Scott Barronton (00:00)
Today we're talking about one of the fastest growing cruise lines in the industry And one that's doing things very differently, Virgin Voyages.
If you've cruised before or you're considering your next cruise, this is a brand that probably has come up. And it's not just because it's new. It's because Virgin has taken a very different approach to what cruise experience should feel like, especially for adults. So in this episode, we're sitting down with Mark Harvey from Virgin voyages to break down what actually makes them different.
And more importantly, who it's a good fit for and who it's not, because this isn't a cruise line that's trying to be everything to everyone.
Speaker 2 (00:49)
We're Scott and Melissa, The Sunshine Travelers.
Speaker 1 (00:52)
We're all about exploring the world and sharing the journey with you. Whether you're a seasoned traveler, dreaming of your next adventure, or just here for the stories.
Speaker 2 (00:59)
No matter where you are on your travel journey, we've got first-hand experiences, tips, and plenty of inspiration from some of the most amazing places on Earth.
Speaker 1 (01:09)
So buckle up and get ready to travel with us.
Scott Barronton (01:16)
So Melissa, you and I haven't sailed Virgin Voyages yet, but it's come up a lot with our clients and listeners, especially those looking for something a little bit different from traditional cruise experience. Yes, and especially for couples. This is an adults only, which means 18 plus cruise line. So right away that changes the entire feel of the ship. And that's why we really wanted to have this conversation.
not just to understand what Virgin offers, but to help you decide if it's the right kind of experience for you. because for the right traveler, this could be a really great fit. And so let's get in today's conversation with our guest. So today we have the pleasure of interviewing Mark Harvey.
He is the Central Florida Business Development Manager for Virgin Voyages. In his role, he supports travel advisors like Sunshine Travelers experiences in reaching future cruise travelers. Mark has extended experience in marketing and business development, having come from Sandals prior to joining Virgin. Mark, welcome to the podcast.
Mark Harvey BDM (02:24)
Yes, Scott Melisites, a rare pleasure for me to be here with you. I truly am appreciative of the time that you're spending with me and to talk about Virgin Voyages. Let me tell you, so about me a little bit, I'm from the beautiful island of Jamaica. I'm a country boy. from the hills above Ocho Rios. You know, I grew up literally in the middle of tourist town.
So I understand what it feels like to, you know, be on vacation. I see it. I see it every day. I see people when I was growing up, I see people coming to Jamaica and discovering these wondrous places like Dungeva Falls, or YS Falls, where YS Falls, by the way, if you've never seen it, go look it up. YS Falls, where the water is coming out of the hills as if it's a
something from the Bible. It's unbelievable. It truly is unbelievable. So I'm from the beautiful island of Jamaica. How I got to the United States is Disney actually came in, I was in my final year in college and Disney recruited five of us. That's it. They brought us here to work over here just at the turn of the millennium.
Scott Barronton (03:13)
Hahaha
Mark Harvey BDM (03:31)
And yeah, that's literally how I came. I fell in love with my wife. We've been married for 20 odd years. The story goes we met online. So it works. We've been married for 23 years now. We have one child, 17 year old. I've been in hospitality all my life. I truly know how to run a hotel and I'm in sales. I'm a business development manager. I worked for Sandals for four years as a business development manager in the central Florida area.
And so the transition from Sandals to Virgin, even though it's recent, has been quite easy for me. My passion is to see travel advisors, travel agencies grow. You know, I believe I'm an expert in marketing. I believe I'm an expert in helping others achieve their dream. And so that's literally my role. My role is to make sure
that what you're looking for as an agency or an agent matches with my product. And my product is Virgin Voyages. And let me tell you, it is a fantastic product. We like to say we're making sea changes in the industry. Our founder, Sir Richard Branson, he looked at the industry and he said, I'm going to shake it up. I'm going to disturb it. I'm going to disrupt it.
and I'm going to make it more fun. And so we'll talk about some of the things that he's done, but it is a fantastic product, really is.
Scott Barronton (04:49)
So Mark, I do want to go back though, is before all of this, in some way you were actually a romance author.
Mark Harvey BDM (04:58)
That is correct. I feel like I have the need to help others in their relationship. I mean, just think about that. A guy like me met my wife online. by the way, my line to my wife. you will love this. Do you like pina colada? Or getting caught in the rain? That was my first line. Okay. So just so you know.
Scott Barronton (05:14)
Love it.
I love
that. I love that.
Mark Harvey BDM (05:20)
Why do we have to
go far away since then? But yeah, so in the world of romance, I've started so many things. I started an event planning company for couples where for a special evening, It was called Destinative. So Destinative would come to your house. We would do things like your violin player would get local restaurants to cater your food, things like that.
And then later on, I wrote a book called First 52 Weekends, a Guide for Newlyweds. And the idea there was I was a blogger my posts would be all these amazing things that you could do as a couple brand new in your relationship. so I said, you know, I had enough. So then I put all 52 in a book and that was called First 52 Weekends. You can actually still get it on Amazon today. And then after that, I started
startup it was called Two on an Island and we're still working on that. It's actually, it's still quite nascent, but it is going to be a fantastic collaboration with AI and we are, the mission is to save relationships. The mission is to make romance into a game that you play to win, right? And so more to come.
where that is concerned. yeah, romance is my forte for sure.
Scott Barronton (06:29)
love that. And so that's so interesting then that you were with Sandals, right? Now I know they have their beaches and they have a few of those, right? But Sandals is all inclusive, adults only. And now Virgin Voyages, basically adults only, 18 plus, right? On the voyages. And so I think that, I mean, that probably just ties right into your passion too, to help people, help couples, plan these fantastic getaways and vacations.
Mark Harvey BDM (06:38)
Right.
That's
That's exactly right. Because, you know, that's the bedrock. The bedrock are the relationships that we form with our intimate partners. That is the bedrock of our society. And if we don't take the time to get those solid, then we truly are not doing our society justice. We are leaving it to chance.
Scott Barronton (07:15)
And there's no better way to do that. think one thing that Scott and I have always tried to do with our travels is from, I mean, as long as we possibly could, we would have a grandparent watch the kids and we would say at least once a year, we are going to get away. And I think that we've always tried to encourage couples, especially couples with small children, watching our grandkids so that our, daughter and her husband could go to Portugal last year. I mean, I just think that is so important, but to get away.
Mark Harvey BDM (07:27)
right?
Scott Barronton (07:43)
not to just do that at home. Date night is one thing, but to get away from everything else.
Mark Harvey BDM (07:49)
That's exactly right.
When you travel and you take, like for example, on a Virgin voyage and you do short things, you are exploring. What exploring means is that you're going to somewhere you've never been before or you've hardly ever been there and you are getting that opportunity to say, honey, look. You don't say honey, look when you're at home, but when you are hiking.
the Blue Mountains in Jamaica or the Pitons in St. Lucia. And you go, honey, look, that's called wonder. Wonder is amazing, right? It's good for you as a person because you're discovering together and you're building memories together.
Scott Barronton (08:26)
I want to go back to, mean, and basically all those things that you said, you can find on a Virgin Voyage. And I would say the home element to that is because the spaces are beautiful, And you can get inspiration for like your home spaces and everything is, modern and clean and all that. And I know that y'all have wellness offerings and fantastic food.
Mark Harvey BDM (08:30)
Yes.
Scott Barronton (08:48)
But yeah, the element of, and Scott, I think about some of our travels when you're like, look, because I'm that way. Scott, look, look at the sunset, look at the sunrise, look, like look at, that's me.
Mark Harvey BDM (08:58)
You're absolutely right, Melissa So how you know that that is special, this is how you know when that how that is special. When Scott is not with you and you go, Scott's not here. It's like, it's almost like I shouldn't even have been here. I don't even know why I'm here. Right? You ever feel that way before where you are on a business trip or somewhere where maybe a fam trip and you're by yourself and you see a sunset and you go,
I wish Scott was here. You don't say, well, that was nice. Me personally, I'm enjoying it. No, you're thinking about your hubby and you say, I wish Scott was here. I do it all the time. And then you're like, okay, let me take a picture of it. And then the worst part is the picture doesn't do it justice, Happens all the time. Happens all the time.
Scott Barronton (09:38)
Yeah, never does.
Yeah, we'll do that sometimes with FaceTime. So be somewhere and it'd be like, I wish Melissa was here. And FaceTime and then say, I wish you could see this.
Mark Harvey BDM (09:45)
Yes!
I wish my momma was here. Yes.
Because it's this thing that we do as humans that we want to share it. It brings us joy to share it. It's the funniest thing. It actually probably brings us more joy to share it than us getting the joy itself.
Scott Barronton (10:07)
Well, let's go back to Virgin Voyages for just a minute. And what would you say is the biggest surprise that new customers have after their first Virgin Voyage?
Mark Harvey BDM (10:17)
Yeah, you know, the whole mantra of not having kids on board is fantastic. It's truly fantastic. First of all, it's only 2770 sailors. So it's not a big, it's a big ship, but it's not a mega ship. And so you're going to get to know these people very, very well.
And I gotta tell you, I love my kids in my family, but my kid is 17 years old and I'm done with the screaming at dinner thingy, me jiggy. don't, Melissa, I don't wanna hear it. Melissa, I'm done. I'm done with the screams at dinner when I'm trying to look into my wife's eyes as the sun is setting in the background when I'm at.
You know, one of those six premium restaurants on Virgin Voyages. I don't want to hear, mommy, I want ice cream. I love kids. But at that moment, I don't want to hear it. So the promise is no kids, 18 and over. And I believe that is critical.
because it sets up everything afterwards. I'll give you an example of something that it sets up. In your sea terraces, you have a hammock. And this hammock is on a sea terrace, and it's there, and it is adult. It's adult, because you are not going to have... Can you imagine having your kids on the sea terrace with...
And it's my turn, my turn, my turn, my turn. No, we're not doing the my turn thing, OK? This is an adult voyage where one person is chilling on the terrace with, you know, in the hammock and the other person is inside maybe watching, catching up on, you know, the news or whatever it is. That is adult.
Scott Barronton (11:51)
Yeah. Yes.
Mark Harvey BDM (12:09)
That is called adulting, right? We're just not doing it. And that, I believe, is a delightful thing about Virgin Voyages. But there's others. There are others. And we can talk about those as well. But that, in the first place, is the reason why it's a line, delineating line. It's a line that says, no kids. And if you have your kids, are tons of other options for you.
Scott Barronton (12:11)
Yes.
Mark Harvey BDM (12:34)
You know, no kids, that's okay. It's not for everybody.
Scott Barronton (12:37)
Right. Yeah. One other thing I wanted to mention before I forget, you talked about the spontaneity. On another podcast episode, we were recapping another cruise that we did. And I mentioned the difference between Scott when he's doing that and when we're at home. He was like looking through all the activities. Hey, we can go to this and we can go to that and we can go to this show and that show. Completely different.
And so that's one aspect of it is you get to be a different person, right? You get to be whatever you wanna be. And it's just so much fun.
Mark Harvey BDM (13:07)
Preach it, sister.
Preach it, sister. Let me tell you, on a Virgin Voyage you wake up at 7 a.m. and you put on your workout clothes and you are doing the run, you're running around on the runway on that beautiful red track on the 17th floor and you are just, I'm not running around at home seven o'clock in the morning, I'm trying to get to work. You get up in the morning and then you go and you get your...
