Virgin Voyages celebrates Top 100 First Mates on Valiant Lady
Virgin Voyages’ executive team is sailing onboard Valiant Lady this week to celebrate and mark the achievements of its Top 100 First Mates a.k.a. travel advisors.
“Historically, the First Mate is the right-hand to the captain, to help steer the ship, make sure the ship is sea-worthy and sails well,” CEO Nirmal Saverimuttu tells PressToday during a one-on-one interview. “First Mates are a huge part of our business and they’re a huge part of why we’ll be successful and why we’ve been successful. I really view our business with First Mates as a partnership. I want us to be the most trade-friendly brand out there.”
Although it’s the third annual staging of the First Mate Spectacular Soirée celebration, this is only the second year that Canadians have made the Top 100 list.
“Last year, we proudly welcomed our first two Canadian First Mates to qualify for the Top 100 First Mate Spectacular Soirée, and this year, that number has grown — a fantastic milestone,” notes Sean Russo, sales manager, Canada for Virgin Voyages, who is cheering on the Canadians from afar as he’s attending an overlapping industry conference. “We’ve seen remarkable growth in Canada this year, with more Canadian First Mates making their first bookings — and then many more — with us, which is incredibly encouraging. Looking ahead, we anticipate 2025 to be a standout year for Virgin Voyages in Canada and this is only the beginning.”
This time around, the number of Canadian First Mates to crack the Top 100 leaped up to six advisors. Notably, their sales achievements represent the top sales across the board not just amongst the Canadian market.
“To make the Top 100, we had 22,142 First Mates make a booking last year,” John Diorio, vice president of North American sales for Virgin Voyages noted during a welcome reception for the agents. “You are the Top 100! What other cruise line does this for you? Nobody. So I really want to thank each and every one of you for the business you bring us. I can’t thank you enough. What you do for us every single day, it’s amazing. We need you. We’re building this business together with you. We can’t do it without you.”
Sailing until Sunday Jan. 12, First Mates and their guests are taking part in the Fire & Sunset Soirées itinerary, with stops in Key West and Bimini, Bahamas, and plenty of onboard programming like Bingo with the Diva and Scarlet Red night, a pool party where sailors are encouraged to rock red clothes. From feedback sessions and a town hall with the executives to the First Mates Ink Awards, a number of special events are also planned for the travel advisors.
“We have the Ink Awards, which is like our version of the Oscars,” Saverimuttu reveals. “Within the Top 100 we give out awards for the Top 10 and for people who are up and coming and have really moved the needle on sales, things like that, just really celebrating the partnership… I hope that they take away how much we value the partnership with them, and how we genuinely feel that we’re building this brand together with our First Mate partners and our sailors. We are a new company, we are a new brand, we have our own twist on cruising and what I’d love for them to know is that they’ve been a huge part of building and shaping this award winning brand.”
As for the Canadian market, Saverimuttu noted that they are working on raising brand awareness in the destination, which will only help First Mates continue to grow.
“We are seeing tremendous growth in Canada,” he notes. “We are actually actively pushing in Canada, marketing Canada. We have an offer dedicated just for Canada right now. Given the Virgin brand’s historical legacy in Canada, we think we’re a perfect fit.”
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