Branson launches Virgin Cruises – Let’s hope the cruise ships fair better than the space ships.

Sir Richard Bransons’s Virgin Group have just announced the launch of Virgin Cruises, though no date has been revealed for the start of operations it’s safe to say it would take around 2 years to build the two propsed purpose built vessels which will be based in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area. The new company will be led by Tom McAlpin a former president of Disney Cruise Line.

Virgin Group Founder Sir Richard Branson said: “We plan to shake up the cruise industry and deliver a holiday that customers will absolutely love. They’ll be sailing on the latest ships offering great quality, a real sense of fun, and many exciting activities all delivered with the famed Virgin service.”

It will be very interesting to see what Branson regards as a ‘shake up’, with the recent introduction of the Quantum Class ships from Royal Caribbean the proposed two brand new Virgin ships will have to be something spectacular to (pardon the pun) make any waves.

With no planned launch date I wonder if this is not a PR exercise to try and repair some of Virgin’s tarnished reputation following the Virgin Galactic accident in October in which co-pilot Michael Alsbury lost his life.

Lets hope the cruise ships fair better than the space ships.

Bye for now.