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If you’ve had your eye on a Virgin Voyages cruise, you’re in luck: Virgin Red is offering 5-night Virgin Voyages cruises from Miami for 80,000 Virgin points or your choice of a 7-night Mediterranean or 8-night Caribbean cruise for 100,000 points total for two passengers. This deal is valid for sailings before June 30, 2023.
The Deal
- Virgin Voyages is offering a limited-time deal to book a Sea Terrace or Limited Sea View Terrace room on a five-night sailing from Miami on Scarlet Lady for 80,000 Virgin points or an eight-night sailing from Miami on Scarlet Lady or a seven-night sailing on Valiant Lady for 100,000 Virgin points for sailings from 2/1/23 through 6/30/23.
- Direct link to Virgin Red
Key Terms
- This offer is exclusive to Virgin Red members. Valid for sailings before 30 June 2023.
- This is a round-trip voyage from the relevant departure port. All sailors (passengers)must make their own travel arrangements to and from the departure port prior to and after the cruise. Please do not book travel arrangements until your sailing has been confirmed by Virgin Voyages.
- The offer is per cabin (one or two passengers). There is no single sailor supplement available.
- Bookings are subject to availability and confirmation of completion of the booking process by Virgin Voyages.
- Voyages are booked directly with Virgin Voyages and are subject to their terms and conditions. See Virgin Voyages for terms and details.
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club vs. Virgin Red
Virgin offers two rewards programs. One is the legacy Virgin Atlantic Flying Club program, and the other is the new Virgin Red program which offers awards far beyond flight awards. Even though they have different names, it’s best to think of the two programs as one thing. By joining Virgin Red, you can link your Virgin Atlantic account and then all points will appear together in both programs. In other words, you’ll have equal access to all of your points regardless of whether you log into Virgin Red or Virgin Atlantic.
You can sign up for Virgin Red here.
The nice thing about Virgin points is that they are very easy to come by. Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou points, and Bilt Rewards points all transfer to either Virgin Atlantic or Virgin Red.
Quick Thoughts
Funny enough, we recorded this weekend’s podcast before this deal came out and as we discussed the coming 30% transfer bonus from Citi to Virgin Atlantic (which starts on 2/19 and runs through 3/18), I mentioned that it could be worth keeping an eye out for a cruise deal like this. Virgin Voyages previously ran similar offers last fall, though this time around the prices are a bit better yet — even before considering the coming transfer bonus. Unfortunately, I don’t know for sure how long this deal will last.
Depending on the sailing, this can be a very good deal. You’ll get a Sea Terrace cabin for two people on sailings through June 30, 2023. Food and unlimited soft drinks are included along with basic Wi-Fi. Using points even covers gratuities — you’ll just pay for alcoholic drinks.
How much of a deal this opportunity offers differs quite a bit by sailing, but in this case every sailing I checked yielded better than 2c per point in value. The screen shot below shows a couple of sailings that I believe should be eligible (and these are the prices for a Sea Terrace room, which is what you get with this offer).
I assume you’ll still be on the hook for a couple / few hundred dollars depending on the port of call chosen (the prices of cruises above do not include taxes). Update: Taxes & fees are included when redeeming points, so this deal is even better than it looks on the surface since the prices above would be subject to additional taxes but a points redemption is inclusive of taxes & fees.
Keep in mind that Virgin Voyages cruises are adults-only. According to the terms, a member can book up to 4 rooms but must check-in on the same cruise. Also note that there is no single supplement, so the price is the same for one or two passengers.
It’s worth noting that some of the prices above are for Limited Sea View Terrace rooms. According to the terms, you may get The Sea Terrace or Limited Sea View Terrace depending on availability (I’m sure you’ll be able to confirm at the time of booking).
In order to make this redemption, you’d need to have points in your Virgin account and then sign in to the Virgin Red app and hit “redeem” on the offer you want. Virgin Red will send you an access code that you use to book directly with Virgin Voyages.
Overall, this looks like an attractive deal for those interested in trying out Virgin Voyages.
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Do you have any ideas on how often Virgin runs similar deals?
Can the capital one venture rewards points still be transferred to Virgin?
Looks like this deal is dead… can’t find it on either the US or OK red site.
Hoping. This deal comes back.
Is this deal over? I’ve been trying to find the page to redeem my miles but can’t locate it
Yes, still available on Virgin Red website.
Could you please share the page link again. I can’t find the live offer page still.
