Viking “Green Cruising”

Viking River Cruises recently unveiled the Viking Legend, a “green” ship with hybrid engines, and the newly refurbished Viking Kirov. “Viking Legend will be operating on 15-day cruises for our most popular European itinerary, the Grand European,” says Skip Muns, director of trade marketing at Viking. “This itinerary cruises from Amsterdam to Budapest along the Rhine, Main and Danube Rivers transiting the Rhine/Danube Canal, and visiting five countries with 14 guided tours included.”

To encourage bookings, Muns says, “there are quite a few offers agents can make. Along with the usual Early Booking Discount of up to $2,000 per couple, we are offering an additional ‘Ocean Cruisers’ discount. Agents can let us know when and on what ocean cruise line their clients sailed, and [we’ll] save them $1,000 per couple.” Muns adds that, according to Viking’s records, more than 90 percent of its repeat passengers rebook with their original travel agency. “We will continue to offer our past-guest incentives to make sure that agents benefit from this,” he says. Call 800-640-4899