Virgin Voyages Master Thread (do NOT post referral codes – use other thread)

[FFoxSake]

Paul B wrote:

Any Greek Glow tips or shore excursions direct or via a third party very welcome. Sailing next month

Just returned from this trip yesterday (had an extra day in Athens afterwards). Amazing value. The ships facilities and food were even better than expected. Approx 1500 passengers (capacity is 2700) and 1100 crew. At times it felt like a giant private yacht, especially when docked with so many passengers going ashore. The crew were without exception a credit to VV.

I took elderly parents (young at heart 80s) and my brother and they were all fine despite the current Southern Europe heatwave. AC in the cabins is quiet and efficient. Main Ship areas areas are all very comfortable and plenty of external shady areas. Whilst cruising the breeze helped too.

As first time visitors to the islands area we found enough to explore locally under our own steam so didn’t book any extra excursions.
– Santorini you anchor offshore and use tenders. If just exploring Fira town it makes sense to go early/late and avoid the middle of the day as the cable car queues will be vey long (around 1 hour each way). Or just take the 580+ steps…
– Rhodes you dock at the port and can walk to the old town in 10 minutes.
– Bodrum was again fully docked in port. Easy to stroll around locally and use a small local beach.
– Mykonos was initially anchored offshore (so tenders needed) but moved to the dock early evening and overnight. They provided a free 24 hour shuttle bus into the main town from the new port.

Tried all of the main restaurants at least once. All very good, some a bit harder to get your ideal choice of time than others.
e.g. Test Kitchen (think 6-course tasting menu, large plates and small food) is a huge area and probably the least popular. Pink Agave (Mexican) very popular but in a smaller space.
Once there the servers are great with advice and explanations. No hard upsell for the extra $$$ items and no need to bother. The food was consistently excellent and plentiful. No problem with ordering multiple dishes just to try both when you can’t decide.

So many freebies/bonuses too (HfP subscribers paradise!):
– Referral bookings ($50 loot for each cabin)
– linked cabins (bottle of regular fizz for each cabin)
– superb housekeeping (they even gave us a bottle of Moet just to “celebrate something” – normally $95 from the menu)
– Deep Blue Extras (via status match IHG –> MSC Cruises –> Virgin)
$100 bar tab
$100 bar tab bonus (instead of usual $50) when buying a $300 bar tab before sailing
$10 per day for specialty coffees/teas
one big laundry bag (value about $35)
one hour “cocktail” event (in reality bottomless fizz/sangria) just for DBE sailors and cabin mates

One quick aside. We flew with Sky Express for the first time (from LGW for convenience/flight times) and were impressed with the new A321neo both ways.
Also for a budget airline the seat allocation was surprisingly good. You can opt to pay and choose seats during booking but we chose to take a chance and were pleasantly surprised to be able to able to choose ANY seat for free during online check-in (48 hours before flights). No problem with getting 4 together (A/B/C + D in the 3+3 layout, even snagged Row 2 on the return). I’d use them again.

If you have time spare in Athens and the extreme heat is still an issue I’d recommend spending it at the Acropolis museum. Wonderfully spacious, modern, plenty of resting places and some of the best (air conditioned) views of the Parthenon too!

[SGJNI]

Due to sail from BCN this Sunday. Didn’t risk booking the XL Terrace at time of booking and my bid of “only” £200 was accepted within two hours yesterday so I suspect the ship is not that busy.
Wag granted DBE afers email refusing it! Attempted to buy the bar tab for two this morning on the App. It didn’t work. Had to ring up. Amazed call answered on 5th ring by a pleasant american. All sorted over the phone but the App is missing one $100 credit so far, the rest is fine.
Tonight messages to say all my restaurant bookings are cancelled?????? Ten minutes later, they were all back again!It has knocked my confidence in the App a bit but we shall see. So long as BA dont F**kup the flights from BHD on Saturday.
Anyone stayed in the IC BCN?

[FFoxSake]

SGJNI wrote:

but the App is missing one $100 credit so far, the rest is fine.
Tonight messages to say all my restaurant bookings are cancelled?????? Ten minutes later, they were all back again!It has knocked my confidence in the App a bit but we shall see.

Both those things happened to us – the missing $100 bonus had appeared in the app without chasing by the time we boarded and the restaurant bookings never glitched again. I think it was just down to them finalising all details for the checked in sailors and then reconfirming the advanced restaurant booking.

