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Match your Flying Club Gold status to the new Virgin Voyages Sailing Club

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Whilst we don’t normally cover cruise travel on Head for Points, we have been looking at the new Virgin Voyages operation.

We visited Scarlet Lady, the first ship, in The Bahamas late last year. We’ve also sent a lot of readers off on Virgin Voyages cruises thanks to the exceptionally generous Virgin Points redemption deals which have been running recently. Frankly, it has been the best redemption deal of the year across any airline or hotel programme.

Virgin Voyages Sailing Club

Virgin Voyages has now announced its own loyalty programme – Virgin Voyages Sailing Club. Full details are on the Virgin Voyages website here.

We don’t intend to look into this in detail because we don’t know anything about how it compares to other cruise loyalty schemes. However, I want to flag two things:

  • if you have Gold status in Virgin Flying Club, you can enrol as a Sea Rover – this unlocks a generous list of extra perks when you make a booking
  • if you’ve done two trips in 2022, which is possible if you’ve been taking advantage of the redemption deals, you will also qualify for Sea Rover status (assuming that Virgin Red redemption sailings count – EDIT, they do NOT count according to the comments)

Virgin Voyages will also give you Sea Rover status if you have status with any other cruise programme.

You can learn more about Virgin Voyages Sailing Club here.


How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, the Reward+ card has a bonus of 18,000 Virgin Points and the free card has a bonus of 3,000 Virgin Points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

3,000 bonus points, no fee and 1 point for every £1 you spend Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 40,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 40,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Small business owners should consider the two American Express Business cards. Points convert at 1:1 into Virgin Points.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Virgin Points

(Want to earn more Virgin Points?  Click here to see our recent articles on Virgin Atlantic and Flying Club and click here for our home page with the latest news on earning and spending other airline and hotel points.)

Comments (72)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Dace says:

    With the VV status offer, I have a few questions.

    1) My OH has BA Gold and can match into VA does it matter if our VV booking is under my name and she is the additional sailor?

    2) Do the Rover perks only apply at booking? I ask due to the wording;

    “this unlocks a generous list of extra perks when you make a booking”

    TIA for any answers.

    • stevenhp1987 says:

      It applies to existing bookings for this year.

      I’ve had it appear on my booking for next month (matched from MSC Cruises).

  • Stuart says:

    As an aside – I’m currently on Valiant Lady as a result of HFP and 95,000 points! Bid for an upgrade and succeeded in securing a “Mega Rock Star” cabin! Our first cruise and loving every minute!

  • Lady London says:

    looks like the Hoxton is a redevelopment of the old cinema/concert venue at Shepherd’s Bush.. was it called the Empire?

    • Karl says:

      It’s no the Empire, that’s still going strong next door-but-one. I think it’s on the site (or very close to) the old Walkabout.

    • ADS says:

      No, it was previously a manky old Post Office / office building !

      It’s just north of the beautiful Dorsett Hotel building

      Rhys – you need to come and spend more time in West London !

  • Kevin C says:

    The Shepherd’s Bush Empire, previously the BBC Television Theatre is now the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire and very much still open. It’s a nice venue. The new Hoxton seems to be a redeveloped office block.

    The new Hoxton will be very convenient for the Westfield as well as Soho House White City (which has its own rooms for members).

  • Robert says:

    Anybody else having issues logging on to BA Exec club today ?

  • Track says:

    Brrr.. choosing Economy Plus seat on United costs $192 one-way — more than half a fare itself!

    That smart segmentation/trying to yield revenue got to the stage when simply closing a browser is the most effective strategy.

  • Grimz says:

    Anyone interested in Sailor loot on the Valiant Lady 25th Sept?
    https://virg.in/o7S3

  • Tracy says:

    Just back from NYC on United basic economy using the last £250 off £500 spend on Amex. Had to book OH and I separately to get £250 off each. Allocated basic economy seats for solo travellers were middle seats near back of plane. Talking to other travellers, basic economy will split travellers booking together too a la Ryanair to force you to pay for seats together. You are allowed a carry on for free transatlantic. Alcoholic choices are very limited in basic economy, no spirits etc. However, for the price paid I would do it again…

    • Lumma says:

      How much for seat selection?

      • Tracy says:

        We were allocated seats separately but could pay to sit together, middle seats down the back $27 to $67 for window/aisle. A little more for seats further up front. Lots of people on our flight asking if people minded moving etc 😂

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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