Viking Continues to Expand Cruise Ship Orders at Fincantieri
Viking continues to order new cruise ship construction from Italy’s Fincantieri. The company today converted options into two additional orders as well as adding four additional cruise ship options. This latest order is the second the cruise line has placed in the past five months and raises to 10 the total of ships it has on order with Fincantieri.
The collaboration between Viking and Fincantieri started in 2012 with the design for the first of the company’s ocean going cruise ships which was launched in 2015 as Viking Star. The original design was a 47,800 gross ton luxury cruise ship with accommodations for 930 passengers and 465 crewmembers. The ships measure 745 feet in length with a 94-foot beam (227 x 29 meters).
Viking uses a standardized approach to design which has been successful for the company on its river cruises and was expanded to the ocean going fleet. A total of 10 ships were built from the first design with nine operating for Viking and one later sold to a Chinese joint venture. Vard also built two exploration cruise ships for the line.
New safety regulations required minor modifications to the original design for a new batch of sisterships which has now been increased to at least 10 ships. They have the same features but the size is being increased to 54,300 gross tons, with accommodations for 998 passengers in 499 cabins. The dimensions were increased to 784 by 101 feet (239 x 31 meters).
Fincantieri does not report the value of the contracts but classed the order in June and again today as being “large.” The shipbuilder defines large with a value between euro 500 million and euro 1 billion ($539 million to $1.1 billion).
Fincantieri is finishing construction on the first of the new class of ships named Viking Vela which will enter service later this year. A total of eight cruise ships were scheduled for delivery by 2029 with numbers nine and 10 now scheduled for 2030. The four additional ship options would have deliveries scheduled for 2031 and 2032.
It is the latest demonstration of the renewed strength of the cruise industry bouncing back from the pandemic and the strong orderbook that Fincantieri is assembling. The company has also received this year large orders from both Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Carnival Corporation.
On Monday, October 21, Fincantieri marked the start of steel cutting for the first of two new cruise ships being built for Regent Seven Seas Cruises. It is a new class of cruise ship which will be 77,000 gross tons with a length of 843 feet (257 meters) and will accommodate approximately 850 passengers in 434 suites. Named Seven Seas Prestige, the first ship is due to enter service in 2026 and a sister ship will be delivered in 2029. Norwegian Cruise Line Holding also plans to build additional ships for its Oceania Cruises brand and mega cruise ships above 200,000 gross tons for Norwegian Cruise Line after four additional cruise ships in its Prima class previously ordered at Fincantieri.
Fincantieri also has work underway on LNG-fueled cruise ships for Princess Cruises and TUI as well as ultra-luxury cruise ships for Four Seasons. The shipbuilding group currently has a total of 35 cruise ship orders with deliveries scheduled till 2033.