Virgin Voyages Master Thread (do NOT post referral codes – use other thread)
Discuss today's stories:
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You should book the restaurants as soon as the bookings open on the app – 45 days before launch. Most of the good time slots are gone within 24h!
However, many slots will only be made available on board, so there is another chance if you can’t get your perfect booking 45 days before launch.
I highly recommend Reddit where these things are discussed in much more detail than here on HfP.
Looks like we have been assigned deck 14 on out Barcelona to Miami trip. It seems that I would be better asking to be moved a bit lower down the ship. We have a Central Sea Terrace, where would you pick to move it too? Thanks in advance
Good idea to move, i had deck 14 last year and its in the shade due to the roof above. We have went for deck 11 this year.
I’m just checking if anyone who has booked a cruise with the most recent Virgin Points offer has been allocated a cabin/deck number? I have a med cruise booked for 4 weeks time and still no cabin number allocated.
I reached out to sailor services and the response was as follows:
‘At this time, we don’t have a specific cabin number to assign you. Cabin assignment can be given to you from any time between 48 hours to 2 hours. It can be anywhere on board and can be assigned at any point before your voyage starts.’
This is certainly different to my previous experiences – two previous ‘points’ cruises had immediate cabin allocations as has my ‘paid’ cruise for this September.
I was assigned a cabin during the booking process. We are on Resilient Lady on 23rd June.
We also got the cabin details when booking. We felt we were a bit too close to the lift lobby so moved up from 10th to 11th floor and along a bit. Central Sea Terrace cabin.
My partner, James and I are on the Adriatic Sea & Greek Gems departing on 16th June. Anyone else on that trip?
We requested the code on Saturday and got it Sunday. Disappointed there aren’t many good restaurant options left and the Splash for Romance has sold out. So hope more restaurant times open when we get on board. I think it’s going to be a fairly full ship.
Thanks guys – I finally managed to get Sailor Services to allocate me a cabin for my next cruise. I really don’t know why I initially ended up with the ‘guarantee’ category though as I booked on the first available day!
La Linea this morning to cross into Gibraltar was chaos. What used to be an easy stroll through Spanish and then UK border desks turned into a 45 minute queue to get through the Spanish desks and then another lengthy queue to get past the UK border agents.Big queue on the way back too for non EU folk as whatever IT system the Spaniards use wasn’t working properly so literally one person able to process people…Lots of development in the past year there and it seems no traffic accross the runway anymore (now siphoned off down the tunnel instead). Yet another benefit of Brexit (not) ..
La Linea this morning to cross into Gibraltar was chaos. What used to be an easy stroll through Spanish and then UK border desks turned into a 45 minute queue to get through the Spanish desks and then another lengthy queue to get past the UK border agents.Big queue on the way back too for non EU folk as whatever IT system the Spaniards use wasn’t working properly so literally one person able to process people…Lots of development in the past year there and it seems no traffic accross the runway anymore (now siphoned off down the tunnel instead). Yet another benefit of Brexit (not) ..
Argh – wrong forum and it won’t let me delete !
We’re going on our first cruise out of Athens on the Adriatic sea and greek gems in July.
I understand it docks at around 6am on return. How long do I need to allow to disembark and travel to the airport for a flight back to the UK?
Many thanksHi Sprout,
I’m taking the same cruise I believe. Not an expert and it’s first time for us to do cruise. However, it stated in Virgin voyage website and app that there is no international flights departure before noon and the transfer is about 1 hour.
Virgin does offer airport shuttle with a charge £35 PP and only three time slots – 8am, 9am and 10am.
Hope this helps.
@uklzk – great thanks
We literally did this on Sunday after our 10 day cruise. There are so many taxis lined up it won’t take longer than 20 mins to get one after disembarking. It cost between 60 and 70 euros per taxi but be clear with the taxi driver about the tolls being included otherwise they’ll try to add on another 15 euros when it only costs a couple.
I did the local bus and metro which was so easy cost 9 euros and there’s a ticket office as you disembark the shop. It’s a bit of a walk to the bus stop but once there it’s really easy, it will take you to Piraeus metro station and it’s the blue line all the way to the Airport.
If it’s supposed to dock at 6.30, how long does it take to get off the boat and be in position to get a taxi? thx
We got off one last week in Athens. Was quite care free and simple , you supposed to book a departure time but I assume you want to be first off and can’t see any issues.
If you’re taking your own bag off rather than picking it up in the terminal I would guess you are gonna be looking at something like 7:30 by the time customs and the port paperwork is sorted.
I did get a message for a fellow passenger that they were sat in the lounge at 08:30. The journey is 40 mins away so they must have been off pretty early.
There was a line of cabs a mile long at Athens port.
Barcelona is pretty similar , cabs a plenty and a fast trip to the airport.
Worth noting that Uber also works well around the Athens port, and normal taxis are on uber.
We disembarked super late as we knew out flight was severely delayed, and the taxi line was sparse at that time with people stood around waiting for the next one.
We ordered an Uber and it sped down to the side of the boat in minutes, whilst others continued to wait for a taxi.
Also found this the day before when getting off the ferry from Mykonos – taxis were sparse, but an uber ordered taxi turned up in minutes.
