Viking Cruises was founded by Torstein Hagen in 1997. A Norwegian by birth, Hagen, with extensive knowledge of the shipping and cruise industry, has held senior positions in various companies. He was the CEO of Royal Viking Line, the industry-leading cruise line of the 1990s. Hagen also served on the boards of Holland America Line and Kloster Cruise Ltd., and was a partner at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company in Europe.
Article from CruisesNews magazine no. 55 – December 2020
He currently serves as CEO and Chairman of Viking Cruises, which began with the acquisition of four riverboats in Russia. To expand the company's fleet and secure berths in major European cities, in 2000 he purchased the European shipping company KD River Cruises, a firm with 40 years of experience in river cruises. This acquisition made Viking River Cruises the largest river cruise operator in Europe, with a fleet of 26 riverboats.
The company expanded into the US market in 2000, establishing a sales and marketing office in Los Angeles. Since then, Viking has grown to become the world's leading river cruise line.
Viking has grown to become the world's leading river cruise line and has six seagoing ships and another six on order.
In 2013, Hagen announced the company's entry into ocean cruising, and in 2015, it launched its first ocean-going ship, the Viking Star. Following the success of this ship, it launched a second, the Viking Sea, in 2016, which was later joined by its sister ships, the Viking Sky and Viking Sun, in 2017, the Viking Orion in 2018, and the Viking Jupiter in 2019. This made Viking a leading small-ship ocean-going cruise company with a fleet of six ships and six more sister ships on order, with options for four additional vessels, potentially bringing Viking's total ocean-going fleet to 16 ships by 2027.
The company focuses on destinations. They are designed for experienced travelers with an interest in geography, culture, and history. Each trip includes a shore excursion at each port and an exclusive program that provides an in-depth immersion in the destination through music and art performances, culinary demonstrations, informative talks, and expert speakers carefully selected for their expertise.
River Cruises
: Viking River Cruises' fleet comprises over 70 riverboats sailing on various rivers around the world, including the Rhine, Danube, Seine, and Douro in Europe, the Yangtze in Southeast Asia, the Volga in Russia, and the Nile in Africa, among others. These ships feature state-of-the-art engineering, luxurious accommodations, and comfortable Scandinavian-style interiors.
Longships
that make up the company's fleet showcase innovative engineering with a sleek, aerodynamic Scandinavian design. These ships are custom-built to navigate rivers with unique navigational characteristics, such as the Viking Hemming, Viking Torgil, Viking Osfrid, and Viking Helgrim on the Douro River; the Viking Kari, Viking Skaga, Viking Radgrid, and Viking Fjorgyn on the Seine; and a completely refurbished Russian fleet on the Volga, a river on which Viking Cruises has sailed for over 20 years: the Viking Akun, Viking Helgi, Viking Ingvar, Viking Truvor, and Viking Rurik. On the Mekong, Viking Cruises operates the Viking Mekong and Viking Saigon, specifically built for this river; and the Viking Sineus in Ukraine. and on the Nile with the Viking Osiris, the Viking Ra and the MS Antares, these being the most sophisticated river ships that sail in the region.
Between 2021 and 2027 the company will add ten more ships, some of them for expedition cruises.
This year, Torsten Hogen also announced the launch of new river cruises focused on the Mississippi River. The Viking Mississippi, with a capacity for 386 passengers, will debut in August 2022 and will sail the Lower and Upper Mississippi, between New Orleans and St. Paul.
Cruises
boasts one of the youngest luxury cruise fleets, with six new, state-of-the-art ships featuring a modern Scandinavian design. Each sister ship accommodates only 930 passengers, adults aged 55 and over. These ships are considered small, allowing them direct access to most ports.
All Viking ships are built according to the latest navigation standards and equipped with state-of-the-art safety systems. They also feature energy-efficient engines and optimized hydrodynamics, as well as systems that minimize pollution, complying with the strictest environmental regulations.
Viking Cruises has partnered with Medicover to install PCR laboratories on its ocean-going ships, in addition to installing a network of land-based PCR laboratories for its river ships.
The Viking Venus is currently under construction at Fincantieri's shipyard in Ancona, Italy , and was launched in June. Since then, Fincantieri has been working on the ship's interior, with its debut scheduled for early 2021.
Viking's expansion plans include the addition of 10 more ships to the fleet between 2021 and 2027, beginning with the Viking Mars and Viking Neptune, which will join in 2022. In January 2022, Viking will also launch new expedition voyages with its first 378-passenger ship, the Viking Octantis, which will sail to Antarctica and the Great Lakes of North America. A second sister ship, the Viking Polaris, will set sail in August 2022 and will travel to Antarctica and the Arctic.
Innovative health and safety protocols for the return to operations.
During the forced pause in its operations in 2020 due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic globally, Viking Cruises, in coordination with an international team of scientific and medical experts, developed the Viking Health and Safety Program, one of the most comprehensive and best-researched COVID-19 prevention and mitigation plans in the tourism industry, including new enhancements that guarantee maximum safety on upcoming Viking voyages.
The air ventilation systems have been equipped with UV light and electrostatic filters, which kill 99.9% of pathogens.
Viking ships have structural advantages such as the small size of the vessels where you have exclusively outside cabins for passengers, so there is no shared air between cabins; they also offer plenty of public space and outdoor dining areas to ensure social distancing.
Their new protocol now includes automated cameras that take passengers' temperatures on all their ships. On ocean-going vessels, robotic disinfection and sanitization machines have also been installed to disinfect public spaces overnight. Continuing with the new measures, air ventilation systems have been equipped with UV light and electrostatic filters, which are imperceptible to passengers and do not affect their comfort, but have been proven to kill 99.9% of pathogens. Regarding social distancing, the company has increased the distance between dining tables and other furniture. All these measures will not affect passenger comfort and, in the case of river cruises, will help ensure an even more enjoyable experience.
Based on the premise that testing is key to ensuring ships are safe upon their return to service, the company has developed a specific program that far exceeds the requirements of many governments and those of many of its competitors. Given that PCR testing is the most effective method for detecting COVID-19, Viking Cruises has partnered with Medicover to install PCR laboratories on its ocean-going ships, in addition to establishing a network of land-based PCR laboratories for its river cruise ships. The first laboratory is already installed and operational on the Viking Star, conducting effective tests using non-invasive saliva samples, thus eliminating any potential spread of the virus on board. The company will provide PCR testing for both passengers and crew, who will be required to take a daily test on board during their stay, thereby guaranteeing the health and safety of everyone on board. This will allow for longer itineraries to be offered with complete peace of mind.
Viking expects to resume operations around April 1, 2021.
The company's established health and safety protocols are based on an epidemiological model developed by industry experts and were created in collaboration with Dr. Raquel Barno, a retired U.S. Navy vice admiral who has become a permanent member of the Viking staff as Chief Health Officer. Other partners who collaborated on the development of these comprehensive health and safety protocols include DNV GL, which audited the Health and Safety Program, encompassing all COVID-19 outbreak prevention measures on the Viking Sea, Viking Star, and Viking Sky, and issued its Certificates of Infection Prevention – Maritime (CIP-M); VIKAND, a leading global provider of maritime health and hygiene solutions; and Ecolab's customized services, which promote food safety, maintain clean and safe environments, optimize water and energy use, and improve the efficiency and sustainability of operations.
All these established protection measures ensure the health and safety of crews and passengers, so much so that the Viking Cruises model shows that most people would be safer on board one of the company's ships than going about their daily lives at home.
Viking Cruises is optimistic about the significant progress of vaccines, which will definitively help to welcome passengers back on board, with the aim of resuming operations around April 1, 2021.
