New "Marvelous Voyages" dropping over the next few weeks.

[CruisingWalter]

Two Solar Eclipse voyages in 2026 opening Aug 21. New British Isles and Baltics in 2026 opens on Aug 28. And two new European cruises for 2026 opens on Sept 4. Those with loyalty can book sooner, check with your TA. 

 

The March 2026 Panama Canal and LA to Vancouver itineraries currently on sale have been rebranded "Marvelous Voyages" as well. Nice to see they are finally starting to mix up these itineraries and breaking away from the 'same old, same old.' Four ships really opens up a lot of opportunities. 

Edited August 12 by CruisingWalter

[Tralfaz1138]

For more information:

https://vvinsider.com/virgin-voyages-announces-new-marvelous-voyages-for-2026/

[CruisingWalter]

4 hours ago, Tralfaz1138 said:

For more information:

https://vvinsider.com/virgin-voyages-announces-new-marvelous-voyages-for-2026/

 

Why bother with them?  Just go to the source. 🙂

https://www.virginvoyages.com/cruises/specialized-themed/marvelous-voyages

[EmiratesYacht]

On 8/12/2024 at 9:57 PM, CruisingWalter said:

 

Why bother with them?  Just go to the source. 🙂

https://www.virginvoyages.com/cruises/specialized-themed/marvelous-voyages

vvinsider seems to have extra information such as pricing and they also revealed the news before the virgin site. By the way, I don’t work for vvinsider! I am new to this forum as I used to be a Royal Caribbean man but after our first Virgin cruise a few weeks ago we are never going back to Royal’s children’s birthday party deserts 😆 

[Eric&Pam]

40 minutes ago, EmiratesYacht said:

vvinsider seems to have extra information such as pricing and they also revealed the news before the virgin site. By the way, I don’t work for vvinsider! I am new to this forum as I used to be a Royal Caribbean man but after our first Virgin cruise a few weeks ago we are never going back to Royal’s children’s birthday party deserts 😆 

 

And here's the pricing.....very high.

https://vvinsider.com/marvelous-voyages-opening-day-pricing-revealed/

[CastleCritic]

yikes, I was going to look into the Iceland eclipse cruise, that looks like a no.....

 

I dont even want to think about what they would have put on the Panama Canal cruise (though I guess looking now gives some indication, normal sea terrace is $10,500, thats $4k over what Im into it for.)

[jon81uk]

5 minutes ago, CastleCritic said:

yikes, I was going to look into the Iceland eclipse cruise, that looks like a no.....

 

I dont even want to think about what they would have put on the Panama Canal cruise (though I guess looking now gives some indication, normal sea terrace is $10,500, thats $4k over what Im into it for.)

Panama Canal has been on sale for three months or so already. We booked in the first few days and the price shot up after we booked.

[CastleCritic]

3 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

Panama Canal has been on sale for three months or so already. We booked in the first few days and the price shot up after we booked.

I know, thats what Im saying, my receipt says it was $6800 for a central sea terrace, for that cruise the day they put them up, its $10,758 on the site right now.

 

The booking was taken down like 30min after I committed and so they could reprice it and its been going up ever since.

Edited August 14 by CastleCritic

[cantgetin]

Everything I'm seeing is at least double what we paid for our last cruise and not nearly as many perks.......not booking at this time.

[Eric&Pam]

3 hours ago, CastleCritic said:

I know, thats what Im saying, my receipt says it was $6800 for a central sea terrace, for that cruise the day they put them up, its $10,758 on the site right now.

 

The booking was taken down like 30min after I committed and so they could reprice it and its been going up ever since.

 

We booked a sea terrace for the 13 day Quebec to Miami sailing when it was released the same day as the Panama Canal. I just re-fared it yesterday and saved over $2200

[Tolkmit]

It'll be interesting if demand is high enough to justify these prices that a near luxury line levels, or if the prices will drop.

[-The-True-North-]

😲🤯😬

 

These price increases and dropping perks is crazy. How is this sustainable? Are people really paying these prices for Virgin when other lines are dropping their prices.

 

Madness!

[scseas]

3 hours ago, Tolkmit said:

It'll be interesting if demand is high enough to justify these prices that a near luxury line levels, or if the prices will drop.

