Viking OCEAN is already officially operating with 3 ships. The new Viking Sky of the California-based cruise operator set sail with paying passengers for the first time on Saturday.
The 930-passenger ship departed from Civitavecchia on a 7-night inaugural voyage to Barcelona.
Viking took delivery of Sky last month from the Fincantieri shipyard in Ancona, Italy, where it had been under construction for more than a year.
Sky is a sister to Viking's first two vessels, Viking Star and Viking Sea. The two ships debuted in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
Like the earlier vessels, Sky is relatively small at 47,800 tons. That's less than a third the size of the latest megaships from the likes of Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line.
Designed to offer an intimate and elegant experience, Sky boasts a stylish Scandinavian design, and its cabins are large by cruise ship standards. Even the smallest rooms offer 270 f2 of space. Every cabin comes with a balcony, as is the case with its sister vessels.
Sky's inaugural voyage includes several stops in Italy and Spain as well as a day visit to Tunis, Tunisia. Sky then will operate a diverse range of sailings in Europe before being christened on June 22 in Tromso, Norway — a nod to the Norwegian heritage of Viking's founding family. At the end of summer it'll cross the Atlantic to the Caribbean.
Viking Sky is just one of two ships that Viking is launching in 2017 as it continues a rapid expansion. Another sister ship, Viking Sun, arrives in November. Two more Viking ships are coming in 2018 and 2019, respectively.