Scarlet Lady Cruise Ship, USA

Virgin Voyages christened its first cruise ship as Scarlet Lady. Credit: Virgin Group.

The ship will feature The Dock, a lounge with a beach club style. Credit: Virgin Group.

The cruise ship will have smart features such as automatic lighting control, automatic phone charge, and smart walls. Credit: Virgin Group.

Scarlet Lady embarked on her maiden voyage in October 2021. Credit: Virgin Voyages.

The adults-only cruise ship was delivered in February 2020. Credit: Virgin Voyages.

Scarlet Lady was built by Fincantieri at its Sestri Ponente (Genoa) shipyard in Trieste, Italy. Credit: Virgin Voyages.

Scarlet Lady is an adult-only cruise ship vessel featuring world-class interiors and luxury options to meet the distinctive needs of its passengers.

Construction on the ship started with the first steel cut in March 2017. The keel laying ceremony was held in October 2017, and the cruise ship was delivered in February 2020.

Virgin Voyages placed a €2bn ($2.2bn) contract with Fincantieri to build three cruise vessels in December 2016. An additional order was placed for the fourth ship in October 2018.

Scarlet Lady cruise ship design and features

The mid-sized luxury cruise ship features an innovative design integrating clever cabin touches and upgraded bath amenities and a unique, patent-pending cabin layout, designed in collaboration with Pearson Lloyd Design. Tom Dixon, Roman and Williams, and Concrete Amsterdam also offered their world-class designs for the ship.

The Scarlet Lady measures 278m-long and 38m-wide and has a gross tonnage of 110,000t. It can accommodate a maximum of 4,400 people onboard and has a cruising speed of 20kt.

The vessel features a total of 1,400 cabins and 78 RockStar Suites. The cabins are divided into six categories, namely XL Sea Terrace, Sea Terrace, Sea View, Insider, and Social Insider. Views of the Sea can be enjoyed from the majority of the cabins, with 86% of the cabins featuring sea terraces.

Automatic lights, temperature adjusters, autonomous charge units, 4K flat-screen 43in HDTVs, and mini-bars are part of the standard cabin design. The ship also features a transformational seabed designed by Walter Knoll.

Dining venues

The luxury ship takes an alternative approach to the traditional dining style and does not have a main assigned seating dining room with a fixed dinner time. The Wake restaurant at the aft of the ship offers seafood and other dishes.

Razzel Dazzle, designed by Concrete Amsterdam, is a First World War-themed restaurant. The multi-cuisine restaurant primarily offers dishes for vegetarians and also houses a cocktail venue called Red Bar. With its lab-like environment, The Test Kitchen features a chef that provides a list of all the ingredients and details of the recipe, enabling guests to choose their preferred style of cooking.

Geonbae is a Korean BBQ restaurant designed by Softroom, located on the seventh deck, The Dock, designed by Roman and Williams, serves as a lounge area offering a beach club-like experience to guests onboard.

Pink Agave, a Mexican restaurant designed by Tom Dixon, serves a variety of cuisines while The Galley restaurant offers different food options ranging from breakfast to dinner.

The Pizza Place offers pizzas while Extra Virgin, an Italian restaurant, serves pasta-focused food and offers a homemade food experience to travellers.

Entertainment on Scarlet Lady

Custom-designed for adult passengers, Scarlet Lady features multiple entertainment venues. The Runway is a raised red jogging track around the top of the ship while Athletic Club is a yacht-inspired feature.

Scarlet Lady features a tattoo parlour called Squid Ink, which houses two full-time resident tattoo artists.

Other entertainment venues on board the ship include Redemption Spa, Gym and Tonic Bar, Well-Being pool, four basketball courts, Crow’s Nest yoga centre, and Stubble & Groom barber shop. The Manor is a nightlife space designed by Roman and Williams.

Scarlet Lady cruise ship propulsion and power

Scarlet Lady is powered by two eight-cylinder and two 12-cylinder Wartsila 46F engines. Virgin Voyages contracted Wartsila for providing the maintenance, remote operational support services, specific fuel oil consumption (SFOC) metres, and other engine spares for the vessel.

ABB’s Azipod steerable propulsion system on board the ship integrates two Azipod XO units, having a combined power output of 32MW (43,000hp).

Virgin Voyages, in collaboration with Scanship, employed microwave-assisted pyrolysis (MAP) technology to convert organic waste into clean energy.

In collaboration with Climeon, the cruise liner also installed six Climeon units to convert the carbon dioxide generated by the ship into electricity.

Scarlet Lady itineraries

Scarlet Lady is homeported at Port Miami cruise terminal, from where she sailed on her maiden voyage in October 2021.

Scarlet Lady’s inaugural season itinerary includes a mix of Mexican and Caribbean voyages, with five-night Riviera Maya sailings to Cozumel/Playa Del Carmen, five-night Mayan Sol voyages to Costa Maya, Mexico, and five-night Dominican Daze voyages to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.