Viking Opens Bookings for 2027-2028 Ocean and Expedition Voyages
- Aug 5
- 3 min read
If there’s one thing the Vikings of old loved, it was setting off into the unknown and coming back with a good story to tell. Modern Viking Cruises, to their credit, seem to have kept this tradition alive—minus the raiding and pillaging, of course, which is probably for the best when you’re trying to maintain five-star ratings on TripAdvisor.

The company has just announced that its 2027–2028 voyages are now open for booking, which means that if you’ve ever dreamed of sailing around the planet like an extremely well-fed explorer, now’s your chance. They’re offering journeys on all seven continents, because apparently there’s nowhere left on Earth that Viking doesn’t intend to glide into with a ship full of delighted passengers sipping complimentary wine.
The news comes with a few enticing extras. For one, there’s the Viking Lyra, a shiny new ocean ship joining the fleet in 2028, which will spend her inaugural season strutting her stuff around the Mediterranean and Scandinavia. There’s also a brand-new itinerary called Into the Antarctic Circle, which lets you cross the mysterious 66°33′ line of latitude. This is the sort of thing that makes polar explorers go misty-eyed and, if you’re lucky, makes you feel like Shackleton—only warmer, drier, and with far better dinner options.
As Torstein Hagen, the Viking head honcho, explains, their guests “like to connect with destinations in a meaningful way,” which is a polite way of saying these are trips for people who want more than just to take a selfie and dash back to the buffet. Viking, true to form, has designed ships that are small, sleek, and blissfully veranda-heavy, perfect for watching icebergs float by while you contemplate how long you’d last in a kayak .
The upcoming itineraries read like a bucket list written by someone who couldn’t decide which dream to chase, so they just chose all of them:
Into the Antarctic Circle: Fifteen days of penguins, Zodiacs, and icy wonder. You’ll cross into a world so pristine it makes your average national park look like a strip mall, and you’ll do science with actual scientists—because why not?
South America & the Chilean Fjords: Tango in Buenos Aires, count penguins in Port Stanley (over a million of them, so bring extra memory cards), and sail through channels where mountains tumble into the sea as if trying to get a better look at your ship.
Viking Homelands: Scandinavia and the Baltic in 15 days, with overnights in cities so picturesque you’ll wonder why IKEA doesn’t just turn them into showrooms.
Australia & New Zealand: From penal colonies to Maori dances, this voyage covers everything from Victorian gardens to didgeridoos.
British Isles Explorer: Dramatic cliffs, Scottish islands, Beatles lore, Welsh mountains—basically, every landscape Britain has ever bragged about.
Great Lakes Collection: A voyage through North America’s inland seas, complete with Niagara Falls, boreal forests, and locks that make you marvel at human engineering (while quietly hoping the gates hold).
Far Eastern Horizons: Fifteen days in Asia, weaving through Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan, with overnight stays so you can truly linger in places that deserve it.
Into the Northwest Passage: Rugged Arctic landscapes, Inuit traditions, and glaciers that will make you believe in the word “majestic.”
Alaska & the Inside Passage: Gold panning, Tlingit culture, and fjords so misty you half expect to see a dragon.
Classic Panama Canal Passage: Cozumel, Mayan ruins, Costa Rican rainforests, and the engineering marvel that is the Panama Canal, which still boggles the mind over a century later.
Empires of the Mediterranean: Ten days, nine destinations, and enough ancient ruins to make your history teacher weep with joy.
Iceland’s Natural Beauty: Eight days of waterfalls, puffins, and landscapes so otherworldly they’ll make you wonder if someone left the special effects machine on.
Iconic Western Mediterranean: From Barcelona to Rome, with stops in France and Monaco, this is eight days of art, architecture, and pretending you belong on a yacht.
Every ship is designed to make you feel like an explorer, albeit one with a spa appointment and a glass of chardonnay waiting. You’ll find small-group excursions, meaningful cultural experiences, and yes, those glorious moments when you stand at the railing, stare at a fjord, and think, This is the sort of thing people write books about.
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