The Arabian Gulf cruise sector and Dubai in particular look set to benefit from Virgin Voyages‘ plans to homeport at least one ship seasonally in Australia.

Virgin Voyages said in a statement that Australia is a key growth market for the brand and that it will homeport in the country annually during the Southern Hemisphere summer months.

That will see the cruise line repositioning a ship between Europe and Australia at least twice a year, with Dubai in the Middle East as a popular port call and even embarkation port.

In November last year Virgin Voyages’ ship Resilient Lady cruised from Dubai to Singapore as part of its longer multi-stage repositioning cruise from the Mediterranean to Australia.

At the time, Virgin Voyages said that it was looking forward to sailing cruises in future from Dubai.

“We are grateful for the Arabian hospitality and warm welcome into this extraordinary seafront district,” said Michelle Bentubo, Chief Operating Officer of Virgin Voyages. “The modern, highly efficient terminal network helped us ensure smooth Sailor turnaround, which is imperative given our shorter stay in the city, and we look forward to calling on Dubai in years to come.”

Bentubo told Cruise Industry News in a recent interview that roughly 50 percent of guests were onboard for the full 45-day repositioning, and most of them were Australian.

The comments were made during the announcement of a new US $550 million injection of new capital by Virgin Group and Bain Capital to fund further growth for the cruise line, which launched in 2019 just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the global cruise industry for almost a year.

Virgin Voyages launched three ships between 2021 and 2023 and is now pivoting to optimisation.

“Right now we are going back and optimising some of our operations,” Bentubo said. “We’re not afraid of putting something new out there and seeing if it works and tweaking it.

“As our occupancy has grown, we have had to refine operations to make sure we are not compromising on service delivery,” she said.

Brilliant Lady, which was set to debut in late 2023, is currently delayed due to ongoing supply chain and staffing challenges.

Resilient Lady will sail from Dubai for Athens in April this year on her way back from her Australian season, although the current security concerns in the Red Sea may see Virgin Voyages repositioning via South Africa instead, as many other cruise lines have done.