Virgin Voyages News: Virgin Encourages Cruisers to 'Work from Ship' With Scarlet Summer Season Pass
(March 8, 2024) -- If working from home is so 2020, the wave of the future may just be working from cruise.
Virgin Voyages is taking the concept of working remotely a step further by announcing the 'Scarlet Summer Season Pass.' The program consists of month-long itineraries in the Mediterranean designed to entice people to switch their home office for a cabin aboard Scarlet Lady.
The month-long voyages are priced at the starting rate of $9,990 per cabin for a Central Sea Terrace cabin category, which represents a 30% savings value according to the cruise line. The offer also includes Premium Wi-Fi, a $10 daily coffee credit per cabin, wash & fold laundry service, early access to book dining and shore excursions, onboard RockStar support, access to Richard’s Rooftop (the members-only sundeck with daily Champagne happy hour), and a complimentary bottle of champagne.
The 'Scarlet Summer Season Pass" voyages essentially consist of four week-long roundtrips out of Barcelona, in two back-to-back itineraries: French Daze Ibiza, which features stops in Marseille, Cannes, Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza; and Irresistible Med, which calls in Toulon, Carrara, Ajaccio and Ibiza. This means every month-long journey does each one of the aforementioned itineraries twice, although on select weeks there is a small variation of the Irresistible Med trek, calling in Rome (Civitavecchia) instead of Ajaccio.
Virgin Voyages has set aside a limited number of cabins for these special voyages. In order to secure a spot, cruisers must fill out a form on the cruise line's website. A representative from Virgin Voyages will then contact the interested travelers within 72 hours to provide a status update.
--Jorge Oliver, Cruise Editor
Resilient Lady to Homeport in San Juan
(March 1, 2024) -- Virgin Voyages announced this week it will redeploy Resilient Lady from Australia and New Zealand next winter to the Caribbean, introducing a brand-new array of Caribbean cruise itineraries from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Beginning December 6, 2024, Resilient Lady will sail a total of nine unique itineraries roundtrip from San Juan.
Bookings opened on February 29, 2024 for these exciting new itineraries that will visit four brand-new ports of call for Virgin Voyages, including Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Kingstown, St. Vincent; Cartagena, Colombia; and Roseau, Dominica.
These new itineraries also include two special Holiday sailings: a Christmas voyage to St. Kitts and Nevis, Martinique, St. Lucia, Barbados and St. Maarten; and a "New Year's Ahoy" voyage to Antigua, the British Virgin Islands, St. Lucia, Barbados, and St. Maarten -- all roundtrip from San Juan.
-- Aaron Saunders, Senior Editor, News and Features
Virgin Voyages Partners with Delta to Surprise Passengers With a Free Cruise
(February 29, 2024) -- It's a most unusual giveaway strategy: Virgin Voyages recently partnered with Delta Air Lines to give an entire flight of passengers a free cruise.
The direct flight from Atlanta to San Juan, Puerto Rico was chosen in order to celebrate San Juan as Resilient Lady's homeport later this year.
Resilient Lady was named Best New Cruise Ship of 2023 by the editorial team at Cruise Critic.
Virgin's enigmatic founder, Sir Richard Branson, personally boarded the flight in Atlanta to bestow a free cruise for all those 18 and older (Virgin is an adults-only line, after all) to all Delta SkyMiles members.
“The Caribbean has been my home for many years, and I’m very excited to welcome Resilient Lady as she sails from San Juan to visit the region’s most beautiful destinations," Branson said.
"My excitement clearly couldn’t be contained, so we came up with a way to celebrate with a personal invitation and surprise for some unsuspecting guests on a Delta flight to San Juan.
"We’re grateful for our partners at Delta who joined in on the fun and have also been long-time venture partners of our airline, Virgin Atlantic. We look forward to showing everyone what it’s like to Set Sail the Virgin Way!”
Delta Air Lines senior vice president and chief communications officer Tim Mapes hinted that the partnership with Virgin may not just be a one-off, either.
“When two award-winning brands come together, they create magic for their customers. Delta is thrilled to have partnered with Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Voyages for this special surprise-and-delight for our SkyMiles Members on the flight,” said Mapes.
“This is one more way in which we’re adding value to the program and unlocking exclusive experiences for our Members. Stay tuned for more with Virgin Voyages.”
While cruise giveaways are nothing new, the concept of gifting a flight full of passengers with a free cruise is fitting with Branson (and Virgin Voyages') unconventional style.
Resilient Lady will homeport in San Juan later this year, following the cancellation of its next Australia and New Zealand season due to conflicts in the Middle East that would have prevented the ship from transiting the Red Sea.
-- Aaron Saunders, Senior Editor, News and Features