As we celebrate the naming of the Viking Venus and the restart of operations after a long year of our entire fleet being in warm layup, we thought you might like to see the journey that a ship makes from initial design to maiden voyage. The beautiful sister ships of Viking are known around the globe for their innovation and authentic Norwegian character, and the new Viking Venus will be no different.
As I travel as Viking, I'm often asked how these ships come to be. As you might imagine, it is a team effort with literally hundreds of people working together to create the exact right experiences for our guests. The design process always begins with the planning and the organization of spaces—a sense of what story we want to tell in each space. We prefer a variety of spaces ranging from the small and personal to the large and communal.
Materials are, of course, vitally important. Around me, you can see some of the identifiable materials that you will see on board. We typically use a lighter colored wood, and our carpets tend to favor geometrics rather than fancy florals. Now, some of you may have wondered about the carpets in the living room. If you were to take all the furniture away and look at all the pieces together in this pattern, what you actually see is a pattern that's based on the archaeological drawings of a Viking ship from around 1100.
Fabrics throughout are typically from Scandinavian textile designers. We of course use terrazzo and wood flooring instead of Italian marbles and things like that. Our signature bar is wrapped in wood planks known as clinker, which is the technique for creating water-tight wooden ships. We like these little surprises that pop up when you're in a space for a while and put things together to get to something interesting. No detail is too small, and every decision is based on an overarching theme that really is the essence of Viking ships.
The fascinating process of bringing the new Viking Venus to life takes place in Italy, where all our ocean ships were born.
I'm Maxine Sparfo, I'm the hull inspector for Viking Ocean Cruises, and I followed steelworks during the construction. Today I'm going to show you how sheet metal gets turned into something that can float.
When sheet metal arrives in the yard, it arrives flat and square. Unfortunately, the ship is not all flat and square, so it comes here into the prefabrication workshop where it gets cut and shaped. Then it gets welded together to create sub-blocks. Once the sub-blocks get delivered, we then make them into blocks, which is just a bigger block.
Then the blocks become sections. Behind me, you have evidence of this: you have blocks on one side which are smaller, and then these blocks get tacked onto other blocks which then become a section. Once the section is completed, it gets picked up and it's placed in the dry dock on board.
The first section that enters the dry dock happens during the keel-laying ceremony. Once that first section is put in, other sections have to be welded to it. Here is one such joint. During the entire process from sub-block to block to section, we're always performing inspections to make sure that the construction is being erected correctly. However, once it becomes a section, we can ask for more tests. One such test is an X-ray; you can ask for an X-ray to make sure that this joint and this joint were joined correctly.
As the first phase of construction neared completion for Viking Venus, it was time to choose a godmother for this remarkable vessel. The overwhelming choice was Viking's TV's Ann Diamond, an extraordinary individual and a real treasure who introduced our audience to fascinating people and astounding places all over the world. She helped Viking in so many ways during the challenging days of 2020, and it was an absolute pleasure to give her the news along with the captain of Viking Venus.
So, I just want to give you one very big thank you for all of us. And then I thought I'd hand you over to the man in charge. This is the man in charge.
Yes, you should have received a box. Yes, it says I can only do what the man in charge says.
But, Captain, sir, you are the man in charge.
I am. So, I'm talking to you from my home in Norway, just north of Bergen. I've been so lucky that I've been bringing up a lot of the Viking ships from the yard. The only one I haven't been on when she left the yard was the Orion. Oh, yes. So, I live in Norway. And I've been given the pleasure today to ask you this question. And you have a box there, so if you please could open the box and the card.
Yeah, that's good for Christmas, yes. I've never tasted aquavit! Oh, you even like that one? It's a particular bottle of Aquavit. Am I allowed to open this? Oh, I love Christmas! Is my bottle... I remember with half of it after three shots. You started... this is not a gift, this is a question, remember. Oh, it's a gift and a question. Oh, a beautiful box! I love the books. Can you see me? Can you... am I... yes? Well, yeah, good. It's a ship! I said to Connor, my son, I bet it's a longboat. A Viking longboat! Oh, it's an ocean... it's an ocean ship. Yeah, and it's quite long. It is long. Which... congratulations! Oh, that's... you should open the card too, shouldn't she? Yeah, you have to open the card. That's beautiful. Thank you so much. Viking traditional dress! This Thursday we have a question for you, but no question... well, I will ask you the question.
And we would like to ask you if you would do us the honor to be the godmother of the Viking Venus in April.
Oh, gosh! Oh, I think of a more brilliant thing. We would love to have you there, too, and you're already such an important part of the Viking family, but that really makes you a very key member of the family.
I would absolutely love to. It's... how could he be... that is just wonderful. Like, Karine, that is wonderful. Thank you, that's a great honor you would bestow upon... we could think of no person this entire year to be more worthy of being a godmother than you. You've done more than any single human being, I think, for all of us. So thank you so much.
Thank you so much. That is so beautiful, that means so much to me. And who would have thought nine months ago, I just happened to ring you and say is there anything I could do? I know, and you were there like that in an instant.
With the godmother chosen, the next step was the float out. While our godmother normally attends, in 2020 it just wasn't possible. Nevertheless, the event continued.
We are all here today ready to give life to our new baby, Venus. It is really thanks to the extraordinary man with incredible stamina and tireless... who is the founder and chairman of Viking Cruises.
