ABOARD THE VIKING MISSISSIPPI -- Days into my press trip on Viking's first U.S. river cruise ship, the Viking Mississippi, I noticed something different about being here versus on a European river cruise: There was something very familiar about the crew, from the cities and towns where they grew up to the things we chatted about.
The crew was entirely American, something I had never encountered on a river cruise, and that connection brought an instant sense of a shared experience.
Service on river and ocean cruise ships around the world is often lauded. But U.S. cruise providers, who must hire domestically, over the years have cited adjustment periods for its staff from the U.S., where working on cruise ships is still a relatively new career path.
On this sailing, no service issues were apparent to me. In fact, service onboard the Viking Mississippi, which launched in August 2022, didn't feel all that different than what I've experienced on river cruises in Europe: The crew was friendly, polite and accommodating and ready to provide knowledgeable answers to guest questions or quick to find someone who could if they didn't have the answer themselves.
The crew was also experienced. Everyone appeared to have worked in the hospitality industry, and for many this sailing was not their first rodeo on a cruise ship. Some of the staff had even worked on the now-defunct American Queen Voyages, whose mention typically prompted pleasant reactions of surprise before lamentations of what went wrong at the brand.
The lounge and pool area on the sun deck of the Viking Mississippi. Photo Credit: Nicole Edenedo
I met a guest services manager from Los Angeles, my hometown. She was from Compton, while I'm from the Valley, but both of us longed for the drier heat back home as we commiserated over the intensity of Midwestern humidity that defined much of our time on this upper Mississippi sailing.
Tyten, a waiter in the ship's main restaurant, hailed from Washington. He told me about the differences between crew lifestyles aboard the ocean ships he's worked on out of Florida and Hawaii, and his experience on Viking, his first river cruise ship. He said working on this ship was thankfully a little more relaxed than the hustle and bustle of an ocean ship, especially given the older, more laid-back clientele here.
And there was Martin from Lafayette, La., one of the motorcoach drivers traveling with us for the duration of the cruise. He quickly stood out for his comedic, no-nonsense approach to outlining the rules of his coach and the warning he had for new guests coming aboard: While he didn't discourage anyone from using the little bathroom at the back of the bus, he did caution that "whatever you do in there is with us until we get to St. Paul." Guests were happy to let him direct those in need of relief to the nearest restroom off the bus.
A sitting area in a deluxe veranda stateroom aboard the Viking Mississippi. Photo Credit: Nicole Edenedo
Service onboard the Viking Mississippi mirrored much of the kind of hospitality anyone might experience while traversing America's heartland or the South: casual but genuine, polite but not haughty, attentive but mindful of space.
An all-American crew may not be the norm in river cruising in general, which has a bigger market, history and presence in Europe, but it sure seemed like a selling point on this ship.
Putting the river in the ship
While the American crew gives the Viking Mississippi a unique feel compared to the line's ships in Europe, Viking fans will find that the vessel is exactly what they would expect from the Norwegian brand, from its signature Scandinavian themes and decor to what it calls an intuitive design layout.
But this is the Mississippi River, and Viking made sure that some of the interior design choices reflect that.
The wall of the main staircase, which extends from the Living Room on Deck 1 all the way to Deck 5, features huge renderings of excerpts from chapters in Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," complete with illustrations. That provided a sense of place for the ship and where it's sailing.
The same can be said of similar illustrations of maps of the lower Mississippi on the walls of other staircases throughout the ship.
An excerpt from Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is a decorative backsplash in the main stairwell. Photo Credit: Nicole Edenedo