Why (and when) did you choose to cruise with Virgin? What's your story so far?

[britincanada]

As there are quite a few of us still waiting to go on our voyages, I thought this may be an interesting conversation. What's your VV story so far?

 

We booked our VV in October 2019, at the time my husband worked for Virgin Galactic. What tipped the balance to book though was a totally incredible long weekend at the San Francisco Virgin Hotel (currently closed and in a legal battle) celebrating our 23rd anniversary. We were given the most amazing upgrade and spent our 3 nights in 'Richard's Flat'. Added to that the atmosphere in the hotel, the staff, and the general vibe we decided to book.

 

We had only cruised once before, back in 2006 we went on our only trip without our boys and had a 5 night Carnival cruise. Loved the destinations, but hubby wasn't convinced that cruising was for him. VV appealed though, with all of the inclusions (especially tipping - properly compensated staff are happier staff!), and the 18+ policy. We were expecting something very different, and had a good understanding of the Virgin way of doing things! We are Brits living in the USA, and grew up with the Virgin brand. Despite the advertising showing the 'young and beautiful' we were not worried about being in their 'target market', despite the fact that we would be 52 & 46 when we sailed.

 

We got online and started looking at itineraries, and decided we would treat ourselves and book a central sea terrace for Richard's Birthday Bash in July '20. To be honest it was more than we'd usually spend on a  trip for 2 of us (we have 2 sons), but 2020 had been a rubbish year. My best friend in the UK had died from breast cancer in January, and at the time of booking my husband knew (but hadn't yet told me) that my mum had stage 4 cancer in the UK (we are in the USA). We were also living 1400 miles apart due to his work, so this was something to look forward to. I didn't like the auto assigned cabin, so I called Sailor Services and we were booked! The countdown had begun!

 

In February '20 my husband & I were in Vegas for the weekend, and I treated myself to a fab dress for the Red Night party. A more formal dress than usual, but as we were booked on the Birthday Bash I decided to go all out! Somewhere along the way we also paid a $300 bar tab, as there was a promo that gave an additional $100. I was keen to 'Shake for Champagne'!!! Their advertising is effective!

 

Along comes covid-19, and I anxiously watched for news of cancellations. Thanks to social media I saw the news that our July '20 cruise was going to be cancelled the day before it happened. I called Sailor Services to put a cabin on hold for the July '21 Birthday Bash. Online there weren't any suites showing as available, however the lovely lady I spoke to said she could see suites and checked with her supervisor that we could have one (after I suggested they maybe they were being held for Sir Richard's friends & family). We opted for the best available (thanks to the 200% FCC) and were booked in a Cheeky Corner, Biggest Terrace. The next day I called Sailor Services again, and our cruise credit was applied and we were all set again. Our taxes were refunded, and the FCC covered the cruise.

 

In March of this year we decided to change our cruise, at this point the July cruises hadn't been cancelled, but my husband had changed job and being off in July wouldn't be easy - and I was doubtful that cruising would have resumed by then. I tried to use the FCC for a second cabin to take our sons (they are 18+) but that was against the terms and conditions. My husband is terrible at taking vacation days, so I opted to blow the entire FCC and booked us a Gorgeous Suite for a Dominican Daze cruise at the end of May '22. We decided that it was unlikely we would get to cruise twice, so why not have a truly amazing experience and be Mega Rockstars! VV refunded the bar tab as it would no longer be needed, gave us $400 OBC, and the countdown began again!!

 

So, when we finally get on Scarlet Lady it will be 951 days after our original booking, and our 3rd booking. I am sure there are many others here who have waited even longer, and had more cancellations though!!

 

So...what's your VV story?

Edited September 30, 2021 by britincanada
spelling

[LibrarianMonroe]

Ours is boring... we had a different vacation planned that fell through about 2, 3 weeks ago, so we booked something else that fell in to the same time off period.

[sid_9169]

The story of my journey to Virgin Voyages is a really long one. You can read about it all right here...

 

 

[britincanada]

13 hours ago, LibrarianMonroe said:

Ours is boring... we had a different vacation planned that fell through about 2, 3 weeks ago, so we booked something else that fell in to the same time off period.

