Tag Archives: Viking River Cruises

Viking Ra Unveils Its Egyptian Design and Itinerary

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Viking Ra Unveils Its Egyptian Design and Itinerary

PHOTOS: Viking River Cruises’ Viking Ra renderings. (photos courtesy of Viking Cruises)

Taking its cues from Viking River Cruises’ award-winning Viking Longships design, the line’s newest Viking Ra is coming to Egypt’s Nile River during March 2018.

Viking is completely gutting the recently acquired vessel and redesigning it in Scandinavian style as an intimate 48-guest, all-suite riverboat to sail a Pharaohs & Pyramids cruise-tour.

“Egypt is one of the most intriguing countries in the world, and it remains a top destination for many of our guests,” said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking Cruises, in a press release.

“For two decades, we have led the industry in river cruising with our innovative ship design and itineraries that bring our guests closer to the cultures of the world. We are committed to Egypt, and with the introduction of Viking Ra, we look forward to providing our award-winning service to our guests on the Nile – and to their experiencing this culturally rich region in the Viking way.”

The 12-day Pharaohs & Pyramids itinerary will feature many points of interest, starting with a three-night first-class hotel stay in Cairo. Highlights there will include the Great Pyramids of Giza, the new Grand Egyptian Museum and the Mosque of Muhammad Ali. Then guests will fly to Luxor to explore the temples of Luxor and Karnak prior to boarding the Viking Ra for an 8-day roundtrip Nile River cruise.

The sailing will highlight Aswan and privileged access to the tomb of Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens, along with tours of the Temple of Khnum in Esna, the Dendera Temple complex in Qena and a Nubian village.

The entire journey ends with a return flight to Cairo and an additional night stay.

Like the Viking Longships’ heavenly nomenclature, Viking Ra is named after the Egyptian sun god. It also references Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl and his Ra and Ra II papyrus-reed boats. The riverboat is being designed by the same interior team behind the Scandinavian-styled Viking Longships, but it will also incorporate regional Arabic patterns as well.

24 suites will encompass three categories, each measuring in at 291 sq. ft. There will be 20 Veranda Suites, for example, with a full-size veranda off the living room and a French balcony off the bedroom. All private accommodations will include a hotel-style bed, luxurious linens, sofa, bathroom with shower, air conditioning and flat-screen televisions.

Onboard dining will extend to The Restaurant for three full daily meals of international and regional cuisine, as well as The Lounge and bar for drinks. Entertainment will focus on the destination in lieu of a casino, while Viking’s Culture Curriculum will feature an onboard Nubian evening event and even the chance to ride a camel. An expert Egyptologist will also lead all excursions ashore.

Unique to the Viking Ra from the Viking Longships are its pool and two jacuzzis as well as a spa.

The pool will be located at the back of the ship, while the pool and sun decks will also have plenty of shade under sails reminiscent of regional dhow ships and mashrabiya-like screens. Meanwhile, The Spa will offer massage services and other treatments.

Demand and inventory, a delicate balancing act

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Image result for river cruise ships

When you have more bookings than you know what to do with, that’s the good kind of problem to have in the travel industry, right?

Well, sort of. No travel company ever wants to have too many empty beds/seats/cabins. But not having enough openings to meet demand, that’s a tricky problem too, because that’s when you risk losing clients to the competition.

And when demand is a bit in flux, as it currently is in the river cruise market, it’s hard to plan for unknown growth and an unknown future. For those watching closely, you may have noticed that shipbuilding momentum has eased up in the river cruise industry. Viking River Cruises is only building two ships next year, down from the six it debuted this year, 12 last and the record 18 the company launched in 2014.

AmaWaterways too is only launching one new vessel each in 2017 and in 2018 (the company typically launches two each year). And Avalon Waterways doesn’t have any new ships planned for 2017, after several years of consistently building two or three vessels annually. The shipbuilding frenzy clearly has died down a bit for now, even as some newer players (I’m looking at you, Crystal) have entered the market.

But then there is the issue of pent-up demand following a softer year such as the one the river cruise market just experienced, driven by the terror attacks in Paris and Nice and by high water levels that disrupted some departures. River cruisers who put off the popular travel style in 2016 may now be looking to get onboard in 2017.

Noting pent-up demand from the U.S. market and on the heels of two promising future booking months, AmaWaterways this month announced its 2018 sailings are open for booking. And several other river cruise lines have been promoting their 2018 availability as well. If there really was some pent-up demand as AmaWaterways claims, a shipbuilding slowdown could potentially create a capacity bottleneck that might force river cruise lines to offer up 2018 cabins as an overflow alternative to 2017.

Then again, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This past year was a challenging one, and river cruise lines will likely be happy to simply fill their 2017 inventory at higher capacity levels than they did in 2016. If demand for river cruising returns with a fervor strong enough to have some river cruise lines regretting they didn’t put in some additional ship orders, that is a problem they would probably prefer to have over figuring out how to fill empty ships.

Fluctuating river levels could impact Europe cruise itineraries

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As another busy summer gets underway in Europe, river cruise passengers could once again face itinerary alterations due to high or low water levels.

Thus far, river cruise lines are reporting that water levels are a bit high on the Danube, Rhine and Rhone rivers, and a bit low on the Elbe.

Viking River Cruises has reported on its website that the Danube, Rhine and Rhone rivers currently have high water levels, which may result in delays, itinerary adjustments, and alternate embarkation or disembarkation points.

The high levels on the Danube are occurring near Passau, Germany, and the high levels on the Rhine are concentrated around southern Germany, Viking reported. Meanwhile, limited rainfall on the Elbe River has disrupted sailings between Melnik in the Czech Republic and Bad Schandau in Germany, as well as the stretch between Wittenberg and Magdeburg in Germany.

Avalon Waterways on Monday updated its Facebook page to alert passengers that “due to increased rainfall this spring, water levels on some of Europe’s rivers are higher than normal.”

Avalon noted that there are cases where adjustments will be necessary, mostly affecting embarkation and disembarkation locations. “On occasion, when waters have been too high to navigate, we’re making alternate arrangements, which may include transferring guests to hotels. When this occurs, we offer our travelers complimentary accommodations, excursion choices as well as compensation for missed sailing days,” Avalon stated on Facebook.

“Weather forecasts look favorable this week,” the company stated, adding that “we ask that our guests understand that water levels change hourly, so much can change daily. In the meantime, we’re just ‘going with the flow.’”

Severe flooding on France’s Seine River caused river cruise disruptions there earlier this month.