First Virgin Voyages Cruise Ship:  Adults only

Interesting!  Didn't know that Mr. Branson was interested in cruise ship traveling.  Don't think there are any ships out there now that are adult only?  I could be wrong?

On 5/17/2018 at 7:13 PM, Jason said:

Virgin Voyages has a message for parents thinking of booking one of its first sailings: Leave the kids at home. 

The first ship in development for the start-up cruise line will be for adults only, president and CEO Tom McAlpin revealed Tuesday during an event at the shipyard in Italy that is building it. 

Appearing alongside Virgin Group founder Richard Branson at the Fincantieri shipyard in Genoa, Italy, McAlpin said the minimum age to sail on the 2,860-passenger vessel will be 18 — a cut-off he said was influenced by feedback from the public and travel sellers. 

McAlpin said 86% of the cabins on the ship will have balconies, which he's calling sea terraces.

Virgin's first vessel is scheduled to debut in 2020 with two more arriving in 2021 and 2022.

Tuesday's event was an official keel laying ceremony for the first Virgin vessel, which has yet to be named. With typical Branson flair, both he and McAlpin arrived for the ceremony via a 200-foot crane drop. They were joined by Fincantieri’s Alberto Maestrini and Bain Capital chairman Stephen Pagliuca to weld ceremonial coins into the keel. 

Virgin Voyages is a venture between Virgin Group and Bain Capital.

Keel laying ceremonies are a shipbuilding tradition that date back hundreds of years. They signify the official start of construction of a seagoing vessel.

“This is a very big day for Virgin Voyages, as an exciting new holiday option for travelers starts to get ship shape," Branson said at the event. "She will be the most recognizable ship sailing the seven seas.”

McAlpin and Branson unveiled an artist's drawing of the first Virgin ship's exterior. It showed a vessel with a silvery-grey hull, smoked glass and distinctive touches of Virgin red. 

Also unveiled was a mermaid design that will be at the bow of the ship. The company said the mermaid was inspired by figureheads on historic vessels and was designed by London-based artist Toby Tinsley, who also designed the feminine motif for Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceflight company. 

The three Virgin vessels will be known as the “Lady Ships”, a play on the term ‘your ladyship’ and a nod to Virgin’s British heritage, the company added. 

Virgin on Tuesday also said it was now taking $500 refundable deposits for access to an exclusive pre-sale booking period for the first ship.

Virgin has said its first ship will sail out of Miami but has yet to release itineraries.

By Gene Sloan, USA Today
Re-posted on CruiseCrazies.com - Cruise News, Articles, Forums, Packing List, Ship Tracker, and more
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Hooray, finally some cruise line woke up and saw the big picture.. Have to look into there booking and itinerary...

On 5/18/2018 at 10:08 PM, Shari2 said:

Interesting!  Didn't know that Mr. Branson was interested in cruise ship traveling.  Don't think there are any ships out there now that are adult only?  I could be wrong?

We are their, It's about time someone is thinking along the lines as we do!! Some cruise lines do offer Adults Cruises Only, but they are far and in between and hard to fine. We have been asking Princess for a All Adult Cruise for sometime now, Maybe the cruise lines will take the hint...

Disney, Carnival, RCL & NCL. Have more programs for kids, on some of are cruise s in the past we have seen kids getting bored with nothing to do. But for Adults Cruising Only, we need a break form everything also.. So our hat is off for Virgins way of thinking...

The cutoff age on Virgin’s adults-only cruises will be 18. I wonder, will 18 year olds be able to sail without their parents on Virgin? Because I’ve seen this age group be a heck of a lot more bothersome and annoying than little kids.

2 hours ago, Jan115 said:

The cutoff age on Virgin’s adults-only cruises will be 18. I wonder, will 18 year olds be able to sail without their parents on Virgin? Because I’ve seen this age group be a heck of a lot more bothersome and annoying than little kids.

You will never know, on the age group 18 and up, but we believe the age group will up and higher...

Sir Richard  Branson is showing why he has done so well in business with this move.  No way even with his money that he could compete head to head with the big three lines.  Also very hard to take mainstream passengers from them,  so go after a very small part of the market and set yourself out offering what the big guys do not offer. 

While most start up would have a problem using this marketing, mostly capitalization, that is not a problem for Richard Branson and  Virgin Group, with 400 companies within it and a net worth of 5.5 Billion dollars.  He is not targeting the whole market he is going into a market that has major players and taking a small piece that others have not in the past.  But in this case a small piece means millions in profit.