Virgin Voyages’ ship Valiant Lady makes inaugural Gibraltar call

The cruise ship Valiant Lady, operated by Virgin Voyages, made its inaugural call to Gibraltar at the weekend, the first of five such calls scheduled this year.

The ship has a maximum capacity of 2,860 passengers across 17 decks but was carrying 753 passengers on this voyage, along with 1086 crew members.

Its arrival follows discussions between Virgin Voyages and the Gibraltar Government’s Minister for Tourism, Vijay Daryanani.

“As always, this is great news for Gibraltar PLC,” Mr Daryanani said.

“It is important that we attract the new cruise companies to our port.”

“We have been working very hard for this to happen and hopefully there will be more new companies to follow.”

“Virgin Voyages are an exciting entrant to the cruise market and are already making positive news so we are delighted that they will be calling at our port this year.”

“I met with them last month in Miami and we look forward to building a fruitful relationship with them for the benefit of all.”

The vessel arrived early Sunday morning and was greeted with a water salute from local tugs.

It spent the day in Gibraltar before sailing on to Malaga, its next port of call.

Mr Daryanani was invited on board the ship by Captain Aris Medina Morales, where they exchanges plaque as is customary during first calls.