Viking has officially named seven new river ships in a ceremony spanning four countries, with two Australian travel industry leaders among the godparents in a first for the Norwegian cruise line: all seven appointees are travel advisor partners.<\/strong><\/p>\n Flight Centre Travel Group\u2019s Danielle Galloway and Virtuoso\u2019s Michael Londregan were in Amsterdam on Thursday, October 15, to celebrate the naming of their ships: the Viking Sjofn<\/em> and Viking Ptah<\/em>, respectively. Forgoing the traditional champagne, the ships were christened with bottles of Gammel Opland aquavit, Norway\u2019s national spirit.<\/p>\n Simultaneous ceremonies took place in France, Germany, and Egypt, reflecting the ships\u2019 future deployment across Europe and the Nile.<\/p>\n The decision to appoint seven travel advisor partners put the trade community in the spotlight, recognising the people and businesses that have helped build Viking\u2019s presence and connect its voyages with travellers.<\/p>\n For Londregan, the honour came as an emotional surprise. He was shopping at Bunnings when he received the call from Viking inviting him to take on the role.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t usually cry in the aisles of Bunnings, but it brought a tear to my eye\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n Londregan said he felt a responsibility to acknowledge the advisors whose passion had helped strengthen the relationship between Viking and Virtuoso.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m here because of the incredible work that hundreds of our travel advisors do in supporting this wonderful product, and I appreciate this honour on their behalf,\u201d he said during the ceremony.<\/p>\n Galloway, Flight Centre Travel Group\u2019s global managing director of Luxury and Independent, said the invitation and appointment was similarly meaningful.<\/p>\n \u201cYou realise you\u2019re there because a lot of advisors do a lot of hard work to create this wave you get to ride,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n For Galloway and Londregan, the godparent roles are about the people and partnerships behind them. Both used the occasion to recognise the travel advisors who champion Viking with their clients. Both acknowledged that the appointments underline the cruise line\u2019s recognition that its relationship with the trade is central to connecting travellers with its experiences.<\/p>\n Viking\u2019s president and CEO, Leah Talactac, reinforced the importance of its travel trade relationships.<\/p>\n \u201cThe travel agent community is a strong partner for us, you\u2019ve been our partners for the 30 years we\u2019ve been in business, and we\u2019re looking forward to doing even more business in the next 30 years or more.\u201d<\/p>\n In placing travel trade leaders at the centre of the ceremony, Viking made a point of recognising the people who help turn guests\u2019 travel fantasies into a reality. Moments before naming her ship, Galloway said \u201cShips don\u2019t just carry people, ships carry dreams, and today she (the Viking Sjofn) has made my dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n The seven ships will add capacity across Viking\u2019s European and Egyptian river itineraries. Viking Rota<\/em>, Viking Haki<\/em>, Viking Halogi<\/em> and Viking<\/em> Sjofn<\/em> will sail the Rhine, Main and Danube; Viking Fjolvar<\/em> will operate on the Seine; and Viking Ptah<\/em> and Viking Sekhmet<\/em> will join the company\u2019s Nile fleet.<\/p>\n With the seven additions, Viking\u2019s fleet numbers more than 100 river, ocean, and expedition ships.<\/p>\n But the ceremony\u2019s message extended well beyond fleet growth, it was a show of gratitude to the advisors whose expertise, personal relationships, and belief in the Viking product have helped turn travellers\u2019 dreams into unforgettable journeys, and Australian partners are an important part of that story.<\/p>\n kabarsula SLOT <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Viking has officially named seven new river ships in a ceremony spanning four countries, with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kabarsula"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Torstein](\"https:\/\/travelweekly.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Viking-naming-ceremony-2026-scaled.jpg\"\/)
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