Just two months before the scheduled first sailing of its third cruise ship, Virgin Voyages has announced it will defer the ship's launch for nine months.
"After very careful and deliberate consideration, Virgin Voyages has decided to defer the launch of our third ship, Resilient Lady, until Q2 of 2023," the company said in a statement.
"While we've successfully launched two ships in the span of less than a year, the fact remains that there are challenges facing the industry as a whole, and we're not immune to those. It was a tough decision, but we want to ensure that when Resilient Lady does hit the water, she'll be ready to execute brilliantly."
The sister vessel to the line's first two cruise ships, Scarlet Lady, which began cruising in August 2021 and Valiant Lady which launched in March 2022, the Resilient Lady is nearing completion in Italy. In April, Virgin Voyages reported that the ship had successfully completed sea trials.
The ship had been scheduled to start sailing in Greece in mid-August, followed by a repositioning to San Juan for a program of winter cruises in the southern Caribbean. The line's fourth cruise ship, the Brilliant Lady, is also due to enter service next year.
Virgin Voyages vowed to offer a shake-up of the cruise experience, with a hip, adults-only ambience. However, the timing of its launch could not have been worse, through no fault of its own.
The line was scheduled to start revenue cruises on April 1, 2020, but instead was forced to lay up its first ship for 17 months. After a summer program in the UK It finally started cruises from Miami in October 2021, while postponing the first sailing of its second ship until this spring.
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