Interest in Egypt as a river cruise destination continues to climb as Viking sees a 25% jump in sales weeks after announcing a new addition to its fleet.

‘The expansion to our Egypt fleet with the debut of Viking Aton in September 2022 has generated a significant surge in interest and bookings from New Zealanders and Australians,’ says Michelle Black, Viking ANZ managing director. ‘The addition of Viking Aton takes our Egypt river fleet to three, alongside Viking Osiris and Viking Ra. We have also secured exclusive docking rights near Karnak Temple in Luxor, one of the region’s highlights, meaning no double docking for our ships on the Nile.’

Viking has released its 2022-2023 River Cruises brochure with over 230 pages of itineraries and experiences.

The brochure includes a preview of 2023 season departures, details on new ships, a dedicated section on Christmas and Christmas Market cruises, and a new cruise destination – the Mississippi River.

As a strong indicator of the demand for cruising, Viking’s 136-day 2021-2022 World Cruise has sold out in record time.

‘Demand for cruising is still strong,’ says Michelle Black, Viking ANZ managing director. ‘We are now seeing a positive uplift in bookings for 2022 and 2023 across our river, ocean and expedition portfolios. Anecdotal feedback and qualitative past passenger research has identified a strong belief that once international travel is open there will be huge demand for available capacity

Viking has a sale on a number of voyages departing in 2021, 22 and 23, with savings of up to A$4600 per couple when booked before 30 November 2020.

The Explore The Viking Way sale features generous flight credits and savings on Viking’s most popular river, ocean and expedition cruises. With the extension of its Risk-Free Guarantee to 30 September 2020, clients have the freedom to change their plans up to
24 hours before departure, for any reason.

Viking has just released two new 2022 departure dates for its river/ocean combination cruise, the 15-day Rhine and Viking Shores & Fjords between Bergen and Basel or vice versa.

Clients can choose to commence with the river or ocean portion; both new departures sail on 23 September 2022 and are priced from $9990 per person twin, including savings of up to $2500 per couple plus an additional saving of up to $800 per couple for new-to-Viking guests as part of Viking’s Journeys Worth Planning promotion.

The 15-day combination cruise fuses Viking’s eight-day Rhine Getaway river cruise between Basel and Amsterdam with the eight-day Viking Shores & Fjords ocean itinerary between Amsterdam and Bergen. The voyages calls in to Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, France and Switzerland.

Viking’s risk-free guarantee provides the freedom to change or postpone their cruise up to 24 hours before departure.

vikingcruises.com.au

Viking Cruises is launching a series of trade training emails to learn about the cruise line's purpose built expedition ships and voyages.

'By boosting their expertise in this popular category, agents can maximise opportunities to increase their commission too,' says Erin Kramer, trade marketing manager, Viking Cruises ANZ.

Viking has a wide selection of ocean and river cruises departing up to December 2022 for sale.

New itineraries include the 13-day Amazon & Caribbean Adventure journey from San Juan, Puerto Rico to Manaus, Brazil or vv, sailing the Amazon River, visiting six countries with two overnight calls. Multiple departures are available from January to March 2022.

The 930-guest Viking Sun is in New Zealand waters this week as part of her 245-day Ultimate World Cruise which is attempting to set the Guinness World Record for the ‘longest continuous passenger cruise’.