Viking Expeditions Detailed- Part One

At a gala event at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Viking announced the arrival of a new cruise line focused on expedition sailing. Continuing to expand its destination-focused travel experiences Viking launched new Viking expedition voyages with a pair of custom-built vessels. Two new ships, Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris will offer voyages to the Arctic, Antarctica and the Great Lakes beginning in January 2022. I have a lot of information to share here so we’re breaking it down into multiple posts. (This is a blog, you will start skimming and miss a lot of good information if I give it to you all at once, just take my word for that)

We begin with a quick look at the facts:

All expedition voyages – including the new Great Lakes itineraries – are available to the public for booking.
Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris will host 378 guests in 189 staterooms
Ice-strengthened Polar Class 6 hulls will provide the safest way to explore;
U-tank stabilizers will significantly decrease rolling by up to 50 percent when the ships are stationary
Adventurers and educators Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft will be honored as ceremonial godmothers to Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris, respectively.
In the last eight years, Viking has introduced more than 60 new river cruise ships and six ocean cruise ships and boasts a current fleet of 79 river and ocean vessels.
In 2020, Viking will launch seven new river ships.
Six more ocean sister ships are on order, with options for four additional ships, bringing Viking’s total ocean fleet to 16 ships by 2027.

“We invented the concept of modern river cruising when we launched in 1997; then we reinvented ocean cruises and became the ‘World’s Best Ocean Cruise Line’ in our first year of operation, as well as every year since then. Now, in creating ‘the thinking person’s expedition,’ we are perfecting polar expedition cruising, and we will usher in a new era of comfortable exploration in the heart of North America
Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking

The ships will feature public spaces that are familiar to Viking’s ocean cruise guests but that have been reimagined for expeditions, as well as new public spaces created specifically for expeditions. So let’s take a look at artist renderings of these new vessels: