Redefining Cruise Entertainment: Virgin Voyages Does it Differently ft. Richard Kilman

Ever dreamed of setting sail on a cruise that ditches cheesy shows for something with a little more edge? Join us as we sit down with Richard Kilman, Vice President of Entertainment for Virgin Voyages, to explore the brand's fresh approach to onboard entertainment. We'll discuss their commitment to original shows, immersive parties, and a focus on intimate experiences. Kilman reveals how his background fuels their unique strategy, and why you won't find a Broadway knock-off on these ships. Plus, you could score an amazing land-based vacation giveaway, so get ready to ditch the tourist traps and set sail for adventure!

Mike Putman: Hello everyone. I'm Mike Putman.

James Ferrara: And I'm James Ferrara. Welcome to No Tourists Allowed.

Mike Putman: Yes, welcome to another edition in our third series of No Tourists Allowed. We have a fantastic guest on today. We have the Vice President of Entertainment for Virgin Voyages, Mr. Richard Kilman. Welcome, Richard.

Richard Kilman: Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

James Ferrara: Welcome, Richard. Last season at No Tourists Allowed, Virgin Voyages provided us with a cruise giveaway, a luxury cruise vacation for two on Virgin Voyages, and that was a big deal. So another thank you for that.

Really appreciate your support of our audience here. Talking to you is something new and different for us. Oftentimes we get big brand ambassadors and sales executives and sometimes the president or CEO of a cruise line, but you have a really interesting focus.

It is something that everyone loves. Entertainment. Richard is here with us to talk about that. But before we do, I know Mike is itching to get in what we call his rapid-fire questions to help us get to know you a little bit.

Rapid-Fire Travel Questions

Mike Putman: Richard, first of all, where are you located right now?

Richard Kilman: In our main office in Plantation, Florida.

Mike Putman: All right, very good. Richard, what is your favorite hotel brand or individual property and why?

Richard Kilman: Oh boy, that's a tough one. I think one of the ones that I stay at the most is the citizenM, oftentimes when I'm in New York. I just like it. It's a cool vibe.

You can easily meet with people there and the rooms are comfortable. So I like it. You can have a nice drink in the lobby, the very sort of clubby lobby. There are a couple of good ones in London also.

James Ferrara: I went to one of the ones in London in Shoreditch.

Richard Kilman: Shoreditch is great. It's very trendy. It could be that the group that designed that might have designed some of the spots on our ship as well, so I might have an affinity.

Mike Putman: Richard, what's your favorite destination and do you have a favorite restaurant or two that you might want to recommend there?

Richard Kilman: My goodness, that is a good question. I've traveled a lot. Picking a favorite restaurant is a tough one.

My favorite I've been to so far was on my honeymoon where my wife insisted that we go to South Africa on safari. We went to Johannesburg, did a couple of weeks of safari, and then stayed in Cape Town.

I can't remember the name of the restaurants there, but everything was incredible. I highly recommend it. Cape Town itself is very beautiful.

After two weeks of safari, we stayed at the Twelve Apostles Hotel, which is just gorgeous. We lived the dream. It was beautiful.

We met some people on safari that owned a winery in Cape Town and they invited us as their guests to the Becca States. We were very spoiled by some very kind people.

James Ferrara: Meeting people in a destination, especially local people, is one of the tenets of our No Tourists Allowed philosophy about travel. It's something we recommend that you try to do and look at how it enhanced your trip.

Mike Putman: Richard, I'm sure you've been on many cruises. What has been your favorite shore excursion?

Richard Kilman: I think my favorite one was right here in our backyard in Bimini when we got to swim with the stringrays. It was out in the live, public area.

You beached your boat and just walked in the water. They gave us some food to put in the water and they all just came right up to you. Very overwhelming, but so cool.

I've done paragliding trips as well with the family. We all went out and did a paragliding trip which was really fun. We like adventure and a lot of the time we'll find our own adventure. We really love exploring and finding those nooks and crannies in the places you go to.

James Ferrara: I'm with you on that, though I'm not sure I'm with you on the paragliding. I think it's because I don't want anyone looking at me from that angle.

Richard Kilman: I think once was good. Once in New Zealand, I actually did a tandem dive out of a plane. That was another one where once was enough. I'm glad I did it and glad I could say I did it, but I don't have a burning desire to do that again. I was much younger and I didn't have insurance back then.

Mike Putman: Richard, are you an aisle or window guy when you fly?

Richard Kilman: I am definitely a window guy. I like the ability to make it dark and not have the light shining while I'm trying to chill out or work.

Mike Putman: Very cool. And do you carry on or do you check your luggage?

