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Viking Cruises was founded as Viking River Cruises in 1997 by Torstein Hagen who remains its Chairman. Today, the company's fleet of more than 64 "Viking Longships" is the largest in the world and the company remains in private ownership.
Building on its worldwide success in river cruising, Viking Ocean Cruises was created in 2013, the first entirely new cruise line in 10 years. The concept was to offer a small-ship, luxury experience, with more overnights in port, later departures and fewer sea days. This would have the added advantage of reduced mileages and lower fuel costs. An order for 2 identical ships was placed with Fincantieri, Italy, quickly followed by an order for 2 more, then a 5th with an option for a 6th ship.
The company's first ship made her debut in April 2015. Built by Fincantieri in Marghera, Italy and with a tonnage of 47,842grt, she is one-third the size of most modern ships today but larger than most other exclusive luxury ships and consequently able to offer a wider range of facilities. It is no coincidence that her raked bow echoes the Norwegian ships of the 1980's. The company's founder, Torstein Hagen, served on the boards of Holland America Line and Kloster (Norwegian Cruise Line). More significantly, he was CEO of Royal Viking Line from 1980-84 and the livery and names chosen for Viking's first 3 ships would be Viking Star, Viking Sea and Viking Sky, in tribute to the 3 famous sisters of Royal Viking Line, while the 4th ship would similarly be called Viking Sun. However, with at least 10 ships planned for the new fleet, the first 4 would be joined by Viking Orion in 2018, Viking Jupiter in 2019 and Viking Venus in 2021...
