Viking Jupiter, the ship destined to establish Viking as the largest small ship ocean cruise line in the industry, touched water for the first time today (10 May) at her “floating out” in Italy.
Scheduled for delivery in early 2019, the ship will spend her maiden season sailing itineraries in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe.
Viking Jupiter prepares to touch water for the first time at the Fincantieri shipyard
“It is always a proud moment when a new ship touches water for the first time and is one step closer to welcoming guests onboard,” said Torstein Hagen, chairman of Viking.
“As a Norwegian native, I am also particularly proud to announce today Sissel Kyrkjebø, my mother’s favourite singer and a longtime Viking partner, will be honoured as godmother to Viking Jupiter and will preside over the ship’s naming ceremony in Oslo in June 2019.”
The traditional float out ceremony took place at the Fincantieri’s Ancona shipyard as the ship moved into its final stage of construction.
Sissel Kyrkjebø served as Viking Jupiter’s madrina, welding a commemorative coin representing her birth year, as well as the birth years for Chairman Hagen (1943) and Finse (2012), Hagen’s “grand dog”.
Kyrkjebø then cut a cord to allow water to begin flowing into the ship’s building dock, after which the ship was moved to a nearby outfitting dock for final construction and interior build-out.
Like all Viking’s ocean ships, Jupiter has a gross tonnage of 47,800 tons, 465 staterooms and hosts 930 guests.
The all-veranda Viking Jupiter will join Viking Orion, Viking Star, Viking Sea, Viking Sky and Viking Sun. Nine additional ships are also planned for delivery starting in 2021, which will bring Viking’s ocean fleet to 16 ships by 2027.
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