Like a Virgin

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Richard Branson has always seemed very lucky to me.  

Virgin Records morphed from being a record store into a record label.

The first artist Branson signed to his Virgin label, Michael Oldfield, scored an unlikely hit with a somewhat eerie-sounding instrumental.

Tubular Bells became a radio staple on the strength of its association with an equally unlikely box office smash, The Exorcist.

Who would have thought a movie about a Catholic priest would become the talk of the town worldwide?

The fact that Branson took his Virgin logo into international air travel and succeeded both financially and in customer satisfaction was quite remarkable.  I mean, what does an airline have to do with peddling records?

Recently, Sir Richard took air travel a giant umbrella step higher with the launch of Virgin Galactic, which took him into space.  This followed on the heels of the Virgin Orbits mission appropriately dubbed Tubular Bells.

But wait.

There should have been a step in between.

Virgin Voyages.

Branson sold his airline and launched a cruise line before his rockets.

I went to a training session in Los Angeles in preparation for the inaugural cruise scheduled for spring of 2020...exactly at the time that Covid-19 was rearing its ugly head.

So the inagural voyage was pushed back...and then pushed back again...and then pushed back again.

Even Branson's good luck couldn't overcome this worldwide pandemic, but perhaps the right time has finally arrived.

And Branson might just have the perfect product for this unique era. 

Adults only.  Always.

Virgin Voyages currently requires all guests to show proof of vaccination, which would be complicated traveling with minors.

Geared to younger people and the young at heart who are tired of getting dusty on a shelf, your Virgin Voyage will be a breath of fresh air.

It's time to rock and roll and REALLY LIVE!

A standard port stop at Virgin's ideal private beach retreat on Bimini plus a port in the Dominican Republic or some other tropical isle makes their short itineraries of 4 and 5 nights smooth runways back into the cruising life.

More than that, Branson has brought his unique Virgin vision to cruising, so even the most jaded traveler will feel like they're experiencing something hip and exciting for the first time.