Virgin Cruise Lines? Cruisers Respond

A “cruise virgin” once referred to someone who has never taken a cruise vacation. Soon, that someone will be able to cruise Virgin in order to lose that nomenclature.

In fact, Richard Branson hopes to convert all “cruise virgins” into “Virgin cruisers” with his new venture.

“We’re trying to create the kind of cruise ship that would be attractive to the kind of people who would never consider a cruise at the moment,”  – Branson told The National.

His maritime desires are nothing new. Branson has shown interest in the cruise industry for the past five years, or so. What is new, is a $1.7B round of financing, recently confirmed by the eccentric billionaire.

Virgin is planning to build and launch two new cruise ships before the end of 2018. Both will be based in the Miami area and will compete for the Caribbean market, making up roughly 37% of all cruise traffic.

The industry is currently dominated by three companies: Carnival (CCL), Royal Caribbean (RCL), and Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH). Each has expressed a desire to woo a younger demographic, but all struggle to entice millennials. The average age of a cruiser is still roughly 50 years old.

 It’s likely that Virgin Cruise Line will cater towards this under-served demographic. When thinking about Virgin America, the words “hip,” “trendy,” and “sexy” come to mind.

As an experiment, we wanted to see if this brand recognition would carry over to Virgin Cruises. If so, they could just prove successful in capturing this millennial generation.

We asked for the first word that comes to mind when thinking about Richard Branson’s new Virgin Cruise Line. Hundreds of answers were submitted on our Facebook Page and can be summarized by the following infographic.

What’s the first word you think of when you imagine a Virgin Cruise Line?

“Like” this if you’re looking forward to Richard Branson’s new, meaty cruise option.