Don’t see anything on my end either
I’m trying to find also. No luck.
Yup. Unfortunately this is dead 🙁
how many cabins are we allowed to book?
”Each Virgin Red member can book up to four The Sea Terrace or Limited View Sea Terrace cabins. The booking party must check-in at the same time.”
Wish it had somewhat of a discount for solo traveler, especially for a cruise like this that included most food/restaurant/tips, etc., as you can expect solo travelers to only utilize half of those, despite taking up same space as double.
Any insights on whether any cabins have two bed? Noticed sea terrace says up to 4 sailors, but I only see one bed. Not sure how that works
Standard sea terrace cabins have a bed that can be arranged in an L shape for two people, and are quite comfortable. I believe there are a handful of larger cabins that can accommodate four people, but am not sure on that.
I was able to book a 15-night transatlantic cruise starting on 04/11 using the same access key. Miami to Barcelona.
More details please. 100k points?
That is correct. Once you receive your access key code via email after redeeming 100k Virgin Red points, you can enter the code to any valid itineraries offered by the promotion. You are able to check the eligibility for each itinerary by entering the code on the payment page. To my surprise, along with the 8-night Caribbean itineraries and 7-night Mediterranean itineraries, the 15-night transatlantic itinerary accepted my code. They even confirmed my reservation when I called in disbelief.
Wow. Makes a good deal a great deal! Would jump in a heartbeat but finding flights to/from Tokyo is impossible these days, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Correction. It departs on 04/22 from Miami and arrives in Barcelona on 05/07.
Plenty of dates and selections. Just read and follow the instruction that sent in the 2nd email from Virgin Voyage. I booked it as my kid’s college graduation gift.
By any chance does anyone know if you can gift the access key for the cruise to a friend?
Yes
Nick, if there is no availability on my selected sailing date, will the points go back in my V Red account? It seems backwards to cough up the points and then see if there’s availability.
No, I think this is a one way street – Virgin Red is essentially selling you a voucher that you use to book.
But based on Troy’s comments below, I assume you can just look up a sailing on a qualified ship right now on the Virgin Voyages site and if they have a Sea Terrace or Limited View Sea Terrace for sale, you should be able to book it. I think.
I did see Troy’s message and will act accordingly. I see lots of availability for the French Daze & Ibiza Nights sailing that we’re targeting.
Here’s some clarification on the cancellation question:
______________________________________________________________
Lily Bolaitamana (Virgin Red)
11 Feb 2023, 08:42 UTC
Hi Geoff,
Thank you for getting in touch with Virgin Red.
If you redeem points for a Virgin Voyages cruise and find out that you are not able to go on the cruise, we can ask Virgin Voyages to cancel your voucher and have your points refunded.
______________________________________________________________
Not an ironclad refund guarantee, but I saved her reply for future reference. Maybe there’s more definitive language once I get into the actual booking process. Virgin’s sites are really focused on cutesy hipster language but they go slim on the T&C stuff.
[…] HT: Frequent Miler […]
[…] Voyages Cruises for 80k or 100k Virgin Red Points: See this post on Frequent Miler. You can transfer points to Virgin from Amex, Citi, Chase, Capital One and Bilt. Also, Citi is […]
Is there a way to check availability before transferring points?
It’s dead simple – when I did it in October it was any Sea Terrace or Limited View Sea Terrace that shows available for sale on the specified cruises. There’s no special inventory – just if they’re still selling that cabin or not. They CANNOT open up space if it disappears, and inventory does change day to day/hour to hour.
Troy, did the rep just assign you a cabin or were you able to choose the location on the ship?
Assigned closer to travel, but you can pay to upgrade to central etc (they’ll email you soon after booking)
Outside of this old deal, can I book a cruise now at a higher points price and how is the price set? Or was the ability to pay with points at the time part of the special deal? Thanks
It’s a once or twice a year random kinda thing. They open up rarely and usually within a few months of sailing.
Thanks. Was in process of booking Bodrum hotel and this. Just missed. The Athens cruise is outside of our travel dates. I’ll be sure to keep an I on this. Can you always book with points (but at better rate today) or is booking with points, itself, what’s new here?
Virgin Red has offered cruises pretty much all the time. But they are usually 4-5 night cruises from Miami. Last year they offered something similar. If you are flush in Virgin miles, then this is a good deal. But since Virgin has been offering some very good prices since Jan. 1, you may be wiser using your miles to get to your cruise.