Quote:
Originally Posted by isaidso
Is this the same 'Viking Line' that operates large ships between Finland and Sweden/Estonia?
|
viking cruises is most famous for their european river cruises. they've since branched out to become a global cruise line, but their niche is still in smaller-scaled, more specialty oriented cruising, and these new great lakes and polar expedition cruises certainly fit right into that mold. they don't operate any of those 5,000+ passenger beasts that sail the caribbean and the med. they sail in those waters too, but with much smaller ships. they're oriented towards the market that is looking for something a little different, and can afford to pay for it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by isaidso
Surely there are enough people on the Great Lakes to support something like this.
|
a huge part of their clientele for these great lakes cruises will be wealthy europeans who are looking for something different, something off the beaten path.
btw, to put the size difference of this new viking ship into perspective, i looked up the sizes of some of the current ships that cruise the great lakes:
Victory I: 300' LOA/5,000 tons
Victory II: 300' LOA/5,000 tons
Pearl Mist: 325' LOA/5,100 tons
Hanseatic Inspiration: 470' LOA/15,000 tons
Viking Octantis: 670' LOA/30,000 tons
in terms of size, this is a whole other level of cruise ship, the likes of which the great lakes have never seen.
and considering the locks on the st. lawrence seaway/welland canal limit max. ship size to ~740' in length, this ship is getting pretty close to the maximum size cruise ship that could ever get into the great lakes. we'll never see anything substantively larger than this ship cruising on the great lakes.