Viking Sky in Helsinki, 31 July 2017

My plan for a return to weekly updates hasn't been too successful, thanks to the combination of a hectic work schedule and a hectic travelling schedule - two weeks ago I was in Norway on the trip organised by Cruise Norway mentioned in the previous entry, after that I had a week to do final corrections my and Bruce Peter's upcoming book Innovation and Specialisation: The Story of Shipbuilding in Finland (which will get a detailed blog entry later) and then during the past week I was in Armenia of all places. I had actually prepared this particular entry before going to Norway, with the idea that I could post it during the travels, but never found the time. The technical quality of the photos is not perhaps quite as good as in the more recent entries, as these were taken during the time brief moment in time when I had to revert to using the old old 350D camera.

Viking Sky

IMO 9650420
Built 2017, Fincantieri Maghera, Italy
Tonnage 47 842 GT
Length 227,28 m
Width 28,79 m
Draft 6,65 m
944 passengers
4 MAN diesels, combined 23 520 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thrusters
Speed 20 knots

The Viking Sky is, of course, a sister ship to the Viking Star, and as she was delivered just this year, there's very little to actually say about her. So let's get straight down to the photos, which were taken from Vattuniemi in Lauttasaari as the ship departed Länsisatama (West Harbour) on the afternoon of 31 July 2017. As always, click on the images to see them in larger size.

People in general seem to be extremely keen on the Viking Cruises ships' exterior design. To be honest, I'm not sure if I agree; they are attractive modern cruise ships, sure, but nothing spectacular.

And since I started criticising the ships, I'm also going to say that the names - while nice in that they recall the Royal Viking Line of old - do come across as rather uninspired.

As you can see, the water levels were quite low, which resulted in neat foreground rocks.

There was also a regatta of some sort going on, so neat sailboats were also captured alongside the Viking Sky.

Viking Star in Helsinki, 29 June 2015

Viking Star

IMO 9650418
Built 2015, Fincantieri Maghera, Italy
Tonnage 47 842 GT
Length 227,28 m
Width 28,79 m
Draft 6,65 m
944 passengers
4 MAN diesels, combined 23 520 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thrusters
Speed 20 knots

By accident, this entry is quite topical, as the Viking Star is currently in the news due to engine problems.

The Viking Star is, of course, the first ship of Viking Cruises' ocean-conquering quartet. Viking Cruises - or rather Viking River Cruises as it was still known at the time - originally signed a memorandum of agreement with STX France for the construction of two ocean-going cruise ships in December 2011. However, this original agreement was allowed to lapse, and in 2012 Viking signed a contract for two cruise ships with Fincantieri instead. The contract included an option for two sister ships, which was taken up before the first ship was even completed. To the best of my knowledge, Viking still hold an option for two additional sisters.

The keel of the Viking Star was laid at Fincantieri's Maghera shipyard in December 2013, the ship was launched the following May and delivered in April 2015. The ship was officially named only on 17 May, when she visited Bergen for the first time. Unusually for a modern cruise ship, the Viking Star is registered in Norway with Bergen as her home port. Both the ship and Viking Cruises new oceangoing brand received a lot of (deserved) media attention. However, things have not been entirely rosy on the Viking Star's maiden season: last Thursday (30 July) the ship was stuck in Tallinn due to a failure in her the electric transformers of one of her main engines. Spare parts are due to be flown in, but in the mean time the ship remains in Tallinn, and the remainder of her current cruise (which was due to terminate in Bergen on 9 August, if I've understood correctly) has been cancelled. It remains to be seen if the ship can begin her next cruise normally.

Anyway, the photographs below show the Viking Star departing Helsinki Länsisatama on the afternoon of 29 June 2015, photographed from Sisä-Hattu. As per the usual, click on the images to see them in larger size.

A lot of people have commented on how attractive the Viking Star looks. To be perfectly honest, I don't see where they're coming from. Sure, she's an okay modern cruise ship, but not that different from, say, Oceania Cruises' Marina and Riviera. One suspects that this is a case where people like Viking and as a result see their ship as (more) beautiful (than the others).

Sisä-Hattu is always a good place for getting some nature into the foreground.

Although considered to be a fairly small cruise ship by today's standards, the Viking Star is just a tad too long to safely transit the Kustaanmiekka strait leading to Eteläsatama (South Harbour) right next to Helsinki's historical city center.

Proudly flying the Norwegian flag - there's a sight you don't see every day on a cruise ship.

Next stop... can't actually remember if she was headed for Saint Petersburg or Stockholm this time around. One of the two anyway.

Next time we continue with ships that have never been featured on this blog before with the Serenade of the Seas.