Hey y’all. Ashley, here. I’ve got some cruise news for you!
Last month, Viking River Cruises set a Guinness World Record for christening the most ships in one day: 10 longships. What an accomplishment! That makes their fleet quite large (over 50 ships), ready to cruise all over Europe, Russia, Ukraine, China & Southeast Asia. But as if that wasn’t enough, they’ve set their sights on another destination: the USA.
That’s right. Viking has announced their plans to create at least one ship for cruising the United States, specifically on the Mississippi River. Of course, most people think ‘paddlewheel’ when you cruise on the Mississippi, but Viking’s not going there. They will build a brand new ship for the American market, and maybe more if they feel ambitious. Viking has said they may build a ship for the Pacific Northwest. While I may think 4 ships is enough for the Columbia River, it is definitely becoming a hotspot for river cruising in the US. For that, I’m proud! I think everyone should come see our river. It’s gorgeous! Plus, Vikings’ new ships won’t be out until 2015, so we’ve got a little bit of time to figure out how all those ships will fit on the river together. (They better play nice!)
You can check out the Travel Weekly article here for quotes from industry people. Bottom Line: US River Cruising is hot right now! We were ahead of the wave, and now we’re watching the industry respond to what we’ve always known: river cruising is fabulous, and the US has amazing rivers for it!
