Lets talk about these Virgin ladies…

So the news in the cruise world this week is that the newly announced Virgin Cruises, or Virgin Voyages today held their first ever steel cutting ceremony for their as yet unnamed first cruise ship being built in Genoa.

I saw last year that Richard Branson announced he and his company will be moving into the world of cruising, with their first ship arriving in 2020, starting to offer 7 night round trip Caribbean Cruises from Miami.  And it appears Richard is confident in his offering that there are another two ships on order to be delivered in 2021 and 2022.

We have been given little information on the ships, other than they will each be 110,000 tonnes and will carry 2860 passengers a piece and they are supposedly here to shake up the cruising game.  So these Virgin ladies will be big girls.

I’m not sure how I am feeling about Virgin Voyages as of yet.  I know a lot of what Virgin have offered travel in the past, with Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Holidays has been synonymous with quality in travel since they have arrived, but is there really room for another large cruise company offering 7 night Caribbean?

Yes cruising is a growing industry, I see that by the amount of new cruise ships being built every year (did I mention I am sailing on the new Majestic Princess next week so look out for that!), but Royal Caribbean kind of have the 7 night Miami Caribbean itineraries monopolised.  Are these itineraries going to be exciting enough for a new cruise line to stand out in the crowd, after all there is only so far you can sail from Miami in 7 days and this is going to be very similar if not identical to what is on offer already.  The difference being the cruise ships doing a lot of this are already established, such as the Oasis Class and the Quantum class.

Would it not be better for Virgin Voyages to offer something else that no one else is doing, or where the competition isn’t as established?  Cruises around Asia for instance.  Asian cruises are fast becoming the next big thing, where demand far far exceeds capacity.  But then who am I to question?

Richard, you’re going to have to have something pretty special up your sleeve to stand out there.  But I shall wait and see, in 12 – 18 months’ time when more details are released, I could be eating my words.