Viking Skaga

The 2020-built Longship Viking Skaga cruises on Seine Rivers in France's Normandy region exclusively. The riverboat is year-round homeported in Paris City, departing weekly on 7-night/d-day roundtrip voyages.

This Viking longship is named after the valkyrie Skaga. According to Norse mythology, the valkyries ("choosers of the slain", handmaidens of god Odin) are horse-riding female entities bestowed by goddess Freya with the right to decide which soldiers will die in the battle and which will live.

The Longship Skaga is one of the Viking riverboats specifically designed to navigate on Seine River and dock right into downtown Paris. The sisterships Skaga, Fjorgyn, Kari, Radgrid and Nerthus are all smaller (passenger capacity 168 / not 190) and with customized hulls and different engines in comparison to the standard Viking River Cruises' Longship-Class vessels.

The boat (ENI number 7002139) is currently Switzerland-flagged (MMSI 269057744) and registered in Basel.

Cabins

Viking Skaga has a total of 84 staterooms (of which 9x Suite, 35x Balcony, 18x French Balconies, 25x Porthole /with a non-opening window) in 8 cabin grades.

The Longship Skaga has two aft-located Explorer Suites with wraparound balconies providing spectacular 270-degrees scenery views. The seven Veranda Suites are each with two separate/full rooms and feature a step-out balcony (accessed from the living room) and a French Balcony (in the bedroom). There are also 35 Veranda Staterooms, each with a private, step-out balcony.

Viking Skaga carries 168 passengers who are provided complimentary with modern hotel amenities and superior travel and leisure services.

Cabins Types/Categories (number, location), high to low

• Suites - ES (x2, deck3), AA (x7, deck 3)
• Balcony Staterooms - A (x18, deck3), B (x17, deck2)
• French Balcony Staterooms (with floor-ceiling, sliding door windows) - C (x3, deck3 aft), D (x15, deck2)
• RiverView Staterooms - E (x8, deck1 forward), F (x14, deck1 midship).

Shipboard facilities

All Viking Cruises Longships are fitted with solar panels (mounted aft on Sun Deck) and hybrid (diesel-electric) powerplants based on energy-efficient marine engines. The Observation Bar Lounge has floor-ceiling glass doors opening onto the Aquavit Terrace. This is bow-located indoor-outdoor venue designed for relaxation and alfresco dining. The topship-located Sun Deck has a large shaded sitting area (covered by a retractable awning) and provides 360-degree riverside views.

Onboard dining options include Skaga Restaurant (dining room) and Aquavit Terrace (al fresco). Other facilities include Atrium (lobby with 24-hour Reception Desk), Library (Internet Lounge), Shop (gifts, souvenirs), Sky Bar, walking track.

The Skaga Longship doesn't have a fitness/gym room, swimming pool, Jacuzzi (outdoor whirlpool), Spa/Beauty Salon, self-service laundry facilities (laundromats).

One elevator (passenger lift) connects only decks 2 and 3. All decks are interconnected via stairs - forward (Grand Staircase in the Atrium), midship and aft.

Unlike standard Viking Longships, Skaga also lacks the aft-sundeck's putting green (mini-golf course), Herb Garden (organic herbal garden) and the deckgames area (with shuffleboard).

Viking Seine River Cruise Itinerary

The Longship Skaga operates Viking River Cruises' signature itinerary "Paris and the Heart of Normandy".

The 8-day Seine River cruise is themed on French traditions, food, history and art.

Follows the review of Viking Skaga river cruise itinerary as ports and ashore activities/tours.

• (Day 1) Le Pecq (docking and embarkation) - this riverfront town is located in Paris City's western suburbs. After boarding the riverboat and check-in, passengers are free to explore the city or join the organized walking tour.
• (Day 2) Paris City (Port de Grenelle) - after the shipboard breakfast starts a bus tour around the city and visiting the Eiffel Tower, Ecole Militaire (military training complex), Musee d'Orsay (housed in a late-19th-century railway station and showcasing paintings, sculptures, photography, furniture), Latin Quarter (around the Sorbonne), Notre Dame Cathedral, Louvre, Opera House, Champs-Elysees Avenue. In the evening, passengers return to the ship for dinner and also to start their Seine River cruising vacation.
• (Day 3, docking in La Roche-Guyon) Giverny and Vernon - Vernon is a picturesque town with cobblestone streets and half-timbered houses with wooden carvings. The arrival in Vernon is before breakfast. Follows a guided city tour visiting Maison du Temps Jadis (town’s oldest house) and the Notre Dame Church (11th-century). After lunch is organized a bus tour to Giverny to visit Claude Monet's residence house and water gardens (where the painter lived and worked in the period 1883-1926). In the evening, dinner is served on the ship.
• (Day 4) Arrival in Rouen, in the afternoon is organized an Old Town walking tour visiting Notre Dame Cathedral and Gros Horloge (16th-century astronomical clock).
• (Day 5) Normandy Beaches (D-Day landings themed excursion) visits Normandy's waterfront areas where in June 1944 landed the US, UK and Canadian airborne troops. After the shipboard breakfast follows a full-day bus tour to the Normandy landing beaches (Gold Beach, Courseulles sur Mer, Juno Beach, Omaha Beach, American Military Cemetery, Arromanches D-Day Museum). Alternatively is offered a bus tour to Bayeaux, free time at Juno Beach (visiting the D-Day Museum) and visiting Pegasus Memorial Museum. Return to the ship is in the evening (for dinner).
• (Day 6) Les Andelys - after the shipboard lunch follows the bus tour to Chateau Gaillard (12th-century castle built by Richard I of England /the Lionheart).
• Set along the Seine, this small town is best known for the imposing Château Gaillard overlooking the village.
• (Day 7) Mantes-la-Jolie (fka Mantes-sur-Seine) is a picturesque location on the winding river. After breakfast follows a bus tour to Chateau de Malmaison (18th-century manor house). An optional bus tour Chateau de Versailles (palace, French Empire's royal residence between 1682-1789).
• (Day 8) Paris City (docking and disembaktaion) - check-out and debarkation are after breakfast. Follows the bus transfer from the ship to Paris Airport (Charles de Gaulle) for the return flight. Ground transfers are not cruise-inclusive and offered only with the Viking Air package. Optionally is offered a 3-night cruise extension package in Paris City.