Have a great time!

[britincanada]

13 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

The story of my journey to Virgin Voyages is a really long one. You can read about it all right here...

 

 

I've been following along!! Looking forward to hearing about you onboard experience!!

[_tacocat_]

I've only cruised once before, and it was one of the worst vacays of my life.  We were on the cheapest 3-day sailing of the year on a rinky dink Norwegian ship out of MIA, which apparently meant that it was literally every radio station and sports team's giveaway, plus a giant MLM convention.  Food was borderline inedible, drinks were god awful (and expensive!) and itinerary was boring.  I think it was just Nassau.  After that trip, I swore I would never step foot on a cruise ship again.

 

Flash forward like 8 years, my husband shows me this cool new line that Richard Branson is starting.  I love everything that man has been involved in (I have an a321-sized hole in my heart left when Virgin America got bought by Alaska womp womp), so I figured if I'll take another cruise it'll be on Virgin.  Oh, and CUBA!

 

Booked Richard's Birthday Bash 2020 in a sea terrace with the Sailor Loot promotion and was so looking forward to it.  Then Cuba got removed from the itinerary and replaced with Key West-- first bad omen! 

 

Valiant Lady got announced right around the time I got my year-end bonus in 2019, so we booked a ridiculous suite on the Ibiza voyage for September 2021.  We were ALL in on VV.

 

Then the first batch of Scarlet Lady cancellations rolled in- Birthday Bash still a go, even though it would technically be "pre-launch."  Then it got cancelled too.  We opted to take the 100% refund + 25% FVC... then the Valiant Lady 2021 cancellations came out of nowhere and we took a refund on that too.

 

Our FVC was set to expire on 7/15, so rebooked for a mega rockstar suite on the December 4 Valiant Lady in early summer.  Literally two days later, they cancelled all of those.  We had all of our  flights and peripheral hotels booked for FL, so we opted to take the December 5 Scarlet Lady voyage.

 

Living vicariously through everyone's trip reports and photos, and can't wait to finally get on board!

[sandero]

When I heard that Gratuities was included and that it was Adults Only, that's when I first paid attention to the cruise line. I booked a cruise that ended up being cancelled, then did the Staycation, which confirmed this was the cruise line for me, and now booked for 2022. 

[britincanada]

16 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

I've only cruised once before, and it was one of the worst vacays of my life.  We were on the cheapest 3-day sailing of the year on a rinky dink Norwegian ship out of MIA, which apparently meant that it was literally every radio station and sports team's giveaway, plus a giant MLM convention.  Food was borderline inedible, drinks were god awful (and expensive!) and itinerary was boring.  I think it was just Nassau.  After that trip, I swore I would never step foot on a cruise ship again.

 

Flash forward like 8 years, my husband shows me this cool new line that Richard Branson is starting.  I love everything that man has been involved in (I have an a321-sized hole in my heart left when Virgin America got bought by Alaska womp womp), so I figured if I'll take another cruise it'll be on Virgin.  Oh, and CUBA!

 

Booked Richard's Birthday Bash 2020 in a sea terrace with the Sailor Loot promotion and was so looking forward to it.  Then Cuba got removed from the itinerary and replaced with Key West-- first bad omen! 

 

Valiant Lady got announced right around the time I got my year-end bonus in 2019, so we booked a ridiculous suite on the Ibiza voyage for September 2021.  We were ALL in on VV.

 

Then the first batch of Scarlet Lady cancellations rolled in- Birthday Bash still a go, even though it would technically be "pre-launch."  Then it got cancelled too.  We opted to take the 100% refund + 25% FVC... then the Valiant Lady 2021 cancellations came out of nowhere and we took a refund on that too.

 

Our FVC was set to expire on 7/15, so rebooked for a mega rockstar suite on the December 4 Valiant Lady in early summer.  Literally two days later, they cancelled all of those.  We had all of our  flights and peripheral hotels booked for FL, so we opted to take the December 5 Scarlet Lady voyage.

 

Living vicariously through everyone's trip reports and photos, and can't wait to finally get on board!

 

I hope that you have a fantastic trip in December, from what I have seen it will be well worth the cancellations etc that you have been through.