Scott Barronton (13:28)
you
Mark Harvey BDM (13:33)
your delightful coffee mix drink and then you might go into the bee complex and work out a little bit and then you can choose one of multiple locations to have breakfast. You're not doing that at home my friend. It is aspirational and I love that about Virgin Voyages
Scott Barronton (13:54)
love and then you can have your wellness shot or your green juice or your your that's right because they're a mess to clean up right I love that too
Mark Harvey BDM (14:00)
And you don't have to make ⁓ it. I love that.
When you're getting to terminal V in Miami, what I love most about our ships or lady ships, by the way, we call them lady ships because they're all ladies. Scarlett, resilient, valiant, brilliant. They're all ladies, right? So you're pulling up and it's like a little toy. It looks like a toy. It's so pretty. It's red and grays and whites.
and it looks like a little toy and you get on and you're like, wow. And the design is so beautiful. And what I love most tying into spontaneity is the ship is designed with all these little areas for you to do what you want. So the group that wants to hang out and play cards, they have their little spot. Foodies have the galley. It's everything is just designed in the
portion that it needs to be designed for that type of sailor and I love that. I love how you can change. So one minute you can be a foodie, next minute you can be a fitness buff, next minute you can sit back and enjoy the myriad different types of entertainment on board and Virgin Voyages knew that. So even the way they design that whole role of the cruise director
You know, you're on a cruise, a traditional cruise. Good morning, everybody. No, none of that. You're not going to have any of that. There's a happenings crew. same role is divided into different aspects based on your interests.
so you have a person who is responsible for the fitness and wellness and things like that. Another person who is responsible for entertainment of different types. I love that. I love that because we realize that our clients come in so many different forms, right?
Scott Barronton (15:49)
Something for everyone, And I love that too, because it's like you said, but then even couples, right? They can have their together time, but then they could have the gym or sleep in or go to the spa or, and have their one-on-one relaxing time too. I do want to go back to the food part because that's one of the things I think that sets Virgin apart from other cruise lines. So talk to us about...
Mark Harvey BDM (15:55)
That's right.
exactly right. I love that. I love that about it.
Scott Barronton (16:13)
how Virgin approaches the food on the ship versus maybe some of the other cruise lines out there.
Mark Harvey BDM (16:19)
It's thoughtful. It's thoughtful. The first thing that, like I mentioned at the start, Sir Richard Branson said he wants to make a sea change. He wants to look at things in a different way and wants to disrupt the industry. One of the things that we didn't like was the fact that you have to pay to upgrade your dining options, your dining choices. Really? Really? Have to pay?
But I paid to come on the cruise. So if I want to eat at that nice restaurant that I see that I'm on board now and I'm looking at it and I like it, I have to pay more. And not only a little more, a lot more. Right? And I'm like, boy, I'm not sure. Better food, better... No. At Virgin Voyages, there are 20 dining options. Six are premium. Now...
What I love is just the options of, and it's called a Virgin Fair choice, where you can decide, one, what type of suite that you're getting, but more importantly, of the different types of services that you'd like. For example, I'll give you an example. If you are choosing the basics, you are only going to get access to that booking on the app for dining options.
Because you book, you you make a reservation, no extra charge, but you just have to make a reservation because of space. But you have limited time to do that while you can then book another tier that you have more time, 60 days, 45 days, things like that. That's wonderful because then there are others that are spontaneous and they wouldn't mind waiting in the queue while there's people like my wife who she's not spontaneous at all.
She wants to know what time, when, and where. Me? I'll just show up, right? But no, she wants to plan it. And I love that. I love the fact that you can then choose whether it's, you know, you're going to the wake or, you know, whether it's the manor or, you know, the names, by the way, are just fantastic. You can see that they're thoughtfully designed, you know, like, for example, I'll give you a little insight.
on one of our newest restaurants. It's called Aria. It's designed there by Chopped Judge. Her name is Manjeet. Manjeet, sorry, M-A-N-S-E-E-T. But her, that's her first name. But she is like the chef, guest judge on Chopped. And I love the fact that we are leaning on the very best chefs to design.
Scott Barronton (18:29)
Yeah.
Mark Harvey BDM (18:45)
or restaurant, and I like to call it designer food, right? The designer restaurant, designer food. And I love the fact that, we are taking the time to get the very best of culinary delights in the world on our ship. So when you're sailing, you know, for that one stretch of time, whether it's a week, four nights, whatever it is, you are getting the absolute finest that money can buy. And I love that.
Scott Barronton (19:10)
So I to make sure that I understand that clearly. Everyone has access to all of the restaurants. It's just based on the class of your stateroom. You can book those restaurants further in advance.
Mark Harvey BDM (19:23)
Right, everyone have access all the time to all 20 dining options. There's no extra charge. we have six premium restaurants and those obviously we're going to ask you to book on the app to make sure that you're securing your time, your dining time and for each restaurant, which is wonderful. When you book with when it's called Virgin Fair Choice.
it will allow you to choose whether you want to have access to reservations 60 days, 45 days, or I believe it's 15 days prior to sailing. you can see where if you are traveling on a whim you are going for four nights, you might not need a 60 day booking window. You might need just need a 15 day booking window.
And so that's the only option, that's the only choice that you'd have in terms of there's no restrictions, but there are choices. And I love that because then it gives you the opportunity to either book a little early or you can book as needed.
Scott Barronton (20:25)
That sounds great. One other huge distinction is that you're not going to find a buffet.
Mark Harvey BDM (20:30)
No. And you know why we do it? I love why we do it. Because we notice that on other cruises, there's a lot of wastes. There's a lot of waste. yes, we are in a time when things are abundant, but that does not mean we should waste because there's people who need it. There's people who need the food. So why are we wasting it? It looks bad and we don't want to do that.