I agree the pricing has gone up significantly, which of course as a customer, I'm not a fan of. However, I've also been on lux lines such as Silversea and Regent. They are much posher (e,g, on Silversea a butler unpacks for you) and include top-shelf bars and some excursions. The food is also better (but not too much better, in my opinion). Even with the price increases, Virgin is still about 35-60 percent cheaper (in my estimate) than a comparable six-star line. But perhaps the additional inclusions are enough to move people to a six-star line.

 

But forgetting pricing, Virgin is a different product than the lux lines. They were just not fun (at least for me). The disco closed around 11 (and barely has anyone in it anyway) and the ship had a dull vibe. The shows were not worth going to. Most people were 70+ and in bed by 10. 

[kaysha2004]

These prices are so outrageous!  I hope NOBODY books!  I was looking at the 14-night Emerald itinerary.  As a solo traveler in a sea terrace, that's $19K.  For a couple thousand more, I can take a world cruise.

[Eric&Pam]

 I just priced a 14 day Princess cruise from Quebec to Fort Lauderdale, to compare to our 13 day Virgin sailing from Quebec to Miami, both in October 2025.

Princess is $1700 more without adding the cost of specialty dining which could be as much as $90 each night for 2, making Princess $2960 higher than Virgin.

[cantgetin]

I think VV is still experimenting with pricing.  THey obviously priced low with lots of perks early on to get people on board.  Now that doesn't seem to be a problem, and prices have increased greatly.All other lines seem to have raised fares as well.  As long as they can fill ships at these prices, they will stay high.If they aren't sellng, we'll see various short term "sale" prices or "deals" to keep them full.

[CastleCritic]

and its worked accordingly for me.

 

They offered me a $2500 solo terrace in Europe and I did that because it was a good value for the money (and the ship was about 2/3d full)

 

Now theyre offering me a $12,000 trip and Im not doing it.

 

The $7000 Panama Canal cruise was right on the line, I looked hard at other options.

 

no way I would have booked that today at the current price.

[Tolkmit]

On 8/14/2024 at 6:43 PM, scseas said:

I agree the pricing has gone up significantly, which of course as a customer, I'm not a fan of. However, I've also been on lux lines such as Silversea and Regent. They are much posher (e,g, on Silversea a butler unpacks for you) and include top-shelf bars and some excursions. The food is also better (but not too much better, in my opinion). Even with the price increases, Virgin is still about 35-60 percent cheaper (in my estimate) than a comparable six-star line. But perhaps the additional inclusions are enough to move people to a six-star line.

 

But forgetting pricing, Virgin is a different product than the lux lines. They were just not fun (at least for me). The disco closed around 11 (and barely has anyone in it anyway) and the ship had a dull vibe. The shows were not worth going to. Most people were 70+ and in bed by 10. 

 

Normally, there is a direct correlation between price and average age, as one goes up so does the other. And another correlation between average age and night life, as the former goes up the latter comes down. The reputation Virgin established prior to price increases will probably make it somewhat of an exception; but it's going to be a while before we really know to what extent.

[Tolkmit]

On 8/14/2024 at 2:54 PM, Eric&Pam said:

 

We booked a sea terrace for the 13 day Quebec to Miami sailing when it was released the same day as the Panama Canal. I just re-fared it yesterday and saved over $2200

 

23 hours ago, Eric&Pam said:

 I just priced a 14 day Princess cruise from Quebec to Fort Lauderdale, to compare to our 13 day Virgin sailing from Quebec to Miami, both in October 2025.

Princess is $1700 more without adding the cost of specialty dining which could be as much as $90 each night for 2, making Princess $2960 higher than Virgin.

 

The fact that Virgin was initially priced so much higher, and has had to drop prices to be competitive with Princess, shows they really don't have a handle on where their demand will be yet. Especially when some other Virgin cruises the prices having gone up instead. So these "Marvelous" voyages really could go either way as well; they might be priced appropriately based on supply & demand, or these numbers might just be wishful thinking from Virgin.

[Eric&Pam]

32 minutes ago, Tolkmit said:

The fact that Virgin was initially priced so much higher, and has had to drop prices to be competitive with Princess,

 

I believe Virgin was a better deal even before the price drop, and let's face it,price isn't the only thing to consider. We look at quality vs price to determine value.