Richard Kilman: Whenever possible, carry on. I'm not a fan of checking luggage. There are too many opportunities for things to go wrong, but obviously, on a long trip, you check.

Mike Putman: Well great. Those are just some questions we like to ask all of our guests just so our listeners can get a better understanding of what you are like as a traveler.

It's a really nice opportunity for us at No Tourists Allowed to have you on because normally we're talking to people in the travel industry that are more on the ambassador or sales side. It's really great to speak to someone on the operational side.

Richard’s Journey into the Entertainment Industry

Let's start out, Richard. How did you get started in the entertainment business?

Richard Kilman: It is not the traditional path, I can tell you that. I went to school at UConn in Storrs, Connecticut. After two years of school, I had this great plan to leave school and move out to LA with a couple of buddies of mine to become a rock star.

That was the path that got me into the entertainment industry. After living out there for about a month, I quickly realized this is never going to happen. But it was really good times. It was in the late eighties and early nineties, the hairband time.

It was really fun being out there and I stumbled into the entertainment industry by accident. One of my three jobs was working to pay the bills and next thing I knew, I was starting to help with comedians and booking them into comedy clubs and booking variety acts into NBA halftime shows.

That led to the next opportunity where eventually we were producing shows that were touring for theaters, casinos, and special events in the meeting and convention industry. It serendipitously fell into the cruise industry.

It started with one of my wife's best friends who used to run public relations for Royal Caribbean. She invited me to meet the head of entertainment there and we hit it off.

At the time, they were developing what was known as Project Genesis, which was the Oasis-class ships. I started meeting with their team and they invited me to go to Cruise 360 in the Broward Convention Center where all the travel agents go. They were showcasing some of the entertainment that they were going to be putting on their ships the following year.

I went to this event and a former technical director of mine from when I was touring shows was there. It turns out he was working for Norwegian Cruise Line and he said, "You should come talk to our people at Norwegian. We're building this new state-of-the-art ship," which turned out to be the Norwegian Epic. Three weeks later, I started working at Norwegian Cruise Line.

Designing the Virgin Voyages Experience

Mike Putman: So as Vice President of Entertainment, what does your role entail?

Richard Kilman: As one of the early arrivers here at Virgin Voyages, I think I was employee number eight or nine. It started when we were concepting these ships.

We were meeting in the shipyard, sketching out what venues would go where, what they should look like, and how many people they should hold. We were trying to figure out what the right model and experiences were going to be for Virgin.

Prior to me joining, Virgin had done a tremendous amount of research to understand the opportunity in this industry. That information helped guide us.

When the ships were being designed, people expressed how they didn't want to feel herded like cattle. They really wanted to be in more intimate spaces, have a chance to connect with people, and not be overwhelmed by the feeling of mass.

If Virgin did it differently and designed ships in a way that felt a little more intimate, they would be more comfortable. That was one of our pillars when it came to designing the ships and our restaurants. Not one has more than 200 seats and we have all these cool spaces throughout the ships so that people can feel comfortable.

As part of that group figuring out what the entertainment spaces should be, the whole concept of a transformational theater was born. I pitched a few ideas and worked with our design team to create what is now known as the Red Room.

Our theater transforms into multi-configurations, from a traditional theater to no seats at all to an alley stage configuration. We made sure the nightclub was also a great performance space that we use all the time. It has a galley attached to it so we can do dinner shows and create really unique experiences.

Once we had enough of what that looked like, the next phase was going out to the entertainment industry to meet with different creatives—production companies, producers, choreographers, directors, and designers. We presented this vision of Virgin Voyages changing the cruise industry and doing things in different ways.

We met with so many people and they were all interested in pitching concepts, which was not expected. It was quite overwhelming. We had over 70 concepts pitched to us. Out of those, we selected the ones that we started with on Scarlet Lady.

One of our principles was that we wouldn't license a Broadway show because the people interested in Virgin Voyages would rather just go to New York and see a Broadway show. If I came on a Virgin ship, there should be something different that only Virgin would do.

So the mission was to create new and different experiences at a high enough level of quality that people would have paid for them if they were on land. Maybe one day we could transfer one of these shows from ship to shore instead of the other way around.

Usually, shows are licensed from land and brought to ships. What if we could flip the whole thing on its head and do it a different way? So we set up all these high goals for ourselves.

James Ferrara: Is there any kind of crossover with people who've been on the Virgin labels to being performers on the ship?

Richard Kilman: Aside from Boy George, we've had Boy George on for some events which is always very exciting. Anything tied to the labels is great.

