Viking plans for 24 more river ships

VIKING Cruises chairman Torstein Hagen has revealed plans to bulk up the river fleet with a whopping 24 more vessels.

The strategy would see Viking build 14 river vessels in addition to the seven already announced for 2019.

Hagen slipped in the announcement during a presentation at the Viking Sun christening in Shanghai last week ( CW 08 Mar), but didn’t detail timing or deployment plans for the extra ships.

The cruise line has employed a rapid expansion strategy that has brought its fleet of river ships to a current total of 65.

Talking to Cruise Weekly during the inaugural visit of Viking Sun last month, Viking Cruises svp marketing Richard Marnell downplayed the company’s growth in river ships.

“Rapid expansion is a somewhat relative thing,” he said, explaining that seven new vessels would represent close to a 10% growth in Viking’s river fleet.

“We see that as a little bit disappointing,” he said.

“On a relative size basis, our market share has continued to grow year after year and we will absolutely intend to ensure our market share outpaces any of the other river cruise providers,” Marnell said.

He said the cruise line believed the adoption of its ocean cruise product in Australia would help to grow its river business.

“I know there’s a number of river cruise companies that are known down in Australia and they have a cute fleet of ships of their own that is fractional in size to the Viking Longships,” he said.

Last week Viking announced it had ordered six additional ocean vessels for delivery by 2027.