Viking’s 25th Anniversary

Viking celebrated its 25th anniversary on September 30th in Amsterdam.

To commemorate the milestone, for the first time ever, three classes of Viking ships—a river ship, an ocean ship, and the company’s newest expedition vessel, the Viking Polaris®—met in Amsterdam and sailed in a special convoy to IJmuiden, Netherlands. Participating in the convoy with the Viking Polaris were the Viking Longship®, the Viking Mani, and the ocean vessel, the Viking Mars®.

During the Amsterdam event, Viking also named the Viking Polaris and her identical sister ship, the Viking Octantis®, which is currently sailing her inaugural season in the Great Lakes. Both ships will spend the Austral summer in Antarctica before traveling north to the Great Lakes for a series of voyages during spring and summer.

“Today is historic for Viking—to celebrate our 25th anniversary, to have all classes of our ships sailing together for the first time, and to name our phenomenal new expedition vessels. We are very grateful to their godmothers, Liv Arnesen and Ann Bancroft, for honoring us. As renowned explorers who became the first women to ski across Antarctica, they are the perfect choice for ships that are designed for expeditions,” said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking. “I am very proud of what we have accomplished in our first 25 years. And in our view, we are just getting started. Where do we go next? Onwards.”

We HEART Viking

Viking’s special place in our hearts

If you know the story of our company, then you’ll recall that Carol and I began a luxury-oriented travel blog called The Roaming Boomers back in 2010.

We planned for decades that we would retire when I turned 50 and travel the world.  Remarkably, we pulled that off.  We sold our business in Michigan, moved to Arizona, and started living the dream.

However, in 2008, the stock market crash took half of our cash, and I was forced to tell my bride that we were no longer retired.

Those were difficult days.

It makes me chuckle when I look at the very first video we produced back in January 2010.  We had no roadmap to follow, and we had to reinvent ourselves every step along the way.

Eventually, as we were one of the few baby boomer travel blogs on the planet, Viking found us, flew us to Europe, and put us on one of their newly designed Viking Longships.

It was love at first sight.

In January 2014, our luxury travel blog morphed into Roaming Boomers Travel Services, and we were off to the races.

We Owe a Great Deal of Our Success to Viking

If you fast-forward to today, we have become one of the nation’s top-producing travel advisors.  And we owe a great deal of our success to Viking.

They took a chance on us back in 2012, and today we have grown to become Viking’s #1 producing advisors in the 26,000-person Virtuoso Travel Network, and we’re the #2 booking advisors for Viking in the world.  It blows my mind every time I type those words.

To Torstein Hagen (Owner of Viking), Michele Saegesser (Vice President of Sales & National Accounts), and Sandra Marshall (Director, Field Sales), Carol and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts. 

We caught your vision early on and are proud to be a small part of the Viking success story.

And we look forward to your “onward movement” as you begin to build your place in the expedition cruise space and on the Mississippi River.

Thank you, Viking.  You were a big part of taking us out of a difficult situation in 2010 and allowing us to experience our own exponential growth alongside you.

It looks like we are going to book well over $10 million in cruises this year.  And what a wonderful comeback indeed after those horrible Covid years.

Cheers, Viking.  And here’s to another 25 years of great success.

David & Carol Porter
The Roaming Boomers

How to Book a Viking Ocean, River, or Expedition Cruise

The first thing to know is that booking a Viking cruise with Roaming Boomers Travel Services is the same price as booking directly with Viking.

However, when you book with us, as we are the #2 booking agents for Viking in the world, you will enjoy our expert advice, service, and VIP perks.

In a short conversation with us, I promise that you will quickly understand the benefits of booking your fun Viking cruise with Roaming Boomers Travel Services.

For more information or to book a Viking cruise, please call Roaming Boomers Travel Services at (480) 550-1235 or use our convenient online information request (click here), and we’ll reach out to you.

Additional Reading:

• The Best Way to Book an Ocean or River Cruise

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Roaming Boomers Travel Services is an Independent Affiliate of Cadence, a Virtuoso® member. CST#201120-40