Booking Virgin Voyages on Points (July 2025 update)

With the Virgin Red program, you can redeem points to book a Virgin Voyages cruise for free! But that’s not the only way to cover a Virgin cruise with points, and it might not even be the best way.

This pricing and process has changed in the past few years. 

Virgin has offered cruise deals off and on for a while, and every time the offer comes around, it seems to cost more points. But the good news is, there are other ways to get a good deal on a Virgin Cruise and still cover the cost with points. In this article, I’ll walk you through the options for booking a Virgin cruise with points, plus I’ll tell you what it’s like to sail with Virgin Voyages.

If you’re new to using points and miles for travel, be sure to visit the getting started page and check out our free beginner’s guide to points.

Booking a Cruise With Virgin Red

Through Virgin Red, you can earn and spend points in a variety of ways. One of the ways you can spend your Virgin Red points is on a Virgin Voyages cruise. Most sailings are included, and rates vary depending on the departure port, dates, demand, etc. Prices currently start at 305,000 points for a 4-night cruise from Miami.

The price includes double occupancy for two people. It’s possible to book for just one person if you’d like, but there is no discount given for solo cruisers.

The room category you can book is called Central Sea Terrace. These are all balcony rooms in the center of the ship.

All taxes and fees are included, so you can book the cruise for $0. With Virgin, gratuities are always included as well!

What Cruises are Part of This Deal?

It used to be that only certain sailings were included, but now you can book virtually any Virgin Voyages cruise with points. You can find current deals on the Virgin Red website.

Finding Cruise Deals through Virgin Red

Visit the Virgin Red website to see the available cruise offers. You don’t need an account to view the offers, but you will need one in order to redeem the deal. On the Virgin Red site, click on an individual offer to see more information.

When you click on an offer, be sure to scroll down and read through the terms and conditions. They include important information about the booking process, cancellation process, and what is included.

Compare the Point Cost vs the Cash Cost

Once you’ve found a cruise you like and checked the points cost on your preferred sailing date, go to the Virgin Voyages website and compare it with the cash cost of the same cruise.

It’s always worth comparing the points price with the cash price for the cruise to see if you can get a better deal paying cash, then redeeming points for cash back to cover the cost.

Many credit cards allow you to redeem points for cash back at a rate of 1 cent per point. In this case, a $3,000 cruise would take 300,000 points.

If the cash cost for the cruise is reasonable, you can end up paying far fewer points by booking directly with the cruise line and then redeeming points for cash back to cover the cost.

Example Comparison of Point Cost vs. Cash Cost

Let’s say you want to book this 7-night cruise to the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. If you pick the sailing date of January 10, 2026, it will cost 515,000 Virgin points. This is for two people in a central sea terrace cabin, and all taxes, fees, and gratuities are included.

Now head to the Virgin Voyages website to check the cash cost of the same cruise.

Be sure to take the cabin type into account. If you book an inside or ocean view cabin instead of a balcony, you can save quite a bit of money. But for simplicity’s sake, I’m going to compare the exact same cabin that you could book through Virgin Red.

For the same 7-night cruise booked with cash directly with Virgin Voyages, the price is $3,570. That includes all taxes, fees, and gratuities.

If you redeemed cash back at a rate of 1 cent per point, you would need 357,000 points to cover the cruise. That’s considerably less than the 515,000 points it would take to book the same exact cruise through Virgin Red.

Take transfer bonuses into account

When you’re comparing the cash price vs. points price, it’s worth considering any transfer bonuses that might be available. Banks often offer transfer bonuses where you can get extra points when you transfer your rewards points from the bank to their travel partners (like Virgin).

With a 30% transfer bonus, you would only need to transfer 396,154 points to end up with 515,000. But that’s still more points than you’d use just booking directly!

Watch for Sales

Virgin regularly offers sales. This can help you save even more on the cash cost of a cruise. Here are some examples of sales that Virgin has offered in the past.

My Experience Booking a Virgin Cruise During a Sale:

During a Black Friday sale in 2024, I was able to book a 7-night Mediterranean cruise from Athens for just $1376 for two people. The cruise was in June 2025.

This booking was for an inside room. Later, I received an offer to upgrade to a limited-view balcony room for $40 per day ($280 total). That brought the total price of the cruise to $1656, still a great deal. On the ship, we ended up with a regular Central Sea Terrace Cabin (no limited view).

The same itinerary is available to book through Virgin Red starting at 605,000 points. But I had offset the cost with points at a 1 cent per point ratio, it would have cost 165,600 points (or less).

