Would I Cruise with Virgin? (Probably not and here’s why………..)

So there’s all this commotion about Sir Richard Branson, owner of the iconic brand Virgin, having his new designs leaked and ideas stolen from his latest crazy idea about trying to enter into the world of cruising.

As if the guy has not got his fingers in enough pies he wants to embark on another venture that will see him take to the water.

Pretty soon you will be able to literally travel around the entire world using the Virgin brand, quite an acheivement I must say, assuming he pulls it off.

But has he done his market research?

Does he realise this thriving industry is too established to make a mark?

Is he aware that people already have their favourites?

In my opinion the answer is no to all three, and I’m not businessman but I’m pretty sure this idea is destined to fail.

Why?

Because there are already so many cruise lines, offering every conceivable type of cruise! What is Virgin going to differently, and more importantly better?

You see you have two types of cruise nowadays; cruising available to the masses, and cruises available to the elite. Which would he market to? The masses of course, a guy like Branson is clearly obsessed with global domination as far as I can see, not content with a travel operator, an airline and a trainline, he wants to now take on a market that is essentially controlled by the financial powerhouse that is The USA.

Do we all remember Virgin Cola? Some will, some won’t. He tried to take on Coca Cola and Pepsi and failed. I see the same thing happening with his ideas about cruising.

Market it in Britain?

Good luck taking on P&O.

Market it in America?

Fat chance against Carnival & Royal Caribbean.

It would be like me buying four tyres and an engine and saying, ‘Right I’m going to win the Drivers Championship’

Surely it’s suicidal?

Not only the competition that he has to worry about either, it’s his brand, Virgin……….. is it something that you would associate with quality, luxury and elitism? I think not.

Personally I associate the Virgin brand with an accessible product that gets computers and holiday makers from A to B via air and rail, either that or a TV and internet provider – but either way it’s a mass market brand.

For me the only way you are going to succeed against the big boys of the cruise world is by having something totally unique – and I don’t mean a big red ship!

I think Sir Richard is going to have to come up with something ultra intelligent in order for this to work, because if you asked me at this point, having sailed on a variety of ships, would I cruise with Virgin, the answer would probably be no!

So do we think it’s going to work? What would it take for you to choose a Virgin cruise? What could they do differently?

Opinions on this sort of thing matter, so I’d love to get your feedback!

Thanks for reading and as always, until next time……………..