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Viking patriarch influenced by family
AMSTERDAM — There is interesting history to the formation of Viking River Cruises and its Russian roots. Much of the credit has to go to the family of Torstein Hagen, now the Chairman of the Board....
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Cruise round-up: Themes, Barcelona, Mazatlan
Time to go “Around the Horn” with cruise news. It seems forever (it’s actually been 38 years) that the Garrison Keeler’s Prairie Home Companion, located in the fictional town of Lake Woebegone in...
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Viking Longships just keep growing
If you have any doubt that river cruising business is growing at a fast rate, look no further than what’s going on at Viking. The largest river cruise line in the business is adding not the expected...
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TV show spikes growth for Viking — plus
There is a ton of websites out there capable of becoming instant sensations. One great video or tweet and someone or something is an overnight hit. As it pertains to the growth of the popular TV show...
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Vikings on the high seas
Let’s catch up on some news: This item was kind of lost in all the talk about Viking’s launching eight river cruisers on the same day in March. Viking is going to the high seas. Definitely one of the...
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Flotilla of Viking ships christened
AMSTERDAM — This Dutch metropolis celebrated the first day of spring with near freezing One for the (Guinness) books temperatures and howling winds as Viking set a new Guinness world record for the...
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Look-a-like Longships leaders on rivers
AMSTERDAM — Board one of the 18 Viking Longships that will be plying the waters of Europe this year and this you can be sure of: If you’ve seen one, you’ve pretty well seem them all. There is little...
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Viking Star coming to ocean galaxy
LOS ANGELES — I’ll have more for you on Monday but Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking River Cruises, officially stuck his big toe into the ocean last night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. He did it by...
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A closer look at the coming Viking Star
On Friday’s blog, I outlined the first summer’s itineraries for Viking River Cruises’ first foray into ocean cruising. The new ship will be the Viking Star and it’s scheduled to be launched in 2014....
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Viking on the ocean: more time in ports
Los Angeles — No more “nickeling-and-diming.” That’s the mantra of Viking Cruises Chairman and Owner Torstein Hagen. The “shoot-from-the-shoulders” boss of Viking didn’t mince words when announcing...
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Viking on the Mississippi in 2015?
When I first broke the story here at portsandbows.com that Viking River Cruises had an active committee working on the possibility of a river ship on North American waters, I had the impression it...
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Propulsion problem insurmountable
You plan, anticipation grows and your holiday is just around the corner. Then comes The Phone Call. There’s a mechanical problem that’s impacting your holiday. If you’re travelling by plane, bus or...
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Free Internet for Regent ship passengers partly free; for Viking passengers...
I opened my email to find that luxury-brand Regent Seven Seas was announcing an offer of free WiFi across the fleet, starting in the fall of 2014. Whoopee! Next to lower single-accommodation pricing at...
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American, Viking: royalty on the rivers
In 2012, American Cruise Lines introduced the Queen of the Mississippi, the first new ship on the river in nearly 20 years. On opposite sides of the Atlantic, it appears ACL and Viking are winning the...
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Viking Longships shatter Guinness record…again
AVIGNON, France — What do you do when you’ve just christened 16 of your company’s Longships in the space of 24 hours and you’ve just been certified by a Guinness World Records adjudicator for “The Most...
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Longships of Norse gods now Longships of Viking
AVIGNON, France — During the Viking Age, the early Longships built by Nordic countries were self-propelled (rowing) and used for troop transports in war, for commerce and for exploration. Today, Viking...
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Ten more Longships on the rivers Viking’s latest venture
The Viking machine keeps rolling down the river. Viking confirmed that it is now building 10 more Longships next year continuing the trend of double-digit builds. Already owner of the Guinness World...
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Much-anticipated new ships in the next year
It’s always an exciting time when major cruise lines roll out their new ships. It is especially exciting when the ships are prototypes — the first in a class of ships they hope will be successful. This...
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Viking maestro in tune with river cruise goals
Torstein Hagen is a cruise maverick and risk taker. The owner and CEO of Viking Cruises decided — when most river lines were building one or two boats a year — that he wanted to own the largest share...
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Viking Star most-anticipated new ship for 2015
Three large ships and the most anticipated newbie of the year are in the final building process for 2015. While there are new river ships, adventure ships and large German ships launching in 2015, I’m...
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Viking riverboats coming to America
A couple of years ago I managed to break a story here at portsandbows.com from Amsterdam that Viking had a project on the table to examine the possibility of putting riverboats in the U.S. Louisiana...
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Sir Richard Branson’s cruise dreams
In a recent interview in the Daily Telegraph, Sir Richard Branson — whose Virgin logo can be found on aircraft, records, and trains — was quoted as saying he is spending billions of dollars to rule the...
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Newest godmothers latest Viking innovation
Ho-hum. Another unsettled March weather day in Amsterdam, and Torstein Hagen is launching 12 more Viking riverboats (10 of them Longships), naming 12 more Godmothers and addressing the crowd with...
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Pride and Star today’s cruise newsmakers
A couple of ships are in the news today. One that you’re probably familiar with and one that you’ll become more familiar with once it arrives. The Carnival Pride is back in Baltimore and sailing...
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Viking Star off to Norway christening
ABOARD THE VIKING STAR — Today, this river cruise line’s first ocean ship is accepting passengers in Greenwich on the Thames, her final port before pulling into Bergen, Norway later this week. There,...
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Viking’s new ship also a Star in flow department
ABOARD THE VIKING STAR — The first thing that gets my attention on a ship is how it flows. Now that may sound silly but how you move about it is important. The word to describe the flow on Viking’s new...
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Newest ocean cruiser leaves its mark in London
ABOARD THE VIKING STAR — This was moving day for the Viking Star, after she gained some measure of fame by cruising on the Thames as the largest ship to go through the Thames flood barriers. And...
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The Star and its impact on cruise industry
ABOARD THE VIKING STAR IN BERGEN, NORWAY — Will the Viking Star be a game changer in ocean cruising? A person who shall remain nameless, but who is definitely in the know about cruising, told me that...
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Twin celebrations mark Viking Star’s arrival
Norwegians were celebrating their biggest holiday, Constitution Day, on May 17 and Torstein Hagen — the Chairman and CEO of Viking Cruises and a native son of Norway — was adding to the celebration in...
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Creativity from Ama River, Viking Ocean
AmaWaterways and Viking Ocean are getting creative. Ama cares about solo travellers. The respected river line has always had a soft spot for people sailing solo, and now is making more double...
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Godmothers for new Carnival, Viking ships
Fincantieri Shipyards in Monfalcone, about an hour from Venice, this week floated out two new ships that will start welcoming passengers in the spring of 2016. Vista, a new class of ship for Carnival,...
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Coming to Canada — the Viking Star
Those of us lucky enough to be among the first to sail on Viking’s first ocean going ship — Viking Star — are delighted for Canadians and Americans who will now get to find out what all the shouting is...
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Six more Viking Longships on the rivers
Viking continues to dominate the rivers of Europe. This week, under overcast skies filled with rain in Amsterdam, Viking River Cruises launched six more Longships…more than all other major river lines...
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A view from 10 years of cruise observations
Four notable moments in covering an ever-changing industry over course of a decade “How long have you been doing this?” That question was posed by a reader last week. I hadn’t given it much thought...
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Viking’s third ocean cruiser out of the shipyard
Viking Sky, the third ocean-going sister ship to the Star and the Sea, has been floated out from the shipyard and is well underway to meet its scheduled launch in 2017. Meanwhile, the Sea has been...
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Meeting of Viking’s sisters of the ocean
Last week, the second Viking ocean cruise ship met the first, in one of the most beautiful destinations in the world — Santorini. The Viking Star was launched last year as the most successful river...
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