7 New Viking River Vessels Inaugurated In Amsterdam Last Week (OCT 2026)

Above caption: Sparklers at the multi-ships' naming; here, three of the godmothers and their vessels' captains. – Photo: Anne Kalosh

New Viking River Vessels Inaugurated

By Anne Kalosh

Viking, the world's largest river cruise operator, expanded its fleet further by inaugurating seven vessels during Oct. 15 festivities in Amsterdam.

Two of the ships and all seven of the godparents and captains were in Amsterdam. The other five vessels were spread across Egypt, France and Germany and beamed on by video link on big screens.

• Viking Haki, Viking Halogi, Viking Sjofn and Viking Rota are new on the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers.
• Viking Fjolvar plies the Seine.
• Viking Sekhmet and Viking Ptah are Nile ships.

The European vessels are Viking Longships, a trademarked design carrying 190 passengers each, apart from the Seine ship, which is slightly smaller and houses 168 guests, while the Egypt vessels carry 82 passengers each.

Lucky Number 7

If seven ships in one naming sounds like a lot, it certainly is. But Viking typically ushers in numerous river newbuilds every year so one-off naming ceremonies would be impractical.

In 2014, Viking set a Guinness World Record for most ships inaugurated in a day: 14. They were spread across Amsterdam, Avignon and Rostock.

94 River Vessels And Counting

The company currently has 94 river vessels in operation and captures more than half (52 percent) of the outbound North American river market.

Viking expects to bring on 18 additional river vessels by 2028. With these, it will field 114 in 2028, spread across Europe, Asia, Africa and, new, India (the Brahmaputra River).

RELATED: Anne Kalosh reports on the new river vessels in the works for Europe.

Naming Festivities

As a reporter, naming ceremonies are one of my favorite parts of covering cruising. They bring out the company brass and special figures chosen as the godmother, godfather or godparents who perform the actual official naming and smash a bottle on the bow for good luck. Plus, all the officers are in their dress uniforms and the crew are bursting with pride for their new ship.

Everyone's in good spirits — provided the bottle breaks, of course. If not, it's seen as bad luck. And there are always plenty of speeches and toasts, pomp and ceremony and great people-watching.

Viking is no exception, and company founder Torstein Hagen was on hand in Amsterdam, along with Leah Talactac, a longtime employee who succeeded Hagen as CEO earlier this year (he's now executive chairman), CFO Linh Banh; Hagen's daughter, EVP Karine Hagen; and EVP for rivers, Tony Hofmann, among others.

Meet The Godparents Of The New Viking River Vessels

For the seven vessels, Viking chose distinguished travel advisors as the godparents. They include some of the top sellers of Viking cruises globally: Shelby Steudle, president, Pavlus Travel (Viking Fjolvar); Carol Porter, co-owner, The Roaming Boomers (Viking Haki); Carol Shaddix, owner, Imagine Going There (Viking Halogi); Michael Londregan, SVP global operations, Virtuoso Travel (Viking Ptah); Ealeen Wong, senior director, strategy, partnership and sales, Expedia Cruises (Viking Rota); Michael Consoli, a Cruise Planners franchise owner (Viking Sekhmet); and Danielle “Dani” Galloway, global managing director, premium leisure and independents, Flight Centre Travel Group (Viking Sjofn).

All are experts in everything Viking. Carol Porter's husband Dave has shared his small-ship expertise with QuirkyCruise. And look for an upcoming interview here on QuirkyCruise with Michael Consoli, one of the Nile vessel godfathers, who'll share tips on travel to Egypt, currently one of the hottest for river and ocean cruises.

Master of Ceremonies Alastair Miller, an award-winning photographer and Viking.TV presenter, opened the festivities by introducing the German word “fernweh” — an ache for travel.

“There are doctors for this, except they're called travel advisors,” he quipped.

For their grand entrance, each godparent was accompanied by his or her vessel's captain as they walked a red carpet to a festive stage between Viking Rota and Viking Haki at Amsterdam Passenger Terminal.

Norwegian Touches

Naming ceremony guests were served Veuve Cliquot Champagne. In a Viking tradition, bottles of Norwegian aquavit were smashed on the hulls.

The acclaimed Norwegian violinist Tor Jaran Apold played and the world-famous soprano Sissel Kyrkjebø (2019 ocean ship Viking Jupiter's godmother) sang the national anthems of Norway and the Netherlands.

Dinner And Gifts

The festivities continued with a gala dinner at the Koepelkerk, a magnificent former church in Amsterdam, where Viking presented gifts to the godparents (engraved Cartier watches) and captains, and Kyrkjebø performed

When I returned to Viking Rota afterward, I was delighted to see the red carpet for the godparents' procession still unfurled and now, strung with lights.

Standing at the gangway to welcome everyone back were Viking Rota Capt. Richard Kruisinga, Executive Chef Rudolf Radatovics, Hotel General Manager Bilyana Vancheva and Housekeeper Rodica Danila. It was one of those typical Viking hospitality touches that warms the heart.

I could not resist sashaying long the red carpet myself, and the captain and the chef gallantly offered me their arms, making for a memorable moment.

Hope you enjoyed this look at the seven new Viking river vessels recently inaugurated!

If you’re interested in booking a Viking river cruise, we always recommend our readers to our favorite travel advisor Kevin. Show your interest in the form below and Kevin will be glad to reach out to you.