Viking Cruises named its newest ocean ship, Viking Neptune, with a celebration on Sunday, January 8th, in Los Angeles CA.
As part of the event, the ceremonial godmother of the ship, retired NASA astronaut, aquanaut, and artist Nicole Stott offered a blessing of safe sailing and good fortune for the newbuild - a maritime tradition dating back thousands of years.
Viking Neptune arrived in Los Angeles CA early in the morning on January 8th and departed for Honolulu (Oahu Island, Hawaii) following the christening.
The ship is currently operating the 2022-2023 Viking World Cruise, an epic journey from Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades, Florida) to London (England) that spans 138 days, 28 different countries, and 57 ports of call, with overnights in 11 cities.
The naming of Viking Neptune comes at a time of record sales for Viking, with the launch of the company's new 25th Anniversary Sale on January 1st resulting in the highest number of bookings in a week in its history.
In keeping with the christening tradition, during the ceremony, Nicole Stott used a historic Viking broad axe to cut a ribbon allowing a bottle of Norwegian aquavit to break on Neptune's hull. Before the ribbon cutting, the axe was presented to the godmother by Sissel Kyrkjebo, one of the leading crossover sopranos in the world and godmother of Viking Jupiter, who used it when naming her vessel in January 2020. Event guests enjoyed performances from Sissel and Norwegian violinist Tor Jaran Apold.