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| Sir Richard Branson, chairman and CEO, Virgin Group, and Tom McAlpin, president and CEO, Virgin Voyages, at the recent Miami press conference. |
Travel advisors can’t yet sell Virgin Voyages, but the excitement is building, stirred by media attention to Sir Richard Branson’s presentation in Miami two weeks ago.
So when can retailers start selling the new boutique cruise line? “We’re still kind of chewing that over,” said Tom McAlpin, president and CEO, Virgin Voyages, in a one-on-one phone interview with Travel Agent late last week.
Generally, he said, sales of new cruise line products begin 18 months to two years before sailing. The line’s first ship is slated for delivery in 2020.
For now, agents will just have to wait for a firm date. But the line is moving forward, first with the announcement earlier this month of its new name – Virgin Voyages -- and new eco-friendly technology for its ships.
Building a Team
Currently, Virgin Voyages has about 33 people on staff now and has opened an office in Plantation, FL. “We have hired most of the senior leadership team,” said McAlpin.
Among that group is Nathan Rosenberg, chief marketing officer, Virgin Voyages, whom McAlpin described as “super creative, very down to earth, gets the strategy and a big brand guy who really understands the Virgin brand.”
In addition, “we are in the process of hiring a sales leader,” he noted. “The trade is very important to us. "We will make sure we will have great relationships across all segments of the trade.”
Unlike some other cruise lines that have gone outside the cruise industry for new executive appointments, “we will hire someone from the cruise industry [for the top sales post],” said McAlpin. “That’s important to us as the cruise industry is a little bit different than other segments of travel.”
U.S. Launch in 2020
Since the line’s first vessel will home port in Miami and is expected to sail in the Caribbean region, many North Americans are expected to sail, along with those from the U.K. and elsewhere across the globe.
McAlpin believes “clearly we’ll have a great market presence in America, we’re operating here in America, so I think we’ll get the lion’s share of our business here in North America, at least for the first ship.”
That said, he noted that certainly Virgin has “more depth of awareness in the U.K. and those consumers too are likely to sail with the line in its departures from Miami.”
So how will Virgin position itself from an increasingly crowded cruise marketplace? How can agents tap into what the new line offers to enhance their own business?
When asked if the product was designed to appeal to Millennials, he said, “I wouldn’t just limit this to Millennials. I think this is what I’d call young at heart,” he said “People want a different way of cruising, they want the flexibility, they want something geared to them and they want to cruise with like-minded people.”
McAlpin's take? “The cruise industry does a very good job today of providing good guest satisfaction but [the products] tend to appeal to a broad array of different segments – from families to singles to seniors, adults, children, groups and everything in between.”
He says Virgin Voyages, more of a boutique cruise product, will focus on the young-at-heart angle. That said, Virgin has yet to say exactly what that will be – as Travel Agent reported at the line’s press conference in Miami.
But McAlpin described it as a modern, contemporary romantic experience at sea. It clearly won’t be traditional, given Virgin’s previous initiatives with its other brands.
He says Virgin knows how to deliver that “secret sauce” and to get people engaged with the brand.
Travel Agent asked McAlpin about other issues of interest to the trade, and here are his responses.
Reservations Call Center: Yes, the line will have a call center(s) in North America as “it’s important for us to assure we can handle the traffic from both travel agents and consumers as they’re going to be calling in with questions,” said McAlpin. No word yet, though, on where any might be located.
Web Presence: Agents can expect “robust websites,” he said, adding that “we want everybody to use the online services as much as possible.”
Reservation System: The line is currently in the process of outsourcing its reservations system. “The good news is that there are some good options out there,” McAlpin said. The cruise line isn’t likely to piggyback, for example, on Virgin Atlantic Airways or another Virgin product’s reservations system.
Creating a Boutique Experience: Other cruise lines are good, he says, noting that “I’m not taking anything away from them.” But he says they’re also big, with many ships in their fleets, and that can lead to a generic product.
Virgin Voyages has the benefit of being small and nimble, he believes: “Small companies can be better at certain things. We see ourselves very much as a boutique player.”
The ultimate goal? Once guests sail, “we want people to say, ‘I had an unbelievable experience. I went on a Virgin voyage. It was the best vacation I ever had’ and then they tell all their friends,” he said.
Most lines would say the same, of course. But the prospect of Virgin as a decidedly different type of player within the cruise industry should make for an interesting next couple of years.