VV Ship #5 and beyond....

[CrazyTrain2]

Any rumors about VV expanding beyond the 4 announced ships?

 

I truly hope they are successful and continue to grow.

[cantgetin]

The first 2 were supposed to launch during covid, so they are still playing catch up on bookings.  No official word at this time, but my best guess is that they'll get the first 4 filling up first.

[WanderingTravels]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

 

I have sailed three times in the past year and each sailing was less than half full.  Let them focus on the four they have, bigger is not always better.

[Alegeeter]

I heard a rumor that after the 4 announced ships they’d look for a buyer or to be acquired. I hope it’s not true but I wouldn’t be entirely surprised. The pandemic affected their start and they’ve been struggling with an incredible product.

[cantgetin]

1 hour ago, Alegeeter said:

I heard a rumor that after the 4 announced ships they’d look for a buyer or to be acquired. I hope it’s not true but I wouldn’t be entirely surprised. The pandemic affected their start and they’ve been struggling with an incredible product.

There is one person who keeps touting this theory.  He was convinced that they were going to be acquired by NCL (unlikely as NCL now has its own financial issues).  I have no access to anything official, but reports have shown steadily increasing occupancy with a few "special" sailings getting up to 2200 guests.  VV will never have the figures of greater than 100% that other lines do because most of their cabins hold 2 people and the no kids policy means most will be sailing as solos or with a significant other.  The cabins that could hold 3 or 4 are likely to sail with 2.  But they seem to have moved from their early cruises right after covid running at 30% with many of those guests being on as non-paying guests for publicity or TA training purposes or as casino freebies to most cruises now going out in the 65% range with all or virtually all paying cruisers.  And, as other lines are increasing their fares, VV's "almost all inclusive" model looks a lot better than others with the added costs of "plus" or "free" packages.  Guess I'm wrong to say that I enjoy the ships not being full.

[Lustate]

I would like a 5th "big" ship added to the lineup. Just a step up from the 2k to 5k people capacity. 

 

As a brand they hit the nail on the head for me, but they have no incentive for people to try other ships right now. You do Scarlet Lady, and you (basically) have been on the other three. Adding a 5th ship where they add two more restaurants, a new full size pool, a secondary club space for late-night dance, and other stuff like that would make it the "flagship" of all ships. Of course, another couple of gimmicks would be good, so where they have the net at the back with the drop, they could have more experiences included, like glass gangplanks or a moonlight night club etc. 

 

I don't see VV being sold for a long time to come. At the moment they are the new guys on the block, they are not an established, proven, and stable business. A lot of the sailors are first-time customers as a novelty trying the brand. It would be at least 5-10 years before the true customer base is known and the brand value as a line is clear to someone wishing to buy them out. 

[_tacocat_]

16 hours ago, cantgetin said:

There is one person who keeps touting this theory.  He was convinced that they were going to be acquired by NCL (unlikely as NCL now has its own financial issues).  I have no access to anything official, but reports have shown steadily increasing occupancy with a few "special" sailings getting up to 2200 guests.  VV will never have the figures of greater than 100% that other lines do because most of their cabins hold 2 people and the no kids policy means most will be sailing as solos or with a significant other.  The cabins that could hold 3 or 4 are likely to sail with 2.  But they seem to have moved from their early cruises right after covid running at 30% with many of those guests being on as non-paying guests for publicity or TA training purposes or as casino freebies to most cruises now going out in the 65% range with all or virtually all paying cruisers.  And, as other lines are increasing their fares, VV's "almost all inclusive" model looks a lot better than others with the added costs of "plus" or "free" packages.  Guess I'm wrong to say that I enjoy the ships not being full.

If you want a laugh, dive into his “theory.”  First he was saying he knew someone at NCL that was in the know 😂 which would be a super big problem for both NCL and VV- MNPI, anyone?

 

then he’s saying that blackrock coming in as a lender was a plea for help/red flag.  I work in private equity, and blackrock is invested in many many maaaany ventures at all stages of the companies’ lifecycles.

 

then after he had a “bad voyage” because he didn’t get catered to hand and foot personally on valiant in December, he made yet another laughable financial analysis.  Because NCL’s stock was up, they were obbbbviously in the market for an M&A deal. Yep, that’s definitely how M&A works 🤣  he then encourages his followers to buy NCL one share at a time because that’s dollar cost averaging.  I could not stop laughing at his idiocy

[_tacocat_]

13 hours ago, Lustate said:

 

I would like a 5th "big" ship added to the lineup. Just a step up from the 2k to 5k people capacity

 

I don’t think they’ll do that anytime soon.  They were initially selling themselves as the “un-cruise,” which was obviously hampered by Covid, and then they’ve struggled to find their demographic.  I’m not sure how they keep the intimate feel of their programming/onboard experience if they go bigger.

[cantgetin]

14 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

If you want a laugh, dive into his “theory.”  First he was saying he knew someone at NCL that was in the know 😂 which would be a super big problem for both NCL and VV- MNPI, anyone?

 

then he’s saying that blackrock coming in as a lender was a plea for help/red flag.  I work in private equity, and blackrock is invested in many many maaaany ventures at all stages of the companies’ lifecycles.

 

then after he had a “bad voyage” because he didn’t get catered to hand and foot personally on valiant in December, he made yet another laughable financial analysis.  Because NCL’s stock was up, they were obbbbviously in the market for an M&A deal. Yep, that’s definitely how M&A works 🤣  he then encourages his followers to buy NCL one share at a time because that’s dollar cost averaging.  I could not stop laughing at his idiocy

I don't read his nonsense any more as I don't want to improve his monetization on YouTube.  But yes, it is totally ridiculous.....and NCL is now in serious financial trouble if you believe the internet.

I agree totally with the struggles about the demographic and how to pitch their ads.  I thought at first that this was a line for indulged 20 somethings spending Daddy's money and a total party ship based on their promos.  Then friends started trying VV and coming back raving about it.  Those people were all in the  late 40s/50s demographic, which is now being reflected to some extent in the ads.  They even toss in an occasional photo of one of us "oldie but goodie" types.  I've only seen figures for the first 9 months, but they say the average age on board is 47 with a range of 18-90s.  I don't believe that is at all what VV expected.  My cruises have been about half full--not financially sustainable in the long run, but great to enjoy for now!

Edited February 24, 2023 by cantgetin

[CrazyTrain2]

While I appreciate the desire for a diversified fleet of ships, it's much easier and cost effective to just rinse and repeat the same design - tweek (like get rid of the convertible bed) it a bit but SAME SAME SAME.

[cantgetin]

I really expect them to hold at 4 for a while.  That was the original plan, and the initial launch was a mess due to covid.  I'm thinking that getting all 4 running smoothly and making money would be the time to think about ordering more.

[WanderingBrit]

Per Tom McAlpin, the 5th ship (as and when it is built) cannot be the same as 1-4 because of changing environmental regulations, and so will of necessity be at least somewhat different.