How to Book a Virgin Cruise with Points

When it comes to miles and points, many of us are focused on two main redemption avenues: flights and hotels. Logically, this makes sense, as those are often the two biggest expenses when it comes to travel and can significantly impact the quality of your vacation as you move up the luxury scale.

Understandably so, the right move is to avoid other redemption options like gift cards and merchandise as the value is so poor. But sometimes, there is a unique redemption that can actually deliver outsized value for the right audience. 

Let’s look at a unique redemption opportunity offered by Virgin Voyages, and learn how you can book a Virgin Voyages cruise with points.

Virgin Voyages – Overview

Virgin Voyages is the cruise line arm of Virgin Group. The Virgin Voyages fleet currently is made up of four ships: the Scarlet Lady, the Valiant Lady, the Resilient Lady, and the Brilliant Lady.

Virgin Voyages cruises are for adults only, meaning you need to be at least 18 years old to sail with them. This creates a different experience, as opposed to the typical cruise ship experience of having people of all ages onboard.

Virgin cruise ships travel around the world, including to the Caribbean, Europe, South Pacific, Transatlantic, and more.

Passengers on Virgin Voyages receive all food, soft drinks, tips, group fitness classes, entertainment, and Wi-Fi free of charge. For those who like to drink, alcohol will most likely be your biggest expense while onboard.

How to Book a Virgin Cruise with Points

Booking a Virgin Voyages cruise with points is a straightforward process, but has a few steps that need to be followed carefully in this order: finding Virgin cruise availability, earning Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points, transferring points to Virgin Red, and finally, making the actual redemption.

Finding Virgin Cruise Availability

The ability to redeem points for a Virgin Voyages cruise is not always available as Virgin is most likely using this redemption as a mechanism to fill empty cabins in advance of cruise dates. It does however seem to be offered at least a few times a year, so it is worth keeping an eye out if you are interested in making this redemption.

If there are any Virgin Voyages cruises available for redemption, they will be displayed on this page. For example, at the time of this posting Virgin Voyages is offering multiple sailings as redemption options from either Athens or Barcelona for only 80,000 Virgin Red points. Cash rates range from $3,800 to $4,500 CAD for the cruises listed in this redemption offer.

While the dates and itineraries do change each time Virgin Voyages has sailings available for redemption, the current four itineraries are Greek Island Glow, Adriatic Sea & Greek Gems, The Irresistible Med, and French Daze & Ibiza Nights.

All Virgin Voyages redemptions are for two passengers. While you can book a cabin for only one person, the pricing does remain the same.

The current redemption options book into a Central Sea Terrace Cabin or The Sea Terrace Cabin, which are surprisingly not the base-level rooms. You can expect a nicely appointed room, complete with a balcony and hammock.

Once you have found the Virgin cruise you are interested in redeeming points for, you will need to earn (or transfer to) Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points.

Earning Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Points

The best way to earn Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points is to transfer them from US Amex Membership Rewards. While there are many cards that can easily allow you to earn enough US Membership Rewards points, some of the standout options include the American Express Platinum card (US), American Express Business Gold card (US), or the American Express Green card (US).

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American Express Platinum Card (US)

The American Express Platinum card (US) earns Membership Rewards and offers cardholders over $1,000 in annual benefits.

Check out our American Express Platinum (US) card review for more details.

BONUS
80,000 Membership Rewards

MINSPEND
$6,000

NET VALUE
$1,065+

ANNUAL FEE
$695

FOREX FEES
No

EXPIRY
–

You can view all US credit cards that earn Membership Rewards points through our “Compare US Credit Cards” tool. If you have yet to enter the US credit card market, it is easy to get started. Consider digging into how to get your first US credit card with Nova Credit and everything you need to know about Individual Tax Identification Numbers (ITINs) to get started. 

While Amex Membership Rewards points transfer 1:1 to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points, American Express often runs promotions in which the value of transferring to Virgin increases, often up to an additional 30%. This means that if you are looking to transfer Membership Rewards to 80,000 Virgin points during a 30% promotion, you would only need to transfer 62,000 US American Express Membership Rewards points.

While Virgin points do not expire, I would recommend only transferring your US Membership Rewards when you are ready to make a redemption. Plus, US Membership Rewards transfers to your Virgin Atlantic account are very quick (typically instantly) so you won’t have to wait too long once you transfer points.

Linking Virgin Atlantic Flying Club with Virgin Red

Now that you have found Virgin Voyages cruise availability and have the required Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points, you need to create a Virgin Red program account and link it to your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club account.

Heads up that as of right now, a US phone number is required to sign-up for Virgin Red so you might need to look into Google Fi or other similar options to create an account. Even if you try to enter a Canadian number, it does identify it as a non-US phone number and will not allow you to proceed.

Once you have created your Virgin Red account, you can link it by entering your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club number in the “Link Accounts” section of your Virgin Red account.

Once linked, you should be able to view your overall point balance and be ready to make your Virgin Voyages redemption.

Making the Cruise Redemption

Before you make the Virign Voyages redemption, ensure you read through the terms and conditions to understand the booking process and if there are any restrictions that apply.

Once you are ready to redeem, visit the redemption page, sign in to your Virgin Red account, and go through the steps which require you to fill out your personal information (and any personal information for those who will be sailing with you) and finalize the redemption. Once redeemed, you will receive an access key which can be used to book your cabin directly with Virgin Voyages.

When making a Virgin Voyages points redemption, all taxes and fees are included which means you will be paying nothing out of pocket. This sweetens the deal even more, as there are no additional charges that are typical with other travel redemptions, such as award flight redemptions.

Our Thoughts on This Redemption

I’m not a cruise person at all, but this redemption definitely has me considering it should other Virgin Voyages sailings be open for redemption in the future.

We’ve seen Virgin Voyage redemption rates between 80,000 to 10,000 Virgin points, making it a reasonable amount of points to earn. This prices out at a bit over a 2 cent per point value, so from a value perspective the redemption makes sense. That being said, there are other good redemption options also available for Virgin points, such as flying on ANA’s “The Room” business class to Japan. 

Additionally, when you consider that the redemption is good for two passengers and all food is included, this redemption can save you a significant amount of money and is a great frugal travel choice.

I think this redemption is worth considering if you like the idea of an adults-only cruise and are interested in crossing a bunch of destinations off your list without needing to do any real planning. Cruises are definitely not for everyone, but for those who do have interest, this is a fantastic redemption opportunity and would be well worth building a balance of US Membership Rewards points for a future transfer and redemption.

Conclusion

Redeeming Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points, and in turn, Virgin Red points, for a seven-night cruise on Virgin Voyages presents a unique and reasonably priced redemption option that is available to those who have entered the US credit card market. 

Considering the fact that the number of points required can be typically earned from one credit card welcome bonus, and the fact that the cabin redemption is good for two passengers, this redemption option might be a slam dunk for those who are interested in exploring more of the world cruise-style.

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