With a dominant position in the European river cruise market, a fleet of ocean-going cruise ships, two expedition ships, a joint venture in China and a Mississippi river operation, the company continues to expand in the cruise industry, with more riverboats and ocean-going ships on order.
If Viking were to list, it would join the other public cruise companies, including Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean Group, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Lindblad Expeditions. Of those four, Lindblad was the last go to public in 2015.
According to Bloomberg, the IPO could raise over $500 million and Viking is said to be working with Bank of America, UBS, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan on the listing.
According to a report from China Daily, the new vessel will be 17.4 meters longer than the 2023-built sister ship.
Currently under construction at China State Shipbuilding Company’s Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Yard in Shanghai, the cruise ship is scheduled to enter service in 2025.
At 141,000 gross tons, the newbuild will be roughly five percent larger than the 135,500-ton Adora Magic City, the report added.
Citing shipyard sources, China Daily also said that the new vessel will feature an optimized interior layout, in addition to enhanced facilities.
“China State Shipbuilding Company will continuously make efforts to enhance the second cruise ship’s design, craftsmanship, construction and facilities to achieve higher quality, greater efficiency and lower cost,” the report concluded.
With its construction started in August 2022, the second China-made cruise ship currently has 75 percent of its design workload finished, while 58 percent of the production design was completed.
Both the 2025 newbuild and the Adora Magic City feature a basic project based on Carnival Corporation’s Vista class.
Built to serve the Chinese domestic market, the vessels offer a series of customized features, including an expanded shopping area and a series of alterantive restaurants.
After five years in the making, the Adora Magic City kicked off a series of short cruises to the Far East departing from Shanghai in January.
Also built at the Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Yard, the 4,200-guest ship became the first large cruise ship ever constructed in China.
In addition to the two newbuilds, Adora Cruises also operates the former Costa Mediterranea. Now named Mediterranea, the 2003-built ship is offering a series of short cruises departing from Tianjin.
Virgin Voyages is making deployment changes for the upcoming repositioning voyage for the Resilient Lady. The vessel will now sail from Australia to Europe, heading around Africa, and not transiting through the Middle East.
“We remain concerned about potential escalations in this part of the world over the next 12 months and the risk that this presents for safe passage through the region. As a result, we have been left with no choice but to make changes to Resilient Lady’s repositioning voyage taking place on March 27,” the company said.
“In place of her former repositioning voyages, the award-winning Resilient Lady will now be departing from Sydney, embarking on an iconic, once-in-a-lifetime sailing around the coast of Africa with a brand new route stopping in Eden and Fremantle (Perth) in Australia, Port Louis (Mauritius Islands), Durban and Cape Town (South Africa), Walvis Bay (Namibia), Praia (Cape Verde), Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain), Casablanca (Morocco), Barcelona (Spain), Valletta (Malta), as well as Santorini and Piraeus (Athens) in Greece — all with extended time at sea,” the company said.
“All passengers on these former three legs of the repositioning voyages will have guaranteed spots on these sailings at no additional cost and a price protection commitment in place. If these dates are not convenient, they can receive a Future Voyage Credit based on their paid balance or a full refund. We know that based on our conversations with passengers and travel partners, they understand the complex geopolitical challenges that have arisen making this change necessary. In addition to this, we are committed to remaining a good partner to our First Mates (travel advisors) and will be protecting their commissions.
“With the very likely continuation of this escalated regional conflict top-of-mind, and in an effort to minimize further disruptions to our passengers’ future vacation plans, Virgin Voyages is now conducting a full review of other geographically similar repositioning voyages and linked sailings. We will provide an update in the coming weeks on any further changes we will need to make.”
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