Richard Riveire was a hotel designer with an impressive CV - Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, the Presidential Bungalows at The Beverly Hills Hotel - when Viking came calling. He'd never set foot on a cruise ship. Today, he's the man behind the interiors of 85 vessels across the line's river, ocean and expedition fleet, including the newly launched Viking Rota Longship.
Speaking to Karryon aboard the new ship, Riveire explained how he had to unlearn a decade of hotel thinking. In a hotel, you frame one fixed view and treat it like art. On a river or ocean ship, the view changes constantly, so Viking's interiors open outwards as much as possible - sheer curtains soften harsh light, but heavy drapes that block the window are rare. The philosophy is simple: the destination is the destination, and the ship is the conduit.
When Riveire pitched Viking founder Torstein Hagen, the fleet stood at 12 leased ships with no cohesive identity. His winning idea was the clinker bar - a bar shaped like the overlapping hull planks of a traditional Norwegian wooden boat. That single detail sold Hagen, and it now appears on every Viking ship afloat, even ones Riveire never touched. Since 2011 he has delivered 75 ships, with the design evolving through four generations: Longships, ocean vessels, expedition ships, and the 'exotics' on the Nile, Mekong and India's Brahmaputra.
Every ship follows the same five brand pillars: Nordic heritage, residential modernism, craft, nature and exploration. Nordic touches run deep - rosmaling folk art decoration, crew wearing the bunad national costume at naming ceremonies, and a woven fabric by Danish designer Hella Jongerius that Hagen personally selected for everything from restaurant chairs to walls.
The practical lessons of ship design surprised him too. Everything runs at 'seven-eighths scale' compared to hotels, materials must meet strict fire regulations, and because cruise guests unpack once, storage is engineered into every usable volume. The goal, he says, is a space that feels residential - a calm, low-noise base camp you return to after a day exploring, then head out again the next morning.
His godfather ship, the Viking Aton, launched on Egypt's Nile in 2023. And his top tip for anyone sailing? The worst part of a cruise is disembarking - so his secret is simply not to, extending his voyages back-to-back where he can.
For travellers weighing up Viking against other cruise lines, this design philosophy explains the product: a understated, Scandinavian-styled ship that deliberately stays out of the way of the scenery rather than competing with it.
