Viking christens 12 new ships

Viking River Cruises christened a total of 12 new river vessels, including 10 of its award-winning Viking Longships and two custom vessels for the Elbe River, at ceremonies in Amsterdam and Rostock, Germany this week.

All 10 of the new Viking Longships will be deployed on Viking’s itineraries in Europe, including three of the most popular itineraries – Grand European Tour, Romantic Danube and Rhine Getaway. Also, as a result of high consumer demand for the Elegant Elbe itinerary, the two new specially designed ships will double the company’s capacity on the Elbe River for 2015.

This event officially brings Viking’s total river fleet size to 60 and comes just one year after the company set a Guinness World Record for the most new ships launched in a single day.         

Staying true to the naval tradition, Viking named 12 of its longest-serving employees as ceremonial godmothers for the new ships.

In addition to the new Viking Longships and new vessels designed for the Elbe River, the company’s first ocean ship, the 930-passenger Viking Star, is currently under construction and will set sail with its first passengers on April 11, 2015.