Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

It’s back: 7 nights Virgin Voyages full board cruises for two from 120,000 Virgin Points!

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

Virgin Red has brought back its Virgin Voyages redemptions for the summer.

The pricing has, unfortunately, increased from 2023 but you will still be getting exceptional value from these cruises.

Options range from 5-night Caribbean cruises for 115,000 points for two to a transatlantic 14-day voyage for 280,000 Virgin Points for two.

Each cruise is full board. All your meals, soft drinks, fitness classes, entertainment etc are included – even tips. You only pay for alcoholic drinks.

Remember that these are adults only trips. Flights and transfers are not included.

7 nights Virgin Voyages full board cruises for two from 120,000 Virgin Points

A lot of HfP readers have jumped on these redemptions in the past few years. The feedback in our forum has been fantastic – from young and old, from those who wanted a bit of a party to those who simply wanted a quiet break after a tricky couple of years. There is a Virgin Voyages master thread in our forum for your Q&A.

If you are short of Virgin Points, options include:

  • transferring Tesco Clubcard points (should happen overnight)
  • transferring American Express Membership Rewards points (should be instant)
  • transferring Heathrow Rewards points (not clear about timeframe)

You can transfer points from another Virgin Points account to yours for a flat £10 fee. However, if both of you are travelling then the call centre should be able to take the points from two accounts.

Here are your options:

Which Virgin Voyages can you book?

As mentioned above, you have multiple options.

Mediterranean flash sale – 120,000 points

First up is a limited-time offer for Mediterranean cruises in May. These have been reduced to 120,000 points per cabin (sleeping up to two people) – as you will see below, later dates cost 160,000 Virgin Points.

There are two 7-day cruises you can choose from: ‘French Daze & Ibiza Nights’ and ‘Irresistible Med & Rome’.

This flash sale is only valid for cruises on Scarlet Lady, departing on either 12 May 2024 or 19 May 2024.

Seven nights in the Mediterranean between May and August – 160,000 points

If May is too soon for you, you can also book onto cruises from Barcelona or Athens for the entire summer. This includes Greek Island Glow, Adriatic Sea & Greek Gems, The Irresistible Med (or Elevate Voyage), Irresistible Med & Rome and French Daze & Ibiza Nights (or A Virgin Celebration Voyage).

Itineraries from Athens on Resilient Lady are available departing no later than 28th July 2024.

7 nights Virgin Voyages full board cruises for two from 120,000 Virgin Points

Five nights in the Caribbean between June and September – 115,000 points

Alternatively, if you want to venture further afar, you can snag one of Virgin Voyages’ Caribbean cruises for just 115,000 points for two. Itineraries include Riviera Maya, Mayan Sol, Miami, Grand Turk & Back and Dominican Daze (or A Virgin Celebration Voyage – Miami).

For the Caribbean cruises – and ONLY for the Caribbean cruises – some additional taxes will be due. These vary from $150 to $300 depending on the itinerary. These will be shown during the booking process.

Transatlantic Voyages

If you’ve got more annual leave than you know what to do with, you can book one of two transatlantic positioning cruises offering multi-week itineraries.

Things to know

There are a few things to know before you book:

  • you need to fly to and from Athens, Barcelona, Rome or Miami at your own expense
  • the cruises are adults only
  • the cost is per cabin, sleeping up to two – there is no discount for single occupancy
  • cabins are Central Sea Terrace or The Sea Terrace on Scarlet Lady or Resilient Lady, and will be determined by Virgin Voyages according to availability
  • it can take up to three working days to receive your Access Code once you have redeemed your points – once you have the code, you book via the Virgin Voyages website and use the code at the point of payment
  • Access Codes are transferable and do not need to used by the person who redeemed the points

Note that there is no guarantee that you can book the exact cruise you want – you need to make sure the cruise in question is still available for cash.

If you want to find out more about Virgin Voyages, here is our report from an afternoon on ‘Scarlet Lady’, the first ship in the fleet.

If you want to top up your balance by buying Virgin Points, the link is here.

You can book via the Virgin Red app or online. Read the instructions carefully before booking – you need to check there is still a relevant cabin available for cash before ordering your booking code, and once it arrives you should book ASAP before the availability disappears. Based on last year, you should be offered the chance to upgrade your cabin for cash nearer the time of departure if you want something larger.


How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (April 2025)

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 – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with 50,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 50,000 Virgin Points.

The Platinum Card from American Express

80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large 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

50,000 points when you sign-up 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

Comments (163)

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

  • Chris W says:

    The increase in price from the 80k amount at least suggests VV are having less trouble filling their ships….

    • Rhys says:

      Yes, seems so.

    • Paul says:

      I expect the points price will get dropped further in the coming weeks

      • executiveclubber says:

        I reckon they are testing how much they can get away with charging but if they lower the points, they’ll have lost a lot of goodwill from guests who redeemed at headline rates so I’m not sure they’ll do that.

