Virgin Voyages Master Thread (do NOT post referral codes – use other thread)
Discuss today's stories:
-
@kathy I personally would prefer to keep some stash aside for golden opportunities where Amex MR points are required (or last min flights). I would buy Virgin points with the current promo rather than empty my whole account. We also got an 80k cruise and enjoyed it, and this year sailed with a code found in this forum that got the price down to 1k each. I think now that the outsized value opportunity is gone, if I were you I’d be tempted buying points with the current 100% promo on Virgin and going half and half?
@kathy by paying £195 to upgrade to the VS+ card to take your balance ‘from 133k to 165k’ you are implying you could spend around £21300 on the card (generating 16000 points on the free card or 32000 points on the premium card)
Therefore 16000 points extra for £160 spend … 1p per point.
Therefore as suggested above – you’d be better off buying the miles in a points sale (where points are less than 1p each) rather than spending £160 on the card.
@executiveclubber You make an excellent point about Amex MR points – but I don’t have any Amex MR points. Nor am I able to get any – I ran through all the available sign-up bonuses already. I have a stash of Virgin points and a much smaller stash of Avios.
@TravelStrong The Virgin Rewards+ card costs £160 and gives an 18k point sign-up bonus as well as 1.5 points per £ spent.
In the current points sale £165 only gets you 13,200 points (the bonus is only 20% when you are buying under 25k points).
So paying the card fee is definitely better value than buying points. Though of course once I have had the bonus I won’t be able to get it again.I’m not going to be spending £21300 on the card, I’ll be spending much less than that.
The sign-up bonus + CC spend + 3 points per £ on Virgin Trains on my usual work commute + Tesco CC points on my usual shopping should earn me c. 32k points.I am considering switching back to concentrating on Avios – I have a smaller stash of them at the moment, but I haven’t had the Barclaycard yet, so there is potential to boost the balance there, and the upgrade voucher seems more useful. I’ve had lots of good value from Avios collecting in the past so am reasonably confident that earning opportunities will crop up. Though it would probably take until 2026 to get a return, given that I am not a high-spender and don’t get to fly for work very often. Any potential work flights next year would likely be in Q4.
The concern with going all-in with Virgin is that I scrape together enough points for the current price points and then they put them up again!
I wasn’t expecting such a dramatic price increase this year – obviously 80K was an absolute steal, so a rise was inevitable, but this year started with the 5-day Caribbean cruises at 115k (c. 23k points per night) and have gone up to 175k (35k per night). A similar price jump for next year (approx 60 k on a 5 night cruise, approx 80k on a 7 night cruise) would be unreachable for me and buying that many extra points even in a sale makes the endeavour uneconomic. At that point I might as well look for a cheaper holiday.Any other Head for Points members on the transatlantic leaving Barcelona on 26th October?
I’d be tempted to book if I could get a good deal via an access key…..anyone? 😂
Any other Head for Points members on the transatlantic leaving Barcelona on 26th October?
So ended our 9 night cruise yesterday. This was our second cruise with Virgin after our initial 80k Virgin miles cruise last summer. We booked this one as it could only have been an error fare. In the end after compensation for a downgrade to limited view terrace room (which in the end was upgraded to a normal sea terrace for no charge) we paid about £900 for the cruise and had $800 bar tab, $600 sailor loot (paid in full discount and mnvv). Feel like I ripped virgin voyages off 😂
Cruise was good, little had changed from the previous cruise. 2 new comedian shows and different musicians though. Restaurant menus all the same. Drinks menus very similar but significantly more expensive. Also had to pay 10% vat on everything, don’t remember that last time. No issue for us as we couldn’t spend all the bar tab. However, we heard so many people saying Virgin was too expensive for cruises ongoing and benefits were being eroded so not as many were buying mnvv or booking future cruises. Don’t think we met anyone on their first Virgin cruise…
We would not book a full price fare, but would consider a significantly reduced fare. I think for us, the menus & shows need to be changed somewhat as it felt very samey and as it’s a smaller ship there was nothing new for us to do. However, no kids and fantastic crew are a big plus.@Tracy.We’re still on the 11 nighter that we moved to . I’d gone go the VVs sales area a couple of hours ago to see if there was anything that piqued my interest for next year. Even with 70%second sailor discount etc the prices IMHO are steep – the chap said they couldn’t sustain the offers that have previously been offered. Drinks prices have risen steeply and stuff like laundry has nearly doubled in price ( I’ve heard a few passengers who are touring Europe from the USA complain about the hike ).We’re struggling a bit to spend the bar tab too! Entertainment remains a bit meh for me and I’m bored with the menus that haven’t changed ( at all in all the restaurants ) in a couple of years.