So how about cook on order? How about a la carte? Right? Even in the galley. Right? How about just eat what you want, but order it when you need it. Saving tons of money. Saving tons of time.
and also gives you the food fresh when you need it, right when you need it. Right? Isn't that much better? Yes.
Scott Barronton (21:14)
Yes, it is. And I love
that. I know that some people love the buffets. we're not big buffet people either. Because I think one other aspect of a vacation like that is, like you mentioned earlier, the time to sit down and have that meal. And a lot of times we just don't take that time when we're...
Mark Harvey BDM (21:32)
Exactly right. And you know the funniest thing so so there are choices like for example if you walk into the galley like yesterday I did a ship tour on Scarlet Lady and I am ashamed. I'm let me come out right now and say I am totally ashamed so I first got my little thing of sushi and then after the sushi I said you know
I want to try the burger, but I really am just going to do two bites in the burger. Okay, so I finished the whole burger because it was delicious. And then I went to the dessert station and the lady was preparing her desserts. And I said into myself, said, self, I'm just going to get that one little one. But then I got one little, I think it's called a grotto. And so I got the grotto.
Scott Barronton (21:56)
You
Mark Harvey BDM (22:12)
And you know, I, was another thing over there that was covered in red chocolate. And so there are choices, there are choices that you can, you go ahead, just like in a buffet, you can go ahead and move around and try different types of food. Because that's the thing. The thing is on a buffet is that what's the difference between a buffet and a galley? A buffet is you stand up one time and you fill your plate with everything that you would want. And then you go back and try it.
in this aspect of the way we offer our dining options is their small plates. And it gets you to interact with others and you're there and you, did you try some of this? Is it good? Okay, I'm gonna try it. And it's that interaction, that's how food is supposed to be. If you're eating, it's not supposed to be sit down and the plate is piled up. by the way, when the plate is piled up, then you won't enjoy the smell.
which is a critical part of the food because then they all smell. There's one big Menege-toif smells here, you know? So what you're doing is you're getting the sushi like, ooh, nice little sushi, just a few pieces. Mm, that's great. Okay, let me go try something else. And then you feel like you're exploring. So that I love. I love that that's the way we do it. And I know that we're saving, you know, the way.
Scott Barronton (23:10)
Ha ha ha.
Mark Harvey BDM (23:29)
food from going to the waste, from going waste. But the aspect of enjoying the food on demand is even more important.
Scott Barronton (23:36)
I love that, yeah, I love that.
Are there any trends that you're seeing in the industry, in the cruise industry about, are sailors taking longer sailings? Are you seeing more solo travelers out there? Are people focused on wellness travel? Like what are some of the trends that you're seeing in the cruise industry?
Mark Harvey BDM (24:56)
S.
Well, so last year, 2025, I wish I had the data in front of me. But last year, remember looking at Booking.com did a huge survey, industry survey. And what they were seeing was a move away from travel just for the sake of traveling, just for the sake of going to a destination.
And what they were seeing was a specialist skewing to younger clients, younger travelers. They were looking more for an experience. And you hear every day, yeah, they're looking for an experience. They're looking for an experience. Well, here's my opinion on what they're truly looking for.
They want a vacation that is specific to their needs, to their wants, to their desires. So if I'm a golfer, I want a vacation that is all about golfing. want it to be from the moment I arrive to the moment I leave, I want it to be all about golfing. Right? I want little pieces of it. When you put it all together,
I am supposed to be able to tell the story to my workmate about the wonderful golfing experience I had. Back in the days, our parents would say, I went on vacation and I played golf. No, no. The new generation will say, I went golfing in Ireland. You notice the difference? It's where they put the emphasis. To put the emphasis on what's important. I'll give you a great example, my boss.
is out this week. She was out last week and she was out this week. I said, Julia, where are you going? And she goes, yeah, I'm going cycling in, I believe she went to Indonesia. I am, I'm going cycling in Indonesia. My parents 20 years ago would never say I'm going cycling in Indonesia. Never. She's going cycling in Indonesia. The whole thing. She has a guide.
They're doing this. They're riding from one part to the other. Then they're staying over at a hostel and they're moving up. She's going to come back and she will have stories like none other. That's what I mean. It's all about experiences. so Virgin Voyages recognized this. so on board, what you'll find are just so many different threads that you can pull on. If it's wellness, great. If it's food, great.
Even if you just like going to some of these unknown destinations, Sitka for example in Alaska, you're there till way in the evening. We are typically the last ship to leave port. Why? Because we enjoy it. There's some in Europe that are overnighters where for example you are in that place that is party central, Europe. Ibiza!
Scott Barronton (27:35)
Ibiza.
Yeah. Yeah.
Mark Harvey BDM (27:37)
We overnight in Ibiza,
meaning you can go dance, have a great time, and then you come and sleep. That's what I'm talking about. That's thoughtful. It's thoughtful design. And that's what's changing. And you will see all the other cruise lines follow suit.
Scott Barronton (27:46)
Mm-hmm.
Mark Harvey BDM (27:54)
Right? You see the even the all-inclusives are following suit because what they're doing is Sandals, for example, I just came from Sandals. Sandals is focused on golf and dive, right? They're focused on golf and dive. So if you're a diver, man, they have your entire program for you, the entire program. If you're a golfer, play golf for free. Have a great time or included, play golf included. Well, it's the same for us. And I believe we are the
you know, the tip of the sword. We started this whole thing of looking at it from the point of view of special interest and things that you love and experiences and things like that. That is the future for sure.
