Branson: ‘Cruise lines will copy Virgin Voyages’

Image result for virgin scarlet lady

Sir Richard Branson predicted other cruise lines will copy Virgin Voyages in “five to six years” time.

Asked how he thought Virgin would be viewed by competitors, he referenced BA’s “dirty tricks” campaign against Virgin Atlantic in the 1990s when competition between the two airlines was at its most heated.

“Competition is always good in any industry,” he said. “It takes years to build new ships. So I think we will have five to six years then people will start copying us but by then we will have reinvented what we have.”

The first of three adult-only Virgin Voyages ships is due in 2020.

More details about what will be on board were unveiled in Genoa today at the Fincantieri shipyard where it is being built and include outdoor yoga, a wellness pool and sea-facing cabanas.

The ship, to be named Scarlet Lady, will also aim to convert all waste on board into clean re-usable energy.

Chief executive and president Tom McAlpin said: “As the (cruise sector) got bigger it had to appeal to a lot of segments but we have an opportunity to create something different and very special. The power of the Virgin brand is very important and we think we can attract people who have never cruised before.”

Carnival Triumph getting a $200M redo and a new name

Carnival Triumph is to become the Carnival Sunrise.

Carnival Cruise Line will budget $200 million for an overhaul of the Carnival Triumph so sweeping that the ship will get a new name, the Carnival Sunrise.

It is only the second time that Carnival has renamed a ship of its own design. In 2013, it rechristened the former Carnival Destiny as the Carnival Sunshine. 

Carnival said the two ships will form the new Sunshine class. The $200 million sum is the largest ever spent by a cruise line in a ship renovation.

By the time the work begins next March, the Triumph will be 20 years old. It is perhaps best known for an engine-room fire in 2013 that left it disabled off the coast of Mexico without power for most hotel services. The ship had to be towed back to the United States, on a four-day odyssey that was memorialized as “the poop cruise” because toilets didn’t work for most of the trip.

In the two-month renovation, to be done at the Navantia shipyard in Cadiz, Spain, a laundry list of Fun Ship 2.0 features will be added to the ship, including seven restaurants, two bars, two lounges, three new pool deck attractions, a newly designed spa, two new children’s play areas and new retail spaces, including a candy store. 

Gus Antocha, Carnival’s chief operating officer, said the additions complement certain upgrades that had already been made to the Triumph, such as Guy’s Burger Joint.

Unique to the Sunrise will be what Antocha called “bridge wing suites,” encompassing two junior suites and two larger Captain’s Suites adjacent to the bridge, which will be redesigned with floor-to-ceiling windows. That means the ship’s capacity, listed as 2,758 passengers at double occupancy, will remain relatively unchanged.

“We’re adding a handful of different spaces,” Antocha said. When the Carnival Sunshine was created, an extra 182 cabins were added to the Carnival Destiny.

The first sailing of the Carnival Sunrise, following a renaming ceremony, will be from Norfolk, Va., where the ship will begin a series of five- to seven-day cruises on April 29, 2019. It will then move to New York for the summer for a series of four- to 14-day cruises, starting May 23. It will move to Fort Lauderdale for four- and five-day cruises in October.

AIDA Offers Abu Dhabi F1 Package

Abu Dhabi F1 Race

AIDA Cruises is offering a seven-day cruise from Dubai Nov. 23 to 30 aboard the AIDAprima that includes the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix with pricing starting at 2,698 euro including flights and the race.

The race package features tickets for two days for the last FI race of the season, Nov. 24 and 25 (2018), including support races, qualifying and the F1 race.

Concerts are also part of the program, with performers Sam Smith and Guns N’Roses.

AIDA said the total package – cruise, flights and race – can be booked with travel agents or directly from AIDA online or by phone.