May 9, 2025 • 47 mins
Think you know cruises? Think again. This week, the Divas are flipping the script on everything you thought cruising was – and trust us, it's not your grandma’s buffet boat. We’re joined by Tracy from Virgin Voyages, and she’s here to spill the tea on why this adults-only escape at sea is truly the ultimate “uncruise” experience.
No kids. No formal nights. No buffets. Just a floating boutique hotel bursting with personality, world-class dining, and bold, come-as-you-are vibes. Tracy takes us behind the scenes of Virgin’s refreshingly inclusive philosophy – from crew members rocking tattoos and piercings to "sailors" (that’s what they call guests!) dancing barefoot under the stars on Scarlet Night.
Let’s talk food. With six Michelin-level restaurants included in your fare – from Korean BBQ at Gun Bay to steak and seafood at The Wake – this is gourmet living without the upcharge. Oh, and did we mention gratuities, Wi-Fi, and basic drinks are all included too? Yep. No surprise bills here.
Virgin Voyages is attracting everyone from 30-somethings to 70+ adventure-seekers, all loving the intimate-yet-energetic feel of these stylish ships. With overnight stays in places like Ibiza and edgy entertainment that pushes creative limits (hello, Dual Reality!), this is cruising – redefined.
Plus, Tracy gives us a sneak peek at what’s next: Alaska in 2025, a fresh new app, and the arrival of Brilliant Lady. Whether you're a cruise skeptic or a travel junkie looking for something new, Virgin Voyages might just be your next obsession.
Ready to sea it differently? We’re Gold Level First Mates and would love to help you plan your own “uncruise” adventure.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hey guys, so welcome welcome.
We have Tracy from VirginVoyages today, so welcome, Tracy
.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hey, thank you.
Thanks for having me, ladies.
This is exciting.
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, we're so happy to have you with us, so let's
spill the tea, get started.
What got you started in thetravel industry and what led you
to Virgin Voyages?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Wow, that's a long story.
It may take all of our timeGive us the condensed version.
I'm old ladies, let's do theReader's Digest version, okay,
1991.
Let's go back to that timeframe, graduating from college with a
degree in political science,which will take you nowhere.
I had my girlfriend at the timewho became my fiancee, who's
(01:02):
now my wife of 32 years.
We were talking about it.
She was a year behind me.
I said you know, I'm going totake my gap year at the end of
college before I really startworking.
Right, we didn't have gap yearsback in the 90s.
We didn't even hear that, right?
So I got a job as a tour guidewith a small tour company here
in Western North Carolina.
They'd never hired anybody 22years old.
(01:23):
Back then.
There was no technology likethis stuff where people could
look up the answers to things.
So I was a bus tour guide,starting in 91, for a few years
actually, and then we gotmarried and I kind of left the
road but actually stayed onworking with that company
internally, did some HR work forthem.
That company internally didsome HR work for them, and so
(01:47):
anyway, long story short, that'show I got started.
2017, let's just fast forward.
I left that tour company.
I actually left that companythree or four times over the
years to go make more moneybecause they were a family-run
business.
You know how that goes.
So they don't know how to giveyou a raise unless they miss you
and appreciate you.
Yes, yes, I left, but in 2017,had the chance to make a change
to a BDM role with the TravelCorporation and that's who I
(02:09):
went to work for.
First guided vacation business,but very high end, luxury, gold
and inside vacations, very goodproducts.
And then eventually, when COVIDhit, it kind of got combined.
I went over to Uniworld, riverCruising, coming out of COVID
with still with TTC.
I kept my job, thankfully, andthen, two and a half years ago a
little more than that I madethe change from Uniworld to
(02:33):
Virgin Voyages and never thoughtI'd work for an ocean cruise
brand.
I never really thought that wassomething I would, you know,
really gravitate toward.
But when I saw what RichardBranson was doing with this, I'm
like, yeah, I got to be a partof that.
So my career trajectorycompletely changed and I'm so
glad I made the change to Virgin.
So that's the short version ofa long story.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
I love it.
Yeah, yes.
So that leads us into whatmakes Virgin Voyages different
from other cruise lines.
What's the magic?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Wow I would use and I don't think our marketing team
has ever used this phrase but weare the closest thing to an
uncruise as you can get,compared to what the other
cruise lines are like.
Nothing against what the othercruise lines do.
Let me be clear we're veryproud of the fact that there's
Carnival and Royal and NCL andMSC and all those great cruise
lines out there.
Trust me, they have paved theway for what Mr Branson decided
(03:26):
to do with us.
But Mr Branson never was a bigfan of traditional cruising
either, starting way back in the70s and 80s when he was
building his empire.
So about 10 or 15 years agothey said we don't want to start
a cruise brand, but let's dosomething different, let's
completely disrupt the industry.
So that's really what Virgin isabout.
We're not building huge megaships of 6,000 or 7,000 people.
(03:47):
Our ships are 2,500 to 2,700passengers.
They're all four just alikeright now.
It doesn't mean they'll be thatway in the future.
When we announce those futureships and I'm not spilling that
tea today I wish I knew,actually, but I don't.
But beautiful ships, moreboutique, more yacht style Even
with that many people, you cancreate a yacht type experience.
(04:09):
The food is off the chart.
Incredible Michelin star diningall included, your tips are
included, your Wi-Fi is included.
The things that Mr Branson says, hey, people are going to pay
for this anyway, let's just goahead and include it in the
cruise fare.
So it's more like a floatingboutique all-inclusive resort at
sea.
I love it.
So that's sort of where we fit,and I'm not going to say
(04:30):
anything disparaging about theother cruise lines, because they
do a great job with what theydo.
Right, if you're looking forsomething different and maybe
you're wanting to elevate yourexperience a bit, we fall into
into that premium space of areally nice boutique cruise
experience with no kids, andthat's the first starting point.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
That was what was going to lead me into the next
question.
So what about this?
Adults only, that's.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I mean no other cruise line has done this, like
adults only.
Yeah, I mean, there is oneother cruise line that kind of
leans in that direction, ofcourse, and they start with a V
as well.
They're known for their rivercruising and they do a great job
at that, but we're on the farend of the spectrum of adults
only from each other, right fromthat other.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
There are two different types of travelers.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yes, yeah, absolutely .
We have casinos on our ship.
They don't we have livelyentertainment.
I'm not saying that they don'thave lively entertainment.
We're more of a Vegas typeexperience that higher end, high
energy, as we said, adults onlybut a more progressive adults
only experience in the sensethat we're open to try new
(05:39):
things and do some fun, excitingthings and break new barriers
and embrace everyone.
The thing I love about theVirgin culture is we want
everyone to feel included andwelcome, from our sailors, which
are our guests, to our crew aswell, and you'll notice that our
crew.
We allow them to be themselves,we allow them to express
themselves through their ink orhair or piercings or whatever,
(06:04):
and we encourage them tointeract with the sailors too,
and that's a big difference, Ithink, in the cruise industry as
well.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
And welcoming having your sailors be welcomed by
someone that they can relate to,because they can vibe with
their crew people.
So what kind of travelersreally thrive with virtual
voyages?
What would be the ideal sailor?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
You know there's not a and people try to break things
down into demographics of ageand you know all that kind of
thing.
It's really not an age thingwith us.
It's typically.
The average passenger for us isbetween 30 and 70.
61% of our sailors are between30 and 70, actually probably
more than that.
Uh, there are more people over65 than under 25 on our ships,
(06:48):
even though we're adults.
Only we tend to still gravitatetoward that empty nester group,
the forties and fifties.
Yeah, who in the house is inthat group right now?
We have, as adults, or evenolder kids.
You know, 50, some percent ofour sailors are leaving kids at
home and they may.
I don't know what they're doingwith them.
I hope they're feeding them orhaving someone watch after them.
(07:10):
You know.
So a lot of our people stillhave kids at home, but they want
to get away for that, you know.
Adult getaway where it's justthem, they can reconnect, they
can, you know.
Or girlfriend getaways, smallgroups, celebrations.
We really gravitate to peoplelooking to have a good time and
to celebrate life, if you will.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, I love the brand features.
Like what you said, richardsays it's a no-cruise attitude,
so no buffets, no formal nights.
I love how Virgin has recreatedthis wheel.
What would you say for foodwise?
What would you say is like,give us, like, what is the one
(07:55):
place you would love to go everynight?
I mean because the food is whateverybody talks about too.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, yeah, once people kind of get over the fact
there's no kids, and then theystart talking about the food.
It's just, and I can't reallyspecify one particular
restaurant.
It depends on what you're inthe mood for that night.
And I've talked to some of myfriends who've never sailed with
us and they say, well, describehow you do that.
And I tell them, if you ever goto a really nice world-class
city, let's just name one outthere, say New York or San
(08:24):
Francisco or LA, wherever youwant to say a world-class city,
and you're going to be there forseveral days, let's say you
start in advance of thinkingabout the restaurants you want
to really enjoy at that place,and one night it might be an
Italian restaurant, becausethat's what they're really.
One night it might be a greatsteak and seafood, one night it
could be Mexican.
That's the way our ship is.
We have six different specialtyrestaurants that are included
(08:46):
in your cruise fare and itdepends on your mood that night.
Now a lot of folks gravitateimmediately toward the wake, and
the wake is our steak andseafood because that's safe,
right?
You know, everyone loves a goodsteak and everyone likes, you
know, a good piece of seafood,whatever it might be.
But then you get on board andyou're like man, that pink agave
, that Mexican place looksamazing.
And then you see, oh, the extravirgin, that's the Italian
(09:08):
place.
And then you hear peopletalking about Gun Bay Korean
barbecue at sea Nobody's everdone that where it's prepared
right in front of you.
That's crazy.
And then the test kitchen.
You're like well, I'm a foodie,I love to watch the Food
Network and I love to see howthey make stuff and it's really
a high level tasting menu.
Throw in the test kitchen inthere.
So.
And then Razzle Dazzle.
(09:29):
Each of our ships is going toget a little bit of a special.
You know flair at Razzle Dazzle, based on what we want that
ship's atmosphere to be.
So on Scarlet, now that's LuckyLotus.
At Razzle Dazzle.
On Brilliant, when she comesout in September, it's going to
be Roja.
And then let's see ValiantLady's going into Dry Dock for a
(09:49):
short couple of weeks.
May of next year She'll comeout with her own little twist on
Razzle Dazzle too.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
So we're giving a little bit of a unique layer to
each restaurant.
So, along with all those amazingfeatures you've already talked
about.
So, along with all thoseamazing features, you've already
talked about, one of the Ithink one of the interesting
things is entertainment, becauseit's it's a variety.
But what I also liked and Ithink it goes right along with
the adults only cruise is thatthey can be spicy.
(10:15):
I love that there is some spiceto some of that entertainment.
So what's the?
What kind of shows andentertainment can guests expect
to experience?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah, it's going to vary by ship, but it's all going
to have very similar.
You know themes.
Now I want to say this too fromthe beginning.
You know, I started almostthree years ago.
