River Cruises and its revolutionary Longships,” said Viking’s Chairman Torstein Hagen.Viking Longships integrate patent-pending* design and cutting-edge technology with comfortable amenities that reflect guest preferences and current travel trends, to include; Sustainability upgrades, such as solar panels, an onboard organic herb garden and energy-efficient hybrid engines that reduce vibrations for a remarkably smooth ride.
Viking River Cruises, is a leading river cruise company, offers scenic cruising along the rivers of Europe, Russia, China, Southeast Asia and Egypt. The company has been honored multiple times as the top river cruise line on Conde Nast Traveler’s “Gold List” and Travel + Leisure’s “World’s Best” Awards as well as recognized as the World’s Leading River Cruise Operator at the World Travel Awards and by the editors of Cruise Critic as “Best River Cruise Line” in the website’s 4th Annual Editors’ Picks Awards.
The Viking Longship series has been designed by celebrated maritime architects Yran & Storbraaten and Los Angeles based Rottet Studios. They are all being built at the Neptun Yard in Germany, part of the Meyer Neptun group.”At Viking, we are proud of our Norse heritage. The ancient Vikings were the ultimate explorers, and that tradition lives at Viking River Cruises today. For that reason, we have honored our new Viking Longships — and our beautifully refurbished Russian fleet — with names of celebrated Viking gods and heroes,” said Hagen. With the six additional vessels, Viking will have invested over $400 million in its fleet development program over three years.