      • Nightnurse69 says:

        I am hoping it does 🤞

      • Track says:

        well, people forget about points redemptions

    • Jon says:

      I think a lot of people on previous points voyages will have purchased the MNVV voucher so will be paying this time round – either way it’s great value for what you get and the boats are still new!

      • Yvo says:

        Yes – very much this. Was happy to pay a cash fare with the early booking incentive and MNVV benefits. Nets off favourably against paying with points at this rate.

    • Bob says:

      Since last month, I’m seeing Virgin Voyages ads everywhere online, I don’t think they are filling the ships easily.
      I’d wait for more last minute deals.

      • Tariq says:

        Lots of cruise lines seem to be aggressively advertising at the moment from what I can see. No idea if there’s any impact on rates though.

        • Rich says:

          Cunard haven’t even sold out the maiden voyage of Queen Anne to the Canaries departing in a week or so. Supply is definitely greater than demand currently.

      • ChrisBCN says:

        You mean you are being targeted as a potential purchaser – it does NOT mean ads are everywhere (or rather, the ads are not to everyone)

        • executiveclubber says:

          No, the ads are everywhere. They had Branson driving around London & on planes giving out free tickets the other day.

        • Sarah says:

          Lots of TV adverts for Cunard at the minute

  • babyg says:

    – with a kid I’m out sadly….. also you have the pricing / number of days for Rome and Barcelona mixed up…

  • John G says:

    For anyone who works in the travel industry who maybe doesn’t have so many Virgin Points, Virgin Voyages also have very good deals available through a well know travel industry only booking site. e.g. for 7 nights on 26th May, it is £795pp for a balcony. Some 5 night cruises in the Caribbean are as low as £598pp.

    Valuing the points at 1p each still makes this a very good deal, particularly compared with the general public rates.

    Like the poster above, I’m with child now otherwise I’d be giving them a go.

    • executiveclubber says:

      suddenly I need a job in the travel industry…

      • Mark says:

        Worth it. I’m doing 7 nights on a cruise with a little rodent this half term for £900 pp. Rate to book direct is £2400pp

    • Fraser says:

      Given they cater specifically for “Solo Sailors” I do wish they would advertise rates per person based on NOT sharing! (Or is there an option to ask, who will I be sharing with??)

      Given I’ve sailed solo with them twice, they could at least take this into account targeted emails to me.

      80k was a bargain but 160k is starting to look not much better than cash, and possibly worse if you get a promotional drinks package.

    • paul-uk says:

      I’m booked on a 14 Night Miami to Barcelona in a Balcony cabin on Princess dep February 18th 2025 for £615 each inc taxes.

      To me, this Virgin “offer” is not good at all.

      • paul-uk says:

        ……and having 100 shares in Carnival gets me $250 onboard credit for every 14N cruise too ($100 on every 7N)

    • anom says:

      John can you share said website? Would love to compare but haven’t seen those kind of prices anywhere

  • barry cutters says:

    been on 3 now .

    Menu etc will get a bit repetitive on 4th & 5th voyage i will book with this but the itineraries are great and the holiday is a huge bargain once you add on deep blue extras and just pay for a few drinks.

    I dont like virgin points anyway we just sit on the for years and do nothing with them so will book 2 trips and finally use them up

    • Jon says:

      Why don’t you like them – there good as lots on non flights options which make them pretty useful (without expensive taxes and charges!)

  • daveinitalia says:

    What is WiFi like on these boats? My only experience with boat based WiFi is on the Stena Line to Hoek van Holland and it was quite slow. Not that I really needed it on there as it was an overnight sailing but on a boat for a long time it would be useful to be able to use some days to work

    • Panda Mick says:

      You can rent starlink 🙂

    • Travel Strong says:

      Premium (starlink) is good, standard is terrible

      • Fraser says:

        Standard was good enough for me both on Caribbean and Med cruises.

    • Sina says:

      You can stream Netflix shows most of the time, although I had premium wifi, standard wifi is still good for meetings, social media etc.

  • jek says:

    I was waiting for this and have the flights and hotel in Athens already in place. Finally!

    It will be our first cruise ever.

    • Mick says:

      You will love it !!

    • Travel Strong says:

      Excellent work 👋

      I did the same with BCN positioning, but I cancelled them just this week! Decided I don’t didn’t want to repeat a BCN or ATH itinerary as I have already done them. If I hadn’t been before I would be all over this in an instant.

  • Mick says:

    WiFi is rubbish to be fare .. I’ve done 2, one in Miami one in Barcelona

  • Vital says:

    I raced to 80k Amex points in the hopes to catch this offer this year and the goalpost has just moved 50-100% away from the target. Shame 🙁

    • Omar says:

      Same here ! Really disappointed, but I guess the redemption rate was never set!

    • executiveclubber says:

      You could definitely get 40k points quickly if you wanted them desperately! Think about referring people to Amex, collecting via Virgin Red portal / app, or simply buying points on the Virgin site.

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

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.