The brand is still evolving.
When we came out, we werereally making that splash Like
we're adults only and we'regoing to prove it to you, right?
So there was an early showcalled Never Sleep Alone and
(10:47):
that show was really sort ofthat in your face.
You know the love and marriageshow that everyone else does on
their cruise lines, but theydon't say the words.
That kind of go with that.
They use code terms likewhoopee or whatever.
Well, on our show, never SleepAlone, we use the words and we
just came right out there andsaid you know?
Speaker 3 (11:07):
and it was good.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
It was well received.
But it also would catch somepeople who maybe came to us from
other cruise lines with alittle bit of a oh gosh, that's
a shock factor kind of thing.
So we pulled back a little biton the over the top risque, if
you want to look at it that way.
But our general entertainmentthe show called Dual Reality
that we do on almost all of ourships right now that is an
award-winning show that'sactually been taken to land from
(11:31):
the sea.
It's Cirque du Soleil meetsWest Side Story, so it's like
two teams that are competing,but they're acrobats and they're
on, they're flying all over theplace and it's just really cool
.
And the ending of that show,which I won't give away, is
exactly what our country and ourworld needs, the way to see
that show ends.
It's just people comingtogether the way they should,
(11:53):
and I think it's a great storyfor us to take off the ship as
well.
Another great show that I justlove.
It's only about an hour long.
It's called Persephone.
I just love it's only about anhour long.
It's called Persephone and it'sbased in Greek mythology.
And you talk about Vegas.
There are sparkly, mirrored,sequined body suits in this show
(12:15):
I would try to get one becauseit looks awesome.
There's Hades and then there's,you know, the heaven area for
Greek mythology.
It's really a cool story, yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
You ladies would fit.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Which one would be.
In which area Do y'all oh, wetake turns.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
It depends on the night or the atmosphere, but we
definitely take turns.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Yeah, yeah.
Or the cocktails and don't getme wrong, the cocktails are
definitely helpful, but theshows are just edgy enough for
you to know hey, this is anadult's only experience, just
different to know that no othercruise line would do anything
like this.
This is so cool and our spacethat we do the shows in are so
flexible and usable.
We have a show called theUntitled Dance Show Party Theme.
(13:00):
That is the name of the showUntitled Dance Show, dance show
party thing.
Stages move around you as youmove around and dancers move
around and it's like the wildestlooking dance show you've ever
seen.
And, yes, you participate, youcan do the line dancing.
It's just a lot of fun thatsounds awesome.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Yeah, it does sound awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Um well, you that red is my signature color.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
It's beautiful because it goes very well.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I know I could be your brand ambassador and I've
been told I give mermaid sirenvibes, so we'll talk about that
after the interview, but soScarlet Knight always makes a
splash, right.
Yes, can you walk us throughthat experience for those of us
that have not been on there?
Speaker 2 (13:48):
I have to say, you know you hear people talk about
things in life that you have toexperience one time.
Maybe it's running with thebulls, maybe it's, you know,
just one of those really coollife-changing experiences.
Scarlet night's kind of one ofthose things to me.
You know you need to experiencethe full measure of Scarlet
Knight at least one time.
Now every ship does the sameprogramming, if you will, but
(14:12):
every crowd has a different vibeand so there's a different
feeling.
I've experienced Scarlet Knightten times now in the last three
years and each of those tentimes has been somewhat
different than the others, eventhough the programming is very
much the same.
It's where our ship is totallytaken over by the happenings
crew, which is our answer tocruise directors.
There's 12 different happeningscrew members.
(14:32):
We start with a fun littleepisode in the roundabout area
where we actually have a weddingand it's all a contrived fun
little wedding, and then there'sa reception and then we're
moving throughout the ship,there's all kind of pop-up
activities and it finishes witha beautiful dance party up
around the pool until two in themorning.
(14:53):
Nobody does a party like Virgindoes a party and the lights.
It's like being in adiscotheque the best discotheque
you can think of, but floatingat sea with open stars above you
.
It's just off the charts.
And dress in your red, or don't?
You don't have to.
It's scarlet's the theme.
Yeah, it's all optional.
(15:14):
Dancing in the pool is not?
You are required to dance inthe pool at some point I'm
writing that down right now.
Memo that'll be part of your uminterview to be the next mermaid
on our future show, oh yeah, sothat's.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
There's a lot of different things that you've
talked about so far that Virginoffers outside of other cruises,
but what's something that youwould say that they're first
time sailors on Virgin are mostsurprised by?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I think they're most surprised by the amount of
information they receive withoutit being forced upon them.
You know we have a cool app andjust a little bit of tea.
A new app is coming out thissummer, because that's been some
things that people complainabout Apps are always glitchy
and things like that Brand newapp.
(16:04):
I just got off a call thismorning that there's a brand new
app launching this summer.
We use that exclusively.
You don't have to have a lot ofpaperwork, you don't have to
bring anything with you to ourterminal.
We're very progressive in thatsense.
And then when you get on theship, there's no announcements.
Nobody's screaming at you everyfive minutes that bingo is
starting here or that's going onthere.
But you still feel like part ofa big community because there's
(16:25):
information flowing to you allthe time and you get to know
other sailors, you get to knowcrew members and they talk about
the activities that arehappening.
Hey, don't forget, we got ashow happening tonight at this
time.
Or there's a pop-up music groupat the On the Rocks event
coming up, or you know, it'sjust one of those.
You feel like you're part of afamily, but even funner than a
(16:46):
family when you get on that ship, that everybody's there
together to have a great timeand make sure other people have
a great time.
So the sense of community onceyou get on board, I think, is
something that surprises people,because a lot of times people
cruise just to get away and dotheir own thing and kind of just
, you know, be in their littletwo-person bubble.
You can do that with us.
But the feeling on board isjust such a collaborative you
(17:09):
know cooperative feeling.
When you're laying by the poolyou're like, hey, I'll watch
that for you if you need to runback to your cabin for a minute.
I don't know who you are, butwe're all here together having a
great time.
And that's really, I think,what a lot of people don't
realize until they step aboardthe ship and I will the way you
explain.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
That is kind of the way I felt when, when we were
going through our training whichI will say y'all have amazing
training for us, tas um it thething that kind of I was like
wowing over was the lessstructure and formality of
cruising, because I know I'vebeen on cruises where I'm
looking at okay, what is thetypical itinerary?
What time dinner do I have to?
(17:48):
Should I be selecting the shows, the theme nights?
And what kept coming acrossover and over again is we're
going to give you Virgin Boys,are going to give you that
experience.
If that's what you want, youcan go and schedule a sit down
type of dinner if you want, oryou can just pop in when it's
free.
Wear what you want.
Like that was a big thing,because a lot of people worry
(18:08):
about what do I wear on a cruise?
Do I have to dress up?
Do I have to wear?
Do guys have to wear theirkhakis?
Can they wear short?
Like it was such a verydifferent.
Come relax, you're coming to afamily cookout kind of vibe.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yeah, if you ever meet Mr Branson, he puts that
off as a person he is.
You know.
He's a billionaire, of course,and he owns thousands of
different businesses andcompanies or whatever, but his
personal vibe is like you be you, I be me, we be us together,
and there's no formality in allof that.
Just be comfortable in yourskin.
(18:42):
Now, being comfortable meansyou want to wear a tuxedo.
Wear a tuxedo, I don't care.
But being comfortable meansyou're wearing cutoff jeans and
a t-shirt.
That's fine too.
It's not about the pretense,it's about the substance of each
person and acknowledging andrecognizing those beautiful
qualities that each person has,be it a sailor or a crew member,
(19:04):
and we're all on there togethercelebrating that, and that's
just such a warm feeling whenyou step on board and you can
feel like that I can be myauthentic self, I can relax and
realize no one here is judgingme and from there I can enjoy
great food, great show, quiettime, peaceful places or party
till 2 am it's my choice.
My option is for party till 2am.
(19:26):
It's my choice, my option.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
I do love that, I love, I love that.
This is amazing, yeah.
So our like, I'm very blingy,some people are down cutoffs.
It, everybody's welcome, right?
I love that attitude.
So our audience does love alittle luxury, a lot of fun.
No judgment, I love it.
So which Virgin Voyages?
I'm going to give you a coupledifferent because you know the
(19:51):
itineraries.
So I'm going to give you acouple scenarios because anybody
can enjoy a Virgin Voyagesvacation.
So for what would you recommend?
For, like, a girl's trip?
What voyage maybe for a girl'strip?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Well, oftentimes when you're dealing with a lot of
ladies having to come together,you've got to be mindful of
schedules and sometimes peopledon't have the same amount of
time off.
The most popular girl stripwould probably be our Fire and
Sunset Soiree, which is out ofMiami.
It's five days.
Yeah, it's five days, fournights.
Traditionally it's aroundWednesday through Sunday, but I
think we're scheduling that overto Thursday to Monday and that
(20:26):
still works with a lot ofpeople's schedules.
But yeah, and it's really.
Key West is a great destination,don't get me wrong.
You know we got a day at seaafter we leave Miami.
Then we pull into Key West onthat Friday or Saturday and you
spend the whole day.
If you want to go get Kermit'syou know key lime pie, or go see
the southernmost point or visitHemingway's house, or just get
Sloppy Joe's and Hogs Breath andall the great bars, you can do
(20:48):
that.
Key West is great.
But then you come back on theship and then you've got that
evening another day at sea andthen your beach club at Bimini
is your last day before you comeback home.
It's just a perfect littleshorter time frame for the
girlfriends to get away.
Have two days at sea, to lay bythe pool and have your
cocktails, have a great stop atKey West and also at Bimini, and
(21:09):
it's a shorter time frame Now,if you ask me, if you all can
get the time, go further andmaybe even sail out of San Juan
and go down to the easternAntilles and some of the ABC
Islands and some of the furtherdestinations that a lot of the
other larger cruise ships can'tget into, if the ports are
(21:29):
really important to you.
But oftentimes, typically withgirlfriend getaways, they're not
worried about the ports,they're worried about their time
together and one of thoseshorter four or five night
sailings are perfect for that,and we see a lot of that on
those shorter sailings out ofMiami.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yeah, Awesome, yeah, well, so, and I was going to say
like well, what about like amidlife birthday blowout?
It sounds like you just talkedabout that going down to the ABC
Islands, but do you have anykind of like?
So I know you have a five daycruise.
What are some of your longercruise?
If you wanted to just have alike a next level pate, send us.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah, if you're thinking anywhere in the world,
let me just tell you my favoriteplace for a longer type sailing
Get on a plane and fly toAthens and jump on a ship out of
Piraeus, the Athens port there,go over and, if you want to, if
it's on your bucket list to doMykonos, santorini, crete,
bodrum, turkey, all those greatspots they're fantastic.
But for me, my personalfavorite is go the other way and
(22:31):
head toward the north and westand go up to Croatia and check
out Dubrovnik and check outplaces like Corfu.
Montenegro is a great littlestop that we do and they are
pulling into that port.
