Virgin Voyages Master Thread (do NOT post referral codes – use other thread)
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What evidence did you need to prove and get the Deep Blue Extras?
Letter or Photo?“Arms
I dont have the status elsewhere – is there any way to still get the perks?”Offering hand holding advice here is only going to end badly. Recommend paddling your own canoe on status matching and hopefully this does not become a public thread of tips on status matching without status.
Really unsure what to do guys. I have very little points (because I’ve always used BA/avios) but could buy the 80,000 point a lot cheaper with the bonus they’ve got going on right now
The issue is if I buy 80k points and then this deal never comes back!
Is this a normal thing? The deal goes and then comes back? Is it normally every July and august they do this?For the 2 posters above – It took 3-4 days for Virgin to confirm my status match from MSC. Same for my GF who tried it a couple of weeks ago.
As for evidence, they just ask you to fill in the form, and attach a pic – I just took a screenshot of the Gold Card from the MSC email with my name and MSC number clearly shown.
What evidence did you need to prove and get the Deep Blue Extras?
Letter or Photo?I just sent a screenshot of my MSC account showing Diamond Status. Not had any response as yet.
For the 2 posters above – It took 3-4 days for Virgin to confirm my status match from MSC. Same for my GF who tried it a couple of weeks ago.
As for evidence, they just ask you to fill in the form, and attach a pic – I just took a screenshot of the Gold Card from the MSC email with my name and MSC number clearly shown.
Thanks for this. I’ll give them a couple more days before I chase
Really unsure what to do guys. I have very little points (because I’ve always used BA/avios) but could buy the 80,000 point a lot cheaper with the bonus they’ve got going on right now
The issue is if I buy 80k points and then this deal never comes back!
Is this a normal thing? The deal goes and then comes back? Is it normally every July and august they do this?
@lukeyb92 There is no precedent or crystal ball here. They only starting doing this last year so it is not like there is a pattern, nor is there inside knowledge. It ‘feels’ likely it will reappear, but that is just my opinion – and when and at what price point is totally unknown.One option is for you to message Virgin Red and flat out ask them if it is returning. A poster in this thread got a wink and a nudge before that it was on it’s way when asking… but not specific dates or prices.
Only you can assess whether you are willing to accept the £900 ‘risk’ of purchasing without a redemption opportunity existing (when considering alternative cash out options like a £450 hit by transferring out to hilton points, or holding them and using for virgin flights). It would be low risk for me because I would probably use them with a 241 voucher in the future, and target >1p per point value on a redemption.
Speculative miles purchasing is rarely encouraged.
But everyones circumstances are different.Perfect – thanks so much!!!
1 – Book restaurants as soon as you can but treat them as backup plans which you can ditch later if you choose to walk-in elsewhere. The Wake will book up, so just sling in a booking.
2 – doing your own thing totally viable and if you prefer you can arrange most of the shore activities for yourself independently. I only paid for 1 last year, this year I’ll probably do 0 and have arranged 1 or 2 things independently. Can be fun to also get your own car/atv/moped when you get to a port.
3 – getting on board early is very useful as you can’t book shows or fitness classes until on the ship wifi. I didn’t realise this last year and got on as late as possible … all the classes had booked up.
4 & 5 – I will die before I pay such sums to upgrade a free booking when the standard rooms are so good anyway, so can’t advise here.
6 – write up a brief plan of arrival/departure times to figure out roughly where you want to be and assist booking shows and restaurants. Keep in mind sunset times and whether you want to catch the sunset on shore, on deck, or in a panoramic restaurant like gumbae.
If travelling solo, absolutely go to the solo traveller events.
Pick a karaoke song in advance.
Talk to the crew and ask about secret parties.
Don’t be late back to the ship.
Join a facebook group for tips on the specific cruise.Really unsure what to do guys. I have very little points (because I’ve always used BA/avios) but could buy the 80,000 point a lot cheaper with the bonus they’ve got going on right now
The issue is if I buy 80k points and then this deal never comes back!
Is this a normal thing? The deal goes and then comes back? Is it normally every July and august they do this?I would 100% not speculatively buy points hoping for this to come back next year – That said what i am saying below is also purely informed speculation.
