Richard Branson unveiled three ‘adult only’ Virgin cruise ships earlier this week.
At a ‘ship tease’ event in Genoa, the first of the three ship’s keel (the keel is the structure which runs along the base of a ship) was laid to officially mark the start of construction.
While Virgin played up the fact these new ships launch they will be adults-only (travellers ages 18 and up!) they are also breaking ground environmentally.
All three ships will use innovative ‘green’ technology in order to increase energy efficiency as well as minimising their impact on the environment.
- Waste management company Scanship will be providing microwave technology to convert each ship’s waste into energy.
- Sweden’s Climeon will be recycling waste heat to clean electricity
While these systems will cost Virgin several million dollars per ship the company believes that the benefits to efficiency in the long term will pay dividends.
Each cruise ships will cost £1.9bn in total to build and Virgin hope they will take to the seas in 2020.