Virgin Voyages / Cruises targeting Celebrity?

http://www.cruise.co.uk/news/new-announcement-from-virgin-cruises-shocks-cruising-world/?affref=crukfb&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=virgin-voyages-news-191016&utm_medium=social-online

With this latest announcement of three ships with roughly the same Gross Tonnage and Passenger numbers of the new Edge Class and the modern luxury vibe that Celebrity is trying to promote, I wonder if Virgin will be directly going after the Celebrity customer base?

Virgin in its approach in other sectors I feel promotes itself as a modern luxury brand, and like Celebrity this is probably more in style than substance.

http://www.cruise.co.uk/news/new-announcement-from-virgin-cruises-shocks-cruising-world/?affref=crukfb&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=virgin-voyages-news-191016&utm_medium=social-online

 

With this latest announcement of three ships with roughly the same Gross Tonnage and Passenger numbers of the new Edge Class and the modern luxury vibe that Celebrity is trying to promote, I wonder if Virgin will be directly going after the Celebrity customer base?

 

Virgin in its approach in other sectors I feel promotes itself as a modern luxury brand, and like Celebrity this is probably more in style than substance.

We have enjoyed the Virgin brand in several forms, love their upper class flights and lounges. They choose AI options well, organise packages tours well....Each time we have booked with them the standards have been high. Their descriptions are good and we found there seem to be less 'add ons' than many travel companies. Although in recent years we have tended to book our trips independently if I was looking at a package tour Virgin would be one of the first companies I would consider.

At present they offer a range of holiday 'packages' including Disney and cruise, Far East and cruise....I guess this is why they are looking at their own ships rather than promoting and selling the lines of others. For the Caribbean I do think, if they are planning on packaging with Orlando, that they will be targeting more of a family market. If they are planning on cruising from the UK perhaps they will be looking more at couples...

Certainly we will look at their product as it comes out! A bit of competition and choice is never a bad thing!

Competition is good. It keeps prices down and offers the traveler more choices.

Viking ocean cruises is another newer cruise line in Celebrity's space

I really don't think they are targeting celebrity at all. I think virgin wants to appeal to the 20-50 year old range that you may find on Ncl, Ccl and Rccl.

I have a good friend who I brought on a cruise 2 times. Both times he hated it.

He felt he was "trapped" and claimed he felt like "cattle" which I can understand.

I think virgin will address this by doing some radical things such as removing the buffet and assigned seating for good. You may see things like a permanent cruise fare that's relatively cheap but you will be nickeled and dimed for everything you see, there may be one quick service restaurant that's free but that's it.

I don't think there will be drink packages and I think the nightlife on board will be that of nightclubs on land with real good lighting and sound systems.

I think they will go to alternative ports in both the east and west Carib that will draw people to the ships. So many cruise lines have good "ideas" but virgin will be revolutionary.

And the best part is you will never have to go to Nassau again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Very interesting. I look forward so seeing more on this venture.

The article says they are planning to sail to Cuba and that their cruises will be bold and glamorous - so I am doubting that family cruising is their target audience, but only time will tell.

Also, I find it interesting that they describe a ship with a capacity of 2800 as small. I realize that's less than the mega-ships, but really - small is is not the word I'd used to describe a ship that can hold 2800 passengers. :eek:

I really don't think they are targeting celebrity at all. I think virgin wants to appeal to the 20-50 year old range that you may find on Ncl, Ccl and Rccl.

 

I have a good friend who I brought on a cruise 2 times. Both times he hated it.

He felt he was "trapped" and claimed he felt like "cattle" which I can understand.

 

I think virgin will address this by doing some radical things such as removing the buffet and assigned seating for good. You may see things like a permanent cruise fare that's relatively cheap but you will be nickeled and dimed for everything you see, there may be one quick service restaurant that's free but that's it.

 

I don't think there will be drink packages and I think the nightlife on board will be that of nightclubs on land with real good lighting and sound systems.

 

I think they will go to alternative ports in both the east and west Carib that will draw people to the ships. So many cruise lines have good "ideas" but virgin will be revolutionary.

 

And the best part is you will never have to go to Nassau again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

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Curious what you're basing these assumptions on. Is this something you read or just what you think will happen?

I really don't think they are targeting celebrity at all. I think virgin wants to appeal to the 20-50 year old range that you may find on Ncl, Ccl and Rccl.

 

I have a good friend who I brought on a cruise 2 times. Both times he hated it.

He felt he was "trapped" and claimed he felt like "cattle" which I can understand.

 

I think virgin will address this by doing some radical things such as removing the buffet and assigned seating for good. You may see things like a permanent cruise fare that's relatively cheap but you will be nickeled and dimed for everything you see, there may be one quick service restaurant that's free but that's it.

 

I don't think there will be drink packages and I think the nightlife on board will be that of nightclubs on land with real good lighting and sound systems.

 

I think they will go to alternative ports in both the east and west Carib that will draw people to the ships. So many cruise lines have good "ideas" but virgin will be revolutionary.

 

And the best part is you will never have to go to Nassau again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

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Where are you getting this from? My experience of Virgin is that they aim for a broad market with a modern product that is advertised as being revolutionary ...but isn't really.

Many of the innovations on Virgin Atlantic weren't really genuinely brand new ideas, they were just early adopters. I think they might have been the first to use the herringbone seat design (which others followed and are now moving away from again). Even the inflight Masseuses eventually went away. Industry leading initiatives like the Clubhouse were only available to a small number of travellers (those in Upper Class at Heathrow) and Virgin were notoriously slow to make changes fleet wide.

On several of Virgin's high profile venutres - Virgin is only a part owner (Virgin Atlantic - Singapore Airlines, West Coast Trails Ltd - Stagecoach) and in Virgin Voyage I believe they are a minority shareholder

I think there will be a large difference between the two ships

http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/Orderbook.html

Edge cost per berth is about $302,000

Virgin cost per berth is about $214,000

That is a huge difference

I think there will be a large difference between the two ships

http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/Orderbook.html

Edge cost per berth is about $302,000

Virgin cost per berth is about $214,000

That is a huge difference

$241k vs 214K on later ships less huge a difference - lots of * on those figures (=estimates)

I signed up for their mailing list months ago and never heard anything. This week I received an email with a video (animated only) and some additional info, you can view the video on their Facebook page.

Based upon the video it definitely has a more youthful vibe, DJ in the background and all the cartoon characters are lithe, women in bikinis. However, cartoon and real life are two different things. The video is really absent any substantive information and I tend to agree with DYKWIA about the innovation component. Also, what team of experts could Sir Richard hire that have not already been part of the cruise industry? However, the guy is undisputedly very good at what he does so I hope he has the innovations that shake things up.

Pure speculation based upon my mid-50's perspective but it could be they will court the southern California club crowd. That group is aging into their 30's and seem to have unlimited funds to dump into the Las Vegas club scene, including insanely priced bottle service. I have forgotten where they plan to base but assumed it would be west coast in order to bundle air/sea products. Again, it was months ago that I signed up and read the original article about their initiative.

Just a theory.

....Also, what team of experts could Sir Richard hire that have not already been part of the cruise industry? .

According to an early press release it's a former boss of Disneys Cruise Line

I suspect they're targeting passengers.