It's like you're going into aScandinavian city with all the
mountains on each side.
You don't expect to see that onthe Adriatic Sea.
That's not something that'sgoing to go.
(22:51):
And so for me, those littlehidden gem type destinations,
you can do a seven night or youcan do a 12 night sailing to
that part of the world andextend that Croatian spots
sailing over into, likeSantorini and Mykonos too.
So for me, that's sort of myfavorite areas.
We got great stuff out ofBarcelona that starts in
(23:12):
Barcelona and goes over to Rome.
It does the beautiful portsthere along Italy and Sicily and
these spaces.
The coast of France, of course,is popular.
Ibiza.
We spend the night in Ibiza ona couple of different
itineraries and if you wonderwhy we do that, just Google
Ibiza, you'll find out.
It's a place you want to stayall night.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Party.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, so those are my bucket list type places.
If you want to get away withyou and a significant other or a
small group, look at thoseMediterranean and even Northern
European.
We have stuff out of the UKthat goes up into Amsterdam and
further north, up into theOrkney Islands and places like
that, northern Scotland andIreland, and eventually we're
(23:53):
going to do Greenland andIceland and all these places as
well.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Oh, nice yeah yeah.
I can't wait for that.
Come to find out.
I just got my DNA done.
I'm 29% Scottish.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Oh, well, then you need to pop in.
You know, maybe go over andstay at the Virgin Hotel in
Edinburgh and then jump on theship and tour around.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yeah, Well, when I'm in a brand ambassador, I'm going
to be everything we're going tocall you a mermaid in waiting.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
How about that?
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Yeah.
I do want to comment on theovernight stay, because that is
not something typically done andI think that is such an amazing
opportunity when you can spendthe night like see the nightlife
of the port that you're in,because usually you're sailing
out, you're seeing the sunset asyou're leaving a port or it's
even a little bit later, but tobe able to experience the
(24:42):
nightlife in those areas isprobably amazing.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, that's a key part when Mr Branson started
talking about this.
You know why do we want toleave right at the time that a
destination is starting to wakeup and come to life, you know.
So if it's one of thosedestinations, you need to be
there to see the nightlife.
We will spend the night.
A lot of times.
We spend the night in Amsterdam, we spend the night in
Reykjavik, Scotland, Ireland,Iceland.
We spend the night in Mykonos,on the island of Mykonos.
(25:06):
I'm sorry, Denise.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I'm sorry, I didn't need to interrupt.
I just heard Iceland, northernLights.
A lot of people like all aboutthe Northern Lights.
So people that want to seeNorthern Lights, iceland, where
are you saying that's the cruisefor you?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
That's exactly right.
We have some amazing voyages tosee the eclipse and the
Northern Lights at the same time, in 2026 as well.
Those marvelous voyages, yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Nice.
Yeah, what's something that youwish every travel advisor like
our travel that we knew aboutVirgin Voyages, that we can make
sure we're getting that outthere for us that we might miss,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
The biggest obstacle I see to travel advisors or
first mates we call them is thatthey oftentimes will pigeonhole
us into just a party vibe onlyfor 20 to 35 year old kids to
experience.
Here's the deal If you're over18 and you're not traveling with
kids, you should consider us,because we offer everything you
(26:06):
might want and I don't care ifyou're 80.
There was a great recent alittle blogger, young lady, I
call her young, she's almost 30.
My daughter's 28.
So I can kind of relate, she'sstill young.
Just did a recent great littleblog that I saw where she was on
the ship with seven familymembers and 80th birthday party
for her grandmother and thewhole three, four generations
(26:27):
had a fabulous time time.
And so that just tells me tolet first dates and travel
advisors know doesn't matter theage, it doesn't matter the
maturity level, as long asyou're over 18 and you're ready
to have a great time, givevirgin a shot.
You know, here in the south too, we have to kind of overcome
that stigma that sometimesattached to you know adults only
(26:51):
people think, oh, that's alittle bit too risky.
I grew up Southern Baptist guys,so I get it.
We're a little littleconservative about things
sometimes, but when you get onthat ship you just realize
everybody can do their own thing.
Nothing's being forced on youwhatsoever.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
You don't have to go to the drag show.
Yeah, we had the diva on theship I was going to mention.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
You know people are like oh, I don't know if I'll be
around a drag queen, you don'thave to be.
I've spoken to all of ourwonderful drag queens, be it
Dixie Crystals or Titi Kaka orany of our wonderful drag queens
, they get it.
There are some people who just,which is a very small percent,
and they're fine with that.
That's cool.
There's 2,500 other people onthis ship who are into it, so
(27:31):
it's perfectly fine.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Yeah, I love that.
Yeah, I do love that.
So, that being said, are thereany upcoming promos, fam trips,
new itineraries?
I know we're going to talkabout Alaska, right, because
hello.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Alaska's doing fantastically well for us.
People are so excited about thevirgin twist on Alaska starting
next year, of course, andthat's going to be on the newest
ship she's launching here inSeptember, brilliant Lady.
She'll be in the Northeast fora bit.
You know she'll do a couplestints out of New York City and
then on up to Quebec and thenshe'll even come a nice 13-day
sailing from Quebec down toMiami along the whole East Coast
(28:11):
, popping even into Charleston,south Carolina down here, which
is kind of cool.
So we're excited aboutBrilliant.
There are some good promotionsspecifically for Brilliant
sailings this fall and winter.
So if you're interested inmaybe getting on our newest
ladieship, check out your firstmate.
Make sure to talk to you guysabout these wonderful new quick
promotions we've got going on.
(28:31):
But through the month of Mayright now, 75% off the second
sailor, plus there's some cashincentives out there, depending
on the particular sailing andhow long it might be up to $500
instant savings on a lot ofthose.
And you'll see we'll run somelittle flash things happening
here in the next, you know,month or two as well.
So just keep an eye out andstay in close contact with your
(28:52):
first mate so that they can giveyou the heads up when something
special might drop.
Sometimes we'll run a littleweekend sale and things like
that which, cheryl and I areyour first mates.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
We are gold level.
Yes, we can help you bookanything you would like to book.
I did see the new brilliantlady had an option, if you sail
out of New York, to have a stayover at the Virgin Voyage Hotel,
which is fabulous.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yes, and that was a limited thing.
I don't know if all the roomsare gone yet because obviously
the hotel only has limited space.
So if you're interested in that, reach out ASAP because I'm
sure some of the dates may havealready sold out of all the
rooms they have in a block there.
But those little cutepromotions are great where we
can kind of cross brand with ourVirgin Hotel partners and let
folks experience both the landand sea with us as well.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, well, going forward.
So what's next for VirginVoyages?
Is there any other excitingteasers, anything?
Anything you can offer us?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Yeah there'll be some new announcements throughout
the summer that I can't get indepth on, but talking about some
more of these new shows andgiving you little sneak peeks on
like our Murder Mystery Dinnershow that's coming out, that's
my jam.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Murder Mysteries are my jam.
That's my jam.
Murder Mysteries are my jam.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
There'll be some shows where maybe you pick the
ending.
As sailors, you guys get achance to pick how you want the
show to end.
It's very interactive with oursailors.
There'll be a time machinemusic show debuting and stuff
like that too, and then evensome sneak peeks onto some of
the tweaks that we're making onBrilliant Lady, since she will
(30:30):
be going to Alaska.
We're kind of creating somecool viewing areas and things
like that on Brilliant, sothere'll be a little bit of a
difference on her compared tothe other three ships we have
out there.
So we'll be dropping teasers onall that throughout the summer.
The new app that we're excitedabout, too, is going to be
popping up and that I saw apreview of it today.
It's going to be so easy tobook your dining, to connect
with other sailors, to go aheadand book.
(30:51):
You don't have to book shows,but you can put them into your
calendar.
Those are free, but you'll knowexactly your whole daily
schedule.
There's a great little planneron that new app and things like
that coming too.
So we're tweaking things andmaking it better for our sailors
and we're taking their feedbackand letting they're letting us
know what they'd like to see.
You know, change, improved orupdated.
Some new menu items are comingout too, and our eat and drink
(31:14):
festival is happening in july.
So if you're sailing in july,you're going to get some really
cool cocktails, food andappetizers and really fun stuff
with eat and drink as well nice,that's awesome joke to Note to
self sail in July Right.
Any sailing you can get on inJuly, you're going to be
impressed with some cool foodoptions for you.
(31:36):
But the 2026 Alaska, there'sgoing to be an eat and drink
festival sailing that's justdedicated to eat and drink in
Alaska and that's a coolitinerary you might want to
check out for next year.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
I certainly will.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
I'm assuming they're going to or maybe I shouldn't
assume that cuisine that wouldbe from Alaska, like more.
Oh, that's exciting.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
We always try to tie into that local destination.
So even during Eat and DrinkMonth in the Mediterranean
there'll be like Opa hours andsome fun things tying into the
Greek, you know, food andtradition there, maybe Spanish,
coastline, italian, all thatkind of stuff for those sailings
throughout Europe too.
So those eat and drinkfestivals are a lot of fun and
they tie into that local culture.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
That's awesome, all right, so we have a fun little
rapid fire we're going to doreal quick First thing that
comes to mind Okay, yourfavorite port.
Athens oh favorite port, athens.
Oh, awesome, your go-tococktail on board.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Let me go back to favorite port Dubrovnik,
actually out of Athens.
So Dubrovnik is my favoriteport, but I love anything we do
out of Athens, so all thoseports around there.
Favorite cocktail oh gosh, Ihad a cocktail called a Yellow
Bird one time.
That was amazing on the rocks.
It was one of their specialties.
They were running and I wouldget it every night.
Not sure if it's still runningright now, but it had some
(32:56):
ginger beer, some vodka.
It was really a unique color.
It had a beautiful flower in itand everything.
So that was my favorite cocktailon the ship.
We make a mean margaritaeverywhere.
I'm a margarita guy.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Best tequila, best mezcal anywhere is on Virgin,
especially at Pink Agave.
So go get you a margarita there, even if you're not having
dinner.
It's great.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
That sounds amazing.
All right, a margarita there,even if you're not having dinner
.
It's great.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
That sounds amazing all right, so pool side chill or
party till sunrise, pool sidechill.
But I'll get up at sunrise andgo take a walk around the
walking track.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, yeah so rock star or sea terrace rock star
yeah hello yeah, but sea terraceis not too shabby sea terrace
is a great second choice, butright.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Yeah, give me an agent who's going to take care
of things for me.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Put me in a rock star suite.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Yeah, right which in the rock star suite.
I don't know that if youhaven't sailed virgin, they do
they not have guitars that youcan literally play there if
you're a musician?
I just want to put that outthere.
They also have a tattoo parlor.
What are some other things thatare just like next level?
Yeah, I mean that you don'tjust see anywhere yeah, the
(34:09):
massive suites on our ships.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
They're 2150 square feet large.
That's bigger than mostpeople's homes.
They do have a music room withfour different guitars that you
can play if you like at anypoint.
There's a bathroom you can playbaseball in.
