Viking, which made its name as the biggest player in the river cruise industry, and which has expanded into ocean cruising, may be preparing a move into another market with the vague announcement of two ‘special ships.’
The announcement came at a cruise industry meeting, in a press release from Vard, a subsidiary of major cruise-ship builder Fincantieri, which said that “the project, totally innovative, will be developed by Vard Design in close cooperation with the customer.” So far, Viking is declining to comment. Whatever the ships are, there’s also an option for two more.
Since Vard is also known for building small expedition-style cruise ships for customers such as Ponant, there’s some speculation that Viking may have its eye on that market as well. Vard is presently building an LNG-powered electric hybrid ice-breaker cruiser for Ponant.
Viking Ocean, which earlier this year put its fourth ship into service, has 12 more of the 930-passenger ships on order, with at least one a year joining the fleet through 2027. The two mystery ships are scheduled for 2021 and 2022, and are in addition to the others.
