New cruise company Virgin Voyages calls at Gibraltar

Minister for Tourism, the Hon Vijay Daryanani MP, has been in conversations with Virgin Voyages for a while, with the pandemic delaying the start.

The vessel was greeted by a water salute on its arrival to the Gibraltar Port at 09:00hrs on Sunday 8th May and departed later on that day to its next port of call in Malaga at 18:00hrs.

With 110,000 gross tonnage and measuring 278 metres long, this adult only cruise ship has a maximum capacity of 2,860 passengers across its 17 decks. On this occasion, the Valiant Lady carried 753 passengers and 1086 crew.

Minister Daryanani was invited on board the ship by Captain Aris Medina Morales where they both engaged in the traditional exchange of plaque ceremony. This was followed by a tour of the ship.

Minister for Tourism, Vijay Daryanani, commented: “As always, this is great news for Gibraltar PLC. It is important that we attract the new cruise companies to our port. We have been working very hard for this to happen and hopefully there will be more new companies to follow. Virgin Voyages are an exciting entrant to the cruise market and are already making positive news so we are delighted that they will be calling at our port this year. I met with them last month in Miami and we look forward to building a fruitful relationship with them for the benefit of all”.