I think you can get 25 peoplein the shower in there Not that
I'm encouraging people to dothat.
You know, it's not that coolBucket list challenge.
Just never know.
(34:32):
If you're a mermaid in waitingand you're in that suite, you
got to have friends come over,but the suites are next level.
I just got to tell you we takesuch good care of our mega rock
star people.
They get a red glove service,we call it.
They get their in-room barcurated for them.
So if there's a special type ofgin or tequila or whiskey,
whatever, we'll make sure theyhave it.
You know they're very takencare of.
(34:54):
Tattoo parlor at sea, correct?
If you want to get a tattoo, wehave amazing artists on board
and you can make a reservationas soon as you step on the ship.
We have a place for manis andpedis called the Tune Up.
We have beautiful places foryour hair and stubble and groom
for the guys.
Great shopping on High Street,even a vinyl record shop on our
ships for those folks who wantto buy vinyl records for the
(35:16):
suites, because all the suiteshave record players in them.
So just that next level ofdetail.
Attention to detail.
Each of our different bar areashave a completely different
vibe to them.
Sip champagne bars are a greatplace for that high-end martini
or glass of champagne.
We even do high tea there inthe afternoon.
If you'd like to pop in andhave tea, have a macaroon and a
(35:38):
nice little spot of tea becauseof our British heritage there.
So just little touches that youdon't even realize till you get
on board the ship that thosethings are happening.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Yeah, well, it all adds up to fabulous Like yeah,
it's an amazing cruise line thatI think is kind of next level,
that unless you've experiencedit, you won't understand exactly
what you're talking, what we'retalking about.
But I think that Virgin Voyagesis just an amazing cruise line
(36:12):
that everybody should put ontheir bucket list Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
I've got to tell you, in almost three years I've been
there, I've seen such a changein the recognition of who we are
.
You know, three years agopeople like now who are you
again?
What are you about?
You know that adult thing andwe're not so sure to just now.
Oh man, we went on, or we heardsomeone else went on and they
had a fabulous time.
We can't wait to try it out sothat you know.
Public recognition is coming.
(36:36):
More and more people arefinding out about us.
Our sailing club is filling upbecause once you sail twice with
us on your third sailing,you're a member of our sailing
club.
You get these deep blue extrasand little perks and things that
we add to you, uh, and then youget special invitations to
things and stuff like that.
So, and people are now sailingso many times that our sailing
club is becoming a big deal andvery popular as well.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
So yeah, that's fabulous.
Well, I appreciate.
Do you have anything else thatyou want to add?
Because I mean, how else couldwe make it like?
This is an amazing?
Yeah, how can you like?
Speaker 2 (37:13):
what else?
Speaker 1 (37:14):
what else do we need to tell you, like, get your ass
on this cruise I didn't eventouch on the fitness side that
we have.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
You know we talk about food and parties and all
that fun stuff because I lovethe fitness side yeah, the best
fitness facilities of anybody atsea.
We do the bungee classes.
If you ever want to have thosebungee fitness classes we do a
lot of.
We even do a little show, aclass called the vhs workout
that stands for videos,headbandsbands and Simmons.
You remember the old ShakeWeight commercial?
(37:41):
It's got a little bit of aninnuendo to it.
I guess we have a fun workoutclass called VHS where you wear
your old leotards from the 80s,you know, and your sweat bands
and your best Richard Simmonsimitation and we just have a
great time with that.
But you can sign up for otherfitness classes.
There's outdoor fitness areas.
So you know it's not just a onedimensional thing, it's like
(38:04):
open to all aspects of you knowwho you are.
If you you want to stay outlate and party, that's fine, but
you want to get up early andget a good sweat in, you can get
them both done yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
That's awesome and I know that with group cruises,
you know, depending on how youknow if you're looking into a
group cruise or something likethat, I know that the fitness
classes are there.
They do a specialized fitnessclass for you and your group,
you know it depends yeah, itdepends on how large it depends
on how long you're there.
If you it, or if you they willwork with you, is what I'm
(38:37):
trying to say.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Like they are so good with working with any group,
it's all about the sailorexperience and so anything we
can do to enhance that, be it anindividual or a group and we
love to have groups, don't getme wrong.
We have a lot of them, we callthem circles.
Where you've got, you know, 10or 12 cabins at least kind of
sailing together, we do aspecial dinner for that group
alone.
You know, and you ladies, asfirst mates, can arrange all of
(39:00):
that for folks who might want toreach out and say, hey, want to
get 10 or 20 cabins together.
What kind of deal can you giveme?
You guys can get on 10% off,you can get some extra perks
added to their booking.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
So tell us about Sailor Luke.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Yeah, we have two different things out there One
called Sailor Luke, which isreally just onboard credit, and
you probably hear us refer to itboth ways.
Onboard credit it's nicer assailor loot.
Yeah, I know you feel like.
You feel like you've got, uh,you've uh, you've raided a small
village and you're taking someloot with you, um, so yeah,
sailor loot is basically onboardcredit used for anything shore
experiences or anything youpurchase on the ship a hairdo, a
hair appointment or tattoos orwhatever.
(39:38):
You can use it for that.
And then bar tab is somethingyou can purchase prior to
sailing, and it's dedicated justto any beverages that have to
be made for you, so it doesn'thave to be alcoholic beverages.
It can be a mocktail, it can bea coffee, it could be a smoothie
which we do great at our barsup around the workout areas or
it can be alcohol, and so youcan purchase from $200 to $1,000
(40:00):
worth of bar tab and we throwsome extra money on top of that
and you use it just like youwould at a bar at home.
You got a tab running and youjust scan your band and once
it's gone, it's gone, and soit's a really cool way of
letting people prepare inadvance for any type of
purchases they want to make.
You guys can do it for them, orpeople can purchase it for them
in advance.
If they want to give a littlegift, say, buy them some bar,
(40:22):
tavern, sailor loot and let themspend it as they wish when they
get on board the ship.
Yeah, everything else isincluded.
So all the food, all the softdrinks, all that stuff's already
included, so you don't have toworry about paying for any of
those things, right, yeah?
Speaker 1 (40:34):
No tears.
There's no beverage package perse like that, like that's all
taken care of.
That's what I love about itit's just all taken care of up
front you don't have to worryabout walking up and looking at
it like what's included in mypackage.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
Am I at the right one ?
That that's a huge deal forespecially first-time cruisers
learning and navigating whatit's like to be on a cruise yeah
, we just try to keep it simple,you know.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
You know, if there's a cost to it, just use your band
, and if you've got a bar tab,it'll take care of it, or sailor
loot, it'll take care of it, ifnot, it's just charged against
your folio and you're fine.
But yeah, first timers reallyappreciate the simplicity we try
to, you know, have in oursystem here no-transcript when
(41:45):
they come off our ship, say thatthey are more conscious about
sustainability efforts afterbeing on board with us.
And it's not that we push it inyour face.
There's not.
Reuse, recycle, reduce all overthe place and on the ship it's
not.
And you're right, you don't seea lot of trash containers
because we have no single-useplastics on the ship anywhere.
So there's no water bottles,none of the plastic forks or any
of that stuff, and sinceeverything's included, you don't
(42:07):
have to sneak that stuff on theship in your luggage to have
the water in your room.
We put two glass carafts ofeither sparkling or still water
in your room and it's refreshedevery day, as is the ice, and
you have your own refrigeratorthere.
So, yeah, you don't have toworry about a lot of trash
because there's not a lot there.
Anything that's a grab-and-gofood item.
It's in a recyclable containerthat you actually use and it's
(42:29):
leaving your cabin and yourcabin steward takes it back and
we reuse it and recycle it andthen, throughout the rest of the
ship, food waste.
We don't serve you hugeportions.
We serve you huge portions.
We serve you several portionsif you want more than one, but
they're very reasonably sizedportions of food so that we're
not throwing a lot of stuff awayin that sense, either, that's
one of the biggest things thatcruise lines deal with is
getting rid of food that's notbeen eaten.
(42:50):
Since we don't have buffets andthings like that, we have very
little food waste as well, butit's just the whole vibe of the
ship.
You're just walking around andyou're thinking that is smart,
that is the way it should bedone.
Someone really thought aboutall the different things, but
the hammocks Yellow Leaf, thoseladies there's over 100,000
(43:12):
woven parts to each one of thosehammocks and they're handmade,
and I think it's Thailand and wesupport this company with all
of our guests representing.
Yes, they are incredible.
We represent a lot of womenowned businesses.
We have Intelligentsia Coffeeis, you know, a cooperative,
(43:32):
very supportive of local farmers, not a big corporate kind of
thing too.
So Mr Branson has been greatabout looking at every
opportunity to supportentrepreneurs, small businesses,
women-owned businesses andcertainly sustainable options
out there.
And it just kind of, you know,radiates to you when you sail
with us and people get off theship thinking when I get home
(43:54):
I'm going to be more consciousof that myself too.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
I love that.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
Yeah, it's really just the right way to do things
right.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
Yes, and I want to thank you for just the
descriptions and enthusiasm,because it shows and the way you
were describing everythingwe're like we're very envious
and ready to be on board.
So yeah, we have fomo yeah,when are you heading now on your
next cruise?
When are you heading?
Speaker 1 (44:22):
for your next cruise.
Where are you going?
What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (44:24):
I'm sailing in August and I'm looking forward to that
.
But it's actually on a sailingyou can't go on and I'm sorry
you can't, but it's actually theshakedown cruise for our new
ship.
When she comes across to NewYork, oh, brilliantly, she'll
let us employees go and we andwe know in advance that, hey,
this, there could be some thingswhere you know it's fine tuning
on the ship, the guinea pigsbut I'm looking forward to being
(44:44):
the guinea pig and kind ofbeing the first person to see
the ship the way she is and thatkind of thing.
But yeah, I'm sure I've gotsome other things.
My wife is going through thewebsite right now.
We may have a sailing beforeAugust that I can just go jump
on something to the DominicanRepublic or Costa Maya or
somewhere, because you know wecan't go more than about three
months without getting on theship at some point.
(45:04):
So I don't know and I got totell you ladies, this is sincere
for me.
I I really appreciate whatVirgin is all about.
Are we perfect?
No, no, no Cruise line isperfect.
We make our share of mistakes,but we try to correct them and
we try to be honest andtransparent.
When we do, we will be thefirst to say, hey, we screwed up
, let's get it right.
But I just love the fact thateveryone on the team is really
(45:27):
just trying to make a betterenvironment for people to enjoy
just a complete sense ofcommunity when we sail, and even
within our First Mate community.
I just love the way you ladiesare interacting with me and we
can just kind of, you know, feelthe same vibes of being in this
together and bringing alongyour sailors too, and let them
(45:50):
know that this is just going tobe a life-changing experience in
a lot of ways for you, thatthere are ways out there that
people can just come togetherand forget all the noise that's
happening in the world withtariffs and elections and
politics, and just be realpeople for however many days you
might be on that ship.
And that's what I love about,what we're all about.
