Nothing could wipe the smile off Viking founder, chairman and CEO Torstein Hagen’s face last week in Basel, Switzerland — not a sudden mid-ceremony burst of rain or even a premature bottle smash on the hull of the nearly finished Viking Dagur — as the cruise brand he started 28 years ago achieved the major milestone of becoming the first line to amass a 100-ship fleet.
In fact, by the end of the day-long celebration, Viking saw nine new longships officially named and christened with Norwegian-made aquavit (or nonalcoholic bubbles, in the case of two Egypt-stationed boats) from ports and shipyards in six different countries (including Portugal and Vietnam).
“The beginning of Viking [was] two guys, two mobile phones, Biden-type sunglasses and four old Russian ships,” joked Hagen, while showing a 1997 photograph to dozens of executives; the new ships’ godmothers, godfathers and captains; port officials; partners; and media who had gathered atop the fleet’s 100th member, the Viking Honir, which set off on its maiden voyage two days later.
“Today, we have 103 — 88 river vessels, 12 ocean ships, two expedition ships and one time-chartered ship on the Mississippi,” Hagen said. “We’ve been adding ships like counting sheep. Thank God we had so many Norse gods before Christianity arrived [in Norway].”
Before soprano/Viking Jupiter godmother Sissel Kyrkjebø performed with a local girls’ choir, and the crowd migrated across town for an alphorn serenade and feast inside a baroque 100-year-old indoor riding arena-turned-event hall, Hagen confirmed they don’t intend to slow down anytime soon.
“Right now, our job is to build ships to meet the demand,” said Hagen, brushing off any concern about overexpansion with promising stats like $5.3 billion in revenue last year and the fact that 2026 sailings were already 64% sold out by the end of September. “We have the best balance sheet in the industry.”
Despite the new fleet adding 639 staterooms to the inventory and enabling dozens more departures on its most popular European routes, the company expects to take delivery of 23 additional river ships by 2028 and 14 more ocean liners by 2033. Viking visits more than 500 ports in 85 countries and operates on all five oceans and 21 of the world’s rivers, including the Nile. It will launch service on India’s Brahmaputra in 2027.
But it’s also about more than impressive numbers, according to Richard Marnell, Viking’s executive vice president of marketing. “Reaching 100 ships is an extraordinary milestone, and milestones are meaningful,” Marnell told Forbes Travel Guide. “To be the first [in the industry] to achieve this is a point of immense pride. [But milestones] also serve as an invitation to keep going, a reflection of how our different approach has resonated with curious travelers.”
Marnell added, “As we look to the future, we will continue to create journeys [that] always put the destination as the focus and aim to connect cultures in all corners of the world, expand our travel platform with new experiences and inspire guests to explore the world in comfort.”
Both Hagen and Marnell see the company’s compounding success, industry-leading rate of expansion and high marks from customers and critics as proof positive of the “Viking way” concept.
“In many ways, we don’t like the word ‘cruise’ because we’re very different from the other cruise lines, from the umbrella drinks and all that,” Hagen said. “Our cruises are for thinking people and are a place to learn. We’re about delivering experiences of meaning rather than things because, ‘You don’t own things, things own you.’ That said, they are pretty nice ships. If you have good taste, we’re luxury.”
The desire to satisfy the experiential traveler has led Viking to expand opportunities for pre- and post-cruise land-based extensions. “Those are an increasing part of what we do,” said Hagen, whose personal bucket list is topped by Iran. “Guests come from such faraway places for the cruise. Extensions are a way to add on something meaningful.”
Other than investing time and resources into finding ways to make ships, fuel and cruising more sustainable, Hagen doesn’t feel the need to change much of his original vision. He believes these core tenets — no guests under 18, no casinos, no formal nights, no butlers and absolutely no private islands (“We go to real places!”) — along with consistent functional design (think: square-backed chairs, square trash cans, roomy showers and large print on toiletries) keep Viking from being in the “floating amusement parks” business.
“We are for the people who want the quiet, serene experience and well-maintained and elegant ships,” Hagen said. “The point is we take people to destinations, people go to explore, not to be on the ship.”