Viking Skaga cruise deals are inclusive of Internet (Wi-Fi), all tours/excursions, ground/bus transfers, live evening entertainment, daily lecturers/media presentations, food and wine tastings, 24-hour coffee/tea, replenished daily bottled water.

Viking Skaga Seine River cruise prices are per person and based on double occupancy. These are only indicative of Viking cruise rates. They might be different when you book your Viking River Cruises Europe cruise tour deals, influenced by travel agency promotions, special offers and discounts, group travel booking or last-minute deals rates.

To/from ship transfers and airport meet-and-greet services are included in the fares only when airfares are purchased through Viking Cruises (the company's Viking Air package).

Viking Skaga is one of the new generation longships of Viking Cruises. This is a patented river cruise ship design allowing bigger passenger accommodations without shrinking public areas' size and compromising vessel's general comfort. Longship Skaga represents Viking Cruise' latest design that features energy-efficient hybrid engine technology, solar panels and interior design developed by "Yran & Storbraaten" (Norway). The patented "longship" design ("Rottet Studios", USA) allows much larger accommodations with full-size (step-out) balconies. The additional cabin space is created by 1 m (3,3 ft) off-center shifting of the deck's corridor.

Vessel's powerplant consists of two main Caterpillar marine diesel engines (model CAT32-ACERT / total power output 2 MW). These are V12 (V engine with 12 cylinders and 12 pistons driving a crankshaft). The propulsion system is based on two Caterpillar marine propulsion engines (model CAT18-ACERT) with combined output 1 MW.

Group christening 2022

On March 16, 2022, in a joint-christening ceremony were officially named 8 riverboats - 4x in Paris (Skaga, Fjorgyn, Kari, Radgrid) and 4x in Amsterdam (Hervor, Egdir, Gersemi, Gymir), via video link.

• The four Seine River-based boats (Fjorgyn, Kari, Radgrid Skaga) are sisterships and shorter. Being of the modified Longship design (LOA length 125 m / 410 ft), they were specifically designed for Seine River navigation and homeporting at Pont de Grenelle (Paris City), to meet the dock's maximum length requirement.
• The other four boats (Hervor, Egdir, Gersemi, Gymir) are of the classic Longship design (LOA length 135 m / 440 ft).
• The group christening ceremony was attended by Torstein Hagen (Viking's Chairman) in Amsterdam, onboard Viking Kari.
• Held dockside, during each of the naming ceremonies, the godmother pronounced a speech and a blessing for the boat, followed by a bottle of Gammel Opland Aquavit (a herbs-flavored spirit distilled from grain and potatoes/by Oplandske Spritfabrik distillery's original recipe from 1872) that was traditionally smashed against the hull.

The ships' godmothers are as follows:

• Viking Gymir - Alma Deutscher (violinist, pianist, composer, conductor, daughter of Janie Deutscher)
• Viking Egdir - Helen Deutscher (violinist, pianist, vocalist, daughter of Janie Deutscher)
• Viking Radgrid - Janie Deutscher (author, educator, musician)
• Viking Hervor - Brenda Hunsberger (AAA Club Alliance's Senior VP of Travel Services)
• Viking Gersemi - Karryn Christopher (Signature Travel Network's Executive VP of Preferred Partnerships & Marketing)
• Viking Fjorgyn - Ghislaine Wood (East Anglia University's Sainsbury Centre's Deputy Director)
• Viking Skaga - Muriel Wilson (Virtuoso Ltd's Director of Event Strategy & Sponsorships)
• Viking Kari - Kari Garmann (Norwegian politician, member of Oslo City Council in 1979-87, deputy representative to Norway's Parliament from Oslo in 1985 and 1989).

Note: You can see CruiseMapper's list of all river cruise ships and riverboats in the "itinerary" section of our River Cruises hub. All companies and their fleets are listed there.