Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson revealed his new cruise brand, Virgin Voyages, with the first ship launching in 2020.
Virgin Voyages’ first ship will arrive in Port Miami which will host 2,700 ‘sailors’ or passengers with 1,150 crew members. The first cruise will offer a range of Caribbean itineraries with new and different shore excursions.
Sir Richard said Virgin Voyages would be introducing a new brand of cruising to the market.
The cruise brand has officially signed a contract with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri to construct three new ships and Virgin Voyages will be the first cruise line to adopt the clean energy system, Climeon Ocean.
Virgin Voyages is the first major cruise line to partner with Climeon, which will create a system that will transform low-grade energy into clean electricity. The result would mean that each ship would save 5,400 tonnes of carbon dioxide savings annually per ship – an amount that would take 180,000 trees 30 years to absorb.
“The Climeon heat power system is an environmental breakthrough, and working with Virgin is of major importance to us. We are excited that Sir Richard Branson and Virgin, with their focus on sustainability, have decided to become a pioneer of this technology. Transforming hot water to electricity will be a major source of energy production going forward,” said founder and CEO of Climeon, Thomas Öström.
“Thousands of future sailors and travel professionals shared their thoughts with us and tasked us with delivering the most irresistible vacation at sea and that our name alone should leave them dizzy with anticipation,” said Sir Richard. “I’m excited to reveal we are now Virgin Voyages, and while we have lots of work head to build our three ships, we can’t wait to welcome you aboard the ship of things to come.”
To find out more information about how you can get onboard, click here.