Scott Barronton (28:33)
We've often commented that the boat needs to hurry up and get back on the open water so they can open the casino.
Mark Harvey BDM (28:40)
That's exactly right, because there's people that that's their thing. They love that. And so if that's your thing, this is the best place to do it. Right. It's the best place. It's the best environment created for you, for you to do this, to enjoy your casino. What you'll realize is that the really good products.
will have it where you have one true thread. For example, casino, like you said, but everything else that is there to support it is first class. And that's how you should judge your vacation. If you're a golfer, great. I don't want to just play the best golf courses and then I have mosquitoes killing me at night. No, because I want to sleep well so I can play well the next morning. So it should have the supporting things.
to make your entire vacation just
Scott Barronton (29:28)
no, we would much rather spend the time in port and exploring. You you talked about exploring earlier and that's how we want to spend our time and we've been on other cruises where, it's like we get four hours in port or something like that.
Mark Harvey BDM (29:44)
No, it's when you meet
people. That's how your life is changing. Your life doesn't change if nothing happens to you. Nothing happens to you, your life doesn't change.
Scott Barronton (29:50)
Yes.
And it's interesting that you mention those because thinking back to our experiences, we had an overnight in Barcelona one time. We had a late night in Gibraltar. We had a late night in Monaco. And those are the ones where it was like, we got to do all this cool stuff because we have this extra time.
Mark Harvey BDM (30:05)
Right?
That's exactly right. Your life is changed when you do things that are beyond the ordinary and when you meet people. When you meet people is when your life changes.
least it you dream and makes you think
Scott Barronton (30:20)
here's the thing that I always tell people. When we talk about travel, when we talk about these experiences, those memories are what come flooding back. The people we met on this cruise, them telling us they've had far more crazy experiences than we've had. Like who are we to be travel podcasters, right? But we can still spread that message.
We took a great group of people to Antarctica, but we added people along the way who joined our group. You know, a lady who was a solo travel, right? She joined our group and now she wants to come on other trips But those memories and those experiences with those people is what always floods back in my mind.
Mark Harvey BDM (31:01)
such a that is a solid statement. Remember, people think travel is by the way, that's the other thing that was in the trend from booking.com, the travel trends for twenty twenty six future travel trends was that travel is becoming not a nice to have, but an essential part of life. And how you know that is true. Just think about your life.
as a person from the day you're born till when it's over. These are the happiest times of your entire life. This is it. Buying a car is not happy. Buying a car is nice and you smile and it's pretty and it drives great. But you're not going to remember that new car that you bought 30 years ago, the next 30 years. But you'll remember moments. You remember moments, the first kiss.
You remember the first trip you went on, right? Because these are the happiest. are the purveyors. Travel advisors are the purveyors of happiness. For sure.
Scott Barronton (31:58)
Yeah, I have one exception to that, buying the car.
Mark Harvey BDM (32:02)
Yeah, I knew you were gonna
say that Scott!
Scott Barronton (32:05)
The salesman, he was so good because he even said, I think I need to let Melissa drive it. No, no, no, no. But here's the thing. You don't remember the car. You remember. No, I know. But what you what you have in your mind is this. Watching me experience that.
And that's what you do with travel. she came back with that big, huge smile on her face, I knew that was my car.
Mark Harvey BDM (32:24)
Drop the mic.
That dropped the mic. It is the happiness that you brought. You brought the happiness and that is exactly right. Thank you, Melissa. Thank you. That car is the happiness. When you look at her face and you saw how happy she was, you're like, whatever, give it to her, whatever. Matter of fact, you weren't leaving that car for sure because you're like, I need some more of that happiness. And you know, can I tell you, when I talked to couples, I said, you know,
Scott Barronton (32:35)
But I absolutely agree. I totally agree with your sentiment. Yeah.
Mark Harvey BDM (32:54)
How you keep your relationship is based on a simple rule. I make you happy, you make me happy. That's the rule for the rest of your life. If you can subscribe to that whole thing of me making you happy and you making me happy, that's it. That's the whole idea of romance and love and relationships.
I just try to make her happy, that's it. I go on vacations to make her happy. I buy her stuff to make her happy. I cook to make her happy, literally, just to make her happy. If she's happy, then everything else kind of falls into place.
Scott Barronton (33:26)
Well, and I think Virgin has kind of figured that out, but what is that little something that Virgin does that makes people happy, but they don't necessarily notice?
Mark Harvey BDM (33:37)
Yes. So you remember at the start I said, you know, Virgin Voyages is making a sea change. So we're looking at doing things that you probably wouldn't even notice. You probably would walk by it, but we know it's important. We know it's vital. And I'll give you a great example. The way we handle our footprint in the environment is seriously
just by itself reason why you you should take virgin voyages seriously and and join us when we sail. I'll give you a great example the bionic yarn band that you wear so it's instead of having a room key you have a bionic bar a yarn on your hand with which is like a plastic part that opens your door you can also use it
to pay for sailor loot and things like that. It's made by regenerating or by, what do you call that? What's that word? Recycling, thank you. Recycling 20 pounds of plastic. Plastic that came from the ocean. You can actually keep that when you leave afterwards as a memorabilia.
Scott Barronton (34:31)
Recycling.
Mark Harvey BDM (34:45)
But what's great is that we recognize that it's a thing that we need to change and we need to make better. You see plastics everywhere in the ocean, And so we are doing our little part. But not only that, we made it red and tell us the story so that if you're on the beach, you should pick up a bottle. It might not come back to the yarn, but if we're doing it, you should do it. Another thing that we do is we ban all single-use plastic on board.