[britincanada]

7 minutes ago, sandero said:

When I heard that Gratuities was included and that it was Adults Only, that's when I first paid attention to the cruise line. I booked a cruise that ended up being cancelled, then did the Staycation, which confirmed this was the cruise line for me, and now booked for 2022. 

you are so lucky that you were able to do the UK staycations!! Where are you going in 2022?

[coconut thunder]

In normal times we would travel 3 to 4 times per year booking everything ourselves and stretching our airline miles and hotel/Credit card points to their breaking point.  When covid hit and the world shut down we spent days listening to hold music while we tried to get refunds and credits for adventures that just weren’t meant to be.  We have cruised in the past (twice on Celebrity, once on Royal Carib, and once luckily enough on the Crystal Esprit) and we have a dream cruise coming up this December to Antarctica.  While we paced around our apartment and biting our nails hoping that another trip won’t get canceled we discussed our upcoming cruise and how much nicer it will be to be in a fully vaxed environment. We agreed that our future land adventures will have to wait until things become a bit more normal (I don’t want to fly all the way to a place like Spain or Thailand to find out most restaurants are closed or can’t serve alcohol, or that a curfew will cut the amount of time available to get to know a place and it’s people).  We decided to see what else is going on on the high seas.

 

We drew up a sea going bucket list that had things like “Small boat (about 900 people max)”, “Great food (subjective requires thorough research)” and the “trip has to be something unique to us (Panama Canal transit, Australian Circumnavigation, French Polynesia, an Ocean Crossing). We found the Panama transit trip pretty quickly. Australia and French Polynesia both wound up falling into the “put a pin in it until things become a bit more normal” bucket. We then focused all of our attention on Ocean Crossings.  

 

There are shiploads of options out there for a crossing so we started to pare it down. We began with price because you can certainly trim the list quickly when you pull out the ones that cost as much as a small car. Next was room size. Having lived in a Manhattan apartment we have a pretty good idea of what can make or break a happy marriage.  We want a decent amount of space with a decent sized balcony. The list was getting narrower and when we added “no kids” into the equation only a few ships remained standing, but one that resonated strongly with me.

 

I didn’t recognize the name of the ship (Resilient Lady) but I’m very familiar with the Virgin brand as I’ve been lucky enough to work for two of their companies in the past. I know the caliber of the people they would hire and I know the mood of the ship will be less stuffy than some of the other options were available to us.  We scored a Sweet Aft Suite (big balcony!) for an East bound transatlantic crossing and couldn’t be more excited. The thought of watching sunsets over the wake while sitting in the hammock is the stuff of dreams. 

 

We love the fact that there is no main dining room or pointless formal night.  The only thing I don’t like is the lack of a drink package.  Not that I’m looking to drink my body weight in booze daily, but I also don’t want to count my beverages or be hit with a shocking surprise at the end of a great trip.  

 

Watching all the videos of the summer UK trips and the press coverage here in NYC really has me excited and jealous of all of you hopping on board soon. Please take & post lots of videos and photos so that we can live vicariously through your travels. We have to wait until 2024 (and for our ship to be built!) so Bon Voyage to you all!

[britincanada]

A transatlantic crossing sounds wonderful! The wait until 2024 will be worth it!!!

Thank you for sharing 🙂

[rebeccac]

Normally, DH and I cruise when most of the kids are in school, but he had been wanting to take a trip with an old high school friend who is an elementary school teacher.  When we heard, 18+ for VV, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a cruise with them.  After several cancellations and re-bookings, we are finally set to take a cruise July 2022.  And with all the extra credit we got, we have moved up from a regular sea terrace to a cheeky corner suite.  Our first time in a suite.  Very excited about that.  

[britincanada]

We were able to get a serious upgrade thanks to the rebooking credit - and are very excited for the experience!

Have a great trip in July!!