We just had one of our celebration voyages last year that had some really amazing people, former leaders of different Virgin companies. Our head of music, Jeremy, got to meet with one of the guys that started up The Manor. Having that connection on our ships was so special.

Shows and music are two of our pillars. Another one is our happenings program, which is a very big shift from the norm in the industry.

Usually, when you go on a cruise ship, there's a cruise director and staff and they guide you and tell you everything you should do. They are the face and personality of the ships.

We really wanted to try to do that differently. We thought of this concept that we call the happenings cast. Instead of one individual doing all of those things, we spread that out amongst 12 individuals, each one with their own distinct persona that leaned into a certain passion point.

That's where the idea about the Foodie, the Artist, the Gamer, the Diva, and the Hostess came from. Once we had an idea about these different passion points, we then went out to cast those people to find people that were authentically artists, into wellness, or into hosting. We got these people to come on board to interact with our sailors so they could have those authentic experiences.

James Ferrara: You mentioned authenticity before. That's a big pillar for us—surprising authenticity.

Epic Parties and the Scarlet Knight

Richard Kilman: And then our parties, of course, making sure we have epic parties because everyone knows the Virgin brand is known for having a really good time.

James Ferrara: What are those parties like?

Richard Kilman: I think our parties are pretty epic, certainly the best in the industry. There is just something magical about this brand that helps us give people permission to just let go and have a great time being themselves.

You see the posts that there's no judgment; it's just where you're comfortable, where you lose yourself in the moment and say yes to everything.

On our first night, we start off with the PJ party outside. You'll see people show up to dinner in their PJs or to the show in their PJs. Then they all end up going up onto the athletic club in the back of the ship.

We have a DJ and our whole happenings cast is out interacting with them. It's just a good way to kick off a voyage and really set the tone that this is not your typical cruise experience. It also brings people together to foster connections. We really want to facilitate people meeting new friends.

Our epic Scarlet Knight is the one I think we're probably most famous for. Once a voyage, the ship turns red. We invite our sailors to wear a splash of red.

Scarlet Knight is based on a myth that we created. It kicks off at nine o'clock in the center of the ship in the Roundabout. At nine o'clock, the whole ship turns red, our center lighting feature turns red, and the music takes over.

We have pop-up dance performances, circus performances, and adventures happening all over the ship across decks six and seven. All of these activities culminate into a moment where everyone's encouraged to go up to the pool deck at about 10:45.

At 11:00, we have our finale experience. You will see a giant inflatable octopus at the front of the pool area—Tubbs, as he's known affectionately on Scarlet Lady.

Everyone's already whipped into a frenzy having a great time. Everyone gathers around the pool, and then all of our casts come out for the finale dance and party kickoff. Dancers are dancing and water is splashing. Then it leads right into inviting the sailors into the pool to dance with all of them.

It just gets crazy. You have people going in the pool fully clothed, dancing the night away. That goes on until about midnight, and then we shift everyone down to The Manor, which is our nightclub, and the party goes on till whenever everyone's done.

Immersive Shows and Transformational Spaces

James Ferrara: You mentioned one of your pillars being shows. Many people in our audience are experienced cruisers, but maybe not with Virgin. When we think about shows on cruise ships, we think about Kinky Boots and Hairspray. What are your shows like? What did you develop with Virgin?

Richard Kilman: It's a great question because we took some risks. Part of that came from the theater we have that can physically do things no other theater can.

It can be a traditional proscenium theater. It can be an alley stage theater where you have two banks of seats that are facing each other with a stage in between them. And it can be what we call flat floor, where the seats are gone and it's just a big open space.

Our intention was for creatives to pitch us concepts that played to all of those different things. We landed on our proscenium show called Ships in the Night. It was produced by a company out of Montreal called The 7 Fingers. They're a cool contemporary circus company. There's a lot of really cool video and we have seven moving LED panels on the stage. A butterfly flies down from the fly tower in the middle of the audience at one point. It is a little bit of the familiar.

The 7 Fingers also created a show in our alley stage configuration called Dual Reality. It is a circus telling the story of Romeo and Juliet. It is told in a very different way through circus arts in this alley stage configuration where it's like a sports competition environment.

When you enter the Red Room, you're sitting either on the red side or the blue side. When the thing starts, a fight breaks out because one of the blue people is sitting on the red side. It turns into this crazy opening where people are throwing each other across the stage and flipping.

The families are competing and you see Romeo and Juliet connect with each other. The audience is cheering for their team and it gets very loud and fun. We changed the ending a bit to be more Virgin. We didn't think it was necessary for everyone to die. You're on vacation; people don't die on vacation.