Speaker 3 (46:12):
That's amazing, and thank you so much for joining us
today and telling us howamazing Virgin Voyages is, and
we can't wait to get that infoout to our listeners and we're
just thankful for you chattingwith us today.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
My pleasure.
Thank you so much for thisopportunity.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
Yeah, and we will be on one of these cruises in the
near future.
And look for me, for your brandambassador.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
I'm going to label you both as mermaids and,
waiting, I could just put you onthe side of one of our ships in
the future.
You know, I hope we have 20 or30 ships down the road and one
of them will be mermaid cheryland one may be mermaid denise,
and that would be awesome.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
Well, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
My pleasure.
Hey guys, so welcome welcome.
We have Tracy from VirginVoyages today, so welcome, Tracy
.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hey, thank you.
Thanks for having me, ladies.
This is exciting.
I'm looking forward to it.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, we're so happy to have you with us, so let's
spill the tea, get started.
What got you started in thetravel industry and what led you
to Virgin Voyages?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Wow, that's a long story.
It may take all of our timeGive us the condensed version.
I'm old ladies, let's do theReader's Digest version, okay,
1991.
Let's go back to that timeframe, graduating from college with a
degree in political science,which will take you nowhere.
I had my girlfriend at the timewho became my fiancee, who's
(01:02):
now my wife of 32 years.
We were talking about it.
She was a year behind me.
I said you know, I'm going totake my gap year at the end of
college before I really startworking.
Right, we didn't have gap yearsback in the 90s.
We didn't even hear that, right?
So I got a job as a tour guidewith a small tour company here
in Western North Carolina.
They'd never hired anybody 22years old.
(01:23):
Back then.
There was no technology likethis stuff where people could
look up the answers to things.
So I was a bus tour guide,starting in 91, for a few years
actually, and then we gotmarried and I kind of left the
road but actually stayed onworking with that company
internally, did some HR work forthem.
That company internally didsome HR work for them, and so
(01:47):
anyway, long story short, that'show I got started.
2017, let's just fast forward.
I left that tour company.
I actually left that companythree or four times over the
years to go make more moneybecause they were a family-run
business.
You know how that goes.
So they don't know how to giveyou a raise unless they miss you
and appreciate you.
Yes, yes, I left, but in 2017,had the chance to make a change
to a BDM role with the TravelCorporation and that's who I
(02:09):
went to work for.
First guided vacation business,but very high end, luxury, gold
and inside vacations, very goodproducts.
And then eventually, when COVIDhit, it kind of got combined.
I went over to Uniworld, riverCruising, coming out of COVID
with still with TTC.
I kept my job, thankfully, andthen, two and a half years ago a
little more than that I madethe change from Uniworld to
(02:33):
Virgin Voyages and never thoughtI'd work for an ocean cruise
brand.
I never really thought that wassomething I would, you know,
really gravitate toward.
But when I saw what RichardBranson was doing with this, I'm
like, yeah, I got to be a partof that.
So my career trajectorycompletely changed and I'm so
glad I made the change to Virgin.
So that's the short version ofa long story.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
I love it.
Yeah, yes.
So that leads us into whatmakes Virgin Voyages different
from other cruise lines.
What's the magic?
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Wow I would use and I don't think our marketing team
has ever used this phrase but weare the closest thing to an
uncruise as you can get,compared to what the other
cruise lines are like.
Nothing against what the othercruise lines do.
Let me be clear we're veryproud of the fact that there's
Carnival and Royal and NCL andMSC and all those great cruise
lines out there.
Trust me, they have paved theway for what Mr Branson decided
(03:26):
to do with us.
But Mr Branson never was a bigfan of traditional cruising
either, starting way back in the70s and 80s when he was
building his empire.
So about 10 or 15 years agothey said we don't want to start
a cruise brand, but let's dosomething different, let's
completely disrupt the industry.
So that's really what Virgin isabout.
We're not building huge megaships of 6,000 or 7,000 people.
(03:47):
Our ships are 2,500 to 2,700passengers.
They're all four just alikeright now.
It doesn't mean they'll be thatway in the future.
When we announce those futureships and I'm not spilling that
tea today I wish I knew,actually, but I don't.
But beautiful ships, moreboutique, more yacht style Even
with that many people, you cancreate a yacht type experience.
(04:09):
The food is off the chart.
Incredible Michelin star diningall included, your tips are
included, your Wi-Fi is included.
The things that Mr Branson says, hey, people are going to pay
for this anyway, let's just goahead and include it in the
cruise fare.
So it's more like a floatingboutique all-inclusive resort at
sea.
I love it.
So that's sort of where we fit,and I'm not going to say
(04:30):
anything disparaging about theother cruise lines, because they
do a great job with what theydo.
Right, if you're looking forsomething different and maybe
you're wanting to elevate yourexperience a bit, we fall into
into that premium space of areally nice boutique cruise
experience with no kids, andthat's the first starting point.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
That was what was going to lead me into the next
question.
So what about this?
Adults only, that's.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I mean no other cruise line has done this, like
adults only.
Yeah, I mean, there is oneother cruise line that kind of
leans in that direction, ofcourse, and they start with a V
as well.
They're known for their rivercruising and they do a great job
at that, but we're on the farend of the spectrum of adults
only from each other, right fromthat other.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
There are two different types of travelers.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yes, yeah, absolutely .
We have casinos on our ship.
They don't we have livelyentertainment.
I'm not saying that they don'thave lively entertainment.
We're more of a Vegas typeexperience that higher end, high
energy, as we said, adults onlybut a more progressive adults
only experience in the sensethat we're open to try new
(05:39):
things and do some fun, excitingthings and break new barriers
and embrace everyone.
The thing I love about theVirgin culture is we want
everyone to feel included andwelcome, from our sailors, which
are our guests, to our crew aswell, and you'll notice that our
crew.
We allow them to be themselves,we allow them to express
themselves through their ink orhair or piercings or whatever,
(06:04):
and we encourage them tointeract with the sailors too,
and that's a big difference, Ithink, in the cruise industry as
well.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
And welcoming having your sailors be welcomed by
someone that they can relate to,because they can vibe with
their crew people.
So what kind of travelersreally thrive with virtual
voyages?
What would be the ideal sailor?
Speaker 2 (06:26):
You know there's not a and people try to break things
down into demographics of ageand you know all that kind of
thing.
It's really not an age thingwith us.
It's typically.
The average passenger for us isbetween 30 and 70.
61% of our sailors are between30 and 70, actually probably
more than that.
Uh, there are more people over65 than under 25 on our ships,
(06:48):
even though we're adults.
Only we tend to still gravitatetoward that empty nester group,
the forties and fifties.
Yeah, who in the house is inthat group right now?
We have, as adults, or evenolder kids.
You know, 50, some percent ofour sailors are leaving kids at
home and they may.
I don't know what they're doingwith them.
I hope they're feeding them orhaving someone watch after them.
(07:10):
You know.
So a lot of our people stillhave kids at home, but they want
to get away for that, you know.
Adult getaway where it's justthem, they can reconnect, they
can, you know.
Or girlfriend getaways, smallgroups, celebrations.
We really gravitate to peoplelooking to have a good time and
to celebrate life, if you will.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Yeah, I love the brand features.
Like what you said, richardsays it's a no-cruise attitude,
so no buffets, no formal nights.
I love how Virgin has recreatedthis wheel.
What would you say for foodwise?
What would you say is like,give us, like, what is the one
(07:55):
place you would love to go everynight?
I mean because the food is whateverybody talks about too.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, yeah, once people kind of get over the fact
there's no kids, and then theystart talking about the food.
It's just, and I can't reallyspecify one particular
restaurant.
It depends on what you're inthe mood for that night.
And I've talked to some of myfriends who've never sailed with
us and they say, well, describehow you do that.
And I tell them, if you ever goto a really nice world-class
city, let's just name one outthere, say New York or San
(08:24):
Francisco or LA, wherever youwant to say a world-class city,
and you're going to be there forseveral days, let's say you
start in advance of thinkingabout the restaurants you want
to really enjoy at that place,and one night it might be an
Italian restaurant, becausethat's what they're really.
One night it might be a greatsteak and seafood, one night it
could be Mexican.
That's the way our ship is.
We have six different specialtyrestaurants that are included
(08:46):
in your cruise fare and itdepends on your mood that night.
Now a lot of folks gravitateimmediately toward the wake, and
the wake is our steak andseafood because that's safe,
right?
You know, everyone loves a goodsteak and everyone likes, you
know, a good piece of seafood,whatever it might be.
But then you get on board andyou're like man, that pink agave
, that Mexican place looksamazing.
And then you see, oh, the extravirgin, that's the Italian
(09:08):
place.
And then you hear peopletalking about Gun Bay Korean
barbecue at sea Nobody's everdone that where it's prepared
right in front of you.
That's crazy.
And then the test kitchen.
You're like well, I'm a foodie,I love to watch the Food
Network and I love to see howthey make stuff and it's really
a high level tasting menu.
Throw in the test kitchen inthere.
So.
And then Razzle Dazzle.
(09:29):
Each of our ships is going toget a little bit of a special.
You know flair at Razzle Dazzle, based on what we want that
ship's atmosphere to be.
So on Scarlet, now that's LuckyLotus.
At Razzle Dazzle.
On Brilliant, when she comesout in September, it's going to
be Roja.
And then let's see ValiantLady's going into Dry Dock for a
(09:49):
short couple of weeks.
May of next year She'll comeout with her own little twist on
Razzle Dazzle too.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
So we're giving a little bit of a unique layer to
each restaurant.
So, along with all those amazingfeatures you've already talked
about.
So, along with all thoseamazing features, you've already
talked about, one of the Ithink one of the interesting
things is entertainment, becauseit's it's a variety.
But what I also liked and Ithink it goes right along with
the adults only cruise is thatthey can be spicy.
(10:15):
I love that there is some spiceto some of that entertainment.
So what's the?
What kind of shows andentertainment can guests expect
to experience?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Yeah, it's going to vary by ship, but it's all going
to have very similar.
You know themes.
Now I want to say this too fromthe beginning.
You know, I started almostthree years ago.
The brand is still evolving.
When we came out, we werereally making that splash Like
we're adults only and we'regoing to prove it to you, right?
So there was an early showcalled Never Sleep Alone and
(10:47):
that show was really sort ofthat in your face.
You know the love and marriageshow that everyone else does on
their cruise lines, but theydon't say the words.
That kind of go with that.
They use code terms likewhoopee or whatever.
Well, on our show, never SleepAlone, we use the words and we
just came right out there andsaid you know?
Speaker 3 (11:07):
and it was good.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
It was well received.
But it also would catch somepeople who maybe came to us from
other cruise lines with alittle bit of a oh gosh, that's
a shock factor kind of thing.
So we pulled back a little biton the over the top risque, if
you want to look at it that way.
But our general entertainmentthe show called Dual Reality
that we do on almost all of ourships right now that is an
award-winning show that'sactually been taken to land from
(11:31):
the sea.
