PORTHOLE

THERE was plenty of typically Virgin fanfare at the keel laying ceremony of the first Virgin Voyages vessel in Italy this week (see page 2).

As well as arriving via a crane, Virgin founder Richard Branson broke out the blowtorch to weld a ceremonial coin into the keel in an event which he described as a “ship-tease”.

The puns kept coming, with Branson confirming the vessels would be called “Ladyships” in a nod to the line’s British heritage, and in another piece of creative marketing he described what most of us call balconies as “sea terraces”.

He also told potential cruisers to leave the kids at home, with the first Virgin Voyages ship designated as adults-only.

Branson appeared to be quite excited about the prospects for the line, despite telling Cruise

Weekly earlier this year he had “never been interested in going on a cruise ship myself” ( CW 06 Jul).