How to Cover a Cruise with Points when Paying Cash

Now, some people in the points world say that redeeming points for cash back is a “bad” use of points, but those people are wrong! You should use your points however you like to save money on the trip you actually want to take.

If booking a free cruise is what you want to do, using pay yourself back is an excellent way to accomplish that goal.

Basically what you’ll do is charge the cruise purchase to a credit card, then use points on that account to cover the purchase.

Convert Points to Cash Back

The exact process for how to do this varies depending on which credit card you use, but it is generally similar. Keep in mind that different cards have different rates for redeeming cash back. Many offer 1 cent per point for any purchase, while others might offer a lower rate. You could use Ultimate Rewards® or Venture miles in this way, as an example. 

Go into the rewards area of your credit card account to see the options for redeeming points for cash back.

Cover Travel Purchases

Some cards might not offer the option to cash out points for 1 cent per point, but they do give you the option to cover travel purchases at a rate of 1 cent per point.

Use Pay Yourself Back

We have an article all about how to use Pay Yourself Back to get up to 1.25 cents per point. Pay Yourself Back is essentially redeeming points as a statement credit to cover a recent purchase.

What’s the Best Way to Book a Virgin Cruise with Points?

It depends. It takes a LOT of points to book a cruise directly with Virgin. But, if the cash price of your cruise is excessively high, if you can book during a transfer bonus, or you have a lot of points in your Virgin account already, it may make sense for you.

It’s always worth comparing the cash price to the points price for the same cruise to see which is the better deal. In many cases, you’ll be able to book the exact same cruise for a lot less points by booking directly with Virgin Voyages, then using points to offset the cost.

How to Book a Cruise Through Virgin Red

Transfer Points

Before transferring points to Virgin to book the cruise, check the cash cost of the cruise.

If it turns out that transferring points is a better deal, here’s how to do it.

If you don’t have enough Virgin Atlantic Flying Club or Virgin Red points in your account to book the deal, you can transfer credit card points to Virgin.

Most major banks transfer to Virgin, which makes it easy to get the points you need for the cruise. Capital One transfers directly to Virgin Red while the other programs transfer to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. It’s easy to connect a Virgin Atlantic Flying Club account to Virgin Red. More on that below.

These are the programs that transfer to Virgin:

• American Express Membership Rewards 1:1
• Capital One 1:1
• Chase Ultimate Rewards Points 1:1
• Citi ThankYou Points 1:1
• Marriott Bonvoy 3:1 with a 5,000 bonus for every 60,000 points transferred

Note: While most of these programs transfer at a 1:1 ratio, Marriott Bonvoy points transfer at a 3:1 ratio. This means that for every 3,000 Marriott points you transfer, you’ll only get 1,000 Virgin points.

How to Get More Points

The easiest way to earn a lot of points quickly is to sign up for a new credit card with a welcome offer. Visit the best offers page to see the top card offers that are currently available.

Bonus Tip: Sometimes banks offer transfer bonuses where you can get even more points. Transfer bonuses of 15-30% are common.

How to Link Virgin Red to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

If you don’t already have them, create a Virgin Atlantic Flying Club account and a Virgin Red account. Both are free to join. Once you have both accounts, you can connect them.

Visit the Virgin Red website and log in to your account. Click the drop-down menu and go to “Account”. From there, choose “Link Account” and you’ll be able to add your Virgin Atlantic Flyer Club number to link your accounts.

Once your accounts are linked, you’ll be able to see your Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points in your Virgin Red account.

Make the Booking

After transferring points, you can proceed with the booking. Visit the cruise offers page and make sure to select “spend”.

Choose your cruise and select your preferred date, then click “redeem”. Once you click “redeem” points are immediately deducted from your account. You’ll input passenger information to finish booking your cruise. Information for the second passenger can be added right away or at a later date. Taxes and fees are included, so there’s nothing to pay!

When you redeem points for a cruise with Virgin, you don’t get to select a specific cabin number. They select the best available cabin for you within the Central Sea Terrace room category.

You can’t upgrade to any other cabin type during booking, but you may have the option to upgrade your room later, if you’d like. There is often an option to bid for an upgrade closer to your sailing date.

Some Things to Know about Virgin Voyages

Adults Only

Only adults 18 and up can sail on a Virgin Voyages cruise.

All-Inclusive

While most cruise lines are considered all-inclusive, Virgin takes it a step further. Gratuities, soda, non-pressed juices, wifi, fitness classes, and specialty dining are all included.

