The keel was laid on Thursday, February 4, at the Ancona Italy shipyard for the 8th cruise ship of the shipbuilder Fincantieri for the shipowner Viking Ocean Cruises. MS Viking Mars is will be delivered in 2022-Q2, with the maiden voyage scheduled for May 28.
The newbuild has GT tonnage 47842 tons, 9 decks (6 with cabins), 464 staterooms and max passenger capacity 930 (plus 465 crew).
Viking Ocean's vessels are sisterships (same-designed) and built according to the latest maritime regulations and equipped with the most modern navigation and safety systems, including “Safe return to port”. They also boast high-efficiency engines, hydrodynamics, optimized hull with a consequent reduction in consumption and systems reducing exhaust gas pollution to a minimum.
Fincantieri started building ships for Viking in 2012 when the river cruise shipping company entered the ocean cruise market as a start-up. From the first order of two ships, the collaboration has reached 20 units total, including the 2 expedition ships (ordered from Fincantieri's Vard subsidiary) and options, which is an absolute record, the biggest number of units for a shipbuilder on behalf of a single owner.
MS Viking Mars is one of the series of 10 identical vessels built for Viking Ocean Cruises. In 2017, having already 4 operational liners (Star, Sea, Sky, Sun), VIKING OCEAN announced a fleet-expansion to a total of 10 vessels (6 more newbuilds on order), with scheduled deliveries in 2018 (Orion), 2019 (Jupiter), 2021 (Tellus and Venus) and 2022 (Neptune and Mars).