And so you see people walking around with their water bottles and let me tell you, everywhere you go, you see water bottles for sale. Well, you should bring a water bottle on board a Virgin Voyage because you will not find a single use plastic. And it's a statement, it's a flag that we've placed and we stick it in the sand. And we're saying we're not doing that. We're not doing that. We're not doing single use plastics because it's terrible for the environment. And we're sailing on this thing, which is blue, an emerald, and it is
Fickle, right? It gets warm. And if it gets warm, then hurricanes come really hard. And we know that. And we know it's us. We know it's us. Because as our technology gets better and we become, we start exploring more and we do more trade, it's warming up. We know. And so that is one thing that we are doing in our own little way. We recycle the water. Even the heat that comes from the ship itself is then used in other aspect of the ship.
to run the operation. It's truly life-changing. We've probably spent more money developing those technology than what you would normally see in the industry. And it's above and beyond. And I love that because it means as a partner with you, as a travel advisor, we are your partner, it means that we are committing to this. We're saying we're going to be here for the long haul.
We're saying that if we're taking that serious right now, can imagine how imaginative we will be in the future and can imagine the things that we will do together to save this environment and not only save this environment, it's not even saving the environment. know, it's about preserving what we have and what we have is absolutely beautiful. It's beautiful. And we don't want to lose that. Right.
And so those are the little things that we're doing in terms of how we're thinking about the environment, how we are spreading the word and saying, if we can do it with four little ships, everybody should be doing this, right? It's not a Virgin Voyages thing. It's a world thing. And so I'm very, proud of our team and our crew for thinking that way.
Scott Barronton (37:12)
I love that. I love that too, because it's like you said, it's we've got to preserve this and people may not notice and some people may not care. But some people that that's a big deal. Right. How can we have all this plastic? How can we do all these things? And we're out here, you having our vacation. But that's so important. I love that. Well, it just reminds me of that time that we were in Greece and we were in this gorgeous little bay and we went down these rocks.
to get to the beach below. couldn't see the beach from, from up above. And as we got down below, we saw all of the plastic that was washed up onto the beach in that area. And it was just such a shame. we had even said then we were like, what is it that we could do to raise awareness, maybe teach the people here how to take that plastic, recycle it and use it in a way.
that would be beneficial rather than just letting it pile up on their beaches.
Mark Harvey BDM (38:03)
Yes.
Scott Barronton (38:08)
let's make a bracelet and then let's make something that you would use after and not just throw away. I love that.
Mark Harvey BDM (38:12)
Right. And I love the fact that it's a story. It's red.
And so you go to work with it the next after your vacation and you had a great time, you're a nice tan, you're looking good, but you have a red blazed on and you tell the story. You say, know, 20 pounds of plastic was used, recycled to make this. And when you tell the story, what it is, that we are humans are an animal of stories. Right. So we tell stories to ourselves. And so we tell the story we want to tell.
And so the more you tell the story is actually funny enough how you start doing your part. Because then we remember these stories and I go to throw away a plastic and I feel terrible about it. And I go, oh, you know what? I should recycle this. And so we are constantly telling the story because apathy is the enemy of anything good. you ignore it.
then somebody else is gonna do it. No, no, no, no. It should be me. It should be me taking up the plastic off the beach. It should be me or my crew saying, we're gonna know, we're gonna take all the recycled plastic that we can and make bands. And we make, every time we sail, that's 2,770 people. So that's 2,770 bands. Let's do it, right? And I'm pretty sure we could have done it cheaper. But why? Why when it's necessary?
Scott Barronton (39:26)
So Mark, you have sold us on romance in couples getaways and taking couples vacations. And you've sold us on all these unique features of Virgin Voyages. Scott and I have the idea that we want to travel on all the world's largest cruise lines, but go to some unique destinations and some unique itineraries.
And Virgin has done that different from some other places. So talk to us about, tell us where we should go and tell us about some places that other people should go with Virgin.
Mark Harvey BDM (40:00)
Well, there's some that I'm eyeing. I'm going to tell you the ones that I'm eyeing, right? I got my eyes on them. Because there's 120 itineraries all around the world. We sail in Europe. We sail in Alaska. We sail in North America, going down from New York, actually, down to Bermuda. We sail in Florida, Florida. That's our major ports. There's times of the year when we have all four ladies in Miami.
Scott Barronton (40:04)
It sounds good.
Mark Harvey BDM (40:25)
sailing out of Miami, sailing out of San Juan, right? We sail California, which I love because our ships are not that big, so they can get into a lot of smaller ports. I love, obviously, the brilliant lady. The brilliant lady is made, so all our ships are made of the same footprint, but we made the brilliant lady just a little tinier in terms of her, the retoundness of her body, you know, the
right in the middle section there. don't Scott help me out here save me Scott!
Scott Barronton (40:54)
You went through yourself, Don't drag
me down with you.
Mark Harvey BDM (40:58)
middle. And the reason why we did that is that so she can go through the Panama Canal. So she does that twice a year. She goes one time from Miami to LA and then another time from LA to Miami. That is a fantastic voyage because then she goes and she touches some of those Central American countries. And then of course, the idea is she's trying to get up to Alaska. And so follow her in Alaska. There are some great deals actually. One is expiring
today, it expires today, tonight. And it gives you 80 % off the second sailor. So you pay the first, then the second one gets 80 % off. There's a $300 bar tab. And bar tab, haven't even talked about it, but it's cool because a bar tab is just like if you go to a really fancy hotel and you put your credit card down and go, I'm gonna pay for a bunch of drinks for a bunch of people or myself. I love that. Then you share it if you want. And you can even shake for champagne. I love that.
So, and then of course, $400 to sail a loot. So things like, you know, using it for your shore things and things like that, right? You get to spend your money as needed. But I love the fact that the brilliant lady is going up to Alaska because I don't know how long Alaska is going to be there. I don't know. I don't, we don't know. Everything is getting warm. So we want to be able to take our, our sailors up to Alaska and see how beautiful that
Scott Barronton (42:16)
Yeah.