I’ll keep my eyes open for offers but the MNVV doesn’t seem to worth buying anymore.@Dragonlady, think we are totally on the same page. We did hear that Razzle Dazzle will be changed up soon, Asian fusion I think. I agree though, they need to shake things up a bit but we met so many virgin cruisers who have done so many of them and will continue to do more so they definitely have a very loyal fan base. I didn’t see any incentive to buy a MNVV as booking direct their prices are too steep and if I book a cheap travel agent deal or use an access key I can’t use a MNVV anyway…
@ZoeB, I may just have accidentally on purpose bought the transatlantic 😂
However, I hope it leaves on 27th, not 26th or I might miss it and become a TikTok chasing after the ship 😊Also on the last night of the 11 night cruise Barcelona to Athens . This was my second Virgin cruise so far.
Virgin offer a very consistent product, near identical experience to last year despite being on 2 different boats. I’d agree that the bar prices have increased since last year (you are looking at entry level wine at 44 USD per bottle including tax) and beers at 9 USD. Laundry at 56USD for a bag.
Scarlet Lady still in good condition after 4 years operational (though the pool needs a repaint and the wake seats are very worn) though it heads to dry dock in Palermo in November for some changes (as mentioned razzle dazzle gets a lucky lotus brand change, coffee shop at the galley turns into a bar at night, luxury cabanas added to the pool deck, a new mermaid logo at the bow and some suites are being added on deck 11.
Overall a wonderful holiday and I’ll keep an eye out for any good deals in the future.
@Dragonlady – I must have been on the same deal as you , it’s worth checking your wallet on the VV app. Most of my bar tab was changed to Sailor Loot on Day 1 so I was able to spend it on the spa/casino/shops etc instead of the bars .
@Dragonlady – I must have been on the same deal as you , it’s worth checking your wallet on the VV app. Most of my bar tab was changed to Sailor Loot on Day 1 so I was able to spend it on the spa/casino/shops etc instead of the bars .
Unfortunately ours remained as bar tab – we managed to spend it all save for about $7 ! I’ll keep an eye out for deals too but I think they’ll be far less attractive next year.
Left out of Barcelona on Scarlet on the 13th too – A few notes vs our previous B2B out of Athens.
Good stuff:
– 2 days extra, $600 bar tab and $1000 contribution for flights from Virgin for moving to the other cruise (11th overbooked), thanks Virgin!
– Service was consistently better in the ship restaurants compared to our last cruises which were really hit and miss
– Ship staff all super friendly and very helpful as usual
– Boarding at Barcelona was a real treat compared to the tents in Athens, we were in and on the boat in 10 minutes (DBE)
– 2 bags of laundry, and daily coffees never appeared on our charges at all so the wallet was actually up to date which was helpful (last time they all appeared and got taken off on the last day)
– They didn’t run out of food unlike prawns on the last cruise (hardly the end of the world, we just really like the prawns at the dock!) although the did run out of chocolate pretzels after a few days.Cons:
– Prices have gone up across the board
– I think this is our last Virgin cruise given the current pricing now for flights, cruise and booze
– Daily comms on the boat are awful. More than once i went to pick up the daily flyer from either of the coffee places and they either didn’t have them at all or had run out. Why isn’t this a PDF in the app?
– App is still unreliable and eats battery
– Virgin are *still* experiencing major issues on embarkation day – 5 of the 10 minutes it took us to get on the boat was waiting for their check in app to write to our wristbands. While on the boat trying to make reservations at the spa and the barber, neither could find us on the system, and both of them had to put in manual appointments, of which one totally screwed up (My 10:30 appointment moved to 1pm, but no one told me, fortunately I was not fussed about Cannes and was able to just come back later)
– Draught Haus beer selection was poor and didn’t match the menu at all – They at least re-printed these on the 2nd day, perfect if you wanted an IPA, an IPA, or an IPA, save for the usual beers you can get in multiple other places around the ship (Guinness, Blue Moon, Corona, etc)
– I’m beginning to think the Bourbon imperial porter at the Wake and Draught Haus is purely mythical, i’ve ordered it upwards of 10 times and they’ve never had it on 3 cruises.WoW – the Virgin “Brand” is really going overboard to upset their customers.
The latest is Virgin Cruises cancelling 4 sailings in 2025 due to charter bookings they’ve taken – yep, that happens on many cruiselines.
However, Virgin is generously allowing guests to use the money they’ve paid for their existing cruise to book another at the same or lesser value – and for that option they are giving lucky passengers a $100 OBC
At least Virgin will be taking care of flight and hotel changes – won’t they? NO
Are you covering Sailors’ costs for flights and hotel due to canceled voyages?
While we will not be covering costs for travel reimbursement, we recommend that Sailors check with their insurance provider for assistance with any flight and hotel expenses. Insurance providers will be able to guide Sailors through the process and provide the necessary support.
