Viking River Cruises is the shipping company with the most river cruise ships in Europe. More than 60 ships from the Viking Longship Class sail on the Rhine, the Danube and many other European rivers. The Viking Mississippi started operating on the river of the same name a few weeks ago. For this, Viking River Cruises has developed a new ship class and founded a subsidiary to operate the ships.
The Mississippi river cruise ships are being built by the Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) shipyard in Lousianna and can accommodate a maximum of 386 passengers. Thus, the Viking Mississippi is similar in size to the new Viking expedition cruise ships on the Great Lakes of North America. She is 114 meters long, 11 meters wide and 5 decks high. In terms of height and number of passengers, the ship towers above all European river cruise ships. Viking Mississippi is the first of six planned new ships for Viking River Cruises in the United States. All ships fly the American flag and still belong to the shipyard. The shipping company has chartered the river cruise ships and operates them with its subsidiary Viking USA.
The routes on the second longest river in North America lead both to the north and to the south of the USA. They begin in New Orleans, Louisiana, Memphis, Tennessee, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and St. Louis, Missouri. With the new river cruises in the USA, Viking is competing with other established shipping companies there. American Cruise Lines and American Queen Voyages have been sailing there for years. Viking Cruises caters to English-speaking audiences with its river cruise ships and deep sea fleet. The shipping company does not sell any cruises in Germany.