NEW: Book Virgin Voyages UK cruises from just 85,000 Virgin Points

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• Philondon says:

  4 Jun4 June 14:14

  Sign up bonus with the Virgin Atlantic credit card, and buying points when they have a sale, in anticipation of a points cruise announcement is a way to do it cheaper.

• Bob says:

  4 Jun4 June 20:37

  Not a deal.
  Don’t book, wait, it will come down.

• paul says:

  4 Jun4 June 20:59

  Yep. They’ve completely misunderstood the whole cruise market.

  If easy cruise couldn’t do it with intimate party boats what possessed them to think they could make it work 100 x larger.

  • DW says:

    4 Jun4 June 21:45

    I have just returned from a Virgin Voyages cruise and it was absolutely brilliant. A fresh new approach, adults only and a lot more included than the other lines (the staff even refuse tips)

    • VSCXFAN says:

      5 Jun5 June 17:58

      Just booked our 3rd VV cruise – Central Sea Terrace: 3 nights ex Portsmouth – for 85,000 pts; cash price for equivalent was £2,100.

      Since I value 1 Virgin point =1.25p (as per most recent redemption in VS UC LHR-JFK-LHR), the deal has saved me £1,037.

      For a no-fly break ex UK (itinerary almost irrelevant), VV ships are hard to beat: food, entertainment, space and style all excellent.

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    4 Jun4 June 22:20

    How so?

    Their cruises are now constantly selling out. Prices are rising accordingly. Far superior to any line with kids.

    We’ve been on 4 VV thus far (3 VS points funded), with 2 cash bookings coming up this year.

    I feel these points deals reflect this and allows Virgin Red to reduce their points balance at the same time.

    A higher points rate for UK bookings would also be attributed to the lack of need for UK residents to pay for, currently pricy for most, flights to BCN or ATH. It’s also easier for US residents to fly to.

• Roger W says:

  4 Jun4 June 23:46

  We would gladly use our Virgin points (250K) on the cruises if the dates suited. What else is there to do with the points – the flight taxes are ridiculous. However we are usually fully booked with cruises/land based holiday so cannot fit them in at short notice.

  To say that they will not survive being Adult Only shows lack of understanding of the cruise market. Most luxury cruise lines plus likes of Azamara, Oceania, Viking, Saga rarely have children. Celebrity only has a handful outside school hols. It is a positive selling point.

  However I think that VV are limiting themselves with the cookie cutter itineraries. I do not like to have to book my dinner weeks in advance either. It would probably be max. 3 cruises. I have done numerous Celebrity and never the same itinerary.

  As for the short itineraries. If you looked at Carnival balance sheets you would find they make most profit on the short booze cruises. The poor staff.

  • JohnG says:

    6 Jun6 June 16:39

    You don’t need to book weeks in advance, even on US itineraries at full capacity; on most European sailings you could get by without booking at all if that way inclined.

• NigelT says:

  5 Jun5 June 07:35

  Not convinced VV are filling their ships in the way some have suggested, given I seem to be getting emails from them twice a week offering 80% off second passenger etc etc.
  170,000 points for an uninspiring Atlantic coast cruise is awful value compared with last year’s 80,000 offering for a week around the Greek islands or the western Med. Certainly, not something that would be of any interest to me.

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    5 Jun5 June 12:35

    The 80% off second passenger “offers” are much like the DFS sale.

    • paul says:

      5 Jun5 June 19:45

      BUT they can only offer them if they have availability – which shows they arent selling out.

      VV are now appearing on all Interline (travel trade discounted) websites where a year ago they weren’t – it shows they need to fill cabins even at huge discounts

• CJ says:

  5 Jun5 June 09:04

  170K points seems extremely steep. Might have considered this if it was around 50-70K.

  • Rob says:

    5 Jun5 June 09:14

    What’s the cash price though?

    • Track says:

      5 Jun5 June 10:43

      Rob, cash prices are attractive, especially if you buy a bit in advance. Not in February, but say April — there were deals like notional “80% off 2nd sailor”, still brings the price down.

      There was a figure of £280/night equivalent — if valuing Virgin points but spending them on cruise.

      Those points prices are above the cash, which makes business sense. Money to be made by both VV and Virgin Red (whoever issues the points).

      In fact, VV might have been happy with lower points prices BUT, Virgin Red noticed redemption interest from the last year and identified this as a rare them-profitable redemption spot?

      Given intra-group and quantity, Virgin Red may be buying cabins for $2,000 or lower, and selling them for £3,500 in points worth this year.

• rob(staaaar) says:

  5 Jun5 June 10:06

  Fortunate to have done the ‘astonishing value’ points redemptions of 2022 and 2023. I have plenty VS points, but the current trips out of Portsmouth just aren’t that inspiring, so it’s a ‘No’ from me 🤭

• Cathy says:

  5 Jun5 June 11:43

  Just recently completed my 7thVV using the last points offer – 120k for a 7 night med cruise – great value, cruise was fairly quiet, had no problem with getting dinner reservations at required times and organising shore things.
  Never cruised with any other company so cant compare – but really think they are onto a good thing.
  Do think 170k points for 7 night sailing a bit steep tho!
  Only showing the 3 night trip for 85k points on virgin red tho??

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