Virgin Voyages announces pre-inaugural cruise dates as Scarlet Lady begins sea trials

Scarlet Lady, the first cruise ship from the brand new cruise line Virgin Voyages, is currently at sea undergoing sea trials, while Virgin has announced a set of pre-inaugural cruises ahead of her ‘maiden’ voyage.

Scarlet Lady is currently being thrown into hard turns at full speed and crash stop procedures off the coast of Italy, as tweeted by Dave Monk of Ship Monk yesterday.

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She’ll spend the rest of the week being put through her paces before returning to the Fincantieri shipyard for final finishing touches and any corrective work discovered during the sea trials ahead of her delivery to Virgin Voyages next year.

A tweet by Virgin Voyages suggests that all is going to plan during the sea trials though.

The cruise line must be feeling confident about the ship’s delivery date because they’ve introduced two pre-inaugural cruises ahead of her official ‘maiden voyage’ on April 1^st, 2020.

In true Virgin style, the cruise line has indicated that this maiden voyage will still be packed full of celebrity-guest appearances, special events, and exclusive surprises, but those eager to experience the line will be able to do so sooner than thought.

On March 26^th, and March 29^th, 2020, Scarlet Lady will cruise two preview voyages from Miami. In another classic Virgin Voyages twist, the preview cruises (traditionally reserved for media and travel agents) are available for booking by all members of the public.

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Virgin Voyages is calling them ‘Sneak-a-Peak’ sailings and they’ve generated much buzz amongst the cruise sector, which has been waiting to experience Virgin Voyages for several years now.

Guests will enjoy a selected highlights version of the full Virgin Voyages experience on the three-night sailings, which will feature multiple marquee experiences including a day at the Beach Club at Bimini, a Scarlet Night Party, access to all restaurants and the complete versions of entertainment offered on-board.

Virgin Voyages has been releasing exciting details in the lead-up to Scarlet Lady’s maiden voyage all year long, most recently announcing on-demand champagne delivery and unveiling several pieces from its new crew uniform collection designed by British fashion icon Gareth Pugh.

Even Scarlet Lady’s lifeboats have a sleek elegance to them, and in addition to hammocks on balconies and guitars in staterooms, Scarlet Lady will also have no main dining room, instead guests will have a choice of more than 20 restaurants at which to eat whenever they like.