EXCLUSIVE A day with billionaire Richard Branson as he sips a piña colada before noon and parties at a private beach club
It seems that Sir Richard Branson 's day-to-day life isn't always what one would expect, especially since he's a billionaire who runs one of the biggest companies, the Virgin Group.
The 74-year-old's business empire includes 40 companies in over 35 countries, which employs over 60,000 people. From airlines and space travel to hotels, cruises and telecommunications, overseeing the venture capital conglomerate of the Virgin Group seems like an extremely busy task.
But for the British entrepreneur, he makes it look easy. Especially while sipping on a piña colada as he carries on his duties for the day.
DailyMail.com got an exclusive look at what his day in the Bahamas was like as he joined Virgin Voyages cruise goers on May 8 as part of the Celebration Voyage, which set sail from Miami four days prior.
After landing in Bimini in the Bahamas via a seaplane from Miami, Richard boarded Virgin's Valiant Lady cruise ship for an intimate meet and greet with media and influencers.
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Normally, when he's not jet-setting, he kicks off his mornings with a workout, whether it be a game of tennis at 6am or - if he's on one of his cruises, for example - he'll run around the jogging track, which provides a 360-degree panoramic view of the sea.
But, on this particular day, he met with a group of journalists at 10 am at Richard's Rooftop on Deck 16 - an exclusive rooftop bar and lounge area for the cruise's 'RockStars' - with a piña colada in his hand (his tall glass even had an 'R' for Richard embellished on it).
The casual meet and greet included an impromptu chess game (his favorite game) against a journalist as others looked on, taking photos of videos.
During the nearly hour-long session, Richard spoke about the exciting news of Virgin Voyages' newest Lady Ship setting sail from New York harbor this September, which will be the fourth ship to launch as part of the brand's fleet.
The businessman reflected on the four-year journey of Virgin Voyages and how it had a rocky start, but finally launched at the end of 2021.
'When we started Virgin Voyages a few years ago, we arrived in England and the Spice Girls were coming to celebrate with us, and they didn't turn up. They rang me up and said, "There's something called Covid out there, on cruise ships."
'And I told them... "what a load of buttocks." Anyways, they turned out right and I was wrong. So, we had a suspicious start to a cruise line.'
He continued, 'It is brilliant to have a fourth cruise ship arriving and doing some West Coast of America, Alaska, Canada, Panama Canal. It's very exciting,' referring to the destinations that are part of Brilliant Lady's itineraries once it launches.
Richard took a seaplane from Miami to spend a day in the Bahamas with sailors on Virgin's Celebration Voyage, which set sail from Miami on May 4
Virgin recently announced that Spice Girl Melanie C will be joining after all. She's set to headline the Celebration Voyage departing from Lisbon, Portugal, this July.
Following the morning meet and greet, and some more photo opportunities with fans on the cruise, Richard, accompanied by his team who made sure to take content of him all day for the brand's social channels, disembarked from the massive ship and, with help from a golf cart, made his way to the beach.
But it's not just any beach. Virgin Voyages' has its own private adult-only Beach Club that overlooks the ocean and has its own set of beach chairs. Plus, two swimming pools, multiple bars and food stations throughout (which are free for cruise goers). Talk about paradise.
Richard, being the billionaire that he is, had his own private area (even more private than the exclusive Rockstars area) where he could cool down and relax inside an Airstream camping trailer... or hang out with superstars like Nicky Jam.
The Latin award-winning singer was spotted with Branson before both stars surprised people in the lagoon-style pool as a DJ took over around 1.00pm.
Joined by Virgin's CEO Nirmal Saverimuttu, Nicky, 44, hyped up the crowd ahead of his nighttime performance on the cruise as it was announced that there was an exclusive voyage just for Nicky Jam sailing from San Juan this December.
Following this, Richard surprised the crowd by spraying a bottle of champagne over the people partying in the pool. Then, he proceeded to have some sparkling wine for himself before he made another surprise.
Motioning for the crowd to make way, the Virgin Group founder shocked everyone by jumping into the pool - via a cannon ball - splashing those around him.
Coincidentally, the music playing in the background was Spice Up Your Life by one of his favorite female pop groups, The Spice Girls.
The afternoon poolside fun came to an end for Richard as he changed into some dry clothes and wrapped up his festivities for the day.
After some more casual meet and greets with sailors who were enjoying the private beach club, Mr. Branson took the seaplane back to Miami around 7pm.
For more entertainment, Nicky Jam performed poolside on the cruise starting at 9pm where he brought a ton of energy as he performed his Reggae chart-topping hits to sailors aboard Valiant Lady.
Meanwhile, Richard was seemingly recharging for another jam packed day of events for the following day. He previously noted that he needs 'six hours sleep to do it all again,' but 'a little differently' the next day.
In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, which took place at the end of April, he spoke about growing his empire and the prospect of reopening Virgin Megastores since people are buying vinyl records again.
'We used to have a great Megastore in New York. And we may even go as far as reopening some Megastores in other places,' he spilled, 'because I think people are loving discovering vinyl again, and Virgin could also sell them some holidays, Virgin balloon trips, and a few other things in these Megastores.
'They're still going in the Middle East, so maybe we can get them going again in the UK.' He added, 'We'll most likely give it a shot.'
Richard's revelation came during the unveiling of Virgin Hotel London-Shoreditch's brand-new listening bar Hidden Grooves. After seeing it come to life, he said that he's decided 'on the spur of the moment' to open a Hidden Grooves at Virgin Hotels' New York City location, which opened early 2023.
Richard, whose homebase and where he spends a lot of his downtime is the private paradise Necker Island, confessed to DailyMail.com that his 'mind is always racing' when it comes to building his conglomerate.
'If I feel that something's not been done well, I'll just jump in and do it. And obviously, I'm lucky, because I own the company, I can just say, "Screw it, let's do it," and get it done,' he said.
'And I try to enable everybody who works for Virgin to be able to do that, but, in the end, the buck stops with me, so I can just make decisions and get on with it.'
Richard has plenty of business plans over the next few years, including more Virgin Atlantic flights, Virgin Voyages cruises to the Red Sea, the launch of high-speed trains to rival Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel, and 'building a number of spaceships' with Virgin Galactic that 'should be ready to fly' by the end of next year, he says.
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