Bar Tabs

On most cruise lines, drink packages can add a hefty sum to your bill. Everyone in the cabin must purchase the same drink package, and you can’t share drinks with others. You may feel like you have to order a certain number of drinks per day to get your money’s worth.

Virgin handles drink packages a little differently. Instead of your standard packages, Virgin offers what they call a Bar Tab. Bar Tab can be purchased ahead of time (often with a bonus added) and can be used to purchase drinks for anyone.

On board, you can add to your Bar Tab any time, or purchase drinks individually without using the Bar Tab. Drinks are reasonably priced and include gratuity.

If you’d like to bring your own alcohol on board, Virgin allows (2) 750mL bottles of wine per cabin in carry-on bags on the day of embarkation. No liquor or beer is allowed. You’re welcome to purchase alcohol in port, but these will be held by security until disembarkation at the end of the cruise.

For those who don’t drink alcohol, Virgin also offers a variety of mocktails, fresh-squeezed juices, and other alcohol-free options.

The Virgin Voyages Experience

Since the entire cruise is adults only, that means Virgin can push the envelope a bit when it comes to entertainment, activities, and even music. You’ll hear a bit of language and a bit of innuendo, but in most cases, they don’t take it too far. Everything I attended had a solid PG-13 rating or less.

If you want a more “adult” experience, you can probably find it, but if you don’t want that, it’s also easy to avoid.

The Ship

All of the ships in Virgin’s fleet are very nice and decorated in a more contemporary style than I’ve seen on other cruise lines. You’ll find all of the usual amenities like a spa and fitness center, swimming pools and hot tubs, lounges to enjoy live music or sit and read a book, etc.

They have plenty of places to lounge and get comfortable both indoors and outdoors. They don’t have much of a library, but the game room is excellent. There’s a wide selection of games and puzzles, plus a free arcade.

The central sea terrace rooms are a bit small (especially the bathroom), but this isn’t much different than any other cruise line. The rooms are beautifully decorated and comfortable. Filtered water is provided daily by your cabin steward.

Like other cruise lines, standard cabins are equipped with two twin beds that can be combined into one larger bed. Some cabins can sleep three or four people.

If you opt for separate beds, Virgin uses an L-shaped configuration, which opens up the room quite a bit. You can have your cabin steward remove the bedding during the day if you’d rather have couches, or they can leave the beds made.

Food

On a Virgin cruise, there is no main dining room or buffet. Instead, they offer “The Galley” which is basically a food court with several unique places to grab a bite, a few places for snacks around the ship, and a collection of specialty restaurants.

The specialty restaurants include Pink Agave for fresh Mexican food, Gunbae for Korean barbeque, Test Kitchen for creative, gastronomic food, and several more.

The food on Virgin is by far the best I’ve had on any cruise line. The ingredients are fresh, and your food is made to order. They pay close attention to food sensitivities and allergies and work to accommodate your needs.

Virgin also has more vegan and vegetarian options than I’ve seen on other cruise lines.

The “Green Pirate” meatless burger with guacamole and onion rings, served with french fries

Entertainment

Virgin entertainment includes some of the usual things you would expect, like a magician and a comedian, but they also have some unique offerings.

For the main evening shows, they have things like acrobatic retellings of classic tales (think Romeo and Juliet or Greek myths), an interactive game show, and “The Untitled Dance Show Party Thing”. The best way to explain that last one is it’s part dance show and part interactive dance party.

Untitled Dance Show Party Thing aboard Virgin Voyages

Overall, the main stage entertainment is much more interactive with Virgin. Instead of just sitting and watching, you can often participate in different ways.

Activities

Activities are scheduled all throughout the day, so there is plenty to do! You’ll see some of the typical cruise activities like trivia, but often with a Virgin twist.

For example, they have a trivia game called “Risky Quizness” where you have to spin a wheel and do challenges to win (or risk losing) additional points.

If you prefer quieter activities, they also have events like morning puzzles (think word searches and sudoku), yoga, and free meditation classes.

For nightlife, parties are nearly a daily occurrence. Every voyage features a pajama party and “Scarlet Night” where everyone wears red. Party nights sometimes include free “glam stations” for glittery face paint and gems.

Are You Ready to Book a Virgin Voyages Cruise?

I had a great time sailing with Virgin Voyages, and I would definitely recommend you give it a try!

It can be hard to save money on a cruise vacation (especially on a luxury brand like Virgin), but points can make it easy to offset the cost.