Viking Kari: 193 departures, the second-fullest calendar in our whole Viking fleet
Measured on 25 August 2026: 101 departures from Paris to Avignon and 82 sailing return from Paris, out of 193 in total. Only Viking Heimdal, on the Rhône, offers more, with 206.
The Seine, and what Normandy holds
The river runs down from Paris to Rouen and Honfleur through a Normandy carrying two memories laid over one another. Viking Forseti serves the other great French route, the Garonne, with 78 departures.
The first is painting. Monet set up his studio at Giverny in 1883 and spent forty-three years there painting the same pond. He also painted Rouen cathedral some thirty times between 1892 and 1894, at every hour of the day, to show that the subject matters less than the light falling on it. That is, literally, where the modern way of seeing was born.
The second is 6 June 1944. The landing beaches lie an hour by road from several calls, and most itineraries offer the excursion. Juno Beach was the Canadian sector: 14,000 men landed there that day, 359 died. The Juno Beach Centre at Courseulles-sur-Mer is the only Canadian museum on the landing beaches, opened in 2003 through a campaign led by veterans.
For a Quebec traveller this is not a call like any other. Le Régiment de la Chaudière, a French-speaking unit from Quebec, landed at Juno that morning.
The Paris-Avignon route
One hundred and one departures carry that name, and it is worth being clear about what it covers. The Seine and the Rhône belong to two basins that do not connect for a ship this size: the trip combines two segments with an overland move between them. Have its exact composition confirmed in writing before booking.
The hull: Seine class, 168 berths
She is not a Longship. The Seine ships measure 125 metres, carry 168 guests and 46 crew, and hold 84 staterooms. Twenty-two berths fewer than a Longship, on a shorter hull, because the locks and bridges of the Seine impose different limits from the Rhine's.
One crew member for every 3.65 guests: that is this class's ratio, and it does not hold across the whole river fleet. On Viking's Nile ships it falls to 1.71.
Viking Fjorgyn is her sister ship, with 158 departures. On the Rhône, Viking Heimdal offers 206.
Kári, the wind
Kári is the personified wind, son of the giant Fornjótr and brother to Logi, fire, and Ægir, the sea. Three brothers for three elements, in a genealogy belonging not to the main pantheon but to older northern traditions.
Getting there from Montreal
Paris is served by direct flights from Montreal, several times a day and on several carriers. It is the simplest embarkation point in Viking's entire river fleet, without exception.
Booking from Quebec
From a Quebec address, Viking's reservations site does not answer: it redirects to a page inviting travellers to contact an agent. On this line the agency is not a convenience, it is the route. You can check that yourself in thirty seconds.
Our Viking River Cruises advisors confirm in writing the exact fare, what is included, what is not, and the applicable conditions before any booking, in line with Quebec consumer protection rules and participation in the compensation fund for travel agency customers.
