Renderings Leaked Of New Ship For Virgin Cruises

The cruise industry can hardly keep a secret anymore and today we learned even cruise lines that don’t technically exist aren’t exempt.

Virgin Cruises, Richard Branson’s new cruise line, is set to make waves by 2019 and promises to deliver a cruise experience not yet offered by any other cruise line. Today, the cruise industry has been granted a peek into Branson’s plans thanks to a lawsuit filed against Virgin Cruises by Colin Veitch, the former President and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line. Veitch, a former partner of Branson, claims the Virgin Group stole his plans for a “Virgin style” cruise line.

The lawsuit, which has now been made public, shares detailed renderings of ships that could potentially sail for the Virgin fleet. The designs leaked through the lawsuit show a red hulled ship sporting a unique bow design, a split superstructure similar to Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, and even a skydiving simulator similar to the one found aboard yet another Royal Caribbean ship, Quantum of the Seas.

The renderings, while undated, would appear to share similarities with many modern cruise ships sailing today, notably with the Royal Caribbean ships mentioned prior.

The new Virgin Cruises brand states they will debut two new ships focused on offering a high end, yet mainstream, cruise experience to cruise passengers. While Virgin has been successful with this unique approach in other industries, Virgin may find difficulty in cornering a market that has already been captured by cruise lines such as Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity.