Bar Tab & Sailor Loot Questions

[kiefaber455]

Is the only  real reason for purchasing a bar tab from Virgin because of the "extra $ perk"? I assume  if you don't have a bar tab, any drink that is purchased is charged to your account.

Can sailor loot be used to pay for excursions?

 

[cantgetin]

Loot can be used for excursions booked ON BOARD.  If you book in advance, you pay with credit card. Loot can be used for anything purchased on board except future cruise certificates/bookings.

Yes, the only reason to buy a bar tab is the bonus.  If you don't have a bar tab, or if you spend all of your bar tab, any additional beverage purchases are applied first to loot and then to your credit card account.  Only you can determine whether purchasing a bar tab is "worth it," as if you don't spend at least what you paid for it, you lose it.  On the other hand, you now can get a $10 bonus on a $100 tab.....that might work for short cruises or people who will use it for specialty coffee, smoothies, etc. but not alcohol.  Remember that on VV, the price on the menu is the price you pay.  The gratuity is included; no additional 18% or 20% like on other lines. Yes, you can offer a dollar or two to a bartender; some will decline it!

On our first cruise, we had no bar tab.....no problem.  Since then, we have received various amounts of "complimentary" bar tab thru various promotions...usually more than we could use!

 

 

Edited March 25 by cantgetin

[rebeccac]

Yes the only benefit of a bar tab is the extra money.  If you do not have a bar tab or your tab runs out, it is just charged to your cabin.

 

The loot can be used to pay for excursions, but only once on the ship. 

[DCGuy64]

Thanks for this helpful thread. I was particularly surprised (and happy!) to see that onboard prices are inclusive of gratuity. I like how Virgin does its bar tab concept, especially because they don't mind if you buy drinks for others (even crew members, apparently). 😊

[cantgetin]

You can buy drinks for anyone you wish.  Is you click the box in the app indicating that you are responsible for your shipmate's expenses, both bracelets will be able to access the bar tab.  If you don't tick that button or when purchasing for someone else, just let the bartender or waiter scan your bracelet but indicate that the beverage is for the other person or group.Totally easy.

Many people complain about the lack of an unlimited beverage package, but the bar tab works much better for us and even if we paid for it, would cost a lot less.  A benefit to everyone, unlike on some lines, you don't see anyone trying to max out the allotment on their drink package.  Yes, there are people on VV who have had too much, but not in the numbers of some other lines.

[DCGuy64]

10 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

You can buy drinks for anyone you wish.  Is you click the box in the app indicating that you are responsible for your shipmate's expenses, both bracelets will be able to access the bar tab.  If you don't tick that button or when purchasing for someone else, just let the bartender or waiter scan your bracelet but indicate that the beverage is for the other person or group.Totally easy.

Many people complain about the lack of an unlimited beverage package, but the bar tab works much better for us and even if we paid for it, would cost a lot less.  A benefit to everyone, unlike on some lines, you don't see anyone trying to max out the allotment on their drink package.  Yes, there are people on VV who have had too much, but not in the numbers of some other lines.

We booked a Sea Terrace that came with a $200 bar tab, and then, thanks to the Delta Skymiles offer, that was doubled to $400. That should plenty for us!

[Eightfoldjeff]

Hi all,

So, going on our first VV trip and would like clarification on the bar tab issue. Can we use our bar tab to buy a bottle of wine or champagne to have with our dinner at one of the restaurants?

[jon81uk]

3 hours ago, Eightfoldjeff said:

Hi all,

So, going on our first VV trip and would like clarification on the bar tab issue. Can we use our bar tab to buy a bottle of wine or champagne to have with our dinner at one of the restaurants?

Yes. Bar tab can be used on any drinks, including bottles.

[cantgetin]

6 hours ago, Eightfoldjeff said:

Hi all,

So, going on our first VV trip and would like clarification on the bar tab issue. Can we use our bar tab to buy a bottle of wine or champagne to have with our dinner at one of the restaurants?

Absolutely.  Bar tab can be used for any beverage that has a cost--specialty coffee and tea, smoothies, cold pressed juices, mocktails, wine, alcohol of any sort.  There are no limits on cost either....until the bar tab runs out.

[Eightfoldjeff]

That's good news. Thanks all!

[Gretchendz]

I can feel the next question coming on 🙂   Here's the answer:

 

Bar Tab Vs Sailor Loot

A Bar tab is prepaid credit you have received through a promotion or purchased before the cruise.  It is credit you can spend onboard toward the cost of alcohol, specialty coffees and teas, and fresh pressed juice.

There is a promotion that allows you to pay before your cruise $300 towards your bar tab, you will receive $50 additional bar tab credit.  There is also an option to buy $200 bar tab and receive an extra $20 bar tab credit. You can also purchase $100 bar tab and receive an additional $10 bar tab.

Sailor Loot is what is typically called on board credit. This money can be spent on bar tab items but can also be spent on shore excursions (if you book them while on board), spa services, extra cost items in the restaurants such as a tomahawk steak, tattoos, onboard events that come with an extra charge, or to purchase items in the gift shops. Once you have spent your Bar Tab money, they will charge remaining drinks to your Sailor Loot. When that runs out they will charge your credit card.

