Anyone for Virgin Cruises?

[sodafountain]

Richard Branson considering setting up a cruise company

 

http://news.sky.com/story/1218963/bransons-virgin-to-pilot-new-cruises-venture

[kruzseeka]

Richard Branson considering setting up a cruise company

 

http://news.sky.com/story/1218963/bransons-virgin-to-pilot-new-cruises-venture

 

Very interesting and even more interesting will be the target market and USP!

[sodafountain]

Very interesting and even more interesting will be the target market and USP!

 

Indeed, maybe everyone should write to RB with what they liked about Thomson, and where they have gone wrong in recent times, then again, they might be targeting a totally different market.

[Sailaway487]

Richard Branson considering setting up a cruise company

 

http://news.sky.com/story/1218963/bransons-virgin-to-pilot-new-cruises-venture

 

Was just about to write a blog post about this. Will be interesting to see the developments of this. Could be quite interesting.

[happy v]

I wonder if he'll give discounts if you are a bank member?;)

 

A nice red ship would be good.:)

[mtt]

Virgin airlines were the best, and they had the frequent flyer points, which saved up gave a good cash discount

[kruzseeka]

Virgin airlines were the best, and they had the frequent flyer points, which saved up gave a good cash discount

 

So..…... some loyalty scheme! That's not a bad start! :D ;)

[mtt]

So..…... some loyalty scheme! That's not a bad start! :D ;)

it was good and good customer service too, a stewardess split water on my sister, said whoops and walked off, my mum complained and she got £200 virgin holiday vouchers, they even extended the time limit as we didn't have anything booked at the time

Edited March 1, 2014 by mtt

[Sailaway487]

Always had good service with Virgin. Would definitely look at trying them if the cruise line does surface. Surprised they're looking at second-hand ships, would have thought they would have gone into the newbuild market.

[kruzseeka]

Surprised they're looking at second-hand ships, would have thought they would have gone into the newbuild market.

 

Well could be based on a Thomson model then? :rolleyes:

They've got the potential to mimic the Thomson fly/cruise package too. Might go in for the multiple UK airport departures too - unless of course he's planning on cracking the US market. Do we know if it's going to be a UK only, USA only or UK & USA based operation?

[Sailaway487]

Well could be based on a Thomson model then? :rolleyes:

They've got the potential to mimic the Thomson fly/cruise package too. Might go in for the multiple UK airport departures too - unless of course he's planning on cracking the US market. Do we know if it's going to be a UK only, USA only or UK & USA based operation?

 

It says that the head office is going to be based in North America, I guess as they are going as a direct competitor to the likes of Carnival and RCL. Hopefully they will offer something for us Brits though.

[kruzseeka]

It says that the head office is going to be based in North America, I guess as they are going as a direct competitor to the likes of Carnival and RCL. Hopefully they will offer something for us Brits though.

 

Well I could be totally wrong but suspect that second hand ships might not go down so well with the US market as the likes of RCI are in the forefront of launching new flashy ships. Of course it depends on the size , facilities and how old the ships are but do you think recycled ships would be attractive to a US market? Thomson, FO passengers would probably be accepting of older ships - but reading other boards I get the feel that many are not too impressed by ships that are very much younger than those we're used to and even then they expect extensive refurbs quite frequently. :rolleyes:

[Sailaway487]

Well I could be totally wrong but suspect that second hand ships might not go down so well with the US market as the likes of RCI are in the forefront of launching new flashy ships. Of course it depends on the size , facilities and how old the ships are but do you think recycled ships would be attractive to a US market? Thomson, FO passengers would probably be accepting of older ships - but reading other boards I get the feel that many are not too impressed by ships that are very much younger than those we're used to and even then they expect extensive refurbs quite frequently. :rolleyes:

 

I think this will be the problem with Virgin if they do go down the second-hand ship route. Of course, they could do it at first with a newish ship that has had an extensive refurb like TUI Cruises start-up, see how it goes for a couple of years, then if it is a success go to the newbuild market. But I agree, the second-hand market would go down better in the UK. If they did go for second-hand ships, I would expect an extensive refurb though.