- Viking’s latest ocean ship, Viking Vela named in traditional ceremony
- Godmother Ivana Elice of Fincantieri was presented with a historic Viking sword
- The same sword was used in the naming of Viking Saturn in June last year
Viking named its newest ocean ship, Viking Vela with a traditional ceremony held in Trieste, Italy with some VIP guests dressed in eye-catching and colourful costume.
Viking Vela’ s godmother, Ivana Elice, vice-president and project manager of Fincantieri Cruise Business Unit, was presented with a historic Viking broad axe, in keeping with the naming tradition. She then pressed a button which released a bottle of Norwegian aquavit to break on the ship’s hull. The same axe was used in the naming of Viking Saturn in June last year.
The 998-passenger Viking Vela with 449 staterooms will spend her inaugural season sailing itineraries during the quieter season in the Mediterranean before cruising Northern Europe.
“With Fincantieri as our partner, we believe we have built the world’s most elegant fleet of small ocean ships,” said Torstein Hagen, Chairman and CEO of Viking. “We thank Ivana Elice for being the godmother of the Viking Vela. In her role at Fincantieri, she has cared for our ocean ships during their construction just as a godmother would, and we are very appreciative of her contributions as a member of the extended Viking family.”
Ms Elice had overseen the building of Viking’s first ocean ship, Viking Star in 2012. Since then, she has supervised the building of other Viking sister ships.
Viking is working on a project for a partial hybrid propulsion system for future ocean ships based on liquid hydrogen and fuel cells, which could allow the company to operate at zero-emission in the Norwegian Fjords and other sensitive environments. The Viking Vela has been designed with the future in mind, ensuring she can be retrofitted to incorporate these new technologies as they become available.
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