Scarlet Lady is a
cruise ship owned and operated by
Virgin Voyages. She is the inaugural ship for the cruise line and was delivered on 14 February 2020 by Italian shipbuilder
Fincantieri. The vessel was initially set to begin operating on 1 April 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic postponed her official debut until 6 October 2021, after which she sailed her inaugural voyage to the Bahamas from her homeport of
Miami. In accordance with Virgin Voyages's business model,
Scarlet Lady operates exclusively as an "adults-only" ship for guests aged 18 and over.
Construction and career
Planning
On 4 December 2014,
Virgin Group founder
Richard Branson announced Virgin Group would be forming a new cruise line with the backing of
Bain Capital named Virgin Cruises and revealed initial plans to begin with two new cruise ships.
On 23 June 2015, Virgin Cruises announced that it signed a letter of intent with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for three cruise ships that could each accommodate approximately 2,800 guests and 1,150 crew for seven-day Caribbean voyages.
On 20 July 2018, Virgin Voyages revealed the name of the first ship as Scarlet Lady, in honor of the second plane of sister brand Virgin Atlantic.
Construction and delivery
Temporarily billed as
Virgin I and known in the shipyard as "hull number 6287", Virgin's first ship had her steel-cutting ceremony at Fincantieri's shipyard in
Sestri Ponente on 22 March 2017.
On 31 October 2017, construction formally began with the
Keel laying.
Nine months later, the dock was flooded on 20 July 2018 for the first time to allow two hull sections to be connected.
Altogether, the ship was assembled from 399 sections.
On 8 February 2019,
Scarlet Lady was
Float-out from the shipyard, after which interior outfitting work commenced.
In November 2019,
Scarlet Lady performed her two rounds of
. She set off from Genoa to
Marseille between 15 November and 18 November and sailed in the opposite direction for her second round between 27 November and 30 November.
Scarlet Lady was completed and presented by Fincantieri on 13 February 2020 and formally delivered on 14 February 2020 in Sestri Ponente.
Debut
Amid the pandemic and the cruise industry's broader hiatus, the ship's debut schedule and inaugural festivities were significantly impacted. Following her delivery,
Scarlet Lady began by hosting media and travel industry representatives on stops in Dover and
Liverpool before continuing on her re-positioning voyage to the United States.
Virgin had prepared preview events in New York City, but was forced to cancel them due to the pandemic so the ship sailed directly to Miami instead.
Upon her arrival in Miami,
Scarlet Lady had been scheduled to perform two pre-inaugural voyages in late-March 2020. Her first was scheduled from 26 to 29 March and her second from 29 March to 1 April. Both three-night sailings would embark from Miami and visit Virgin's new private island resort, The Beach Club at Bimini, located on the
Bimini islands in the
The Bahamas.
On 12 March 2020, Virgin announced an initial postponement of the ship's inaugural season, with the pre-inaugural sailings slated to begin on 15 July 2020,[Virgin made the following adjustments to its debut timeframe for Scarlet Lady:
]
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In May 2020, it postponed the debut to 16 October 2020:
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In September 2020, it cancelled all November 2020 sailings:
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In October 2020, it set a tentative debut for January 2021:
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In December 2020, it pushed the debut to May 2021:
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In March 2021, it postponed the start date to 1 July 2021:
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In April 2021, it cancelled all sailings originating from the United States ending before 17 September 2021:
In September 2021, Scarlet Lady sailed to New York for the ship's travel industry preview events that were initially curtailed in 2020
Deployments
On 23 June 2015, Branson initially announced the first three ships in the fleet would be based at
PortMiami for week-long, round-trip
Caribbean itineraries, with the first ship beginning operations in 2020.
In January 2019, Virgin released the first details of
Scarlet Lady's itineraries with revisions from earlier plans. She was now scheduled to sail shorter itineraries, ranging from four to five nights round-trip from Miami to the Caribbean and visiting various ports including
Havana, Puerto Plata, and
Costa Maya,
in addition to Bimini.
In June 2019, in response to the United States's government re-instituted ban on passengers from entering Cuba via passenger and recreational vessels, Virgin swapped out all visits to Havana with calls to Key West and also added a fourth itinerary option to visit Cozumel on five-night sailings, along with two seven-night holiday sailings to Puerto Plata and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Design and concept
Adults-only
On 31 October 2017, Branson and president and CEO of Virgin Voyages,
Tom McAlpin, revealed that the company's first ship would be exclusive to adults, requiring that all guests be ages 18 and over.
McAlpin explained that this move was made to appeal largely to travel professionals within the more premium market looking for an "elevated" experience.
Chief Commercial Officer of Virgin Voyages, Nirmal Saverimuttu, also attributed the decision to the company's aim to target "people who would not typically consider a cruise holiday" and might be interested in a "cooler" and more "intimate" setting.
[Introducing Scarlet Lady Ships Monthly May 2020 pages 22-25]
Offerings
On
Scarlet Lady, Virgin Voyages bundles all passengers' fares as one price per cabin, as opposed to pricing each voyage per guest.
Consequently, prices appear higher than those of Virgin's competitors.
Virgin explained that all fares would cover dining charges, fitness classes, internet access, and gratuities, among other offerings, but expenses incurred from alcoholic beverages, retail, and shore excursions would be charged separately.
The ship does not include any buffet or dining rooms, and instead, houses approximately 20 different dining and drinking establishments.
Technology and specifications
Scarlet Lady has a total of 1,408 passenger cabins and 813 crew cabins for a maximum capacity of 4,400 passengers and crew, which can accommodate over 2,770 passengers and 1,160 crew.
Of the 1,408 passenger cabins, there are 78 suites, 1,030 balcony cabins, 95 window cabins, and 105 inside cabins.
She is equipped with balconies on 86% of her cabins, with 93% of the cabins featuring an outside view.
The ship's livery consists of a silver hull, red funnel, and tinted windows, and also includes the Virgin "mermaid guide" figure featured on sister brands, Virgin Atlantic and
Virgin America.
Scarlet Lady has 17 decks, a length of , a draft of , and a beam of .
In February 2021, it was announced that Scarlet Lady would be equipped with satellite internet connectivity from SES using the O3b medium Earth orbit satellites to provide passengers with free ultra-fast, low-latency onboard wi-fi internet access.[ Virgin invests in high-speed satellite communications Riviera, 24 February 2021, Accessed 24 March 2021]
Incidents and accidents
2020 crew member death
On 22 May 2020, it was reported that a 32-year-old male Filipino crew member of
Scarlet Lady had been found dead in his cabin.
Virgin Voyages confirmed the man's death was not related to the coronavirus, and the United States Coast Guard confirmed that he had died from "apparent self-harm."
sailed into
PortMiami later that day, where the body was disembarked.
External links
