Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri announced that Viking Ocean Cruises’ Viking Vesta touched water for the first time after the ship was floated out of her construction bay on July 5, 2024.
A float-out ceremony to mark the construction milestone was held, with officials from the cruise line and the company’s Ancona shipyard attending the celebration.
The 998-guest Viking Vesta is scheduled to enter service in summer 2025, and work will now begin on her interior design. After final outfitting is completed on the ship’s interior public spaces and staterooms, the ship will undergo a series of sea trials to test various navigational, propulsion, and safety systems before being delivered to the cruise line.
The vessel is a sister ship to Viking Vela, also under construction at the same shipyard and slated to debut before Viking Vesta, in December 2024.
“A wonderful day in Ancona for the float out ceremony of Viking Vesta, the newest cruise ship we are building for Viking. The ceremony was attended, among others, by Torstein Hagen, Chairman and CEO of Viking and by Gilberto Tobaldi, our Ancona shipyard director, and marked the ship’s first touch with water,” Fincantieri posted.
“Thanks to high-efficiency engines and systems that minimize exhaust gas pollution, Viking ships are built to meet the strictest environmental standard, providing a virtuous example of sustainable shipbuilding,” the company’s post added.
Like Viking Vela, the 54,300-gross ton Viking Vesta will offer six stateroom categories: Owner’s Suite, Explorer’s Suite, Penthouse Junior Suite, Penthouse Veranda Stateroom, Deluxe Veranda Stateroom, Veranda Stateroom.
Read Also: Who Owns Viking Cruises?
The opulent, 1,488-square-foot Owner’s Suite will provide many luxury features, such as separate bedroom, living, and dining areas, a dry sauna with an oceanview, a private library, a boardroom that can seat 12, priority embarkation and cabin access, a shore excursion with a private car and driver, and priority reservations at each of the ship’s specialty restaurants, among other amenities.
Dining venues aboard Viking Vesta will feature The Restaurant, the main dining room; Manfredi’s Italian Restaurant; Chef’s Table, a multi-course dinner event; Mamsen’s, serving Norwegian specialties in honor of the cruise line’s heritage; the Pool Grill; Aquavit Terrace, an al fresco dining spot; and the World Cafe, the fleet’s buffet venue, with indoor and outdoor seating.
Guests will also have opportunities to participate in cooking instruction at a venue called the Kitchen Table. The onboard cooking school lets guests interact with the ships’ world-class chefs, as they bring local flavors from market to table.
Viking Vesta Voyages Already Are Open For Sale
Viking Ocean Cruises has opened for sale many Viking Vesta cruises. After entering service in summer 2024 the ship will spend her inaugural season sailing the Mediterranean and Scandinavia.
Scheduled cruises include itineraries such as the 8-day “Iconic Western Mediterranean” voyage from Barcelona to Rome, with port calls at Sete and Marseille, France; Monte Carlo, Monaco; and Livorno, Italy, and the 8-day “Journey to Antiquities” sailing from Rome to Athens, calling at Messina, Sicily; Crete, Greece; and Kusadasi, Turkey.
Viking’s 998-guest Viking Vela was floated out of her construction bay at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Ancona, Italy, on November 30, 2023. Interior design is underway onboard the ship, which will hold sea trials before her handover to the line later this year.
Viking Ocean Cruises and Fincantieri on June 21, 2024, announced an agreement for the construction of two additional ships, slated for delivery in 2028 and 2029. The new-builds will have a capacity for 998 guests in 499 cabins and suites.
The cruise line’s existing ocean ships include Viking Saturn, Viking Star, Viking Sea, Viking Sky, Viking Orion, Viking Jupiter, Viking Venus, Viking Mars, and Viking Neptune. All Viking Ocean Cruises’ ships are adult-only vessels with a minimum guest age of 18.
In addition to the blue water fleet, Viking also operates many river ships and two polar-class expedition vessels, Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris.
