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Viking's Willingness to Say No Has Paid Off

Luxury line has reaped the benefits of knowing what it wants to be
Posted Sep 6, 2025 6:00 AM CDT
Viking Cruises Thrives by Saying No
Viking cruise ship docked at the port in Iceland.   (Getty Images / oksanaphoto)

Viking Holdings has carved out a niche in the luxury cruise world by leaning into one word: no. No kids, no casinos, and you won't find a single cocktail festooned with a tiny umbrella. As the Wall Street Journal explains, "the company's strictness on what its vacations will and will not be"—there is actually a list—"helps keep ships full in the face of new competition in the river space," despite per-person nightly tickets costing $800 to $900; that's double the price of many mass-market ships.

Some of the no's turn out to be pluses: no additional charge for WiFi, self-service laundry, or beer and wine at meals, and there is little emphasis on upselling. Indeed, onboard spending makes up less than 7% of Viking's revenue, compared to about 30% for industry behemoths like Carnival and Royal Caribbean. And yet Viking's revenue per passenger—the Journal quotes an analyst as putting it $600—is as much as three times what the biggest cruise operators make.

Those aren't the only rosy stats: As of early August, 96% of Viking's main ocean and river cruises for 2025 were already sold out, with next year's bookings more than halfway full. The company reported nearly $1.9 billion in revenue for the second quarter, up 18.5% year-over-year. And Fortune last year reported that the 14.4% growth it logged from 2015 to 2023 was the biggest gain of any luxury river or ocean cruise over that time.

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The Journal explains one other key to Viking's success: It keeps its ship designs pretty simple and standard, with little more than art changing from ship to ship. That keeps older models from becoming dated as fresher ones come out, "so a 2012 ship will have the same revenue-generating ability as a 2025 ship," per the company's CFO.

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