Viking has given its trade loyalty programme Rewards by Viking an extensive upgrade. New features further reward trade partners, increased engagement and enhance the overall user experience.

Rewards by Viking allows travel agents to earn reward points for booking Viking’s ocean, river and expedition cruises. These can be redeemed in the online Rewards by Viking store on a range of brand-name items – from electronics and sporting goods to beauty products and gift vouchers.

Viking has released a number of new  dates for ocean cruise itineraries for late 2023 and early 2024, including those that cover Scandinavia, The Mediterranean, Alaska, The Caribbean, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It has also launched two new combination cruise itineraries in Scandinavia.

‘The new departure dates are for some of our most popular cruise itineraries and provide more choice and certainty for travellers to plan ahead,’ says Michelle Black, managing director of Viking ANZ.

Viking has opened for sale a selection of ocean cruises in Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Alaska departing up to April 2024, on the 930-guest Viking Orion.

The itineraries are designed to provide peace of mind for travellers to plan in advance, and include Australian and New Zealand-favourites such as the 23-day North Pacific Passage from Tokyo to Vancouver via Russia and Alaska, the 15-day Far Eastern Horizons from Hong Kong to Tokyo and the 17-day Komodo & the Australian Coast sailing from Sydney to Bali.

Viking has two ocean cruise itineraries due to depart in 2022 on Viking’s newest ocean ship – the 930-guest Viking Mars. The diverse itineraries include destinations such as Greece, Oman and Egypt, or Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand.

Clients can save up to $2000 per couple on these 2022 itineraries (check conditions).

The 21-day Passage to India departs 25 October 2022 from Athens to Mumbai and is priced from $9695pp in a Veranda Stateroom. Highlights include Haifa, Israel; Luxor, Egypt; and Aqaba, Jordan.

Viking has released close to 1000 new departure dates for its 2023 European river cruise programme.

The departures are across a range of itineraries along the Rhine, Main, Danube, and Russian and Douro rivers including the ever-popular Grand European from Amsterdam to Budapest.

Viking has launched a new feature within its Agent Marketing Centre aimed at helping New Zealand travel agents create more engaging and effective social media campaigns.

It also provides access to Viking’s content library that includes the most popular river and ocean itineraries, ship tours and destination highlights.

Viking’s marketing centre can be found within the existing travel agent portal and makes it easy to customise Viking marketing materials with an agency’s contact details and call to action, generating a personalised file, ready to go.

Viking’s VOR event at Auckland’s Tamaki Yacht Club on Wednesday night was action packed with 120 agents enjoying education along with a quiz and some prizes.

Managing director ANZ of Viking, Michelle Black and national sales manager, Keira Smith were able to cross the ditch for the event along with MC Andrew Gill.

‘Thank goodness for bubbles,’ said Black, who told the agents that although cruising may have stopped in 2020, Viking had been busy. The company launched Viking TV so that clients could cruise virtually from home, and continued to actively market to both the consumer and trade. It’s taken a scientific approach to health and safety protocols, including installing full PCR labs on ocean ships and implementing daily saliva PCR tests onboard all of its ships.

The main focus of the training evening was on polar expedition cruising (with a wrap up of river and ocean product) with regional sales manager NZ, Steve Parker also encouraging agents ‘to use us for your benefit,’ including hosting client events.

• Angela Manase, Manase Travel Studio,... Angela Manase, Manase Travel Studio,...
• Sue Smith-Kindred, Kindred Travel and... Sue Smith-Kindred, Kindred Travel and...
• Nancy Crooks, TMG; Margy Twigden,... Nancy Crooks, TMG; Margy Twigden,...
• Fleur Gosling, Stars Travel and... Fleur Gosling, Stars Travel and...
• With a bottle of champagne... With a bottle of champagne...
• Kristin Edgeworth 360 Edge and... Kristin Edgeworth 360 Edge and...
• Catherine Roberts, helloworld broker; Sue... Catherine Roberts, helloworld broker; Sue...
• Marilo Harpley, Sarah Osborne and... Marilo Harpley, Sarah Osborne and...
• Jo Pett, Travel Connections; Sam... Jo Pett, Travel Connections; Sam...
• Tony Jackson, House of Travel... Tony Jackson, House of Travel...
• Trudy Markham and Catherine Tyler,... Trudy Markham and Catherine Tyler,...
• Trudy Markham and Catherine Tyler,... Trudy Markham and Catherine Tyler,...
•  

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