The adults-only vessel will call at Dover and Liverpool in February before repositioning to Miami for its inaugural voyage.

Tom McAlpin said the "most engaged” agents would be the ones more likely to be asked onboard next year.

“The way our travel agent partners can come onboard is to register on [Virgin Voyages’ trade site] FirstMates.com, learn all about us and sell, sell, sell – those people who are the most engaged are the ones who will get the invites,” he told TTG.

Stacy Shaw, vice-president of sales and business development, added: “We are going to love the people who are loving us."

McAlpin said Dover and Liverpool had been chosen to make sure both halves of the UK were involved in Scarlet Lady’s visit.

Liverpool’s musical heritage “really complements” Virgin’s own history, McAlpin explained, while Shaw described how the Port of Dover had presented the line with “a fantastic pitch” to secure Scarlet Lady’s call.

McAlpin also suggested the ship could stay in port for more than just a single day.

“We want to maximise our time in the UK and hopefully it will be more than one day in each port,” he said. “We want to get as many people as possible to see her but the reality is we don’t know our final plans quite yet.”