Fincantieri's Ancona yard floats out Viking Vesta

The 54,300gt, 998-passenger ship will spend its inaugural season in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe.

'A good day'

'It is always a good day when a new ship meets water for the first time,' Viking Chairman/CEO Torstein Hagen said during the July 4 event hosted by Ancona Director Gilberto Tobaldi.  '... As we prepare to welcome the Viking Vesta next summer, as well as her identical sister ship, the Viking Vela, this fall, we look forward to introducing even more curious travelers to the Viking way of exploration.'

Water began flowing into the building dock at 11 a.m. local time. Following a two-day process that will set Viking Vesta afloat, the ship will be moved to a nearby outfitting dock for final construction and interior build-out.

12th in a series

Viiking Vesta is the 12th ocean ship in the fleet and, like Viking Vela, is slightly larger than the first 10 due to new IMO stability regulations.