By Bruce Karnick

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Over the weekend, Hastings residents were treated to the sight of a brand new river cruise ship making its way on the Mississippi River to St. Paul. This ship, the Viking Mississippi, will be used for the trip from St. Paul to New Orleans. Passengers can choose from a variety of ports to join the trip, and the trip is run in both directions.

The ship was built in Louisiana by Viking River Cruises and is a topoftheline luxury cruise ship built to hold 386 guests. 148 crew members ensure guests have an amazing experience. The ship is 450feet long and 75feet wide and has a draft of approximately nine feet.

According to the company’s website, vikingrivercrusies.com, “Hosting 386 guests in 193 all outside staterooms, the new stateoftheart Viking Mississippi is inspired by our awardwinning Viking Longships and ocean ships and will feature clean Scandinavian design, as well as public spaces that are familiar to guests but that have been reimagined for Mississippi River voyages. Purposebuilt for the Mississippi, the ship’s cuttingedge design, expansive windows and comfortable amenities will make it the first truly modern cruise ship in the region.”

The website also lists several different cruise options: Memphis to New Orleans, St. Paul to New Orleans, an 8day round trip from New Orleans to New Orleans and St. Louis to St. Paul. The prices vary from $3,999 to $12,999 for the trips and each trip has several options for booking dates.

With the variety of cruise options and dates, Hastings can expect to see this ship back many times in the future. For those that would like to be able to track that ship along with any other ship on the river, get the app called “Marine Traffic” for your mobile device. The app is easy to use and allows the user to save ships for future viewing.