Mark Harvey BDM (42:24)
part of the United States is. There more people in Florida that know more about Bahamas than they know about Alaska. And it is their country, right? Where in Europe, we are, when you look at the European itineraries, they are, I am so envious. I wish I lived in Europe. There's one in particular that leaves from Athens. It touches France, Italy.
Scott Barronton (42:35)
Yeah.
Mark Harvey BDM (42:50)
France, Italy, and Spain. Greece, France, Italy, and Spain. Are you serious? Like this, like it touches all the big, it's like the big five or big four, right? Like, come on, get done. Just come home afterwards, right? I love that. But the one I'm gonna tell you about, it's, I believe it's the valiant lady that does it, but she leaves from, it's the Southern Caribbean.
meaning it's down in the Lacerantilles. So she leads from Puerto Rico. She touches St. Lucia. So you're getting into St. Lucia. You're exploring Madame St. Lucia. By the way, it's the only Caribbean island that has a woman's name. Most people don't know that. 7,000 Caribbean island, the only one with a woman's name. So you know who was writing those names down, right? There wasn't any woman writing those names down. So Madame St. Lucia is the only one that
actually is named after a woman. It has the beautiful pitons, right? It has the rivers that you can go bamba rafting on. I've been on it. Beautiful, really gorgeous island. It is actually a volcano island. So the sand is volcano gray. Gorgeous, right? You know that is the origin of the earth. When you're there, you're there on an island like that. You're looking at raw earth in its newest, finest form, right?
But then you can also go to Barbados, the gem of the Caribbean. And I love that because Barbados, Baysans as they call themselves, are the kindest people anywhere, anywhere that you've ever seen. The English love Barbados, right? They absolutely think Barbados is the gem of the Caribbean. And so that same voyage actually touches Barbados. It touches St. Lucia. It touches so many different stops. I believe it's an eight-niter.
at 10 days, eight nights. And it is just one that bucket list that you get to touch all these little islands. I believe it actually goes to, is it Bequia, I think, or Mustique, one of those small St. Vincent islands. But that's what you should be looking for, because I can tell you, with some of these cruises that are getting bigger, they cannot go into these ports. And you want to go into these ports, because that's where you get the true sense.
Caribbean Caribbean in its original form and there's nothing like that
Scott Barronton (45:06)
I love that. I love that because there's so many of those that we haven't even checked off. Right. And then, like you said, so many of the other cruise lines and you guys do too, but Bahamas, Jamaica, know, they go to those, but these places, right. Unique experiences and you can have some unique shore excursions there or go to one of the hotels and hang out or whatever you want to do while you're there. That's great.
Mark Harvey BDM (45:10)
Right.
Yeah, I love that Virgin Voyages has so many different types of itineraries. Some are short. There's even one coming next year for three nights. Because what that is, it's recognizing that your clients need breaks. They need little breaks. They might just need they're having a tough time at work and they just need three nights. They just need three nights. Or it's their 25th anniversary and they need to celebrate. They need
10 nights and they need a European voyage bucket list item. know, those you don't skimp on. You don't skimp on a 25th anniversary vacation, celebration. You spend quality money on those. So you have those, and you have obviously the ones that you can just escape down to Miami, terminal V on a cruise, boom. I love that.
Scott Barronton (46:15)
Well, we've said that we don't know how people do three-day cruises because it takes us at least five days to learn our way around on these ships.
Mark Harvey BDM (46:23)
That's exactly right. I see. love you, dear Scott. Send them, Scott. Send them for those five days, because that's crazy. When they're five or longer, then you get to experience everything in its time and its place. You get to slowly dine in all 20 restaurants. You get to experience it. You get to find the one that you really like and go back, know, little things like that.
Scott Barronton (46:47)
We did a 21 day cruise last fall and so we learned our way around that ship. we and you're right. We had a restaurant that we love to go back to again and again. You do have some fantastic Mediterranean trips. Our Scott's brother and our sister-in-law, they're going to do the one that leaves from Athens and goes to Istanbul and Ephesus and
Mark Harvey BDM (46:50)
My wife would love you. She would like that.
All the time. Yeah.
I
saw that one too! That is so cool!
Scott Barronton (47:15)
the Greek islands and so it's a fantastic itinerary. You have
so many, you have so many that it is definitely hard to pick.
Mark Harvey BDM (47:21)
And then what's beautiful is that when you're, especially in the Greek islands and you know how mountainous those are and you look back and you look back at your ship and it's like I said, it's like a little toy. It's so beautiful. It's so beautiful. It's red and it's unusual, right? It's not the regular color like all the others. And it looks like a little toy and you just want to take a picture of it. I love that.
Scott Barronton (47:41)
Well, Mark, before we let you go, have three questions that we ask all of our guests. And the first one is, what is your favorite place that you've ever visited?
Mark Harvey BDM (47:47)
Yes.
St. Vincent for sure. St. Vincent is unbelievably beautiful. St. Vincent feels like the Caribbean 45 years ago. It is just the people. They're so different from all the other Caribbean islands. It's almost as if we're discovering it for the very first time. So when I went to St. Vincent, I'll never ever forget it.
the volcano gray sand. When you snorkel in St. Vincent, the coral is like nowhere else on earth. I'm pretty sure there's not any coral like that on earth because it's untouched. I'll give you an example. So there's this water fan and it's this big, I don't know if it's a plant, a coral or whatever it is, but if you snorkel in Jamaica, it's about six inches, eight inch.
and it's just small and it's purple and it's just going, you know, in the, and it's like, like this. When you're in St. Vincent, it is yay big. Same thing, but like five feet across. Same exact thing. And you're like, huh, isn't that weird? Because there's just so much traffic on these islands and in these islands, it's just, the water is a little colder. There's, you know, that weird, you can see where, where, where the, the trade winds come in.
and bring the Atlantic Ocean in so it's a little colder. Those corals just thrive. And so I have never seen anything like St. Vincent.
