What are your plans Sir Branson?

With news of Sir Richard entering the cruise industry, rumoured to be in 2018, with a new and exciting product to add to his every growing collection of businesses. Early plans are said to include 2 brand new ships, set to sail out of Miami and Fort Lauderdale and the venture was described by Sir Richard as

“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.”

And that got me thinking…….

What could Virgin possibly offer that isn’t already readily available on their, soon to be, competitors’ ships?

We have everything from Celebrity chef cookery school, bumper cars, Formula 1 simulators, sky diving simulators and award winning theatre productions. What could they possibly add?

With nearly all cruise operators sailing into the same ports of call, and after watching a documentary on the billionaires’ private island in the Caribbean, it got me wondering if that is what he is willing to offer to give Virgin Cruise travellers “something different?”

Whilst I’m sure those that watched the show will agree, the island was undeniably beautiful, but, would need extensive work if it was to become a port of call. I am also not sure if Sir Richard would be too keen on offering the island he calls home to the masses as current visitors tend to be the rich and famous and at £16900 per couple per week, it would probably have a detrimental effect.

So what other options are there? I couldn’t help but notice what a casual man he was on the show, and even in the evening there was no dress code what so ever for guests at Necker, so I’m wondering if that’s the route he is going to go down. Luxury but very casual. I personally think there is a market for that and I’m sure we’ll find out more as things progress.

I’m interested to see if the cruise line will be used in conjunction with the Virgin Holidays product, where the offering of cruise and stay packages all through one provider, in the same way Thomson currently offer, again I think this could be a popular offering. In any case Virgin will probably have to offer more direct flights into Miami and Fort Lauderdale if they are to take a chunk of the UK cruise market.