It’s not a secret that the passenger numbers on the Med cruises are low at the moment due to a number of factors. Primarily, that flights from the US to Barcelona and Athens, and also European flights to those destinations are criminally expensive at the moment. Even with the flight credit that Virgin are offering for cash cruises, this isn’t enough to make the Americans look outside of the US cruise market, and it’s still a decent chunk of change if you’re not willing to travel with an LCC inside Europe, hence uptake is low. Virgin is also having to try and build brand loyalty after a disastrous start (basically the whole launch schedule lined up with Covid) and it’s hard to pull punters away from their regular cruise lines without completely destroying the bottom line. They are seeing good yields on Scarlet Lady now and i’m going to assume we don’t see another points deal for those cruises out of Miami later this year unlike last year.
Will this continue through to next year? Personally I am not intelligent to know why European flights are still incredibly priced this summer, however, given the long haul market seems to be settling back down to vaguely sensible levels, I have to think that short haul will follow suit, before this time next year.
Finally I feel that while the Virgin brand is pretty strong (and a bit Marmite) in the UK, significant amounts of the population are going through the current cost of living crisis, and just can’t afford this kind of holiday right now.
I’m sure someone with more industry knowledge can impart more useful wisdom but this is how I see it today and why I don’t expect this to happen next year, unless we continue to see insanely priced short haul flights through next summer.
resting but still punchy considering the cruise was so cheap! – any experience of these appreciated – e.g. do people just bid base level and how successful is this? I’m also wondering about just waiting until on the day and asking at check in?
You already got a great load of advice from Travel Strong, but around points 4 and 5:
4: I have heard of people regularly getting the upgrade from Sea Terrace to XL at base money, given that there are a decent number of XL rooms, and the boats in the med are not very full at the moment, I feel there is a real chance of getting these. As with all of these “pay to play” type upgrades, I think you just need to set an absolute maximum that you are prepared to spend for the upgrade. If you don’t get it, then it wasn’t to be, and if you do get it, then you got what you really wanted at the price you wanted. As Travel Strong says, the standard Sea Terrace is a pretty solid offering, I mean the ship itself is still in its first 6 months of service, there have been enough people on it to weed out the snags and everything should still be nice and shiny 🙂
5: I had a friend who went on one of the “taster” cruises last year and really liked Richard’s Rooftop, he said it was a great area and enjoyed drinking lots of champagne which adds up real quick at $95 a bottle on board. You can rack up some real savings if that’s your thing!
Just to clarify, when I say it is my personal opinion that it is likely to return – I did mean *this* year.
i.e. 80 – 95k for Med cruises in Aug/Sep/Oct
Or 95k – 125k for Miami cruises through winterHowever, @modestpointscollector – I think your analysis is perhaps too deep. This is a new cruise line and it will take years to build loyalty / passenger numbers, especially when loyalty to existing cruise lines is so strong and the offering is so different to the other cruise lines.
Virgin voyages would be likely to run under capacity for years – even with cheap flights, no pandemic, and optimal economic conditions and disposable incomes.
In these years, the frequent flier community are great targets for short notice bums-on-seats. Bums which are willing and able to splash on drinks and excursions, too.What evidence did you need to prove and get the Deep Blue Extras?
Letter or Photo?“Arms
I dont have the status elsewhere – is there any way to still get the perks?”Offering hand holding advice here is only going to end badly. Recommend paddling your own canoe on status matching and hopefully this does not become a public thread of tips on status matching without status.
*Hangs head in shame*
Just to clarify, when I say it is my personal opinion that it is likely to return – I did mean *this* year.
i.e. 80 – 95k for Med cruises in Aug/Sep/Oct
Or 95k – 125k for Miami cruises through winterHowever, @modestpointscollector – I think your analysis is perhaps too deep. This is a new cruise line and it will take years to build loyalty / passenger numbers, especially when loyalty to existing cruise lines is so strong and the offering is so different to the other cruise lines.
Virgin voyages would be likely to run under capacity for years – even with cheap flights, no pandemic, and optimal economic conditions and disposable incomes.
In these years, the frequent flier community are great targets for short notice bums-on-seats. Bums which are willing and able to splash on drinks and excursions, too.Yeh all very valid points, I am definitely not an expert! I would be surprised to see Miami appear this year but would be delighted for all the bargain hunters out there see it come back 🙂 I think there is a small chance of the Med ones re-appearing this year, but if it was my money I would not speculatively buy the miles, if I didn’t have a backup plan for them (like you said eg flights with the 241/upgrade voucher).
If I had no back up plan, it’s just not worth the risk to only “possibly” get an unreal deal. If the miles offer does come back this year and you’re going to have to pay “full rate” for the miles, it’s still an absolute bargain compared to the cash cost – Assuming that you had interest on going on the cruise in the first place.