It's Cirque du Soleil meetsWest Side Story, so it's like
two teams that are competing,but they're acrobats and they're
on, they're flying all over theplace and it's just really cool
.
And the ending of that show,which I won't give away, is
exactly what our country and ourworld needs, the way to see
that show ends.
It's just people comingtogether the way they should,
(11:53):
and I think it's a great storyfor us to take off the ship as
well.
Another great show that I justlove.
It's only about an hour long.
It's called Persephone.
I just love it's only about anhour long.
It's called Persephone and it'sbased in Greek mythology.
And you talk about Vegas.
There are sparkly, mirrored,sequined body suits in this show
(12:15):
I would try to get one becauseit looks awesome.
There's Hades and then there's,you know, the heaven area for
Greek mythology.
It's really a cool story, yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
You ladies would fit.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Which one would be.
In which area Do y'all oh, wetake turns.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
It depends on the night or the atmosphere, but we
definitely take turns.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Yeah, yeah.
Or the cocktails and don't getme wrong, the cocktails are
definitely helpful, but theshows are just edgy enough for
you to know hey, this is anadult's only experience, just
different to know that no othercruise line would do anything
like this.
This is so cool and our spacethat we do the shows in are so
flexible and usable.
We have a show called theUntitled Dance Show Party Theme.
(13:00):
That is the name of the showUntitled Dance Show, dance show
party thing.
Stages move around you as youmove around and dancers move
around and it's like the wildestlooking dance show you've ever
seen.
And, yes, you participate, youcan do the line dancing.
It's just a lot of fun thatsounds awesome.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
Yeah, it does sound awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
Um well, you that red is my signature color.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
It's beautiful because it goes very well.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
I know I could be your brand ambassador and I've
been told I give mermaid sirenvibes, so we'll talk about that
after the interview, but soScarlet Knight always makes a
splash, right.
Yes, can you walk us throughthat experience for those of us
that have not been on there?
Speaker 2 (13:48):
I have to say, you know you hear people talk about
things in life that you have toexperience one time.
Maybe it's running with thebulls, maybe it's, you know,
just one of those really coollife-changing experiences.
Scarlet night's kind of one ofthose things to me.
You know you need to experiencethe full measure of Scarlet
Knight at least one time.
Now every ship does the sameprogramming, if you will, but
(14:12):
every crowd has a different vibeand so there's a different
feeling.
I've experienced Scarlet Knightten times now in the last three
years and each of those tentimes has been somewhat
different than the others, eventhough the programming is very
much the same.
It's where our ship is totallytaken over by the happenings
crew, which is our answer tocruise directors.
There's 12 different happeningscrew members.
(14:32):
We start with a fun littleepisode in the roundabout area
where we actually have a weddingand it's all a contrived fun
little wedding, and then there'sa reception and then we're
moving throughout the ship,there's all kind of pop-up
activities and it finishes witha beautiful dance party up
around the pool until two in themorning.
(14:53):
Nobody does a party like Virgindoes a party and the lights.
It's like being in adiscotheque the best discotheque
you can think of, but floatingat sea with open stars above you
.
It's just off the charts.
And dress in your red, or don't?
You don't have to.
It's scarlet's the theme.
Yeah, it's all optional.
(15:14):
Dancing in the pool is not?
You are required to dance inthe pool at some point I'm
writing that down right now.
Memo that'll be part of your uminterview to be the next mermaid
on our future show, oh yeah, sothat's.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
There's a lot of different things that you've
talked about so far that Virginoffers outside of other cruises,
but what's something that youwould say that they're first
time sailors on Virgin are mostsurprised by?
Speaker 2 (15:44):
I think they're most surprised by the amount of
information they receive withoutit being forced upon them.
You know we have a cool app andjust a little bit of tea.
A new app is coming out thissummer, because that's been some
things that people complainabout Apps are always glitchy
and things like that Brand newapp.
(16:04):
I just got off a call thismorning that there's a brand new
app launching this summer.
We use that exclusively.
You don't have to have a lot ofpaperwork, you don't have to
bring anything with you to ourterminal.
We're very progressive in thatsense.
And then when you get on theship, there's no announcements.
Nobody's screaming at you everyfive minutes that bingo is
starting here or that's going onthere.
But you still feel like part ofa big community because there's
(16:25):
information flowing to you allthe time and you get to know
other sailors, you get to knowcrew members and they talk about
the activities that arehappening.
Hey, don't forget, we got ashow happening tonight at this
time.
Or there's a pop-up music groupat the On the Rocks event
coming up, or you know, it'sjust one of those.
You feel like you're part of afamily, but even funner than a
(16:46):
family when you get on that ship, that everybody's there
together to have a great timeand make sure other people have
a great time.
So the sense of community onceyou get on board, I think, is
something that surprises people,because a lot of times people
cruise just to get away and dotheir own thing and kind of just
, you know, be in their littletwo-person bubble.
You can do that with us.
But the feeling on board isjust such a collaborative you
(17:09):
know cooperative feeling.
When you're laying by the poolyou're like, hey, I'll watch
that for you if you need to runback to your cabin for a minute.
I don't know who you are, butwe're all here together having a
great time.
And that's really, I think,what a lot of people don't
realize until they step aboardthe ship and I will the way you
explain.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
That is kind of the way I felt when, when we were
going through our training whichI will say y'all have amazing
training for us, tas um it thething that kind of I was like
wowing over was the lessstructure and formality of
cruising, because I know I'vebeen on cruises where I'm
looking at okay, what is thetypical itinerary?
What time dinner do I have to?
(17:48):
Should I be selecting the shows, the theme nights?
And what kept coming acrossover and over again is we're
going to give you Virgin Boys,are going to give you that
experience.
If that's what you want, youcan go and schedule a sit down
type of dinner if you want, oryou can just pop in when it's
free.
Wear what you want.
Like that was a big thing,because a lot of people worry
(18:08):
about what do I wear on a cruise?
Do I have to dress up?
Do I have to wear?
Do guys have to wear theirkhakis?
Can they wear short?
Like it was such a verydifferent.
Come relax, you're coming to afamily cookout kind of vibe.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Yeah, if you ever meet Mr Branson, he puts that
off as a person he is.
You know.
He's a billionaire, of course,and he owns thousands of
different businesses andcompanies or whatever, but his
personal vibe is like you be you, I be me, we be us together,
and there's no formality in allof that.
Just be comfortable in yourskin.
(18:42):
Now, being comfortable meansyou want to wear a tuxedo.
Wear a tuxedo, I don't care.
But being comfortable meansyou're wearing cutoff jeans and
a t-shirt.
That's fine too.
It's not about the pretense,it's about the substance of each
person and acknowledging andrecognizing those beautiful
qualities that each person has,be it a sailor or a crew member,
(19:04):
and we're all on there togethercelebrating that, and that's
just such a warm feeling whenyou step on board and you can
feel like that I can be myauthentic self, I can relax and
realize no one here is judgingme and from there I can enjoy
great food, great show, quiettime, peaceful places or party
till 2 am it's my choice.
My option is for party till 2am.
(19:26):
It's my choice, my option.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
I do love that, I love, I love that.
This is amazing, yeah.
So our like, I'm very blingy,some people are down cutoffs.
It, everybody's welcome, right?
I love that attitude.
So our audience does love alittle luxury, a lot of fun.
No judgment, I love it.
So which Virgin Voyages?
I'm going to give you a coupledifferent because you know the
(19:51):
itineraries.
So I'm going to give you acouple scenarios because anybody
can enjoy a Virgin Voyagesvacation.
So for what would you recommend?
For, like, a girl's trip?
What voyage maybe for a girl'strip?
Speaker 2 (20:04):
Well, oftentimes when you're dealing with a lot of
ladies having to come together,you've got to be mindful of
schedules and sometimes peopledon't have the same amount of
time off.
The most popular girl stripwould probably be our Fire and
Sunset Soiree, which is out ofMiami.
It's five days.
Yeah, it's five days, fournights.
Traditionally it's aroundWednesday through Sunday, but I
think we're scheduling that overto Thursday to Monday and that
(20:26):
still works with a lot ofpeople's schedules.
But yeah, and it's really.
Key West is a great destination,don't get me wrong.
You know we got a day at seaafter we leave Miami.
Then we pull into Key West onthat Friday or Saturday and you
spend the whole day.
If you want to go get Kermit'syou know key lime pie, or go see
the southernmost point or visitHemingway's house, or just get
Sloppy Joe's and Hogs Breath andall the great bars, you can do
(20:48):
that.
Key West is great.
But then you come back on theship and then you've got that
evening another day at sea andthen your beach club at Bimini
is your last day before you comeback home.
It's just a perfect littleshorter time frame for the
girlfriends to get away.
Have two days at sea, to lay bythe pool and have your
cocktails, have a great stop atKey West and also at Bimini, and
(21:09):
it's a shorter time frame Now,if you ask me, if you all can
get the time, go further andmaybe even sail out of San Juan
and go down to the easternAntilles and some of the ABC
Islands and some of the furtherdestinations that a lot of the
other larger cruise ships can'tget into, if the ports are
(21:29):
really important to you.
But oftentimes, typically withgirlfriend getaways, they're not
worried about the ports,they're worried about their time
together and one of thoseshorter four or five night
sailings are perfect for that,and we see a lot of that on
those shorter sailings out ofMiami.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yeah, Awesome, yeah, well, so, and I was going to say
like well, what about like amidlife birthday blowout?
It sounds like you just talkedabout that going down to the ABC
Islands, but do you have anykind of like?
So I know you have a five daycruise.
What are some of your longercruise?
If you wanted to just have alike a next level pate, send us.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah, if you're thinking anywhere in the world,
let me just tell you my favoriteplace for a longer type sailing
Get on a plane and fly toAthens and jump on a ship out of
Piraeus, the Athens port there,go over and, if you want to, if
it's on your bucket list to doMykonos, santorini, crete,
bodrum, turkey, all those greatspots they're fantastic.
But for me, my personalfavorite is go the other way and
(22:31):
head toward the north and westand go up to Croatia and check
out Dubrovnik and check outplaces like Corfu.
Montenegro is a great littlestop that we do and they are
pulling into that port.
It's like you're going into aScandinavian city with all the
mountains on each side.
You don't expect to see that onthe Adriatic Sea.
That's not something that'sgoing to go.
(22:51):
And so for me, those littlehidden gem type destinations,
you can do a seven night or youcan do a 12 night sailing to
that part of the world andextend that Croatian spots
sailing over into, likeSantorini and Mykonos too.
So for me, that's sort of myfavorite areas.
We got great stuff out ofBarcelona that starts in
(23:12):
Barcelona and goes over to Rome.
It does the beautiful portsthere along Italy and Sicily and
these spaces.
The coast of France, of course,is popular.
Ibiza.
We spend the night in Ibiza ona couple of different
itineraries and if you wonderwhy we do that, just Google
Ibiza, you'll find out.
It's a place you want to stayall night.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Party.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, so those are my bucket list type places.
If you want to get away withyou and a significant other or a
small group, look at thoseMediterranean and even Northern
European.
