Viking Cruises announced it had taken delivery of the company’s first of 2 new purpose-built expedition ships, Viking Octantis.
The official delivery ceremony took place on December 22 at Fincantieri’s VARD shipyard in Soviknes (Norway).
Viking Octantis set sail toward South America to welcome her guests in January 2022 for Viking’s first cruises to Antarctica.
The newbuild will be officially named in April 2022 in New York by the ceremonial godmother, Liv Arnesen, famed educator and explorer.
The cruiser then makes her way to the Great Lakes, for a series of sailings during spring and summer.
An identical sistership, Viking Polaris, is joining the fleet in August 2022 for voyages to the Arctic and Antarctica.
Viking Expeditions (a division of Viking OCEAN) was officially launched on January 15, 2020, with cruising operations starting in January 2022. Viking Expeditions ships are Norway-flagged (registered in Longyearbyen Spitsbergen), smaller-sized (GT 30150 tons, LOA length 203 m) and with reduced passenger capacity (378 each, plus 260 crew/staff) in comparison to Viking Ocean's liners (930 passengers plus 465 crew/staff each). The ships are constructed by the Norwegian shipbuilder VARD (a subsidiary of Fincantieri Italy). The vessels' hull and superstructure are assembled at the shipyard in Tulcea Romania, then towed to VARD Soviknes Shipyard (Alesund Norway) for outfitting.