 

[karmamule]

My partner Rich and I love cruising, and are looking to get back to it with a vengeance as we ease out of the shutdown into the new normal. We've sailed together on NCL Escape and MSC Seaside and Meraviglia. We had excellent times on all 3 cruises and are now completely addicted. We've been accumulating cruise reservations over the last few months and up until a couple weeks ago we had:

• RCL Allure of the Seas Western Caribbean October 2021 (Almost here!!!)
• MSC Seashore Eastern Caribbean January 2022
• NCL Joy Bermuda May 2022
• Carnival Mardi Gras Western Caribbean October 2022
• NCL Prima Western Caribbean January 2023

We've been intrigued by Virgin and wanted to hear initial reviews. If they sounded good and we liked what we saw we figured we'd schedule something. After a couple months of seeing some wonderful YouTube videos about Scarlet Lady we decided to go ahead and now are thrilled to add to the above list one more:

• Virgin Voyages Resilient Lady Transatlantic San Juan to Lisbon April 2023!!!

We went whole hog and booked the Posh Suite. It's a good thing we have those other cruises in between now and then because otherwise the wait would be unbearable. 😊

 

Things that appeal in no particular order:

• No kids
• Fun attitude
• Lots of smaller interesting eating venues
• No specialty restaurant venues you have to pay extra to dine at
• No dress code or formal nights. (We like both dress-to-relax and dress-to-impress, but appreciate getting to choose when we do which as the mood strikes)
• We love unlimited drinks packages, and one reason we sprang for the Posh Suite is because between its bottomless in-suite drinks and 'reasonable' bar tab for the rest of the ship we should be more than well covered. (I read on a post elsewhere that this covers drinks priced $25 or less or wine bottles $90 or less)
• Some fun entertainment that's a little bolder than more traditional cruise lines
• Passengers look to be a good mix of ages

Judging from the forum activity most of the people being drawn to sailing on Virgin seem like fun people we'd like to hang out with, and we're very eager to meet some of you in person in about a year and a half. Until then we look forward to hearing everyone's experiences!

[britincanada]

Wow,  you have some brilliant cruises coming up!  Enjoy!!

 

 

Edited October 4, 2021 by britincanada

[coconut thunder]

1 hour ago, karmamule said:

My partner Rich and I love cruising, and are looking to get back to it with a vengeance as we ease out of the shutdown into the new normal. We've sailed together on NCL Escape and MSC Seaside and Meraviglia. We had excellent times on all 3 cruises and are now completely addicted. We've been accumulating cruise reservations over the last few months and up until a couple weeks ago we had:

• RCL Allure of the Seas Western Caribbean October 2021 (Almost here!!!)
• MSC Seashore Eastern Caribbean January 2022
• NCL Joy Bermuda May 2022
• Carnival Mardi Gras Western Caribbean October 2022
• NCL Prima Western Caribbean January 2023

We've been intrigued by Virgin and wanted to hear initial reviews. If they sounded good and we liked what we saw we figured we'd schedule something. After a couple months of seeing some wonderful YouTube videos about Scarlet Lady we decided to go ahead and now are thrilled to add to the above list one more:

• Virgin Voyages Resilient Lady Transatlantic San Juan to Lisbon April 2023!!!

We went whole hog and booked the Posh Suite. It's a good thing we have those other cruises in between now and then because otherwise the wait would be unbearable. 😊

 

Things that appeal in no particular order:

• No kids
• Fun attitude
• Lots of smaller interesting eating venues
• No specialty restaurant venues you have to pay extra to dine at
• No dress code or formal nights. (We like both dress-to-relax and dress-to-impress, but appreciate getting to choose when we do which as the mood strikes)
• We love unlimited drinks packages, and one reason we sprang for the Posh Suite is because between its bottomless in-suite drinks and 'reasonable' bar tab for the rest of the ship we should be more than well covered. (I read on a post elsewhere that this covers drinks priced $25 or less or wine bottles $90 or less)
• Some fun entertainment that's a little bolder than more traditional cruise lines
• Passengers look to be a good mix of ages

Judging from the forum activity most of the people being drawn to sailing on Virgin seem like fun people we'd like to hang out with, and we're very eager to meet some of you in person in about a year and a half. Until then we look forward to hearing everyone's experiences!

Reading your post, my wife pointed out that I typed 6 paragraphs and tripped at the finish line! We’re on the same cruise! On the plus side, my cruise is one year closer than I thought. 😄  We’ll see you up at Richard’s Rooftop!