We’re all individuals at the end of the day like you say. I had virtually no interest in going on a med cruise, but i’m getting a new kitchen and had 160k miles lying around doing nothing so it’s a practically free luxury holiday outside of the cost of flights and some booze money which I wouldn’t do otherwise. It’s going to take something monumental to convert me to a cash customer moving forwards though, there’s absolutely no way I would pay that much money for a holiday – I guess this is why I collect points in the first place. I have been very lucky over the years.
Well……Today is the last day of our cruise! For us it’s our 19th and the first with VV. We have sailed in everything from an inside guarantee to the Royal suite (twice as it happens!) and almost everything in between. Had it not been for this points promotion, our curiosity would have been whetted, but I’m not sure we would have jumped ship from our regular “go to” line. However……it has been absolutely fantastic. The crew, the service and the food have been outstanding. I recommend everybody with even the slightest interest to jump at this opportunity if it arises again. In 2000 we did 3 Concorde transatlantics for £500 a ticket! For me that was the bargain of the decade! This cruise has been right up there in that same league! Given what a great deal it was, I was sceptical it would prove to be a seamless experience from start to finish, but the reality is, it has! The “deep blue extras” have been a very worthwhile enhancement and the opportunity to upgrade to a “Rockstar” suite has obviously been lucky, but just the icing on the cake! Simply the best use of points ever! Do it!
For those who are lucky enough to snag the Deep Blue Extras, do not buy the bar tab or the romance package. My friend travelling in my cabin attempted to purchase the bar tab and it wiped my Deep Blue Extras perks.
Once the unsuccessful purchase cleared, the Deep Blue Extras came back for me.
Wish I had the gonads to book an XL cabin but didn’t want to risk it, and don’t mind the extra steps in the normal cabin to burn off a bit more of the food!
For those who are lucky enough to snag the Deep Blue Extras, do not buy the bar tab or the romance package. My friend travelling in my cabin attempted to purchase the bar tab and it wiped my Deep Blue Extras perks.
Once the unsuccessful purchase cleared, the Deep Blue Extras came back for me.
Wish I had the gonads to book an XL cabin but didn’t want to risk it, and don’t mind the extra steps in the normal cabin to burn off a bit more of the food!
It did that for me as well when I bought a bar tab. It did come back about a week or so later, so I suspect it’s just another bug in the system. With the DBE your bonus will rise from $50 to $100 (although that won’t show on the app either!) So in fact it is well worth doing as the total bonus for spending £240 on a bar tab rises to a total of ($100+$100+300) $500! The bar tab can only be bought before embarkation!
VV “sailor services” recommend reinstalling the app to fix the problem?
It did that for me as well when I bought a bar tab. It did come back about a week or so later, so I suspect it’s just another bug in the system. With the DBE your bonus will rise from $50 to $100 (although that won’t show on the app either!) So in fact it is well worth doing as the total bonus for spending £240 on a bar tab rises to a total of ($100+$100+300) $500! The bar tab can only be bought before embarkation!
Yeh this is just a bug between what’s on the VV systems, the web page, and the mobile app. Mine has regularly flicked between showing no DBE, DBE with no bonus (only $50 extra), and DBE with bonus on the bar tab ($100) with the free DBE $100 tab appearing and disappearing. I chased it a few times and was re-assured it is showing on their end so won’t be any issues redeeming once you get on the ship.
Also the free bottle of fizz for linking bookings took over a week to appear but it is there now.
Very excited that my cruise is next week! It’s going to be very hot though!
Currently sweltering in Athens awaiting tomorrow’s sailing. Have already written off a couple of shore excursions.
Currently sweltering in Athens awaiting tomorrow’s sailing. Have already written off a couple of shore excursions.
Did you buy a drinks package that includes ice?
Just about to go ashore in Rhodes. The ship is slightly under half full. In brief, exceeding all expectations. Might even pay for another one in future.
Just about to go ashore in Rhodes. The ship is slightly under half full. In brief, exceeding all expectations. Might even pay for another one in future.
Amazing, how’s the temps on the ship and on shore?
On the boat it’s fine. On shore…. It’s fine on the boat. Actually it’s boiling during the day but the evening has been pleasant.
Currently sweltering in Athens awaiting tomorrow’s sailing. Have already written off a couple of shore excursions.
Did you buy a drinks package that includes ice?
Because of the heat?
Any Greek Glow tips or shore excursions direct or via a third party very welcome. Sailing next month
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