In the planning for the 2027 season, the cruise company Viking has scheduled two new passages along North America’s principal inland rivers, to be operated aboard its modern river vessel Viking Mississippi.
The longer of the two is a 15-day course advancing upriver from New Orleans toward Louisville, Kentucky. This voyage, designated Bayous, Blues & Bluegrass, is scripted to make waypoints at a succession of ports along the Mississippi: first the quartet of New Orleans, Darrow, St. Francisville and Baton Rouge in Louisiana, then the Mississippi stops at Natchez, Vicksburg and Greenville, before arriving at Memphis, Tennessee, where the river’s axis shifts toward the Ohio. The final segment of the schedule unfolds along the Ohio River’s reach, visiting Paducah, Henderson, Owensboro and finally Louisville after five days on those waters.
A second, condensed itinerary has been charted for eight days, to run between Memphis and Louisville. This course is a shortened version of the longer route, tracing the rivers’ general line without retracing the southerly start at New Orleans.
The company’s roster of river voyages for 2027 along the Mississippi and Ohio is now open for reservations and encompasses these new passages as well as a suite of previously announced programs. Among those is a 22-day Mississippi River Odyssey from New Orleans northward beyond the Ohio confluence, along with other 8-day itineraries covering various portions of the Mississippi.