We have stuff out of the UKthat goes up into Amsterdam and
further north, up into theOrkney Islands and places like
that, northern Scotland andIreland, and eventually we're
(23:53):
going to do Greenland andIceland and all these places as
well.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
Oh, nice yeah yeah.
I can't wait for that.
Come to find out.
I just got my DNA done.
I'm 29% Scottish.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Oh, well, then you need to pop in.
You know, maybe go over andstay at the Virgin Hotel in
Edinburgh and then jump on theship and tour around.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Yeah, Well, when I'm in a brand ambassador, I'm going
to be everything we're going tocall you a mermaid in waiting.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
How about that?
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Yeah.
I do want to comment on theovernight stay, because that is
not something typically done andI think that is such an amazing
opportunity when you can spendthe night like see the nightlife
of the port that you're in,because usually you're sailing
out, you're seeing the sunset asyou're leaving a port or it's
even a little bit later, but tobe able to experience the
(24:42):
nightlife in those areas isprobably amazing.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, that's a key part when Mr Branson started
talking about this.
You know why do we want toleave right at the time that a
destination is starting to wakeup and come to life, you know.
So if it's one of thosedestinations, you need to be
there to see the nightlife.
We will spend the night.
A lot of times.
We spend the night in Amsterdam, we spend the night in
Reykjavik, Scotland, Ireland,Iceland.
We spend the night in Mykonos,on the island of Mykonos.
(25:06):
I'm sorry, Denise.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I'm sorry, I didn't need to interrupt.
I just heard Iceland, northernLights.
A lot of people like all aboutthe Northern Lights.
So people that want to seeNorthern Lights, iceland, where
are you saying that's the cruisefor you?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
That's exactly right.
We have some amazing voyages tosee the eclipse and the
Northern Lights at the same time, in 2026 as well.
Those marvelous voyages, yeah.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
Nice.
Yeah, what's something that youwish every travel advisor like
our travel that we knew aboutVirgin Voyages, that we can make
sure we're getting that outthere for us that we might miss,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
The biggest obstacle I see to travel advisors or
first mates we call them is thatthey oftentimes will pigeonhole
us into just a party vibe onlyfor 20 to 35 year old kids to
experience.
Here's the deal If you're over18 and you're not traveling with
kids, you should consider us,because we offer everything you
(26:06):
might want and I don't care ifyou're 80.
There was a great recent alittle blogger, young lady, I
call her young, she's almost 30.
My daughter's 28.
So I can kind of relate, she'sstill young.
Just did a recent great littleblog that I saw where she was on
the ship with seven familymembers and 80th birthday party
for her grandmother and thewhole three, four generations
(26:27):
had a fabulous time time.
And so that just tells me tolet first dates and travel
advisors know doesn't matter theage, it doesn't matter the
maturity level, as long asyou're over 18 and you're ready
to have a great time, givevirgin a shot.
You know, here in the south too, we have to kind of overcome
that stigma that sometimesattached to you know adults only
(26:51):
people think, oh, that's alittle bit too risky.
I grew up Southern Baptist guys,so I get it.
We're a little littleconservative about things
sometimes, but when you get onthat ship you just realize
everybody can do their own thing.
Nothing's being forced on youwhatsoever.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
You don't have to go to the drag show.
Yeah, we had the diva on theship I was going to mention.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
You know people are like oh, I don't know if I'll be
around a drag queen, you don'thave to be.
I've spoken to all of ourwonderful drag queens, be it
Dixie Crystals or Titi Kaka orany of our wonderful drag queens
, they get it.
There are some people who just,which is a very small percent,
and they're fine with that.
That's cool.
There's 2,500 other people onthis ship who are into it, so
(27:31):
it's perfectly fine.
Speaker 1 (27:32):
Yeah, I love that.
Yeah, I do love that.
So, that being said, are thereany upcoming promos, fam trips,
new itineraries?
I know we're going to talkabout Alaska, right, because
hello.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Alaska's doing fantastically well for us.
People are so excited about thevirgin twist on Alaska starting
next year, of course, andthat's going to be on the newest
ship she's launching here inSeptember, brilliant Lady.
She'll be in the Northeast fora bit.
You know she'll do a couplestints out of New York City and
then on up to Quebec and thenshe'll even come a nice 13-day
sailing from Quebec down toMiami along the whole East Coast
(28:11):
, popping even into Charleston,south Carolina down here, which
is kind of cool.
So we're excited aboutBrilliant.
There are some good promotionsspecifically for Brilliant
sailings this fall and winter.
So if you're interested inmaybe getting on our newest
ladieship, check out your firstmate.
Make sure to talk to you guysabout these wonderful new quick
promotions we've got going on.
(28:31):
But through the month of Mayright now, 75% off the second
sailor, plus there's some cashincentives out there, depending
on the particular sailing andhow long it might be up to $500
instant savings on a lot ofthose.
And you'll see we'll run somelittle flash things happening
here in the next, you know,month or two as well.
So just keep an eye out andstay in close contact with your
(28:52):
first mate so that they can giveyou the heads up when something
special might drop.
Sometimes we'll run a littleweekend sale and things like
that which, cheryl and I areyour first mates.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
We are gold level.
Yes, we can help you bookanything you would like to book.
I did see the new brilliantlady had an option, if you sail
out of New York, to have a stayover at the Virgin Voyage Hotel,
which is fabulous.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yes, and that was a limited thing.
I don't know if all the roomsare gone yet because obviously
the hotel only has limited space.
So if you're interested in that, reach out ASAP because I'm
sure some of the dates may havealready sold out of all the
rooms they have in a block there.
But those little cutepromotions are great where we
can kind of cross brand with ourVirgin Hotel partners and let
folks experience both the landand sea with us as well.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, well, going forward.
So what's next for VirginVoyages?
Is there any other excitingteasers, anything?
Anything you can offer us?
Speaker 2 (29:51):
Yeah there'll be some new announcements throughout
the summer that I can't get indepth on, but talking about some
more of these new shows andgiving you little sneak peeks on
like our Murder Mystery Dinnershow that's coming out, that's
my jam.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Murder Mysteries are my jam.
That's my jam.
Murder Mysteries are my jam.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
There'll be some shows where maybe you pick the
ending.
As sailors, you guys get achance to pick how you want the
show to end.
It's very interactive with oursailors.
There'll be a time machinemusic show debuting and stuff
like that too, and then evensome sneak peeks onto some of
the tweaks that we're making onBrilliant Lady, since she will
(30:30):
be going to Alaska.
We're kind of creating somecool viewing areas and things
like that on Brilliant, sothere'll be a little bit of a
difference on her compared tothe other three ships we have
out there.
So we'll be dropping teasers onall that throughout the summer.
The new app that we're excitedabout, too, is going to be
popping up and that I saw apreview of it today.
It's going to be so easy tobook your dining, to connect
with other sailors, to go aheadand book.
(30:51):
You don't have to book shows,but you can put them into your
calendar.
Those are free, but you'll knowexactly your whole daily
schedule.
There's a great little planneron that new app and things like
that coming too.
So we're tweaking things andmaking it better for our sailors
and we're taking their feedbackand letting they're letting us
know what they'd like to see.
You know, change, improved orupdated.
Some new menu items are comingout too, and our eat and drink
(31:14):
festival is happening in july.
So if you're sailing in july,you're going to get some really
cool cocktails, food andappetizers and really fun stuff
with eat and drink as well nice,that's awesome joke to Note to
self sail in July Right.
Any sailing you can get on inJuly, you're going to be
impressed with some cool foodoptions for you.
(31:36):
But the 2026 Alaska, there'sgoing to be an eat and drink
festival sailing that's justdedicated to eat and drink in
Alaska and that's a coolitinerary you might want to
check out for next year.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
I certainly will.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
I'm assuming they're going to or maybe I shouldn't
assume that cuisine that wouldbe from Alaska, like more.
Oh, that's exciting.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
We always try to tie into that local destination.
So even during Eat and DrinkMonth in the Mediterranean
there'll be like Opa hours andsome fun things tying into the
Greek, you know, food andtradition there, maybe Spanish,
coastline, italian, all thatkind of stuff for those sailings
throughout Europe too.
So those eat and drinkfestivals are a lot of fun and
they tie into that local culture.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
That's awesome, all right, so we have a fun little
rapid fire we're going to doreal quick First thing that
comes to mind Okay, yourfavorite port.
Athens oh favorite port, athens.
Oh, awesome, your go-tococktail on board.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Let me go back to favorite port Dubrovnik,
actually out of Athens.
So Dubrovnik is my favoriteport, but I love anything we do
out of Athens, so all thoseports around there.
Favorite cocktail oh gosh, Ihad a cocktail called a Yellow
Bird one time.
That was amazing on the rocks.
It was one of their specialties.
They were running and I wouldget it every night.
Not sure if it's still runningright now, but it had some
(32:56):
ginger beer, some vodka.
It was really a unique color.
It had a beautiful flower in itand everything.
So that was my favorite cocktailon the ship.
We make a mean margaritaeverywhere.
I'm a margarita guy.
Speaker 3 (33:08):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Best tequila, best mezcal anywhere is on Virgin,
especially at Pink Agave.
So go get you a margarita there, even if you're not having
dinner.
It's great.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
That sounds amazing.
All right, a margarita there,even if you're not having dinner
.
It's great.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
That sounds amazing all right, so pool side chill or
party till sunrise, pool sidechill.
But I'll get up at sunrise andgo take a walk around the
walking track.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Yeah, yeah so rock star or sea terrace rock star
yeah hello yeah, but sea terraceis not too shabby sea terrace
is a great second choice, butright.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Yeah, give me an agent who's going to take care
of things for me.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Put me in a rock star suite.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Yeah, right which in the rock star suite.
I don't know that if youhaven't sailed virgin, they do
they not have guitars that youcan literally play there if
you're a musician?
I just want to put that outthere.
They also have a tattoo parlor.
What are some other things thatare just like next level?
Yeah, I mean that you don'tjust see anywhere yeah, the
(34:09):
massive suites on our ships.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
They're 2150 square feet large.
That's bigger than mostpeople's homes.
They do have a music room withfour different guitars that you
can play if you like at anypoint.
There's a bathroom you can playbaseball in.
I think you can get 25 peoplein the shower in there Not that
I'm encouraging people to dothat.
You know, it's not that coolBucket list challenge.
Just never know.
(34:32):
If you're a mermaid in waitingand you're in that suite, you
got to have friends come over,but the suites are next level.
I just got to tell you we takesuch good care of our mega rock
star people.
They get a red glove service,we call it.
They get their in-room barcurated for them.
So if there's a special type ofgin or tequila or whiskey,
whatever, we'll make sure theyhave it.
You know they're very takencare of.
(34:54):
Tattoo parlor at sea, correct?
If you want to get a tattoo, wehave amazing artists on board
and you can make a reservationas soon as you step on the ship.
We have a place for manis andpedis called the Tune Up.
We have beautiful places foryour hair and stubble and groom
for the guys.
