Late last week, Viking Cruises celebrated the float out of its seventh, 930-passenger, oceangoing ship, the 47,800-ton Viking Venus at Fincantieri's shipyard in Ancona, Italy. The event marked a construction milestone and was the first time that the new ship had touched water. Scheduled to debut in early 2021, Viking Venus will operate itineraries in the Mediterranean and in Northern Europe.
“We started Viking’s ocean project eight years ago, and together with Fincantieri we have built the world’s most beautiful ships," said Torstein Hagen, chairman of Viking. "Today we are pleased to celebrate this important milestone in the construction of our seventh ocean ship."
Hagen said that "as the world continues its path to recovery from COVID-19, we remain focused on the future, and with strong bookings for 2021 and the enthusiasm of our guests, we are optimistic about what is to come."
He thanked Fincantieri and everyone working at the yard in Ancona for their hard work and dedication on the building of Viking Venus, and said Viking looks forward to welcoming the ship to its fleet next year. The vessel has 465 staterooms.
The float out of Viking Venus began at approximately 11:30 a.m. local time on June 11. A cord was cut to allow water to begin flowing into the ship’s building dock. Following a two-day process, the ship was set afloat and was moved to a nearby outfitting dock for final construction and interior build-out.
Viking Venus will join a fleet comprising six other oceangoing vessels: Viking Star, Viking Sea, Viking Sky, Viking Sun, Viking Orion and Viking Jupiter.
This article originally appeared on www.travelagentcentral.com.
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