[cantgetin]

Bar tab bonus can also be $100 or $125 on a $300 purchase depending on your loyalty status....Sea Blazers (cruised in 2021) get $125, no expiration date.  Sea Rovers get $100 thru the end of 2024.

[DCGuy64]

15 hours ago, Gretchendz said:

Sailor Loot is what is typically called on board credit.

Just a question since we are new to VV: Can sailor loot be loaded prior to the cruise by the sailor, or is it only available as the result of a promotion? I know with other lines, OBC is typically a perk offered either by the cruise line or a travel agent. Is that true of Sailor Loot, too?

[Gretchendz]

32 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Just a question since we are new to VV: Can sailor loot be loaded prior to the cruise by the sailor, or is it only available as the result of a promotion? I know with other lines, OBC is typically a perk offered either by the cruise line or a travel agent. Is that true of Sailor Loot, too?

 

Sailor Loot only comes through promotions or from travel agents or from the use of a My Next Virgin Voyage or Extend the Glow certificates which are Virgin's version of a future cruise deposit.

 

And honestly, Virgin has been cutting back on Sailor Loot promotions pretty dramatically lately. Many TAs can add it if you book through them, though.

 

Bar Tab can be purchased before the cruise and only before. If you buy a $300 Bar Tab you get $350 credit, if you buy $200 Bar Tab you get $225 credit, or $100 Bar Tab you get $110 credit.  And you can buy multiple ones. Example, if you bought two $300 Bar Tabs, you would have $700 Bar tab credit on board.

[jon81uk]

58 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Just a question since we are new to VV: Can sailor loot be loaded prior to the cruise by the sailor, or is it only available as the result of a promotion? I know with other lines, OBC is typically a perk offered either by the cruise line or a travel agent. Is that true of Sailor Loot, too?

There is no benefit to pre-paying onboard spend, just allow it to be charged to the card on the last day.

[DCGuy64]

51 minutes ago, Gretchendz said:

 

Sailor Loot only comes through promotions or from travel agents or from the use of a My Next Virgin Voyage or Extend the Glow certificates which are Virgin's version of a future cruise deposit.

 

And honestly, Virgin has been cutting back on Sailor Loot promotions pretty dramatically lately. Many TAs can add it if you book through them, though.

 

Bar Tab can be purchased before the cruise and only before. If you buy a $300 Bar Tab you get $350 credit, if you buy $200 Bar Tab you get $225 credit, or $100 Bar Tab you get $110 credit.  And you can buy multiple ones. Example, if you bought two $300 Bar Tabs, you would have $700 Bar tab credit on board.

Thank you, I knew about the bar tab but wasn't sure if something similar could be done for sailor loot. Thanks for the explanation!

32 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

There is no benefit to pre-paying onboard spend, just allow it to be charged to the card on the last day.

Oh yes, I understand that. The 'benefit' to me is that I sometimes like to have money saved that I then put towards onboard expenses rather than spending that money on other stuff before the cruise and then having a massive credit card bill later. Same principle (to me, anyway) of paying down my cruise over time versus a big chunk to be paid at final payment time. That's all. Thanks.

[Gretchendz]

And I assume you know about the value of buying a My Next Virgin Voyage (MNVV) certificate while on board if you are pretty sure you will sail with Virgin again within the next two years.  It is so much more generous than most other line's programs.

 

For those who don't know, you need to buy it while on board. You pay $300 which become applied to your next deposit AND you get a $300 price reduction on your next vooyage AND $600 on board credit on that next cruise. To get maximum benefit you must book next cruise within 60 days of buying MNVV. But if you delay you still get $300 OBC with the price reduction and deposit applied. $900 value for $300 is a pretty good deal. $1200 benefit for $300 is really good.

 

[cantgetin]

Another note on MNVV--they are transferrable.  That means that you can buy one for a friend or a TA can buy some and sell them to clients.....or if for some reason you can't use it in the 2 year window, you can give or sell it to someone else.

[DCGuy64]

49 minutes ago, Gretchendz said:

And I assume you know about the value of buying a My Next Virgin Voyage (MNVV) certificate while on board if you are pretty sure you will sail with Virgin again within the next two years.  It is so much more generous than most other line's programs.

 

For those who don't know, you need to buy it while on board. You pay $300 which become applied to your next deposit AND you get a $300 price reduction on your next vooyage AND $600 on board credit on that next cruise. To get maximum benefit you must book next cruise within 60 days of buying MNVV. But if you delay you still get $300 OBC with the price reduction and deposit applied. $900 value for $300 is a pretty good deal. $1200 benefit for $300 is really good.

 

Wow, no kidding. That's quite a generous incentive!

[Gretchendz]

1 hour ago, DCGuy64 said:

Wow, no kidding. That's quite a generous incentive!

 

Since they can be transferred to another person once, many TAs buy as many as they can and transfer them to their clients who have never sailed Virgin. The client reimburses the TA the $300, then the TA books the client on the cruise, and the client gets all the perks.

