The boss of Virgin Voyages has insisted the UK market is “very important in the long run” as he explained why the line has decided to cancel three ex-UK voyages.
Chief executive Tom McAlpin apologised to passengers affected by the decision to allow Valiant Lady to be chartered in April ahead of the ship’s UK launch event today (March 11). All three voyages were due to depart from Portsmouth.
He told Travel Weekly: “When you launch a new business and a new brand you must maintain flexibility. We need to make some changes to our itineraries, we’ve done that.
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“We’ve gone out and developed a cancellation policy for those sailings that is very generous. Our reputation is important to us.
“Virgin is known to take care of its customers and its clientele and Virgin Voyages is building its brand so we want to be known to be doing the same thing.”
He added: “We apologise for the effect on folks and the inconvenience, we want to make sure that we’re going over the top with our compensation and make sure that they love Virgin Voyages.”
Impacted passengers who wish to rebook will automatically receive 150% Future Voyage Credit (FVC) if they have paid the entire cruise fare.
Passengers who would rather have a refund will receive full compensation for the amount paid to date, plus FVC for 25% of the voyage amount paid.
All affected passengers will also be offered the chance to book a five-night voyage for free.
Valiant Lady, which nearly 1,500 UK agents will experience this week, and Resilient Lady, will both operate in the Mediterranean this year.
McAlpin urged UK agents to fill both vessels as it was revealed that bookings had surged by 178% in the past six month compared with the previous six months.
He said: “Ultimately the US will be a bigger source [market] but the UK is very important. In the Med we’ll be looking for 50% of our business coming from the UK, so yes, it’s very important for us in the long run.”
McAlpin highlighted Resilient Lady’s debut programme as an opportunity for agents to sell and experience for themselves.
The 2,770-passenger vessel will operate Greek Island sailings from August to October. Prices for the seven-night Greek Island Glow sailing, departing Piraeus (Athens) on August 14, 2022, lead in from £2,389.
“In Athens, we’re expecting a big following from the UK,” explained McAlpin. “It’s close by, our folks from the UK have a lot of travel days available, they know the Virgin brand and they know what we stand for. [UK passengers] will be a big part of our success.”
He added that there “might be opportunities” to showcase Resilient Lady to agents in Greece in July.
The line has hosted 900 agents this week so far on its second ship – Valiant Lady – at events in Tilbury and Portsmouth.
On the showcase events, McAlpin said: “We gave agents one of our shows, they had an opportunity to dine in our restaurants, see our great cabins and suites. They left very excited to go out there and sell Virgin Voyages.
“We’re super excited to be able to showcase Valiant Lady and all that we have to offer. This really is a boutique hotel experience on the high seas.
“It’s a different way to travel and a different way to cruise, but we appeal to a wide variety of guests. We’ve got guests from their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s on board.”
McAlpin confirmed the key difference between maiden vessel Scarlet Lady and Valiant Lady is the itineraries. Scarlet Lady is currently operating out of Miami, while Valiant Lady will be based in Barcelona from May.
“I think we’ve perfected the design of the ship. The experience works really well. We’ve done some tweaking and we’ve added some special surprises,” he said.
“As we’ve gone to longer itineraries, we’ve changed some of the storage spaces in the cabins but those are minor tweaks. The difference between Scarlet and Valiant is all about the itineraries.
“We showcased Valiant Lady in Portsmouth a little bit but in May then we’ll bring her to Barcelona for three different Mediterranean itineraries all with an overnight stop in Ibiza.”
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