The app was very reliable on board, any bar tab spend updated almost immediately in the wallet and you got to see an fully itemised receipt image for each transaction. It’s very slick.

Have a great time!

[Cymro]

Do food upgrades come off the bar tab?

[stevenhp1987]

Cymro wrote:

Do food upgrades come off the bar tab?

No, only drinks come off the bar tab.

All other purchases, such as food or excursions bought on board, will come off any sailor loot you have though.

[Cymro]

Ok thanks. Restaurant drinks only then.

[stevenhp1987]

Cymro wrote:

Ok thanks. Restaurant drinks only then.

Tbf, I’ve now been on 4 VV cruises and never once upgraded the food. Never had the need as the food is all (for the most part) high quality regardless!

[nectar collector]

Cymro wrote:

Ok thanks. Restaurant drinks only then.

If you decide to try the with or without bubbles Afternoon Tea in the champagne bar, that comes off your bar tab

[AmyJW]

Thanks to HFP I have the DBE via a match from MSC via Hilton. I have the welcome email but nothing yet shows on my app (or website). Did you find it showed up later? If not how does the expedited boarding work? Do they just take your word and let you in to check in prior to your stated time?

[rufusrea]

SGJNI wrote:

Due to sail from BCN this Sunday. Didn’t risk booking the XL Terrace at time of booking and my bid of “only” £200 was accepted within two hours yesterday so I suspect the ship is not that busy.
Wag granted DBE afers email refusing it! Attempted to buy the bar tab for two this morning on the App. It didn’t work. Had to ring up. Amazed call answered on 5th ring by a pleasant american. All sorted over the phone but the App is missing one $100 credit so far, the rest is fine.
Tonight messages to say all my restaurant bookings are cancelled?????? Ten minutes later, they were all back again!It has knocked my confidence in the App a bit but we shall see. So long as BA dont F*

*kup the flights from BHD on Saturday.
Anyone stayed in the IC BCN?

Did the same cruise last week . App works perfect when onboard. Stayed in the intercontinental before and afterwards. Beautiful hotel with roof top pool and Spa. Stayed here in April on a points stay and was upgraded to the Presidential suite which was something else.However not so lucky this time but still an enjoyable stay.

[SGJNI]

@rufusrea Many thanks,
Should I also receive the Presidential suite I will be very happy to confirm it to you. Well done!

[Cymro]

Off the boat after an excellent week, apart from the heat. Only slight criticism would be that the shows were overly lgbt focused. I’d be nervous on the next cruise as to whether it calls at Rhodes.

[hostime]

I just got off Resilient Lady, on a points redemption, and am ready to book my next Virgin Voyage. I’d even pay cash. It was astonishing value and a wonderful experience.

[duke]

Another excellent cruise, was surprised by the two violent incidents onboard but security dealt with them swiftly and sailor services dished out a free cheap bottle of wine after the first one in the on the rocks bar for those that experienced it. They called it a “brawl” – i thought it was more entertaining than that terrible sip lounge singer, wailing away like a cat in a fight. 2nd one wasn’t as bad – the guys where well into their 60s lol Ole beardy is attracting exactly what he advertising for……

[Josh]

I was on the latest one aswell.

wondered what the ‘security’ announcement was, assumed it was a fight and got that confirmed!

Im fairly new to the game and didnt have any status to match or anything etc, so we just went as is and I bought a 300 bar tab. My fiance (as of athens before the trip!) doesnt drink that much so it lasted us the week, however if we were with friends I would of needed a bigger bar tab.

I would definitely recommend the ship to anyone, thought the service was really good, food was definitely a highlight. I also really enjoyed the app and using it to plan the day/ book shows /restuarants etc. It worked well for me and I tinkered a lot with our bookings.

Enjoyed the entertainment – only note is that a lot of the jokes/acts etc were american focused. For me and probably most people on here its fine because most english understand american jokes/culture. However my partner is Iranian and a lot of them would go over her head.

I would love to go back again with our friends, think it would be a right hoot.

ps. Was anyone on here at the bingo to witness the shirt ripping guy win? That was funny.

[gordog01]

duke wrote:

Another excellent cruise, was surprised by the two violent incidents onboard but security dealt with them swiftly and sailor services dished out a free cheap bottle of wine after the first one in the on the rocks bar for those that experienced it. They called it a “brawl” – i thought it was more entertaining than that terrible sip lounge singer, wailing away like a cat in a fight. 2nd one wasn’t as bad – the guys where well into their 60s lol Ole beardy is attracting exactly what he advertising for……

I was on that cruise as well and heard some random announcement around midnight but never heard what it was about.
It was a brilliant cruise again and I hope more come about next year. Food was amazing

[Paul B]

FFoxSake wrote:

Paul B wrote:

Any Greek Glow tips or shore excursions direct or via a third party very welcome. Sailing next month

Just returned from this trip yesterday (had an extra day in Athens afterwards). Amazing value. The ships facilities and food were even better than expected. Approx 1500 passengers (capacity is 2700) and 1100 crew. At times it felt like a giant private yacht, especially when docked with so many passengers going ashore. The crew were without exception a credit to VV.

I took elderly parents (young at heart 80s) and my brother and they were all fine despite the current Southern Europe heatwave. AC in the cabins is quiet and efficient. Main Ship areas areas are all very comfortable and plenty of external shady areas. Whilst cruising the breeze helped too.

As first time visitors to the islands area we found enough to explore locally under our own steam so didn’t book any extra excursions.
– Santorini you anchor offshore and use tenders. If just exploring Fira town it makes sense to go early/late and avoid the middle of the day as the cable car queues will be vey long (around 1 hour each way). Or just take the 580+ steps…
– Rhodes you dock at the port and can walk to the old town in 10 minutes.
– Bodrum was again fully docked in port. Easy to stroll around locally and use a small local beach.
– Mykonos was initially anchored offshore (so tenders needed) but moved to the dock early evening and overnight. They provided a free 24 hour shuttle bus into the main town from the new port.

Tried all of the main restaurants at least once. All very good, some a bit harder to get your ideal choice of time than others.
e.g. Test Kitchen (think 6-course tasting menu, large plates and small food) is a huge area and probably the least popular. Pink Agave (Mexican) very popular but in a smaller space.
Once there the servers are great with advice and explanations. No hard upsell for the extra $$$ items and no need to bother. The food was consistently excellent and plentiful. No problem with ordering multiple dishes just to try both when you can’t decide.

So many freebies/bonuses too (HfP subscribers paradise!):
– Referral bookings ($50 loot for each cabin)
– linked cabins (bottle of regular fizz for each cabin)
– superb housekeeping (they even gave us a bottle of Moet just to “celebrate something” – normally $95 from the menu)
– Deep Blue Extras (via status match IHG –> MSC Cruises –> Virgin)
$100 bar tab
$100 bar tab bonus (instead of usual $50) when buying a $300 bar tab before sailing
$10 per day for specialty coffees/teas
one big laundry bag (value about $35)
one hour “cocktail” event (in reality bottomless fizz/sangria) just for DBE sailors and cabin mates

One quick aside. We flew with Sky Express for the first time (from LGW for convenience/flight times) and were impressed with the new A321neo both ways.
Also for a budget airline the seat allocation was surprisingly good. You can opt to pay and choose seats during booking but we chose to take a chance and were pleasantly surprised to be able to able to choose ANY seat for free during online check-in (48 hours before flights). No problem with getting 4 together (A/B/C + D in the 3+3 layout, even snagged Row 2 on the return). I’d use them again.

If you have time spare in Athens and the extreme heat is still an issue I’d recommend spending it at the Acropolis museum. Wonderfully spacious, modern, plenty of resting places and some of the best (air conditioned) views of the Parthenon too!

Did you receive the $50 referral loot also, lucky you! Any idea how and was it in adt. to the bottle of fizz?

Some good tips here.

[Sprout]

Do we know (based on history) how often these deals cone around?
I wasn’t able to take advantage this year as had already used up my annual leave. I’ve decided this is probably the best use (value for money) for all the virgin points I have. However, thoughts are already turning to next year’s hols and was wondering whether I should look to ringfence a week’s leave in case this comes around again.

[FFoxSake]

Paul B wrote:

Did you receive the $50 referral loot also, lucky you! Any idea how and was it in adt. to the bottle of fizz?

Yes. Got both the referral loot and the fizz. Not sure how, perhaps the rules changed after the initial booking was made. Maybe it was because we had 4 cabins linked in the end? Who knows…

[MilesOnPoint]

Return of points redemptions for Aug/Sept?

Is anyone aware of any rumours regarding the potential return of Virgin Voyages points redemptions becoming available again via the Virgin Red app?

I suppose it’s increasingly unlikey but holding out hope that it might possible again for this year…

[pointsman508]

MilesOnPoint wrote:

Return of points redemptions for Aug/Sept?