The third show we created is a show called Untitled Dance Show Party Thing. The creators are Sam Pinkleton and Ani Taj. Ani has a really cool presence in New York with immersive dance experiences.

Sam Pinkleton is a Tony-nominated choreographer. The idea was to do this in the flat floor so the audience would be standing the whole time. We have a platform that comes out from the stage that moves with the dancers on it. While everyone's thinking it's a fixed stage, all of a sudden it moves.

Everyone's surrounding the stage and the dancers are all over the place. You're very close to the action. It's a very different and unique experience. There are moments where the dancers are engaged with sailors doing what we call social dance moments.

People just have a great time doing it. We used to call it "Untitled" as we were building it and it just kind of stuck: Untitled Dance Show Party Thing.

Travel Tips and the Philosophy of Exploration

Mike Putman: We want to ask you to leave our listeners with a tip for their own travels. Is there a travel hack or something that makes travel easier for you?

Richard Kilman: I mentioned before that I really love exploring. I love when I get to where I'm going, meeting and talking with some locals in the area to find out what the nuggets are that only they would know about.

If you're not a tourist, what are the things that you do in that town? What's that adventure that I wouldn't normally know about? I want to find the things that are not in the catalog or in the brochure at the hotel.

I oftentimes wing it. I'll just get in a car and go. My wife and I have adventured across different areas, whether it's Italy or Maine or North Carolina. We love just going out and exploring and discovering. That part of the fun is what matters for me.

Mike Putman: That is a great way to travel and that really aligns with the way James and I travel. It's been a real pleasure having you on board, Richard. I've taken away a lot of learnings about your background and the experiences on the Virgin ships.

Richard Kilman: In the beginning, I told you one of the big goals we set was to create entertainment experiences people would pay for on land, and that maybe we could transfer a show from ship to shore. It actually happened.

Our show, Dual Reality, was licensed to tour on land. It premiered last summer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It toured in Europe and it made its US premiere in February in Boston. It got a great write-up in the Boston Globe and was picked up in USA Today.

The tour continues in the Netherlands and it'll be coming back to San Diego later this year. So it's actually happening, which is really exciting.

Mike Putman: What an achievement. That is awesome. Congratulations.

Richard Kilman: It was adapted from our ship to tour in theaters around the world with our partners, The 7 Fingers. It must make you feel great, a real affirmation about the work and the philosophy behind the entertainment on Virgin Voyages.

James Ferrara: Great work. Great having you here, Richard. Thanks for being part of the show.

Richard Kilman: A pleasure. Thanks, guys.

Special Giveaway and Closing Thoughts

James Ferrara: Hey adventurers, get ready for the trip of a lifetime. We're cooking up an epic land-based vacation, an adventure for two and you could be the lucky winners. Details are still under wraps, but trust us, this is one giveaway you won't want to miss.

Mike Putman: Want a head start on winning? Head to the link in the description or visit notouristsaloud.com and sign up for the newsletter. You'll earn five raffle points and you'll be the first to know when the official giveaway launches.

James Ferrara: Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity. Last season we gave away a Virgin Voyages luxury cruise for two, and now we're giving away this great land-based vacation. Stay tuned and get those early raffle entries in.

Mike Putman: Well James, it was great having Richard on today. A lot of insight. Entertainment is such an important part of a cruise vacation. I think it's an important part of any vacation—music, theater, and parties.

James Ferrara: I think Virgin does it differently. His area is not just the guy playing the piano in the lobby or a show that bounces from ship to ship. It sounds much more immersive in how they plan this out, being responsible for parties and DJs and all this other stuff.

Mike Putman: What's really unique here is this philosophy where they've turned it inside out. They're not going to license entertainment that you can see if you go to New York or Boston, but the other way around.

They develop entertainment so unique and good that land-based theaters want to bring it in from the ship. I've never heard anyone talk like that before. I've met other entertainment executives in the cruise industry and they travel the world looking for shows.

There's a show called Choir of Man that you might have seen on a ship before. An executive saw it in Australia at a theater and brought it on board. But this is something different. This is creating and bringing artists together to create a new experience that is so good that it crosses over into the land experience. I think that's fascinating.

James Ferrara: Absolutely. Well, thanks for listening in today, as always, to No Tourists Allowed. Please go to our website, notouristsaloud.com, and share any feedback you may have.

Mike Putman: We look forward to having you next week where we've got a very special guest, Dean Kirbishly, who will be sharing his adventures of round-the-world travel and a lifetime of travel.

James Ferrara: Don't forget our vacation giveaway, guys. Go to the website and sign up for that newsletter. We want you to all go away for free on us on No Tourists Allowed. Thanks for being here this week.