Two new Viking ships dedicated to Nile River cruising were named in a ceremony at Viking’s exclusive dock at the archaeological site of Luxor.
The Viking Hathor was named for an ancient Egyptian goddess associated with motherhood. The Viking Sobek was name for a crocodile god.
The ships have identical specifications to the Viking Aton and the Viking Osiris, which are already sailing the Nile.
Viking chairman Torstein Hagen praised the ships and said, “As our award-winning fleet on the Nile continues to grow, we look forward to introducing even more curious travelers to this phenomenal destination.”
The 82-passenger ships are the fifth and sixth to be put in service on the Nile, where Viking has plans for a 10-ship fleet.
Two dignitaries served as ceremonial godfathers. Edward Herbert, who named the Viking Hathor, is the great-great-grandson of the 5th Earl of Carnarvon, who financed the expedition that discovered the tomb of King Tut in Luxor in 1922.
Mohamed El Banna, who named the Viking Sobek, is a member of the Egyptian Senate and the founder of Cosmos Egypt, a Cairo-based tour operator and the country’s oldest destination management company.
The two ships will be deployed on Viking’s 12-day Pharaohs & Pyramids itinerary, which begins with a three-night stay at a hotel in Cairo, where guests can visit the Great Pyramids of Giza, the necropolis of Sakkara, the Mosque of Muhammad Ali or the Grand Egyptian Museum.
Guests then fly to Luxor, where they visit the Temples of Luxor and Karnak before boarding a Viking ship for an eight-day roundtrip cruise on the Nile.
