Virgin Cruises rebrands as Virgin Voyages, orders three ships

Saturday, 19 Oct, 2016 0

Richard Branson’s new cruise venture has issued an ambitious promise to ‘change cruising for good’ and has started off by changing its own name.

Virgin Cruises announced it is rebranding as Virgin Voyages and hopes to start sailing in 2020.

Virgin Voyages CEO Tom McAlpin said the company signed a multi-billion dollar contract with Fincantieri for three 110,000-ton, 2,700-passenger ships.

The first ship will home port in Miami but so far few other details have been disclosed.

It will be the first cruise line to partner with clean energy system Climeon Ocean, which converts waste heat generated by ship engines into clean energy.

This adds up to about 5,400 tons of carbon dioxide saved annually per ship.

Branson said it doesn’t plan to compete directly with the big three cruise companies but will instead target people who had never contemplated going on a cruise vacation.

"The name cruise is pretty awful so I don’t like that. I don’t know why people call their companies cruise companies. I’ve never fancied going on a cruise ship, but I do fancy going on a voyage," Branson said.

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