Virgin Voyages Has a New Start Date

“Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 

For what seems like the hundredth time, we present to you an article about a cruise line pushing back their start date. Today it’s the highly anticipated Virgin Voyages and their two ships Scarlet Lady and Valiant Lady. 

The new dates are as follows: 

–Scarlet Lady will begin operation from Miami on May 9, 2021

–Valiant Lady will begin operation in the Mediterranean on November 14, 2021 

The May 9th date means that Virgin Voyages will have delayed the start of their first ship by 15 months. We’ve been covering the cruise line since Sir Richard Branson first announced the venture more than six years ago. From the steel cutting to the float outs, we’ve been drooling over the details of these brand new ships and it’s simply devastating for both the cruise line and travelers that we can’t enjoy them yet. 

Virgin Voyages first cancelled cruises last March when the CDC’s no-sail order went into effect mere DAYS before Scarlet Lady’s inaugural cruise. At the time, the pause seemed temporary and if you had told any of us here at Porthole Cruise that it would be more than a year of waiting, you would have been laughed out of the room. 

But, here we are. 

Interview with Virgin Voyages CEO Tom McAlpin

Porthole Cruise Magazine Founder and Editor-in-Chief Bill Panoff was recently joined by Virgin Voyages CEO Tom McAlpin for an interview and it was clear everyone at Virgin Voyages is itching to get started. He didn’t give us any details about the debut party, but he sure teased it! 

“You know this is Virgin, you know we do things big, we know how to throw parties. So clearly we are not just launching a ship, we are launching a whole new brand so we will do it the Virgin way it will be spectacular, trust me,” McAlpin said.

Check out the full interview below: