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!

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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.

  • MrHandBaggageOnly says:

    We were lucky last year and had just enough points at the right time. It was our first cruise and we were worried that we wouldn’t like it, but enjoyed it so much we are paying cash this year (but for one of the trips out of Portsmouth so we don’t have the additional cost of flights, which weren’t insubstantial last year as it was a late booking).

    Most of those we met who had done multiple cruises with other companies said they preferred VV – not everyone admittedly, but I’d say around 90%.

  • Jamestg86 says:

    To be honest, I’d been saving to the magic 155K for a Virgin Upper to Vegas. Having just cancelled a BA one because of outrageous fees, there is not a cat in hells chance I’d pay nearly 1K in taxes so I’ll blow the lot here instead as having done a few, it’ll be good. The fact it was outrageously cheap previously is slightly frustrating, but this is still way cheaper than Royal or Celebrity and they’re shocking, more than double, single supplement policies, bonus no brats.

    • patrick says:

      Well quite – the people moaning are effectively saying it was too cheap in the past. Madness. It is simple, effective marketing.

  • Track says:

    Given the need to spend 160,000 points and separately, 700 quid per person for a return flight to Athens — Virgin calls it a sale!

  • MsChanel says:

    Anyone know how much the taxes and fees are on these cruise redemptions? Last time I booked I don’t remember having any, but the terms now mention this.

  • patrick says:

    Just to be clear regarding this latest piece of excellent thinking. Are we now moaning about Virgin Voyages because of the cost of BA flights?

    • Rob says:

      As Virgin Atlantic dropped Athens in the late 1990s, I presume they must be 🙂

      • Willmo says:

        Why did Virgin fly to Athens? As far as I know it was their only European route.

        Might make for a good Sunday blig post from Rhys

      • Bervios says:

        G-OUZO was the aircraft , it did I imagine that?

  • Jamestg86 says:

    Haha fab! Good points. Whilst not rubbing it in, I booked 4 sets of club flights (Avios obs) to Athens last year in advance, and a few Barcelona’s. Each set of flights on the Athens is now well, well over a grand.

    The other question. I’ve never paid taxes etc. BUT you will pay local VAT on drinks, or anything onboard, on any all EU itinerary. Makes a big difference if you like a drink. Most Barcelona itins and the Greek Islands ones get stung. Bit sly.

    If you gamble, meet the casino host in the first day or two for a free drinks charm on your wrist. I found this out on day 6 last time and they would only comp me a few bottles of wine on my last night, which I ended up leaving with early flights etc.

    It’s great, but so much shrouded in secrecy on how to do it cheaply. Last time I had the Deep Blue Extras twice on my account and ended up with an overall credit refund of 20 dollars.

    Oh finally don’t forget your free 2x wine. And without giving too much away, think about it, and be creative… It works !

    • Dragonlady says:

      @Jamestg86- we did two EU VVs last summer and paid no VAT on drinks ( or anything else for that matter ) ? I’ve a paid for voyage upcoming ( and family have redemned with the latest offer ) .How much do they expect you to put through the casino to comp ( and do they ask for proof via the usual channels ) ?

    • paul says:

      Unless it has changed, only Spain charges VAT in their territorial waters and only IF the cruise does not do at least one port stop outside the EU.

      If you pay for drinks in advance (with a drinks package on other lines and MAYBE if you pre-pay for a drinks bar tab on VV) then there is no VAT added during the Spanish part either.

  • jek says:

    It seems that there are a few who hoped for a repeat of the cruise deal but did not put the flights in place early enough… All the discussion about flight prices last year should have been an indicator of flight prices when the deal comes back!

    • Track says:

      How would one know exactly which cruises have exactly which deals/such as

      – early May 120k (and limited to Med, no Greece)
      – 160k before July 28th departures
      – but not Aug and Sep availability as of now

      • jek says:

        You would not. What one could do (as I did), is start planning in August 2023, pick a cruise that is likely to fall into the offer range, book Avios flights (because cancellable), book a cancellable hotel, book annual leave, and then wait for months… If the deal would not have come up, we could have gone to Greece anyway or cancelled the trip.

  • Jamestg86 says:

    Hi, so tbh the casino thing came about after I lost my rag one night, as it’s impossible to claim your free play and I figured I’d lost far more than I normally would in Vegas, where I haven’t paid for a suite for the last 10 years. And I’m talking 5K coin in spend MGM.
    Not 200K. They didn’t seem to know what they where doing. (like closing at midnight when it’s busy and at sea, when bars and clubs open).

    Tax is on any Spanish itinerary that doesn’t stop in Gibraltar. 10%. You will have been charged but again pretty difficult to get the real bill. I found out half way through I was constantly being overcharged for house red, as they had none, and despite being told I’d be charged cheapest, it was anything up to double, and involved constant trips to guest relations (or whatever they call it), to resolve, which they did. Pretty typical the overcharging and almost impossible to check. I hate to think how much everyone was being screwed.

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