Maiden voyages is the newest cruise line moving sailing overseas as that The schedule for resuming cruising in US waters remains unclear.
“Virgin Voyages has looked forward to sailing and we are very excited to announce our plans to sail from the UK,” said Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, in a statement.
The cruise line got off to a sluggish start due to the COVID-19 pandemic that undid Virgin’s plans to launch in April 2020. After several delays, the first ship, Scarlet Lady, will debut in the UK in August with a series of voyages open to residents of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The Scarlet Lady will be leaving for Portsmouth, England all passengers and crew must be fully vaccinated.
“Additional tests and protocols will be validated closer to sailing, all in line with the most recent recommendations from the UK government,” Virgin said in a statement. “We are committed to a healthy and safe start at sea and without proper precautions and consideration we would never set sail. This includes capacity constraints for this first gradual restart.”
Referred to as “The Summer Soiree Series,” Portsmouth offers two types of itineraries:
- The “Long Weekender” trip:
- August 6th to 9th
- 13-16 August
- August 20-23
- The “Summer WeekDaze” trip:
- August 9th to 13th
- 16.-20. August
- August 23-27
The Scarlet Lady was scheduled to make her late start in July, but when Virgin was planning departures to the UK, she canceled her summer cruises in the US.
The ship is scheduled to return to the United States in the fall for cruises from Miami starting September 22. The second ship from Virgin Voyages that Valiant Lady is scheduled to sail from Miami in November.
With Thursday’s announcement, Virgin is joining a number of major cruise lines, including Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises, to move some voyages to other parts of the world.
Norwegian announced Tuesday that the official resumption of service would begin in Europe and the Caribbean in July. And last month Royal Caribbean International announced that sailing in Israel, Bermuda and the Bahamas as well as the sibling line Celebrity Cruises added itineraries for St. Maarten – all with specific vaccine requirements.
Carnival Cruise Line threatened as well do the same on Tuesday.
