PHOTO: The Carnival Vista under construction at Fincantieri's Monfalcone shipyard in Italy. (Courtesy of Fincantieri)
Two major new cruise ships entering service next year reached major construction milestones at Fincantieri shipyards in Italy on June 25.
Carnival Cruise Line's new flagship, the 133,500-ton, 4,000-passenger Carnival Vista, was launched at the Monfalcone shipyard and Viking Ocean Cruises' 47,800-ton, 930-guest Viking Sea reached the same milestone in Ancona.
Coin ceremonies were held to mark the completion of exterior work and the start of interior fitting. The two ships are scheduled for delivery next spring. The Vista is set to debut in Europe on May 1, 2016.
It is a longstanding tradition to select a godmother - or "madrina" - to preside over the ceremony. Carnival, however, selected a "godchild" - 6-year-old Kye Heald, the daughter of the company's Senior Cruise Director and Brand Ambassador John Heald.
During the traditional coin ceremony, a silver dollar is welded on the last deck of the ship. This tradition dates back to the ancient Romans, who believed that attaching coins to a ship provided divine protection.
Carnival Vista will operate its inaugural season in Europe and then reposition to New York for a series of voyages in November 2016, followed by the launch of year-round Caribbean service from Miami later that month.
The Carnival Vista will offer a variety of innovations such as the first IMAX Theater on a cruise ship, a suspended cycling experience called SkyRide, the line's first onboard brewery, and Carnival's first inner-tube slide, the 455-foot-long Kaleid-o-Slide.
Carnival also released a new video that shows the construction progress on Carnival Vista:
Meanwhile, at the ceremony for Viking's second ocean ship, godmother honors were handled by Karine Hagen, daughter of Viking CEO Torstein Hagen. Fincantieri also is building the Viking Sky, the third ship for Viking, which scheduled for delivery in early 2017.
PHOTO: Viking Ocean Cruises' Viking Sea under construction in Italy. (courtesy Fincantieri)
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