Bonnie Carroll's Life Bites - Travel Adventures

Viking Celebrates 100 Ships Around the World with Ceremony Naming Nine Newest River Ships Across Six Countries

Viking® announced the naming of its nine newest river ships—including the company’s 100^th ship—during a simultaneous ceremony in Basel, Switzerland. Of the nine new river ships, the Viking Annar, the Viking Dagur, the Viking Eldir and the Viking Honir will sail Viking’s most popular itineraries along the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers. The Viking Nerthus, the Viking Gyda and the Viking Tonle sail the Seine, Douro and Mekong rivers, respectively. The two other new ships named today—the Viking Thoth and the Viking Amun—sail the Nile River. The ceremony also marked a major milestone—Viking now has more than 100 ships across its award-winning river, ocean and expedition fleet, more than any other cruise line. This achievement reflects the company’s history of industry-leading innovations.

Viking Chairman, CEO Torstein Hagan & Daughter Karine Hagan, Viking Executive VP proudly welcome guests in Basil for the 100 Viking Ships Around the World Ceremony with Naming of Nine New Ships.

“Today we are proud to name our newest river ships and to honor the nine distinguished members of our extended Viking family serving as their godparents,” said Torstein Hagen, Chairman and CEO of Viking. “We have always been quite a bit different from others in the travel industry—we like to be contrarian. Over the last 28 years, we have grown from four ships to more than 100—a fleet size that no other line has achieved—and we have done so because of our innovative approach. First, we modernized river voyages; then we reinvented ocean voyages and perfected the expedition experience. We look forward to continuing our leadership in experiential travel in the years to come.”

Chairman, CEO Torstein Hagan (Center) and Viking Distinguished Guests Celebrating 100 Ships Aroung the World & Naming of Nine Ships Celebration

For thousands of years, it has been an ancient maritime tradition for each new ship to have a ceremonial godmother. Viking has adapted this custom and, for its ships in Egypt, extended it to include godfathers. Viking’s tradition is to appoint individuals who have made an impact—either in the world, or in the life of Viking. For its nine newest river ships, the company invited colleagues and partners in the extended Viking family to serve as godparents, including:

Viking Chairman & CEO Torstein Hagan welcomes Guests on the Viking Honir in Basel, Switzerland.

The naming ceremony took place in Basel on board the Viking Honir and was connected virtually to the eight other new ships, which were located across five other countries around the world. The Viking Nerthus was in Paris, France; the Viking Dagur, the Viking Eldir and the Viking Annar were in Rostock, Germany; the Viking Gyda was in Porto, Portugal; the Viking Tonle was in Mỹ Tho, Vietnam; and the Viking Thoth and the Viking Amun were in Luxor, Egypt.

Guests at the naming event enjoyed performances by Sissel Kyrkjebø, one of the world’s leading crossover sopranos and godmother of the Viking Jupiter®; Norwegian violinist Tor Jaran Apold; the Viennese Residence Orchestra; and a Basel girls’ choir.

The naming of Viking’s newest river ships follows a string of recent accolades for the company. Viking was rated #1 for Oceans and #1 for Rivers by Condé Nast Traveler for the fifth year in a row in the 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards. Viking is also rated a “World’s Best” by Travel + Leisure—no other travel company has simultaneously received such honors by both publications. Viking was also recognized in U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 Best Cruise Lines rankings as Best Luxury Line, Best Line for Couples and Best Line in the Mediterranean for the fourth consecutive year. Viking’s ocean ships continue to be rated and “Recommended” as part of the Forbes Travel Guide Star Awards, an annual independent evaluation for luxury travel brands. Additionally, Viking received seven awards across its ocean, river and expedition categories in the Cruise Critic 2024 Best in Cruise Awards.

Viking (NYSE: VIK) is a global leader in experiential travel with a fleet of more than 100 ships, exploring 21 rivers, five oceans and all seven continents. Designed for curious travelers with interests in science, history, culture and cuisine, Chairman and CEO Torstein Hagen often says Viking offers experiences For The Thinking Person™. Viking has more than 450 awards to its name, including being rated #1 for Rivers and #1 for Oceans five years in a row by Condé Nast Traveler in the 2025 Readers’ Choice Awards. Viking is also rated a “World’s Best” by Travel + Leisure—no other travel company has simultaneously received such honors by both publications. For additional information, contact Viking at 1-800-2-VIKING (1-800-284-5464) or visit www.viking.com.

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Ordinarily, I am traveling from my home airport SBA to LAX to connect to another flight taking me to far away places, but this week I experienced for the first time a direct round trip flight to Portland, one of the new destinations added to the Alaska Airlines direct flight list.

It was very dark in the morning when I arrived at SBA, but inside I found happy Alaska Airlines employees who took care of everything and made me feel so confident it would be an amazing flight. The check-in/security process was seamless, I had time for a coffee and great pastry, checked my messages and quick as a wink it was time to board.

A charming young guy pushed me up the ramp for boarding with my two small take-on’s and carried them to my seat for storage above and below my feet. Bam, everyone was boarded and we were on our way in the dark toward Oregon. The flight was very smooth, with coffee and delicious little biscuits to enjoy with our own reading materials. Our arrival in Portland, Oregon was smooth as glass, I was helped with my bags and really hated to leave all these adorable up-beat employees!

The return flight from Portland Airport, which is gorgeous with beautiful live trees everywhere, went just as smoothly. I was the only person flying who had an empty seat next to them and so enjoyed it!

Congratulations Alaska Airlines, who are adding new direct flights from Santa Barbara Airport often now, and it is making us all so happy to know we do not have to go to LAX, the hated destination to make so many of our trips to date! Thank you for your great employees who make all the wheels turn for your customers, like me! Can hardly wait to do it with you again.

Amtrak's pride and joy, this 52-hour journey may be the country's best rail trip, thanks to a combination of timing and scenery, with daytime travel through the Colorado Rockies and California's Sierra Nevada Mountains. The westward trip leaves Chicago in the evening, and passengers awake in the morning just east of Denver. And that's when the thrills start, with the route winding through deep canyons inaccessible to cars, through the red rock country of Utah; by Reno, Nevada; and finally rolling in to the Bay Area near the Golden Gate Bridge.

Price: Fares vary by season and time of booking. Expect prices to start at about $470 for a single roomette, $690 for a double, with meals included; and coach seats to start at about $140, meals not included; senior discounts aren’t available on the lowest-priced coach-seat fares.

Perfect your craft.

Academy is the only program at the Porsche Experience Center where you will experience such a wide range of Porsche models. We tailor your sessions to focus on specific driving goals, building upon your skill set with each vehicle, and culminating with our most powerful Porsche models.

Choose between several programs aimed at advancing driver development on and off the track

Scheduling of sessions, is based on track availability. Sessions 1 – 3 are available from Tuesday through Saturday. Session 4 is available from Tuesday through Friday. Each session time break down is below:

Session 1 & 2 – 2hrs (90 Minutes of driving)
Session 3 – 2.5hrs (90 Minutes of driving)
Session 4 – 4hrs (2.5 hours of driving)