Viking Takes Delivery of New Expedition Ship Viking Octantis

The first of two brand new adventure cruise ships from Viking is finally here and ready to begin sailing! Viking Octantis left Fincantieri’s VARD shipyard in Søviknes, Norway on December 23rd after a delivery ceremony held at the shipyard and will begin sailing with guests to Antarctica in January 2022. 

The ship will be officially named in April 2022 in New York City by her ceremonial godmother, Liv Arnesen, the Norwegian explorer and educator who led the first unsupported women’s crossing of the Greenland Ice Cap in 1992. Following the naming ceremony, ship will head to America’s Great Lakes for a series of voyages in the spring and summer. Viking is also hard at work on an identical sister ship, Viking Polaris, set to join the fleet in August 2022 for journeys to the Arctic and Antarctica.

“Today is a proud day for the entire Viking family as we welcome our first expedition ship to the fleet and usher in a new era of exploration. Our guests have asked us to build on our award-winning river and ocean voyages to take them further, and that is just what we have done,” said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking. “Leveraging our long history of destination-focused travel, enrichment and innovative ship design, we are now perfecting expedition voyages and offering curious travelers the opportunity to visit the world’s most pristine destinations in the most responsible way possible. With the arrival of Viking Octantis, Viking is now exploring all seven continents, and we look forward to welcoming her first guests on board in the coming weeks.”

About Viking Octantis 

With capacity for just 378 guests, Viking Octantis was designed by Richard Riviere of international interior design firm Rottet Studio of Los Angeles, a company Viking has used in the past for both their river and ocean fleet. Viking custom-built their new expedition ship specifically for the world’s remote locales. Innovations include state-of-the-art fin stabilizers, an ice-strengthened Polar Class hull, U-tank stabilizers which decrease rolling by 50% and an integrated bow that creates a longer waterline. 

The ship also features The Hanger, a newly designed in-ship marina which makes embarking and debarking excursion crafts much easier along with FerryBox, a set of instruments continuously collecting and displaying data on water quality, oxygen content, plankton composition and more. The Science Lab, developed in partnership with the University of Cambridge and Akvaplan-Niva, is equipped with wet and dry laboratory facilities, a sample processing area, fume cupboard, freezer and cool storage, comprehensive microscope optics and extensive bench space for analysis-specific instruments. Guests have supervised access to The Science Lab, which is located in a glass-enclosed mezzanine above The Hangar. 

Have you cruised with Viking or taken an expedition cruise before? Let us know in the comments!