Nicole Edenedo
Viking is set to launch and name eight Longships from Paris on March 16, which will undoubtedly bring with it the kind of pomp and circumstance the company is known for.
At Port de Grenelle on the Seine, with the City of Light as its backdrop, Viking will unveil the eight new 168-passenger vessels during a large-scale naming ceremony. But in a twist, only four of the ships will physically be in Paris; the remaining four ships will be launched and named via satellite from Amsterdam.
The reason for two naming sites is simple, according to the line: Ships are named in the region in which they will sail. The four in Paris -- the Viking Fjorgyn, Viking Radgrid, Viking Skaga and Viking Kari -- were purpose-built for the Seine and will permanently sail there.
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The four launching from Amsterdam -- the Viking Gymir, Viking Egdir, Viking Hervor and Viking Gersemi -- offer a little more versatility as far as where they can sail. After the ceremony, they will embark for the Rhine, Main and Danube.
And about the names: they come from Norse mythology. Fjorgyn, for example, is the mother of the thunder god Thor and wife of Odin.
What sets a Viking naming event apart from other river cruise lines is the tradition of naming all of its new ships at once.
Ceremonies for Viking ships in different locations that are connected via satellite for the naming event are broadcast to guests in attendance simultaneously in each location. Each ship's designated godmother presides over their respective ships, and they recite the blessing meant to bring good luck to the vessel and to all of its future sailings: "May your passengers and crew always be safe, and may you always have a hands-worth of water beneath your keel."
After delivering the blessing, the godmother then presses a large, red button that releases a contraption that breaks a bottle of aquavit -- a Scandinavian spirit whose name, fittingly, derives from the Latin term aqua vitae, or "water of life" -- over the bow, rather than a bottle of Champagne that traditionally mark ship christenings. That's yet another twist that sets these Viking ceremonies apart.