Anybody on the Resilient Lady cruise on the 23rd? It seems that it’ll be very busy and fully booked!
Is there a way to pay the Bar Tap in USD instead of GBP? Virgin’s conversion is weak.
Did anyone find a way of paying in USD? I can set the page to USD but when I log into my account it reverts to GBP.
I may try calling to see if I can pay over the phone in USD.
Just in case others aren’t aware, there’s currently 10% cashback on my Virgin credit card for first spend at virgin voyages. I’ve just purchased a bar tab and the cash back has tracked.
I’m assuming this cash back offer also works for purchasing the cruise itself?
Has anyone tried ?
Just in case others aren’t aware, there’s currently 10% cashback on my Virgin credit card for first spend at virgin voyages. I’ve just purchased a bar tab and the cash back has tracked.
Thanks for the tip – bar tab cashback tracked once changed from pending. With the Bar tab bonus, Deep Blue bonus and Cashback, I’m around £0.45 / dollar for bar spend.
Does anyone have any recommendations for a Virgin Voyages ‘First Mate’?
(Their name for affiliated Travel Agents – not the result of the Sail Away Singles party on Deck 16!)
I can now answer my own question on recommendations for a first mate AND give pointers to some Virgin Voyages deals.
First off: If you are making a cash booking, go via a Virgin ‘First Mate’. If you are lucky, they may have access to MNVV vouchers which discount your trip and provide additional bar tab. But even if this is not available – a good agent will be able to investigate all the discount/status/perks available to you.
You still pay via the VV website when using a First Mate, and the process is very neat.
To this end, I contacted a few agents and can highly recommend Col Ord (Travel Less Ordinary).
Some of you may remember him from v-flyer/flyertalk and I think also occasional hfp comments IIRC.
Col’s knowledge for all things Virgin is unparalleled, as proven by his performance in the VS lockdown quiz for those of you who remember those days!From point of enquiry, I think I had my cruise booked via Col Ord within the hour – with all the discounts and perks possible. Definitely beating the VV website offers.
Honourable mention also goes to TheGetAwayGuys who came back the next morning with a very similar offer but unfortunately would have to be paid in USD, which probably wouldn’t have worked well with the cashback offer on the VS+ credit card. They are also a reputable agency who I would happily use (… if I hadn’t found Col!).
Last but far from least – there appears to be an ACCESS KEY offer for the ‘Lock It In’ rates on most voyages this year. Book by 6th Sep and use Access Key VIRGINVV.
Somewhat painfully, it reduces the cruise I booked last week by £900. The only downside being you can’t pick your cabin (and potentially it might be tricker to combine with other offers like MNVV).
If you were on the fence about a cash booking – look again using this code, and also hit up a First Mate.
GREAT find @Travel Strong, have just booked a week on the Greek itinerary on a whim given your promo code brought it to a ridiculously good £1.5k for two of us in a sea terrace – and that’s why I’m always on this website!
Another point worth mentioning is if anyone is considering a voyage in the coming months the Virgin Red points offer is still active, stacked with the current Virgin Points 70% bonus when buying points, there is potential for some good saving.
Looking at the five day voyages out of Miami, the cheapest between now and September is £1969.34 for a Sea Terrance. Whereas you can buy 115,200 points for £1,095 and buy the same voyage for 115K Virgin Points.
Definitely worth considering…
I can now answer my own question on recommendations for a first mate AND give pointers to some Virgin Voyages deals.
First off: If you are making a cash booking, go via a Virgin ‘First Mate’. If you are lucky, they may have access to MNVV vouchers which discount your trip and provide additional bar tab. But even if this is not available – a good agent will be able to investigate all the discount/status/perks available to you.
You still pay via the VV website when using a First Mate, and the process is very neat.
To this end, I contacted a few agents and can highly recommend Col Ord (Travel Less Ordinary).
Some of you may remember him from v-flyer/flyertalk and I think also occasional hfp comments IIRC.
Col’s knowledge for all things Virgin is unparalleled, as proven by his performance in the VS lockdown quiz for those of you who remember those days!From point of enquiry, I think I had my cruise booked via Col Ord within the hour – with all the discounts and perks possible. Definitely beating the VV website offers.
Honourable mention also goes to TheGetAwayGuys who came back the next morning with a very similar offer but unfortunately would have to be paid in USD, which probably wouldn’t have worked well with the cashback offer on the VS+ credit card. They are also a reputable agency who I would happily use (… if I hadn’t found Col!).
Last but far from least – there appears to be an ACCESS KEY offer for the ‘Lock It In’ rates on most voyages this year. Book by 6th Sep and use Access Key VIRGINVV.
Somewhat painfully, it reduces the cruise I booked last week by £900. The only downside being you can’t pick your cabin (and potentially it might be tricker to combine with other offers like MNVV).
If you were on the fence about a cash booking – look again using this code, and also hit up a First Mate.
Great heads up on the VIRGINVV Access key, only avail. on limited dates however £1.5k for a Sea Terrace on those particular sailings is a steal, and of course will combine with some offers / statement credit offers, albeit not the more generous MNVV as a lock it in rate
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