[DCGuy64]

15 minutes ago, Gretchendz said:

 

Since they can be transferred to another person once, many TAs buy as many as they can and transfer them to their clients who have never sailed Virgin. The client reimburses the TA the $300, then the TA books the client on the cruise, and the client gets all the perks.

I can see why. My TA cruises a lot, but I don't think he's done VV yet. When we sail with them next January, and the offer is still good (and assuming we have a good time, which I anticipate we will), I could easily see us opting for this.

[cantgetin]

3 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

I can see why. My TA cruises a lot, but I don't think he's done VV yet. When we sail with them next January, and the offer is still good (and assuming we have a good time, which I anticipate we will), I could easily see us opting for this.

I didn't have one on my virst cruise...I did book some on board, which I used for myself.  I referred my sis to my TA, and TA had purchased a bunch...so she sold one to my sis for the $300 she'd paid.  

[Gilligan69]

We are embarking on a Virgin Mediterranean cruise this May as part of the My Next Virgin Voyage program.  We had such as good time on our Virgin Greece/Croatia cruise last year, that we took advantage of the program.  I'd like to touch on the aforementioned requirement that sailor loot can not be used for things that you book prior to your sailing, such as excursions.

 

The sales staff on ship did not make an effort to tell us this when encouraging us to sign up for the program. Instead, the salespeople hyped up all of the great things that you could use the sailor loot for, such as excursions.  Virtually all excursions, at least the most commonly sought after ones, sell out before the boat sets sail. Which means, your sailor loot is pretty much worthless as far as excursions goes.  We didn't know this when signing up for the offer. 

 

As I write this, we are 2 days away from the app opening up to restaurant bookings and (gasp) the spa listing.  If they now also take reservations for spa prior to the cruise, we will be extremely upset, in light of most desired times/services being booked up, such as sea days.  It will become just another thing the loot can't actually be used for.  Now if its simply a listing and not a reservation opening, then we should be OK.  But we are nervous. Perhaps I can update this post in a few days once we see how spa appears on the app.

 

Anyway, the point of my post is that for promotions where sailor loot is offered, be mindful that if you were planning on using for any experiences that would require you to reserve prior to sailing, then don't.  Because sailor loot can't be used that way.  Makes no sense to me, but comes off as deceptive when you tell sailors you can use it for an activity, all the while knowing that the activity is usually booked up prior to sailing.

Edited April 2 by Gilligan69

[jon81uk]

16 minutes ago, Gilligan69 said:

We are embarking on a Virgin Mediterranean cruise this May as part of the My Next Virgin Voyage program.  We had such as good time on our Virgin Greece/Croatia cruise last year, that we took advantage of the program.  I'd like to touch on the aforementioned requirement that sailor loot can not be used for things that you book prior to your sailing, such as excursions.

 

The sales staff on ship did not make an effort to tell us this when encouraging us to sign up for the program. Instead, the salespeople hyped up all of the great things that you could use the sailor loot for, such as excursions.  Virtually all excursions, at least the most commonly sought after ones, sell out before the boat sets sail. Which means, your sailor loot is pretty much worthless as far as excursions goes.  We didn't know this when signing up for the offer. 

 

As I write this, we are 2 days away from the app opening up to restaurant bookings and (gasp) the spa listing.  If they now also take reservations for spa prior to the cruise, we will be extremely upset, in light of most desired times/services being booked up, such as sea days.  It will become just another thing the loot can't actually be used for.  Now if its simply a listing and not a reservation opening, then we should be OK.  But we are nervous. Perhaps I can update this post in a few days once we see how spa appears on the app.

 

Anyway, the point of my post is that for promotions where sailor loot is offered, be mindful that if you were planning on using for any experiences that would require you to reserve prior to sailing, then don't.  Because sailor loot can't be used that way.  Makes no sense to me, but comes off as deceptive when you tell sailors you can use it for an activity, all the while knowing that the activity is usually booked up prior to sailing.

The only thing that costs money and can be booked ahead of time is excursions. Restaurant reservations can also be done ahead of time but are of course free. The thermal spa needs to be booked in person at the spa reception but I think some treatments can be done on the app. 
 

don’t forget that MNVV still have a $300 discount on the cruise and the loot is a free bonus, so as long as you would have booked sea terrace anyway you still gained that $300 discount even if you don’t spend anything onboard of that credit.

 

[cantgetin]

Loot is VV talk for onboard credit, and as with any other line, can only be used for things booked or spent while ON board, no in advance.

Excursions typically fill up right away; many are filled by suite sailors before the rest of us even have a shot at them.  However, VV has a generous cancelation policy, so excursions can be canceled up to 24 hours prior to the excursion (not prior to embarkation as some other lines do it).  This results in some people booking anything they think they might want, knowing that they can get a refund if they change their mind.  For that reason, keep checking excursions.  Another hint is to visit the red desk or check excursions on the app after boarding to see if anything you are interested in is available.  

Yes, we've had situations where we were looking for ways to spend loot, but it is a free perk....the MNVV even without the loot is a better deal than most other lines!