River line Viking to offer first Mississippi cruises
The Viking invasion is moving from Europe to the USA.
After taking Europe's rivers by storm in recent years with the rollout of more than 30 vessels, fast-growing river line Viking will unveil its first two boats in the USA in 2017, according to an announcement Tuesday by Viking chairman Torstein Hagen and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Home porting in New Orleans, the two new vessels will sail multi-night trips on the Mississippi River, according to the announcement. They'll operate from docks near the city's historic French Quarter.
The two new Viking ships are just the first of six the line plans to roll out on the Mississippi over a three-year period in what amounts to the largest and fastest deployment of its kind on U.S. rivers in modern times. There currently are just two riverboats operating multi-night trips on the Mississippi River: American Queen Steamboat Company's 436-passenger American Queen and American Cruise Lines' 150-passenger Queen of the Mississippi. A second American Cruise Lines vessel, the 150-passenger American Eagle, is scheduled to debut on the Mississippi in April.
Viking didn't say how big its new Mississippi River ships will be, but the announcement says they'll hold up to 300 passengers and cost an estimated $90 million to $100 million a piece. Built at U.S. shipyards and crewed with U.S. staff, they'll be owned by investment firm Tennenbaum Capital Partners and chartered to Viking.
Viking's Mississippi River itineraries will feature stops in St. James, East Baton Rouge and West Feliciana parishes in Louisiana; continuing upriver to Memphis, Tennessee; St. Louis; or St. Paul, Minnesota, depending on the season, according to the announcement.
Viking's move comes as American Cruise Lines also expands rapidly on the Mississippi and other U.S. rivers. In addition to the soon-to-debut American Eagle, the line has announced plans for three additional U.S. river ships to begin sailing by 2017.
Viking currently operates 60 vessels across Europe, Russia and Asia. For a look inside a Viking ship, click through the carousel below.