Oh what lucky Sailors !!
No doubt the Virgin Fan Club will chime in with the positives for this.
Whilst the facebook groups might have rose spectacles – this thread seems pretty well balanced with realism.
I saw those cancellations and was pretty shocked at the zero effort on virgins part to keep people happy… or even to keep people booking!
Their headline offer seems to be ‘we’ll refund you’.Previous cancellations resulted in much more strategic offers to get people booked back in with virgin… discounts, sailor loot, etc.
I love the virgin cruises, but hate when they start culling the service and experience that should make them unique.
The Facebook groups are totally biased towards VV (Lord knows why ..? ) Make any negative (but objective) comment and the hyenas come to the cull. Totally unpleasant.
Having done 3 VVs ( and having disembarked last week off my latest voyage having agreed to move from the overbooked sailing ) the steer seems to be downhill and prices for cruises and incidentals have risen significantly (along with IMHO overall quality of the cruise experience ) . The cruises cancelled (none European ) have been rebooked for specific markets with no recourse to those affected – $100 OBC …no thanks …
I’d be livid if I were affected.Hi All, i looking at booking my first VV cruise with the new black friday offers and have a voucher that a friend bought a couple of years ago with money off and additional onboard spend. Does anyone know if TA’s can get additional benefits to those that are online where i can still use the voucher, and if so does anyone have recommended TA i could reach out to?
Hi All, i looking at booking my first VV cruise with the new black friday offers and have a voucher that a friend bought a couple of years ago with money off and additional onboard spend. Does anyone know if TA’s can get additional benefits to those that are online where i can still use the voucher, and if so does anyone have recommended TA i could reach out to?
Is the MNVV valid ( they have an expiry date )?Also they are not valid on all cabin rates ( like lock it in ) or cabins ( sea terrace and above ). The offers now are much less generous than they were even last summer.
Hi All, i looking at booking my first VV cruise with the new black friday offers and have a voucher that a friend bought a couple of years ago with money off and additional onboard spend. Does anyone know if TA’s can get additional benefits to those that are online where i can still use the voucher, and if so does anyone have recommended TA i could reach out to?
Is the MNVV valid ( they have an expiry date )?Also they are not valid on all cabin rates ( like lock it in ) or cabins ( sea terrace and above ). The offers now are much less generous than they were even last summer.
Hi, yes still valid voucher was purchased Sep 2023, when it was the $300 off and $600 additional bar tab
In short, there should be no downside to going via a good agent / first mate (such as those mentioned in this thread), they will be able to use your MNVV still, and sometimes you will get added benefits (but really varies depending on what is available)
We’ve been on a couple of the 7 night European cruises – first in 2023 for 80,000 points and second one was this year for 160,000 points. Hoping to do another one next year but wondering what the points cost will be? I see they have 2025 Miami cruises available for points. Would anyone happen to know what these cruises cost last year? If I knew how much the increase was I guess we could assume a similar increase for the European cruises? Thanks for any help
@Norwich I think the definitive answer is nobody really knows. I’m not sure they offered any cruises om sailings out of Miami with points before now ? I personally think that the Miami offerings are unattractive. We toyed with buying a MNVV voucher before disembarking on our last cruise but they’re far less attractive now in terms of benefits, quality of experience (IMHO ) has gone down and cash prices have risen. The chap in the sales team said there won’t be any return to cheap fares in order to fill the ships as they had been ‘unsustainable’ but who knows ? If there are any cheapish offers next summer ( and there is another ship coming ) I’ll certainly have a look.
Some European Cruises have appeared for points on the virgin Red App.
Ranging from 200,000 to 385,000
Some European Cruises have appeared for points on the virgin Red App.
Ranging from 200,000 to 385,000
These are much more expensive than any previous points redemption.
I took a look at the 5 night Lisbon to Portsmouth cruise and it’s coming in at about 1p per point based on the current price. ~ £2k for a ST or 200k VS. Less than 1p per point if you would plump for a guaranteed fare balcony cabin (£1,646). That cruise was selling inside cabins for less than £800 over Black Friday with balcony cabins for a bit more.
Not the deal it used to be unfortunately.
Have done 3 x Virgin Cruises in past three years at 90,000, 80,000 and last year 160,000 points. Was hoping for another but looking at the latest offers on Virgin Red I would imagine a 7 day cruise from Barcelona (not many this year) could be close to 250,000 points or. bit more.
There is a 5 night from Lisbon at 200,000 points with other med cruises 300,000 to 400,000 points.
We have around 725,000 Virgin Points so we might cash in with two cruises this year.
Any thoughts. Looking at the cash value for a VirginPoint it looks around 1p per point redemption.
Any views on this.
Thanks, Howard
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Popular articles this week:
