Viking has taken delivery of the company’s newest ocean ship, Viking Vela, during a delivery ceremony at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Ancona, Italy.

Viking Vela has 499 staterooms (for a capacity of 998 guests – and thereby classified as a “small ship”) and joins the company’s growing fleet of award-winning ocean ships and will spend her inaugural season sailing itineraries in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe.

This newest vessel is the first in a new series of cruise ships Fincantieri is building for Viking and the 13th ship delivered to the shipowner, including the two expedition cruise vessels built by VARD.

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“We are proud to welcome the newest sister ship to our award-winning ocean fleet,” said Torstein Hagen, Chairman and CEO of Viking.

“Together with Fincantieri we have built the world’s most elegant small ocean ships. With the arrival of our newest vessel, we look forward to introducing even more curious travellers to the Viking way of exploration.”

Viking continues to work 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. While Viking Vela has a traditional propulsion platform, she is considered “hydrogen-ready” and can be retrofitted in the future.

Viking Vela‘s maiden voyage is a seven-night sailing from Rome (Civitavecchia) to Barcelona, departing on 12 December 2024.