Virgin Voyages to cruise from Dubai again after 2024 Australian season

Virgin Voyages will return to the Middle East in 2024 to offer a second cruise from Dubai, but this time its ship Resilient Lady will sail from Dubai to Piraeus (Athens) in Greece.

Resilient Lady will depart Dubai on April 25th, 2024 bound for Europe, sailing around the Musandam Peninsula through the Strait of Hormuz into the Arabian Sea and along the Omani coast to the infamous Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.

Known in Arabic as the Gate of Tears, the strait connects the Indian Ocean with the Red Sea, which runs northwest to the Suez Canal. Resilient Lady will transit the Suez Canal and sail for Greece, where the cruise will end.

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The voyage includes visits to ports in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, including Santorini, Rhodes, Alexandria and Safaga.

This will be Virgin Voyages second cruise departure from Dubai. Resilient Lady is scheduled to sail from Dubai to Singapore on her way to Australia in 2023 for the summer season.

The announcement of the repeat Dubai cruise comes as Virgin Voyages announced a series of repositioning voyages for Resilient Lady at the end of her Australian season.

Resilient Lady will depart Australia in March, 2024 and make her way back to Europe via Asia and the Middle East, with three separate cruises on offer, which can also be booked as one grand six week voyage.

The first one-way cruise segment departs Sydney on March 27th, 2024 bound for Singapore. The 15-night voyage features port calls in Airlie Beach, Cairns, Darwin and Benoa along the way.

From Singapore, Resilient Lady will then sail a two-week voyage to Dubai, departing April 11th, 2024, with calls in Port Klang, Phuket, Colombo, Goa and Mumbai.

Her Dubai to Athens cruise will be the final leg of the six-week repositioning journey for Resilient Lady.

The ship is the third of a four-ship order for Virgin Voyages, which entered the cruise market in 2019 with Scarlet Lady, followed by Valiant Lady in 2020. Resilient Lady is due to enter service in 2023, alongside Brilliant Lady, the fourth and final ship on order.

All four vessels are near-identical sister ships, offering the same adults-only millenial-focused cruise experience with some of the most quirky cabin designs, entertainment, dining options and relaxation spaces in the industry.