VIVA Cruises joins CLIA

European river cruise specialist, VIVA Cruises, has been confirmed as a River Cruise Operator of Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) in Europe. The partnership will enhance VIVA Cruises’ brand awareness across the industry, bringing them into CLIA’s wider community of cruise lines, travel agents and executive partners.

VIVA Cruises was founded in 2018 as the first in-house tour operator of Swiss shipping company, Scylla AG. Since then, it has grown rapidly and now boasts an eight-ship fleet sailing on major European rivers, including VIVA ONE and VIVA TWO – their two very own build ships; with the third one, VIVA ENJOY, launching in September 2024.

By joining CLIA, VIVA Cruises will benefit from CLIA’s extensive travel agent network across the UK and Ireland, and a focused set of events and resources on river cruising. This includes webinars, podcasts, online resources and flagship events such as CLIA Conference in May and CLIA’s RiverView Conference, which next year will be in Amsterdam.

Andy Harmer, CLIA UK & Ireland director, said: “We’re thrilled to welcome VIVA Cruises to CLIA, and look forward to supporting them as they develop relationships with the trade across Europe. River cruise’s popularity continues to grow apace, so this is the perfect time for VIVA Cruises to further support agent know-how of their brand.”

Andrea Kruse, COO of VIVA Cruises, said: “There is no better time to join CLIA than now, when VIVA Cruises is celebrating its fifth anniversary. VIVA Cruises has a truly differentiated product for the European traveller, offering pleasant all-inclusive cruises to some of Europe’s most popular destinations – with a laid-back atmosphere and high-quality food and wine. Our main objective for the coming months is focused on the trade: we want more tour operators to feature and sell our products to consumers; so joining CLIA was a natural step for us.”