Scott Barronton (49:11)
Well, okay. We were just talking about we've got to put some new things on our bucket list because we've crossed off some of the top things. And St. Lucia has been there. I think you're you're funny enough. It's just like, we've been to the Caribbean, but we haven't been to these places.
Mark Harvey BDM (49:16)
Then Vincent for sure, for sure, nothing's gonna make me crazy.
Scott Barronton (49:27)
Well, that's your favorite place. what top spots remain on your travel bucket list that you haven't been to?
Mark Harvey BDM (49:34)
to
Japan for sure. Yep, I'd love to go to Japan and I believe in June or July, I think it's July actually, I'm gonna go see Alaska on The Brilliant. So I cannot wait to see Alaska because I'm from the warmest part of the earth. I would like to see some of the coldest parts of the earth.
Scott Barronton (49:54)
Very nice. You're going to love Alaska. Yes. And I'm glad you're doing Alaska first, ⁓ because if we sent you to Antarctica first, when you got to Alaska, you might be like, so yeah.
Mark Harvey BDM (49:56)
I think so.
Yes.
Really?
Wow. That's cool. Okay, I gotta put that.
Scott Barronton (50:11)
But Alaska is wonderful though. you, you
know, you definitely need to do that. And to see the glaciers. That is the thing. If you, and if you get a chance, our, my advice would be to do some kind of excursion in a plane helicopter or something like that and see those glaciers from above. We did that for the first time. This is our second time to Alaska, but that was the first time I had done that. Getting to see because they look so, just so blue. Like it's like.
Mark Harvey BDM (50:17)
That's right.
Scott Barronton (50:37)
Here's this Caribbean blue, but in this glacier in Alaska. Magnificent. Ice that is thousands of years old.
Mark Harvey BDM (50:39)
Yes.
thousands of years old, right? Like I cannot wait. I simply cannot wait. think we have my wife says she wants to go in July. So I'm like, yes, let's go. So that might be absolutely.
Scott Barronton (50:54)
Get it booked. Yeah, that's awesome. You will absolutely love that. That's a fan fantastic
place. We always say stop talking about it and go book it. So. Finally, where are you going next?
Mark Harvey BDM (51:03)
Yes, that's right. That's right. Talk to her now.
On the next trip. So my next trip is April 6th and I am going on Virgin Voyages and we're gonna do Cozumel I believe it's Cozumel back to his forniter. So it's Cozumel and then back to Bimini Beach Club And I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna be a fantastic trip. So that's my next trip besides that I'm gonna go to Dominica Republic on a family trip in end of April
Scott Barronton (51:32)
Very nice. Wonderful. Well, Mark, thank you for taking the time to talk to us. And we're to have to go and see if we can find Mark Harvey on the romance bestsellers list there.
Mark Harvey BDM (51:44)
It was time well spent, and Melissa. I truly enjoyed it. I love good conversations. And I can tell you, this was right up there. This is a fantastic week. I spent really good time talking about travel with you, talking about your business. And I wish your clients the very best. Remember, we have one life, one life. Right? Let's travel. Let's go see the world.
Scott Barronton (52:05)
That's right.
That's right. Thank you, Mark.
Mark Harvey BDM (52:08)
My pleasure.
Scott Barronton (52:08)
All right. So there's a lot in there, but for me, the biggest takeaway is that Virgin Voyages is very intentional about what they want to build. As Mark said, Sir Richard Branson wants to make sea changes and disrupt the traditional cruising market.
And I think that's what makes Virgin Voyage just stand not trying to compete with every other It really is creating a different kind of experience for vacationers and for cruisers. I think the adults only aspect is a big part of that.
It definitely changes everything from the atmosphere on board to how you spend your time. Even the things like dining, the entertainment, the way the ship is laid out. Everything is just assigned a little bit differently. So if you're someone who has cruised before and you're looking for something that feels maybe a little more modern, a little more flexible, this could be a really good option to explore. But like we always say, not every trip is right for every traveler.
And we've talked to people that had fantastic experiences on Virgin and now this is their primary cruise line. And I've had conversations with people that said it was nice, but not for them. And it is good that Virgin has really owned that and is embracing it. And we can't wait to sail on one of their unique itineraries and bring you our firsthand experiences on Virgin Voyages.
So if you're thinking about trying Virgin Voyages, or you just want help figuring out if it's the right fit for you, head over to sunshine travelers experiences.com or sun X travel.com. Or you can just reach out to us directly. We're always happy to help you think through the options and find the right experience for you. And if you enjoyed this episode, make sure you're following the podcast so you don't miss what's coming next.
because the world is full of sunshine and surprises and we will see you next time.
Speaker 1 (54:10)
Well that's it for today's episode. Wherever you're listening from, we hope we've added a little spark to your travel dreams today.
Speaker 2 (54:17)
If you've been enjoying the show, a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform goes a long way. It helps new listeners join our Sunshine Travelers family.
Speaker 1 (54:26)
Be sure to follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode.
Speaker 2 (54:30)
and join us on Instagram or Facebook at Sunshine Travelers Podcast. Remember, that's Travelers with one L.
Speaker 1 (54:35)
And if the stories, tips, and adventures we share bring a little sunshine to your week, you can even buy us a cup of coffee now. You'll find the link in the show notes.
Speaker 2 (54:44)
And of course, share this episode with a friend. Adventure is always better together.
