Scarlet Lady - Current Occupancy Rate

[Traveler1977]

Does anyone who has been on a recent Scarlet Lady cruise know what occupancy rate the ship is sailing at?

[rebeccac]

The July 8 sailing had around 1100 sailors.

[cantgetin]

If the 1100 number is correct, that's about 40%...which is consistent with what we've been seeing on both ships.  The VV rep on the phone told me that their "target" for my cruise  later this season is 65% but that they are no where near that yet.  However, with the new testing/vaccine regs as of yesterday, we may see a surge in bookings.

[K1mmyD]

Just so I understand - Is Virgin limiting the amount of passengers on each sailing? I am really excited to sail on Scarlet for the first time on August 5. 🙂

 

[jon81uk]

Don’t think they are limiting numbers, just they are still a new line and some people are not yet travelling as much due to covid.

[_tacocat_]

Richard's birthday was 1,600 or 1,800, depending who you asked.

[cantgetin]

No limits on US departures.  There were limits on European departures; I'm not sure whether those have been lifted or not.  

[ycl]

Sailed VV with 700 passengers.  

Edited July 23, 2022 by ycl

[Stx3me]

If they would drop the vaxx requirement, occupancy would shoot up.

[CruisingWalter]

I can confirm we sailed with 1100 passengers on July 8th, that info was given to us by the Rock Star Agent for our suite. He said it was the largest sailing to date at that time, I'm not sure if Richard's Birthday Bash was bigger, it looked like they had a lot of people. With the rules relaxed on testing and unvaccinated folks now welcome on the ship, we can expect that number to go up.

[CruisingWalter]

49 minutes ago, Stx3me said:

If they would drop the vaxx requirement, occupancy would shoot up.

 

They are now allowing 10% unvaccinated to sail and that number will be adjusted as they get more data.

[kwokpot]

Just got a figure of about 1100 for the current cruise. 

[drewdawg199]

4 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Just got a figure of about 1100 for the current cruise. 

It was either 1,600 or 1,800 for Richards Bday 

[_tacocat_]

18 hours ago, WheresWalter said:

He said it was the largest sailing to date at that time,

We had 1,600-1,700 onboard December 5th depending who you asked, but that would have been a mostly-different crew given how their contracts work.

[Traveler1977]

Thanks for all the replies. They were helpful. Looking forward to the cruise in a couple of weeks. 

[cantgetin]

Current cruise, 1200 Sailors on board Scarlet Lady

 

Edited July 30, 2022 by cantgetin

[atanac]

Tattoo shop, record store, no kids, no drink packages, must have a smart phone...these are a few of the reasons why bookings are so low. Royal, NCL, Princess, Celebrity, HAL, Carnival are all sailing full (or close to it) in the U.S. Virgin's business model is just to wacky to attract a large segment of the cruising public.

[jon81uk]

13 hours ago, atanac said:

Tattoo shop, record store, no kids, no drink packages, must have a smart phone...these are a few of the reasons why bookings are so low. Royal, NCL, Princess, Celebrity, HAL, Carnival are all sailing full (or close to it) in the U.S. Virgin's business model is just to wacky to attract a large segment of the cruising public.

why would having a tattoo parlour or record shop make any difference? 
For many many people no kids is a massive plus point. 

[CruisingWalter]

16 hours ago, atanac said:

Tattoo shop, record store, no kids, no drink packages, must have a smart phone...these are a few of the reasons why bookings are so low. 

 

First off, the tattoo parlor was fully booked during our sailing. The record store is approx. 12 feet long. Don't need a drink package, you can go with a Bar Tab or just pay ala carte. Also the booking have been kept lower for a while by design. Now they are finally opening up basically the entire ship with the new changes by the CDC, minus the quarantine cabins. 

 

No kids IS the reason so many of us book in Virgin.

 

I'm curious how many people sailing today don't have a smart phone. You really need one on pretty much any ship today to manage reservations, on Carnival we used it to get notifications that our tables were ready, etc... 

