Scarlet Lady Floats Out

“Scarlet Lady”, the first of four ships which Virgin Voyages ordered to Fincantieri, touched the water for the first time for Virgin Voyages on Friday at the shipyard in Genoa Sestri Ponente.

The first ship from the new cruise brand of Virgin Group  starts revenue service from the Port of Miami in April 2020.

Interior fittings will now begin, leading the ship to its delivery, scheduled at the beginning of 2020, said a press release from the shipyard.

The event was attended, among others, for the ship owner by Tom McAlpin, Virgin Voyages President and CEO, while Fincantieri was represented by Luigi Matarazzo, Senior Executive Vice President Merchant Ships Business Unit and Paolo Capobianco, director of the shipyard. Godmother of the ceremony was Giuliana Rindone, employee of Fincantieri’s shipyard in Sestri Ponente.

“Scarlet Lady” will weigh about 110,000 gross tons, be 278 meters long and 38 wide. Virgin Voyages second ship, currently under construction in the same yard, will be delivered in 2021, while the third and the fourth units will set sail respectively in 2022 and 2023. They will all feature over 1,400 guest cabins designed to host more than 2,770 passengers, accompanied by 1,160 crew members on board to deliver the famed Virgin service.

The development of Virgin Voyages ships will stand out for their design as well as for their particular attention to energy recovery, featuring cutting-edge alternative technologies that reduce the ship’s overall environmental impact. For example, their ships will be equipped with an energy production system of approximately 1 MW, which uses the diesel engine’s waste heat.