Virgin Voyages Is Counting on Its Brand to Win Over Cruise Skeptics
Photo Credit: The new headquarters of Virgin Voyages in Plantation, Florida. The cruise line's first ship is due in 2020. Interior Architects / Robin Hill
Skift Take
Virgin Voyages is emphatic about being a different kind of cruise player while planning to sail from the world's busiest cruise port to the most popular destination. The difference will be in the details, and we're still waiting for most of those.
Nearly three years ago, Tom McAlpin revealed some of the first details about the industry newcomer Virgin Cruises.
At the time, he said the brand was soliciting input from the traveling public: "How can we design your ideal ship, your most irresistible vacation ever?” asked McAlpin, who joined Virgin from the private residential ship The World.
Now, with more than 10,000 answers to that question, the joint venture between Virgin Group and Bain Capital is hard at work on its first ship in preparation for a 2020 debut. The ship will sail the Caribbean from Miami.
Renamed Virgin Voyages in 2016, the line just moved into new headquarters in a suburb of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with plans to grow from its team of about 85 to 300 by the end of 2021. That's the year its second ship is scheduled for delivery, with a third following in 2022.
McAlpin, the CEO, said potential guests — called "sailors" in the company's lingo — gave a list of what they wanted from the line: "a
