Octantis floats out

VIKING has taken a big step toward the highly anticipated launch of its new expedition cruise products (CW 17 Jan), with the float out of Viking Octantis (pictured) from Fincantieri’s VARD shipyard just before Christmas.

The major construction achievement saw Octantis move to a nearby outfitting dock for the start of her interior build-out.

“Working with Fincantieri over the last eight years, we have built the world’s most beautiful ocean ships,” said Viking Chairman Torstein Hagen.

“We are pleased to continue our partnership with Fincantieri’s VARD and celebrate this important milestone in the construction of our first expedition vessel.

“In creating the thinking person’s expedition, we are perfecting polar expedition cruising, and we will usher in a new era of comfortable exploration in the heart of North America,” Hagen added.

Viking Octantis is scheduled to debut in early 2022 and will spend her maiden season sailing to Antarctica and North America’s Great Lakes.

The Polar Class 6 ship will have 189 staterooms, housing 378 guests in total, and have been “optimally sized and built for expeditions,” the company said.

As well as public spaces that are familiar to Viking’s ocean cruise guests, the new expedition vessels have an array of innovations including The Hangar, an enclosed in-ship marina which allows passengers to easily embark on adventures from a stable surface inside the ship, shielded from the elements.

Passengers will also have supervised access to an onboard laboratory facilitating research by a team of Viking Resident Scientists, in a program developed with the United Kingdom’s University of Cambridge and other academic partners.

All staterooms feature a Nordic Balcony, described as a “sunroom that converts into an al fresco viewing platform”.

A second identical vessel, Viking Polaris, will arrive in mid-2022 and operate to both poles.

A series of videos showcasing the expedition product can be viewed at vikingcruises.com.au.