A little more than a month after christening its first ship, Viking Ocean Cruises celebrated a major construction milestone of its second ship — the 930-passenger Viking Sea — earlier this month when it was floated out of Fincantieri’s Ancona shipyard. A significant milestone, the floating out ceremony denotes a ship moving into its final stage of construction. Viking Sea is slated to launch in early 2016, while the company’s third ship on order, Viking Sky, is also under construction in Ancona and will debut in 2017.

“The day that a new ship first touches water is always a special day, and today is indeed a proud one for our Viking family,” said Torstein Hagen, founder and chairman, Viking Cruises. “Having just celebrated the launch of our first ocean cruise ship, we are pleased at the positive reviews she is receiving from our guests and travel industry partners. We have no doubt that her sister ship, Viking Sea, will be met with the same reception upon her debut next spring.”

All three ships will sail popular routes in Scandinavia and the Baltic as well as the Western and Eastern Mediterranean.