Is anyone aware of any rumours regarding the potential return of Virgin Voyages points redemptions becoming available again via the Virgin Red app?

I suppose it’s increasingly unlikey but holding out hope that it might possible again for this year…

Curious where you saw this rumor. I didn’t realize it had expired and emailed support last night to attempt to make a booking. They informed me the promotion was expired and it wasn’t possible.

[Bervios]

Onboard the BCN med cruise just now. It’s fairly quiet at 40% capacity , next weeks cruise leaving BCN will be at 75%.

All in all a lovely experience, food and crew wonderful. Only thing I don’t like is the swimming pool, it gets crowded and far too small for the size of the ship.

Using seatspy I also managed Y avios redemptions to BCN which kept the cost down.

[MrHandBaggageOnly]

Bervios wrote:

Onboard the BCN med cruise just now. It’s fairly quiet at 40% capacity , next weeks cruise leaving BCN will be at 75%.

All in all a lovely experience, food and crew wonderful. Only thing I don’t like is the swimming pool, it gets crowded and far too small for the size of the ship.

Using seatspy I also managed Y avios redemptions to BCN which kept the cost down.

We are also on board this week from BCN and loving the fact it is so quiet. This is our first cruise ever so had no expectations, but a few cruise veterans we have run into aren’t as happy about it being so quiet, nor the fact that this is only a ‘mid-sized’ ship.

From our point of view we think the food has been excellent and the staff very friendly, the pool always seems busy and quite loud, so we are often elsewhere on the ship (including the hammock on our balcony, which is lush)! An excellent use of 80k points, but sadly we could not find Avios availability (well done!) so had to do FR on the way out (enjoyed 15 hours in Girona, including a decent uograde to a suite at the DT) and U2 on the way back to keep the cost down.

[Bervios]

MrHandBaggageOnly wrote:

Bervios wrote:

Onboard the BCN med cruise just now. It’s fairly quiet at 40% capacity , next weeks cruise leaving BCN will be at 75%.

All in all a lovely experience, food and crew wonderful. Only thing I don’t like is the swimming pool, it gets crowded and far too small for the size of the ship.

Using seatspy I also managed Y avios redemptions to BCN which kept the cost down.

We are also on board this week from BCN and loving the fact it is so quiet. This is our first cruise ever so had no expectations, but a few cruise veterans we have run into aren’t as happy about it being so quiet, nor the fact that this is only a ‘mid-sized’ ship.

From our point of view we think the food has been excellent and the staff very friendly, the pool always seems busy and quite loud, so we are often elsewhere on the ship (including the hammock on our balcony, which is lush)! An excellent use of 80k points, but sadly we could not find Avios availability (well done!) so had to do FR on the way out (enjoyed 15 hours in Girona, including a decent uograde to a suite at the DT) and U2 on the way back to keep the cost down.

This is where seatspy came in very handy. It flagged up Y availability in mid July for the inbound and again Y availability for the outbound last week. Fees to cancel the J booking were only £1 so it worked out well. Enjoy Corsica tomorrow , I found the following link online to help to decide what to do : https://veggtravel.com/things-to-do-in-ajaccio/

[pbcold]

MrHandBaggageOnly wrote:

Bervios wrote:

Onboard the BCN med cruise just now. It’s fairly quiet at 40% capacity , next weeks cruise leaving BCN will be at 75%.

All in all a lovely experience, food and crew wonderful. Only thing I don’t like is the swimming pool, it gets crowded and far too small for the size of the ship.

Using seatspy I also managed Y avios redemptions to BCN which kept the cost down.

We are also on board this week from BCN and loving the fact it is so quiet. This is our first cruise ever so had no expectations, but a few cruise veterans we have run into aren’t as happy about it being so quiet, nor the fact that this is only a ‘mid-sized’ ship.

From our point of view we think the food has been excellent and the staff very friendly, the pool always seems busy and quite loud, so we are often elsewhere on the ship (including the hammock on our balcony, which is lush)! An excellent use of 80k points, but sadly we could not find Avios availability (well done!) so had to do FR on the way out (enjoyed 15 hours in Girona, including a decent uograde to a suite at the DT) and U2 on the way back to keep the cost down.

I am on this cruise too and agree with all of the above. As 80,000 is such good value I upgraded which affords access to “Richard`s Rooftop” which is a very quiet alternative to the ghastly looking/sounding pool.