[CruisingWalter]

On 8/14/2024 at 9:59 PM, Eric&Pam said:

 I just priced a 14 day Princess cruise from Quebec to Fort Lauderdale, to compare to our 13 day Virgin sailing from Quebec to Miami, both in October 2025.

Princess is $1700 more without adding the cost of specialty dining which could be as much as $90 each night for 2, making Princess $2960 higher than Virgin.

 

Usually we find Princess is lower when you factor the Princess Plus or now the revamped Princess Premier with unlimited specialty dining. For that particular sailing it is more expensive but Princess also has two more stops and one more night. If Princess was a 13 night cruise and dropped two of the stops it would most likely be within about $700 of the VV cruise for a Balcony with Princess Plus vs. a Sea Terrace.  Both great cruise lines, two completely different experiences. We enjoy them both. 

[CruisingWalter]

1 hour ago, Tolkmit said:

 

 

The fact that Virgin was initially priced so much higher, and has had to drop prices to be competitive with Princess, shows they really don't have a handle on where their demand will be yet. Especially when some other Virgin cruises the prices having gone up instead. So these "Marvelous" voyages really could go either way as well; they might be priced appropriately based on supply & demand, or these numbers might just be wishful thinking from Virgin.

 

The prices shot up when they got their most recent round of investments. I believe the pressure is on to turn a better profit. However these really high cruise fares are really not filling up the ships. I have to be honest and say the price on some of these cruises now exceeds the value of the brand. Azamara, Oceania and even Explora are very close competition in terms of value for the dollar when it comes to some of these current VV fares. Oceania is the one cruise line that beats out VV for food quality, hands down. We're finally getting on Azamara for 16-nights this Holiday Season and we're paying about the same as we would have for a shorter VV cruise, if not less. 

 

To answer the question, "is anyone paying these really high prices for the Marvelous Voyages?" Yes, people are. I don't know if it's enough to sustain those prices, but fortunately there are so many great cruise lines out there that if you feel the value for your dollar is slipping at VV, you can try out others. Azamara will be our 12th cruise line when we sail her, hoping to get that up to 14 or 15 by the end of 2025. 🙂 

[cantgetin]

Princess just revamped their Princess Premier program to make it quite similar to Virgin.  It adds $90 per day to your cruise cost and includes unlimited specialty dining, tips, unlimited use of their top internet package, and unlimited beverages including alcohol up to $20 per drink, soda, premium coffee and tea, smoothies, etc. Also fitness classes and reserved theatre seating as well as some other goodies.

Obviously there are huge differences between VV and Princess in terms of ships and atmosphere, but it does imply that the more "all inclusive" concept is gaining traction in other lines.

[timf2001]

On 8/14/2024 at 12:33 PM, CastleCritic said:

yikes, I was going to look into the Iceland eclipse cruise, that looks like a no.....

 

I dont even want to think about what they would have put on the Panama Canal cruise (though I guess looking now gives some indication, normal sea terrace is $10,500, thats $4k over what Im into it for.)

 

VV's website claims they are only going to experience 98.5% totality in Iceland.  After experiencing 99% totality this past April, I would feel totally ripped off if I paid those prices to see the eclipse and only got 98.5% totality.  Anything less than 100% totality is just like wearing a pair of sunglasses.

[GlitterFemme]

15 hours ago, timf2001 said:

 

VV's website claims they are only going to experience 98.5% totality in Iceland.  After experiencing 99% totality this past April, I would feel totally ripped off if I paid those prices to see the eclipse and only got 98.5% totality.  Anything less than 100% totality is just like wearing a pair of sunglasses.

I had this same thought when I saw the release! Why bother arranging a whole cruise itinerary around an eclipse and then travel to 98.5% totality?? Let alone throwing eclipse parties and planning special events around an event that won't actually happen. It doesn't make any sense, especially when it wouldn't be much farther to the path of totality.

 

I wonder if they're counting on people who don't know a lot about eclipses booking and paying those prices not knowing they won't really be getting the eclipse experience. If so I wonder what their plan is for dealing with the backlash from potentially thousands of disappointed passengers.