Viking Plans Longships to cruise the Mississippi

In 2015, Viking River Cruises plans to bring a version of the Longships the company is currently launching en masse in Europe to the Mississippi River, challenging the traditional paddlewheel model that has come to define the overnight passenger vessel experience on the largest U.S. waterway. The Longship design has shown to be a great way to see Europe, Richard Marnell, senior vice president of marketing for Viking, wrote in an email. The Viking vessel on the Mississippi will provide a great way to see [and] explore in comfort." Traditionally, most leisure cruises on the Mississippi River System have been offered on paddlewheelers modeled on classic 19th century steamboats. One notable exception was RiverBarge Excursion Lines, which operated the 196-passenger River Explorer, a combination of two barges and a tugboat, for 10 years up and down the Mississippi before ceasing operations in 2009. Viking, however, sees room for a smaller, sleeker, European-style vessel on U.S. waterways. The Mississippi project has come about following the research we do on past passengers travel preferences. There is clearly a market there. Also, it will help showcase a Viking Longship-type vessel closer to our main (U.S.) source market, Viking Chairman Tor Hagen recently said in a statement. The Viking Longships are Vikings newest class of European river vessels, accommodating 190 passengers. They measure 443 feet long (the maximum length in Europe due to lock constraints) and have four decks.
By contrast, one of the ships currently plying the Mississippi is the 436-passenger American Queen, a 419-foot-long paddlewheeler with six decks. Due to its larger size and height, it also has more and larger public spaces than most European river ships, which allows for a larger variety of onboard entertainmentand activities, which can be important during the longer sailings the Mississippi River System often requires. While Viking has not yet chosen a shipyard to execute the project, Hagen noted that Viking has a design in mind and that the ship (or ships) expected to be operative in 2015 will not have a paddlewheel. Viking noted that while it is focused on the Mississippi, it will also be looking into other U.S. river systems, such as in the Pacific Northwest, if the demand justifies it. Beyond the hardware, there is a question of whether the audience for the European river cruise market and the domestic market is one and the same. For Viking, it appears to be less about transitioning Mississippi River cruisers to Europe, and more about introducing passengers who have experienced river cruising in Europe to a similar encounter closer to home. We agree there are domestic travelers who will never take a European cruise but may take a Mississippi cruise, Marnell wrote. But, he added, almost all international travelers also travel domestically. There is certainly the capability to cross-market."
For more information on Viking River Cruises in Europe or Mississippi Cruises, contact TheCruiseOutlet.com at 203-288-1884 or email: info@thecruiseoutlet.com