Long Time Listener, First Time Caller

Viking Cruises began their first North American program yesterday when Viking Star made its maiden call at New York. The day before, it made the line's first ever call at a US port when Viking Star visited Boston en route to the Big Apple.

The ship will be homeported at San Juan for the winter season and sailing a series of Caribbean itineraries from there.

Details appeared in the October 14 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Photos courtesy of Viking Cruises. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without permission.

Do You Think We're Going to Fit under That Br-scrhhhhhhh

The Army Corps of Engineers is investigating after Viking Cruises' Viking Star scraped the underside of a bridge Wednesday as it passed through the Cape Code Canal.

Viking Star was sailing into Boston from Halifax. The ship is on its maiden trip to North America and the Caribbean when an aluminum mast with a light on it made contact with the underside of a railroad bridge about 7:08pm Wednesday evening.

Details appeared in the October 13 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Viking Star Woes Continue

Viking Ocean Cruises is modifying Viking Star’s next cruise because of the delay in leaving Tallinn due to the ship’s propulsion problem.

Originally the ship was to have turned around in Bergen on August 8. Since the repairs took longer than anticipated, the ship couldn’t get to Bergen by August 8. Instead, it will meet passengers in Copenhagen on August 10.

Details appeared in the August 6 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Broken Already

Viking Ocean Cruises’ four-month-old ship, Viking Star, is in Tallinn (Estonia) where it has been since last Thursday with a propulsion problem and waiting for a part.

The ship had been on a Baltic cruise since July 25, and it was scheduled to end in Bergen on August 8.

Details appeared in the August 3 edition of Cruise News Daily.

A New Star

The 47,800-ton Viking Star entered service today at Istanbul. The ship is the first of a trio being built for the new Viking Ocean Cruises by Fincantieri.

The line is a sister to the fast-growing Viking River Cruises, and the company wants to bring much of the same ambiance and philosophy to the new oceangoing vessels.

Details appeared in the April 15 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Viking Star at Venice shortly after delivery

Photo courtesy of Viking Ocean Cruises. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without permission. 

The First Viking to Go to Sea

Fincantieri delivered Viking Star to Viking Ocean Cruises on Saturday at their Marghera yard. While Viking River Cruises adds ships to their fleet by the dozen (literally), this is the first ship for the oceangoing line.

The complete story appeared in the March 30 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Viking Star's Sea Trials

Viking Ocean Cruises' Viking Star will enter service in April. In December (2014) it underwent sea trials in Adriatic. It is currently in the final fitting out process at Fincantieri's Marghera yard, and all appears to be on schedule for its delivery in April. The video below shows some of the behind-the-scenes aspects of the recent sea trials.

Fincantieri Floats Out Viking Star

Fincantieri floated out Viking Cruise Line's first oceangoing ship at their Marghera yard on Monday (June 23, 2014), signaling the end of the construction phase. The ship has now been towed to a finishing dock where it will be fitted out. The 930-passenger Viking Star is the first of three on order, and will be delivered in early 2015.

Viking Star sitting on the supports where it was built, shortly before the dry dock was flooded. 

With a break of the bottle, the water began filling the dry dock enabling Viking Star to float for the first time.

Photos courtesy of Fincantieri. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without permission.