Dear Virgin Voyages,

A Brand I Grew Up With

My relationship with Virgin started long before cruising. I remember walking into Virgin Records as a kid in Scotland, and even then something felt different about it — like the brand had a personality, not just a logo. Later, I flew Virgin Atlantic, and that same energy was there: this refusal to do things the boring way just because that's how everyone else does it.

So when Virgin launched a cruise line, I wasn't surprised. I was curious. And when I actually sailed? I was hooked.

Challenging the Status Quo

Virgin Voyages was only my second cruise, ever. It's now the cruise line I've sailed more than any other. That tells you everything.

What you've done to the cruise industry is what I wish more companies had the courage to do: you looked at an established, profitable, "don't fix what isn't broken" industry and said "Actually, this is broken — people just got used to it."

Adults-only. No buffets. No nickel-and-diming. An experience designed around what people actually want, not what the industry assumed they'd accept. That's not iteration — that's reinvention. And it takes a kind of confidence that most companies talk about in their mission statements but never actually practice.

This Is How I Work, Too

I'll be honest: the Virgin brand philosophy is uncomfortably close to how I operate.

I'm someone who doesn't take himself too seriously but puts in the work to make the experience unique. I've built my career by looking at how things are done, asking "Why?" and then building something better. I've taken risks on ideas that seemed unconventional and made them work. I've challenged status quos that people accepted simply because "that's how it's always been done."

That mindset isn't something I adopted because it sounds good. It's just how I'm wired. And seeing a company that operates the same way, at scale, across an entire industry? That's why I'm writing this.