Great shopping on High Street,even a vinyl record shop on our
ships for those folks who wantto buy vinyl records for the
(35:16):
suites, because all the suiteshave record players in them.
So just that next level ofdetail.
Attention to detail.
Each of our different bar areashave a completely different
vibe to them.
Sip champagne bars are a greatplace for that high-end martini
or glass of champagne.
We even do high tea there inthe afternoon.
If you'd like to pop in andhave tea, have a macaroon and a
(35:38):
nice little spot of tea becauseof our British heritage there.
So just little touches that youdon't even realize till you get
on board the ship that thosethings are happening.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Yeah, well, it all adds up to fabulous Like yeah,
it's an amazing cruise line thatI think is kind of next level,
that unless you've experiencedit, you won't understand exactly
what you're talking, what we'retalking about.
But I think that Virgin Voyagesis just an amazing cruise line
(36:12):
that everybody should put ontheir bucket list Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
I've got to tell you, in almost three years I've been
there, I've seen such a changein the recognition of who we are
.
You know, three years agopeople like now who are you
again?
What are you about?
You know that adult thing andwe're not so sure to just now.
Oh man, we went on, or we heardsomeone else went on and they
had a fabulous time.
We can't wait to try it out sothat you know.
Public recognition is coming.
(36:36):
More and more people arefinding out about us.
Our sailing club is filling upbecause once you sail twice with
us on your third sailing,you're a member of our sailing
club.
You get these deep blue extrasand little perks and things that
we add to you, uh, and then youget special invitations to
things and stuff like that.
So, and people are now sailingso many times that our sailing
club is becoming a big deal andvery popular as well.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
So yeah, that's fabulous.
Well, I appreciate.
Do you have anything else thatyou want to add?
Because I mean, how else couldwe make it like?
This is an amazing?
Yeah, how can you like?
Speaker 2 (37:13):
what else?
Speaker 1 (37:14):
what else do we need to tell you, like, get your ass
on this cruise I didn't eventouch on the fitness side that
we have.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
You know we talk about food and parties and all
that fun stuff because I lovethe fitness side yeah, the best
fitness facilities of anybody atsea.
We do the bungee classes.
If you ever want to have thosebungee fitness classes we do a
lot of.
We even do a little show, aclass called the vhs workout
that stands for videos,headbandsbands and Simmons.
You remember the old ShakeWeight commercial?
(37:41):
It's got a little bit of aninnuendo to it.
I guess we have a fun workoutclass called VHS where you wear
your old leotards from the 80s,you know, and your sweat bands
and your best Richard Simmonsimitation and we just have a
great time with that.
But you can sign up for otherfitness classes.
There's outdoor fitness areas.
So you know it's not just a onedimensional thing, it's like
(38:04):
open to all aspects of you knowwho you are.
If you you want to stay outlate and party, that's fine, but
you want to get up early andget a good sweat in, you can get
them both done yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
That's awesome and I know that with group cruises,
you know, depending on how youknow if you're looking into a
group cruise or something likethat, I know that the fitness
classes are there.
They do a specialized fitnessclass for you and your group,
you know it depends yeah, itdepends on how large it depends
on how long you're there.
If you it, or if you they willwork with you, is what I'm
(38:37):
trying to say.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
Like they are so good with working with any group,
it's all about the sailorexperience and so anything we
can do to enhance that, be it anindividual or a group and we
love to have groups, don't getme wrong.
We have a lot of them, we callthem circles.
Where you've got, you know, 10or 12 cabins at least kind of
sailing together, we do aspecial dinner for that group
alone.
You know, and you ladies, asfirst mates, can arrange all of
(39:00):
that for folks who might want toreach out and say, hey, want to
get 10 or 20 cabins together.
What kind of deal can you giveme?
You guys can get on 10% off,you can get some extra perks
added to their booking.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
So tell us about Sailor Luke.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Yeah, we have two different things out there One
called Sailor Luke, which isreally just onboard credit, and
you probably hear us refer to itboth ways.
Onboard credit it's nicer assailor loot.
Yeah, I know you feel like.
You feel like you've got, uh,you've uh, you've raided a small
village and you're taking someloot with you, um, so yeah,
sailor loot is basically onboardcredit used for anything shore
experiences or anything youpurchase on the ship a hairdo, a
hair appointment or tattoos orwhatever.
(39:38):
You can use it for that.
And then bar tab is somethingyou can purchase prior to
sailing, and it's dedicated justto any beverages that have to
be made for you, so it doesn'thave to be alcoholic beverages.
It can be a mocktail, it can bea coffee, it could be a smoothie
which we do great at our barsup around the workout areas or
it can be alcohol, and so youcan purchase from $200 to $1,000
(40:00):
worth of bar tab and we throwsome extra money on top of that
and you use it just like youwould at a bar at home.
You got a tab running and youjust scan your band and once
it's gone, it's gone, and soit's a really cool way of
letting people prepare inadvance for any type of
purchases they want to make.
You guys can do it for them, orpeople can purchase it for them
in advance.
If they want to give a littlegift, say, buy them some bar,
(40:22):
tavern, sailor loot and let themspend it as they wish when they
get on board the ship.
Yeah, everything else isincluded.
So all the food, all the softdrinks, all that stuff's already
included, so you don't have toworry about paying for any of
those things, right, yeah?
Speaker 1 (40:34):
No tears.
There's no beverage package perse like that, like that's all
taken care of.
That's what I love about itit's just all taken care of up
front you don't have to worryabout walking up and looking at
it like what's included in mypackage.
Speaker 3 (40:49):
Am I at the right one ?
That that's a huge deal forespecially first-time cruisers
learning and navigating whatit's like to be on a cruise yeah
, we just try to keep it simple,you know.
Speaker 2 (40:58):
You know, if there's a cost to it, just use your band
, and if you've got a bar tab,it'll take care of it, or sailor
loot, it'll take care of it, ifnot, it's just charged against
your folio and you're fine.
But yeah, first timers reallyappreciate the simplicity we try
to, you know, have in oursystem here no-transcript when
(41:45):
they come off our ship, say thatthey are more conscious about
sustainability efforts afterbeing on board with us.
And it's not that we push it inyour face.
There's not.
Reuse, recycle, reduce all overthe place and on the ship it's
not.
And you're right, you don't seea lot of trash containers
because we have no single-useplastics on the ship anywhere.
So there's no water bottles,none of the plastic forks or any
of that stuff, and sinceeverything's included, you don't
(42:07):
have to sneak that stuff on theship in your luggage to have
the water in your room.
We put two glass carafts ofeither sparkling or still water
in your room and it's refreshedevery day, as is the ice, and
you have your own refrigeratorthere.
So, yeah, you don't have toworry about a lot of trash
because there's not a lot there.
Anything that's a grab-and-gofood item.
It's in a recyclable containerthat you actually use and it's
(42:29):
leaving your cabin and yourcabin steward takes it back and
we reuse it and recycle it andthen, throughout the rest of the
ship, food waste.
We don't serve you hugeportions.
We serve you huge portions.
We serve you several portionsif you want more than one, but
they're very reasonably sizedportions of food so that we're
not throwing a lot of stuff awayin that sense, either, that's
one of the biggest things thatcruise lines deal with is
getting rid of food that's notbeen eaten.
(42:50):
Since we don't have buffets andthings like that, we have very
little food waste as well, butit's just the whole vibe of the
ship.
You're just walking around andyou're thinking that is smart,
that is the way it should bedone.
Someone really thought aboutall the different things, but
the hammocks Yellow Leaf, thoseladies there's over 100,000
(43:12):
woven parts to each one of thosehammocks and they're handmade,
and I think it's Thailand and wesupport this company with all
of our guests representing.
Yes, they are incredible.
We represent a lot of womenowned businesses.
We have Intelligentsia Coffeeis, you know, a cooperative,
(43:32):
very supportive of local farmers, not a big corporate kind of
thing too.
So Mr Branson has been greatabout looking at every
opportunity to supportentrepreneurs, small businesses,
women-owned businesses andcertainly sustainable options
out there.
And it just kind of, you know,radiates to you when you sail
with us and people get off theship thinking when I get home
(43:54):
I'm going to be more consciousof that myself too.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
I love that.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
Yeah, it's really just the right way to do things
right.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
Yes, and I want to thank you for just the
descriptions and enthusiasm,because it shows and the way you
were describing everythingwe're like we're very envious
and ready to be on board.
So yeah, we have fomo yeah,when are you heading now on your
next cruise?
When are you heading?
Speaker 1 (44:22):
for your next cruise.
Where are you going?
What are you doing?
Speaker 2 (44:24):
I'm sailing in August and I'm looking forward to that
.
But it's actually on a sailingyou can't go on and I'm sorry
you can't, but it's actually theshakedown cruise for our new
ship.
When she comes across to NewYork, oh, brilliantly, she'll
let us employees go and we andwe know in advance that, hey,
this, there could be some thingswhere you know it's fine tuning
on the ship, the guinea pigsbut I'm looking forward to being
(44:44):
the guinea pig and kind ofbeing the first person to see
the ship the way she is and thatkind of thing.
But yeah, I'm sure I've gotsome other things.
My wife is going through thewebsite right now.
We may have a sailing beforeAugust that I can just go jump
on something to the DominicanRepublic or Costa Maya or
somewhere, because you know wecan't go more than about three
months without getting on theship at some point.
(45:04):
So I don't know and I got totell you ladies, this is sincere
for me.
I I really appreciate whatVirgin is all about.
Are we perfect?
No, no, no Cruise line isperfect.
We make our share of mistakes,but we try to correct them and
we try to be honest andtransparent.
When we do, we will be thefirst to say, hey, we screwed up
, let's get it right.
But I just love the fact thateveryone on the team is really
(45:27):
just trying to make a betterenvironment for people to enjoy
just a complete sense ofcommunity when we sail, and even
within our First Mate community.
I just love the way you ladiesare interacting with me and we
can just kind of, you know, feelthe same vibes of being in this
together and bringing alongyour sailors too, and let them
(45:50):
know that this is just going tobe a life-changing experience in
a lot of ways for you, thatthere are ways out there that
people can just come togetherand forget all the noise that's
happening in the world withtariffs and elections and
politics, and just be realpeople for however many days you
might be on that ship.
And that's what I love about,what we're all about.
Speaker 3 (46:12):
That's amazing, and thank you so much for joining us
today and telling us howamazing Virgin Voyages is, and
we can't wait to get that infoout to our listeners and we're
just thankful for you chattingwith us today.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
My pleasure.
Thank you so much for thisopportunity.
Speaker 1 (46:30):
Yeah, and we will be on one of these cruises in the
near future.
And look for me, for your brandambassador.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
I'm going to label you both as mermaids and,
waiting, I could just put you onthe side of one of our ships in
the future.
You know, I hope we have 20 or30 ships down the road and one
of them will be mermaid cheryland one may be mermaid denise,
and that would be awesome.
Speaker 3 (46:56):
Well, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
My pleasure.
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