Viking – The Thinking Person’s Cruise

• Mon Jul 30 2012 - The Hamilton Spectator

By Kenneth Bagnell

In a lifetime of journalism I’ve interviewed a lot of CEOs. None were as candid as Torstein Hagen, head of flourishing Viking River Cruises.

I interviewed him recently — on the future of river cruising — while he was in Amsterdam, meeting with his senior executives. Hagen, it turned out, is a vivid example of an adage: “It’s not how many times you’re knocked down that count, it’s how many times you get back up.”

Consider his candour recalling a class reunion at the university from which he earned his MBA: “They introduced me as the class member who had lost the most money.”

Born in Norway, trained first in physics, then turning to business, Hagen doesn’t hesitate to admit he’s had setbacks.

“I’ve made millions,” he said, “and lost millions.”

Once, back in the 1990s, he was actually broke: “I lost everything I had. Everything.” He got back up, invested in the market, made a comeback and, in the late 1990s, had enough resources to acquire a few Russian cruise ships. He named his fleet Viking. It was a historic turn not just in his life but before long, in the entire cruising world.

Today Viking has almost 30 ships and is in the process of adding more. The company, with 1,800 people, takes environmentalism seriously: organic herb gardens on the sun deck, solar panels along with quiet hybrid engines that are energy efficient.

Hagen was the right man in the right place at the right time. As Douglas Ward, recognized guru of the cruise industry (he’s head of an agency rating cruise ships) recently said: “I invite you to pay attention to the details that Torstein Hagen and his team of professionals are providing for their guests … it’s where the industry is headed.”

River cruising is moving from being a modest segment of travel to being a huge presence. About a million and a half people yearly take river cruises, making it the fastest growing segment of the industry.

I asked Hagen why this was so. “River cruising,” he said, “ is mainly for people who are becoming a major part of the population: about my age, people who worked hard, saved their money, aren’t super rich but comfortable.

“Rather than inactivity, they explore, to learn. Here in Europe, for example, with all the wonderful history along many rivers … And they travel with people they like to travel with. I’ve always said river cruising is not a drinking person’s cruise, but a thinking person’s cruise.”

Viking, and other river cruising firms, don’t compete with ocean liners. No playrooms, no casinos, no pools, and, given its nature, no child passengers.

“We try to be most efficient with space on board our ships,” says Hagen. “I mean, for example, we don’t use our space for pools or large gymnasiums, massage clinics or gambling casinos.

“For us to take a cabin or two and make a massage room, well, why should we? There’s a better use for it as a cabin. River cruising is not for the mass population. It’s for people who worked hard, are well educated, well read, interested in learning more of the world.”

Hence Viking riverships, thus far, usually carry about 200 passengers, thereby reflecting the atmosphere of small inns afloat.

With this rapid growth in popularity, improvements are quick to follow. The riverships are becoming more sophisticated and comfortable in design.

Viking recently launched six new “Longships,” with six more being built for next year and in all probability, six more in 2014. Each is 443 feet long, with 95 cabins, 75 percent of which have balconies or verandas. Many cabins will be staterooms and corridors will be more spacious.

“We want,” says Hagen, “to give our guests a choice — something for every type of passenger, every pocketbook, so they can create their cruise of a lifetime.” (The new Longships, it now appears, will be cruising this coming season on The Rhine, The Main and Danube rivers.) When asked if Viking will one day have river cruises in North America, he pauses reflectively and says: “Maybe.”

The fact is the cultural and architectural history of North America, doesn’t rise along our waterways, to the degree it does along European rivers where Viking sails: the Rhine, the Danube, the Douro, the Elbe, the Volga and several more. European civilization grew along these waterways, so cruising them takes us past medieval towns, fabled castles, all surrounded by ancient forests or cascading hills.

Moreover, Viking has reached out to cruise some of the world’s other history-lined waterways: China’s fabled Yangtze River. Another is over the Mekong River, from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, yet another over Egypt’s Nile including a sail across Lake Nasser and a tour of the Pyramids.

When I read what Douglas Ward, the reigning expert on cruising had to say about him as a leader, I recalled something Hagen said as we parted, something that applies not only to cruising but to life:

“We come into this world with nothing, and we leave this world with nothing. It’s what we do in between that really counts.” Hagen’s life is proof.

Special to The Hamilton Spectator

For any information on Viking cruises, including rivers, prices and all other aspects go to: www.vikingcruises.com or phone 1-800-706-1483.