Tag Archives: viking cruises

Viking, one of the most interesting stories in cruising, just got more interesting

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Viking Cruises quietly turned an important corner last week – one that signals the company may be on the cusp of significant growth.

The transition came through a vehicle called MISA Investments Ltd., which received a $500 million equity infusion from TPG Capital and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board.

Few in the cruise world recognize MISA Investments as the parent company of Viking Cruises. I know I didn’t. But after the deal, 17% of MISA will be owned by Canada’s retirement plan and TPG.

The significance of that is that until now, Viking has been a privately held company, financed primarily by European banks.  The new financing represents Viking’s first institutional equity.

There’s only so far private money can take a cruise line. With the notable exception of MSC Cruises, big cruise companies turn big when they gain access to other people’s money.

The latest example of that was Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings. It became publicly-held in 2013, but before it went public it benefitted from private equity interest as well.

And TPG Capital was one of two funds (along with Apollo Group) to put money into Norwegian. Their dollars paid off debt and financed new ships at Norwegian, which led to higher cash flows, taking the company to its long-anticipated public offering.

Now TPG could be setting the stage for something similar at Viking.

“Having been a long-time investor in the cruise industry, we see Viking as a market innovator that has reimagined how people explore the world, with an iconic brand and strong product offering that has significant growth potential,” said Paul Hackwell, principal at TPG, in announcing the investment.

Hackwell said he looked forward to working with Viking CEO Torstein Hagen to expand, “both in products offered and regions served.”

TPG once held north of 10% of NCLH, but it has harvested its gains and now holds about 5 million shares, or 2.3% according to a 2016 proxy statement

For his part, Hagen said the new equity “will give us great opportunities to grow further, particularly in destination-focused ocean cruising as well as cruising in Europe for Chinese consumers.”

In short, one of the most interesting stories in cruising just got more interesting.

Two Viking Cruises crew killed in bridge crash

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Two Viking Cruises crew members have been killed after one of its ships struck a bridge in southern Germany.

The Viking Freya was carrying around 200 passengers when it hit the bridge along the Main-Danube Canal early on Sunday.

The ship had just cast off while it was still dark from the town of Erlangen on its way to Budapest.

Police said the driver’s cabin was crushed under the rail bridge, killing a 49-year-old at the wheel and a 33-year-old sailor. The other 47 crew members and 181 passengers were unhurt.

Police said they are still investigating the cause of the crash.

“For reasons not known so far the driver’s cabin of the ship collided with a bridge, and two crew members, 33 and 49-years-old, were killed,” police spokesman Michael Petzold said. “The two men had to be freed with heavy equipment by firefighters.”

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Passengers had to remain on the ship for several hours while rescue teams worked to extend a walkway to get them off the ship.

Viking Cruises said in a statement reported by the Associated Press: “We are heartbroken, and company executives are on the scene to work closely with local authorities to understand the details of the accident.”

Passengers are being allowed to continue on another vessel from the town of Passau or return home. It said customer representatives would be in touch upon their return home to discuss compensation for the disruption of their trip

With ocean line expansion, Viking will bring first ship stateside

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Viking Ocean Cruises is a little more than two months away from accepting its second ship, the Viking Sea, an event that will multiply the fledgling line’s ability to offer varied itineraries.

Already Viking has said that its first ship, the Viking Star, will reposition to North America starting in September.

After a transition cruise that follows the route of the Viking explorers from Norway to the New World, the Viking Star will offer some fall cruises in Canada and a trip down the eastern seaboard before making its home for the winter of 2016-17 in Puerto Rico.

Richard Marnell, senior vice president of marketing for Viking River Cruises, said the company intends to hold the line on pricing.

“It is our intent to maintain the value at what it is today and essentially to fill the ships as quickly as we can build them,” he said.

Marnell said the company, which is new to the ocean side of cruising, had some kinks to work out in its first few months, but its debut received positive feedback from media and customers.

He said a rating of 5 from the editors of the Cruise Critic website and a “Loved It” endorsement from 86% of the site’s readers were especially exciting. Internally, the line’s surveys are “very, very good and encouraging,” Marnell said.

“What people are applauding is the understated elegance, the residential feel, the great bathrooms, king-size beds, the housekeeping,” he said. “Food is a surprise, and people are quite pleased with our food.”

One of the kinks had to do with an electrical transformer problem that led to the early termination of a cruise in Estonia. Another involved sudden breakage of glass shower partitions in the bathrooms.

Marnell said both problems have been fixed, and Viking might be making a design modification on future ships to ensure that the glass breakage doesn’t reoccur but added that “from a safety perspective and a utility perspective it’s fine.”

There was also an IT problem that torpedoed the television system on early cruises; that, too, has been resolved.

In addition, he said, Viking has learned from experience that some things aren’t working as expected. A singular reception area on the Star has been split into separate shore excursion and guest services desks. The gangways have been modified because the ship is too small for most air bridges, which are designed for bigger vessels, Marnell said.

By bringing the Viking Star to North America, Viking hopes to give more people a chance to see the ship. On its transition cruise from Canada to Puerto Rico, it will be making stops in Boston, New York and Florida.

Those stops, Marnell said, “will give the opportunity for those who weren’t able to attend other functions — and this is particularly important to agents — to be able to see the vessel and experience it.”

For the winter months, the Viking Star will do a series of nine 11-night roundtrips from San Juan, visiting Tortola, British Virgin Islands; Antigua; St. Lucia; Barbados; St. Kitts; Guadeloupe; St. Maarten; and St. Thomas.

Marnell said that homeporting in San Juan saves time that would otherwise be taken up sailing from South Florida for more port time in the Caribbean, a key brand promise.

Also, Viking’s overall value continues to get high marks in customer surveys, according to Marnell, and that remains a key point of differentiation.

“So we feel like we’re in a very good position, and it’s our intention to maintain that moving forward,” he said.