Viking River Cruises starts in 2017

Here´s another article from cruisecritic.

They say the ships will have between 300 and 380 passengers. The ships will dock at Bienville Wharf next to the Natchez...

steamboats

Traffic jam

The part I find interesting is building a bus terminal and service area...there is very little parking now for the NATCHEZ and hopefully they aren't planning to remove what is there. The other option is to tear up the popular Woldenberg Riverfront Park and place them there. That was originally the Upper and Lower Bienville Wharf, and the DQ and MQ docked there prior to Robin Street. But it was then sheds with plenty of parking and loading/unloading space, of which there is none now on the park area. I guess another wonderment is where all the passengers are going to come from for six boats, assuming the rates are similar to what ACL and AQ are charging. I know that is out of my price range...

Here´s another article stating that the ship owner is Tennenbaum Capital Partners, an LA investment company. Viking is chartering the ships. So it´ll be fully compliant with the Jones Act stuff. See also here.

Actually I don´t have a clue how they do fill up their European ships. I´ve lost track about how many they´ve already launched and are still under construction or announced. According to the article they´re up to 60 ships in Europe (within only a couple of years, 10 to 15 new ships per year was sort of the "average" during the last years).

It´ll be also interesting whether they do sell in Europe. By the end of 2013 Viking closed down it´s German branch and stopped selling on the German market. So they´re only on the US market. They´ve started out buying the river cruise ship branch from K-D (who invented river cruising on the Rhine river). This was followed by a long law suit which just recently was won by K-D - the contract didn´t allow K-D to operate river cruise ships anymore. They only had excursion boats including the former sidewheel steamer Goethe. So actually Viking started out on the German market.

Carmen

Perhaps IT CAN HAPPEN HERE

As we've discussed on this board many times before, why not here since the European Rivers have dozens of overnight boats. Perhaps with an operator like Viking coming into the market our rivers can. I'm a firm believer that business begets more business, the more boats the bigger the demand. With a modern fleet (thank goodness they are not going to have a stupid fake paddlewheel hanging off the stern), I have always thought that our rivers and our baby boomer population are a large untapped market.
I love our rivers and I'm glad, that before too long, there will be many boats giving people the opportunity to see the beauty and excitement of our American Rivers and river towns.

I'd be willing to bet that the Viking marketing is NOT to Americans, but to the Asian and European tourist trade.
Will be interesting, though--that's a LOT of boats!

Wondering is they know what their in for?

So do the rivers in Europe present the same challenges as our mighty Mississippi river does in regards to early season mass floods and late season low water levels? I really hope that Viking does their homework because the mighty Mississippi is a beast and beats to its own drum!

CJ Meyers,

Yes, as weather is unpredictable we do have the same problems over here too. As they do operate nearly 50 ships on the Rhine/Main/Danube rivers they simply swap ships when there´s let´s say a broken down lock or a low water on the Danube river (when usually an area close to Straubing is not navigable anymore - no lock there).

David,

As I said before, they closed down their German branch completely and do not market their European river cruises on the German market anymore. They are completely marketed in the US. I doubt that they will open up for non US customers again.

Carmen

Big article in Davenport paper

http://qctimes.com/news/local/government-and-politics/gluba-cruise-giant-viking-interested-in-davenport/article_9090d37c-e4e1-51b4-9ae9-ba65d62dac22.html

This news earned a front page banner headline today in the QuadCityTimes. (They did run a small article last week about the DQ purchase.) Mayor Gluba is standing on the Skywalk, commonly known as the Bridge to Nowhere, because that is where it goes. It connects to absolutely nothing, but is a great viewing area for flood pictures. The one interesting thing I find in the article, besides the AQ being in the drawing, is that Viking might stop 2 times a week during their 19 week cruising season. I presume that would mean there would be 2 different boats on the UMR all season. Wow. I hope they can make this work, but my mind is spinning trying to figure out where all these passengers are going to come from, especially if the rates are similar to ACL or AQ. Last year's AQ trips came through here at roughly 50% filled, and who knows how many of those were 2for1. Their first trip this season in NOLA was also around 50%...I just know that at a minimum of $500 a day, $600 for a single, that I'm not in anyone's passenger range anymore...

I really can't get too excited about these new boats coming to the Mississippi System. The comment that Hagen made a year or two ago about how Viking will show Americans how to run boats on our rivers smacks of the same sort of hubris that Majestic American Line exhibited! Honestly, if the same thing happens to Viking that happened to MAL, I won't cry!

I have no idea where Viking's long boat style of vessels will be able to land other than a few cities. With the elevated flat esplanades of New Orleans' wharves and the long boats' low profile, docking in low water will be problematic. Baton Rouge's paper clips and Memphis' float will work during high and low water, but any other city like Louisville, Cincinnati, Davenport, St. Paul, Wheeling and Pt. Pleasant if the waters is high those low flat landings flood.

Davenport landing

The interesting thing about the choice of landing in Davenport is that it WILL flood there, at the main levee below L&D 15. However, where the QUEENS landed for years, at Oneida St., is above the dam and therefore doesn't flood and would be accessible during high water. I presume the lower location is being targeted because it is on the city front (downtown), but honestly there isn't any more there for passengers than at the other location, and perhaps less if you are talking walking distance. The Village of East Davenport was always a destination for the walkers aboard but will be out of range from downtown. It doesn't really matter to me as I don't envision myself taking the time to go view these boats anyway, and I certainly wouldn't be interested in a trip - they trumpet the fact that they stay all day in a town so the pax can get to see the area thoroughly. I ride a boat so I can be moving on the river and see the scenery along the river, not to do the land based stuff. Take a bus if that's what you want!

I don't have any plans on riding either ACL or Viking! AQSC and the DQ, well that remains to be seen! Funny thing is that not too long ago I was quite interested in making one of ACL's Jacksonville - St. Johns River cruise, but not since the owner has the $$$$ to lobby Congress to kill the DQ exemption.

Cruising through the "Haht" of America?

You must not be watching TV. American TV.

The ones (European rivers) I have seen are fast moving with low bridges, hence the low profile of the boats.