Virgin Voyages takes delivery of Resilient Lady ahead of 2023 Dubai cruise

Virgin Voyages has taken delivery of its third cruise ship, Resilient Lady, ahead of her cruise to and from Dubai next year on her way to Australia.

Resilient Lady will cruise via the Middle East and Arabian Gulf, using Dubai as a turnaround port during the repositioning voyage, when she moves from the Mediterranean to Australia for a season down under.

Resilient Lady is the third of Virgin Voyages’ Lady-class vessels, and will be near-identical to Scarlet Lady and Valiant Lady, with a four, Brilliant Lady, due to follow in 2024.

The ship was delivered to Virgin Voyages by the Italian shipyard Fincantieri in a handover ceremony during which ownership of the vessel was officially transferred from the shipyard to cruise line.

Resilient Lady will now be prepared for her maiden voyage, a cruise that Virgin Voyages calls a MerMaiden voyage. This cruise, the ship’s first passenger-carrying itinerary, will depart Piraeus (Athens) on May 14th, 2023.

This 8-night itinerary will call in Santorini, Rhodes, Bodrum and Mykonos before returning to her homeport in Piraeus, Athens. She will sail this cruise again, as well as an 8-night voyage that features Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor and Corfuinstead.

Resilient Lady will alternate between these and other Greek Isles itineraries throughout the summer until October 22nd, 2023, when she will embark on her repositioning cruise to Australia.

The full 44-night voyage is available for booking, along with shorter legs that feature Dubai and Sydney as key turnaround ports.

The first leg is from Athens to Dubai, the second from Dubai to Singapore, and the third from Singapore to Sydney.

These three legs will include Cairo, Dubai, Bali, Mumbai, Phuket and Singapore, with Resilient Lady due to arrive in Sydney on December 4th, 2023 for a series of celebrations, media sneak peeks and more.

The 14-night Athens to Dubai itinerary features port calls in Piraeus (Athens), Santorini, Rhodes, and Port Said (for Cairo), before visiting Safaga, the last port call before her arrival in Dubai.

Resilient Lady will then depart on November 6th, calling in Mumbai (Bombay), Goa (Mormugao), Colombo in Sri Lanka, Phuket in Thailand, and Port Klang (for Kuala Lumpur) in Malaysia before her arrival in Singapore on November 20th, 2023.

Resilient Lady’s cruise from Dubai to Singapore will mark Virgin Voyages first ever Dubai cruise, and the first time it has sailed from any port in the Middle East.