{"id":20405,"date":"2013-12-19T23:19:00","date_gmt":"2013-12-19T23:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/viking-cruises-keel-laying-for-new-ocean-line-2\/"},"modified":"2013-12-19T23:19:00","modified_gmt":"2013-12-19T23:19:00","slug":"viking-cruises-keel-laying-for-new-ocean-line-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2013\/12\/viking-cruises-keel-laying-for-new-ocean-line-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Viking Cruises keel-laying for new ocean line"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-hqHozZBmm6s\/UrN-8mhpEMI\/AAAAAAAAkFs\/_eelFKkh3Is\/s1600\/VSTAR%2BOcean%2BShip%2Bcopy-750624.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-hqHozZBmm6s\/UrN-8mhpEMI\/AAAAAAAAkFs\/_eelFKkh3Is\/s320\/VSTAR%2BOcean%2BShip%2Bcopy-750624.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5959246311540199618\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Keel Laid for Viking Star, Company&#8217;s First Ocean Ship<\/p>\n<p>Viking Cruises (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vikingrivercruises.com.au\/\">www.vikingrivercruises.com.au<\/a>) today announced the keel was laid for its first ocean cruise vessel, Viking Star, marking the next construction phase of the company&#8217;s first-ever ocean product. The ceremony took place on Wednesday, December 18, at Fincantieri&#8217;s Marghera shipyard outside Venice, Italy. Viking Star is scheduled to be delivered in early 2015.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 &#8220;Our new ocean itineraries are selling at an unprecedented rate, and the enthusiasm we have seen from guests is truly remarkable,&#8221; said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking Cruises. &#8220;There is undoubtedly interest in an ocean cruise experience that returns the focus to the destination, and Viking is actively planning to meet that demand.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Steel was first cut for Viking Star in June 2013, and the laying of the keel is a formal recognition of the start of construction. The 930-passenger Viking Star features state-of-the-art design from experienced nautical architects and engineers. The company will also launch a record-breaking 14 new river vessels \u2013 Viking Longships\u00ae \u2013 in March 2014.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Viking&#8217;s ocean itineraries will include Viking Star&#8217;s maiden voyages in Scandinavia and the Baltic; and the Western and Eastern Mediterranean. Classified by Cruise Critic as a &#8220;small ship,&#8221; the all-veranda custom-designed vessel allows travellers to get closer than ever to their destinations with maximum time in ports, while highlighting history, art and local culture through privileged-access excursions and onboard experiences that are truly designed for the experienced traveler.<\/p>\n<p>For additional details, contact Viking Cruises toll-free at 1800 131 744 (Australia) 0800 447 913 (New Zealand).<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<br \/><b>About Viking Cruises<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Viking Cruises offers destination-centric river and ocean cruising designed for experienced travellers with an interest in geography, culture and history. Featuring onboard cultural enrichment and included shore excursions, Viking&#8217;s journeys are competitively priced for genuine value. Debuting its maiden season of ocean cruising in 2015, the sophisticated state-of-the-art Viking Star will host 930 guests on itineraries in Scandinavia and the Baltic; and the Western and Eastern Mediterranean. As the world&#8217;s leading river cruise line, since its 1997 inception the company has grown to a fleet of 35 river vessels (in 2013) offering scenic cruising along the rivers of Europe, Russia, Ukraine, China, and Southeast Asia. Viking has been honoured multiple times in Travel + Leisure&#8217;s &#8220;World&#8217;s Best&#8221; Awards and Cond\u00e9 Nast Traveler&#8217;s &#8220;Gold List&#8221; as well as recognized by the editors of Cruise Critic as &#8220;Best River Cruise Line,&#8221; with the entire Viking Longships fleet being named &#8220;Best New River Ships of 2012&#8221; in the website&#8217;s Editors&#8217; Picks Awards. The travel trade has ranked Viking as the &#8220;Best River Cruise Line&#8221; by Travel Weekly, Recommend and Travel Agent magazines, &#8220;Best Cruise Line for Luxury River Cruises&#8221; at the Luxury Travel Advisor Awards of Excellence and as &#8220;Best Overall Cruise Line for River Cruising&#8221; and &#8220;Best River Cruise Line for Travel Agent Support&#8221; in TravelAge West&#8217;s WAVE Awards. For additional information, contact Viking Cruises at 1800 131 744 (Australia) 0800 447 913 (New Zealand) or visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vikingrivercruises.com.au\/\">www.vikingrivercruises.com.au<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Keel Laid for Viking Star, Company&#8217;s First Ocean Ship Viking Cruises (www.vikingrivercruises.com.au) today announced the keel was laid for its first ocean cruise vessel, Viking Star, marking the next construction phase of the company&#8217;s first-ever ocean product. The ceremony took place on Wednesday, December 18, at Fincantieri&#8217;s Marghera shipyard outside Venice, Italy. Viking Star [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}