 

Your reasonings on why bookings may or may not be low simply don't add up. The main reasons for the low bookings initially was a misguided marketing campaign that left many wondering if the ship was friendly to 'traditional cruisers.' The answer is a resounding YES. As the marketing campaign has changed and as more travel vloggers are sailing the ships, you're seeing the bookings starting to rise. If you're a fan of Celebrity, Princess, Royal or NCL you'll probably like Virgin Voyages. But that wasn't obvious in the original marketing campaign that was centered on 'those who have never taken a cruise.'

[atanac]

Personally, I have no issue with the tattoo parlor or record shop it's just they are both so unnecessary and potentially a turn off to some. No kids? Excellent. From a business standpoint foolish and when the dust settles they will have to do away with this.

 

I've read a lot about using the Virgin app and would much prefer to book everything in the comfort of my home months before the cruise so I can just relax when I get onboard.

 

Richard Branson is an eccentric kook who while trying to appear different is forgetting the basic principle all businesses should follow and that is to maximize profits.

 

Time will tell.

[Fogcityca13]

I like the bar tab concept. All I really want is to prepay some of my ship expenses, the bar tab allows me to do so. I always end up with additional alcohol charges with RCL and Princess from purchasing wire and drinks over the drink package limit. Granted my spending is probably not the norm.

[_tacocat_]

30 minutes ago, atanac said:

No kids? Excellent. From a business standpoint foolish and when the dust settles they will have to do away with this.

No way - if they allow kids, they'd lose most of their current customer base: the child-free, the parents who want to take a vacation without screaming kids everywhere, the empty nesters, the singles, etc.  They'd also have to redo the entire ship layout and offerings, as there is not much onboard that would appeal to families.

 

While definitely eccentric, Branson has done a pretty damn good job at flipping industries on their heads, and in the process, optimizing profits.

 

VV made a calculated business decision when cancelling the (probably way underbooked anyway) Valiant UK voyages earlier this year in exchange for the revenue they got when The Bachelorette (ironically Disney IP, via ABC) + the marketing exposure they'll get across the US when that premieres. 

 

I think they'll also continue to gain word-of-mouth exposure when folks who have been on and loved it tell all their friends, and they'll continue to build loyalty from existing customers that like how different the VV offering is.

[_tacocat_]

43 minutes ago, Fogcityca13 said:

I like the bar tab concept. All I really want is to prepay some of my ship expenses, the bar tab allows me to do so. I always end up with additional alcohol charges with RCL and Princess from purchasing wire and drinks over the drink package limit. Granted my spending is probably not the norm.

I love the bar tab concept too - you can track everything you've spent and look into the actual virtual receipt line items if you have any questions right in the app.  The band-tapping process is fairly seamless, there are no receipts to sign, and no one binge drinking to make a drink package "worth it."

 

I've seen people complain about not wanting to worry about what they're spending on vacation, but all the bartenders will tell you what something costs before they make it if you ask. 

 

The other complaint I've seen a lot is that drinks are $$$.  New York, LA, and literally any other city would like a word!  I think the most expensive cocktail I saw was $17 (tip included), but most fell in the $9-13 range, most wines <$15/class, most beers maybe $6-8?  That is cheap compared to any bar near me, and again, it includes tip.

 

It's also possible to make drinking more economical -- you can buy a bottle at a bar and mix it with whatever.  We've seen people get 1L of Titos at the pool + mixers (I think it's $110 or $120 - pretty decent for "bottle service," all things considered, especially knowing it includes tip), and split it amongst their group.

[rebeccac]

3 hours ago, atanac said:

 No kids? Excellent. From a business standpoint foolish and when the dust settles they will have to do away with this.

 

 

These ships are not set up to have kids.  Other than the postage stamp size pool and very small arcade, there is nothing for children to do.  Without seriously modifying the ships, I don't see how allowing kids would even be feasible.  

[MrsDRK]

We cruised on July 22.  We were told 1200 passengers.