Up next in 10
Sailing with friends on Virgin Voyages is brilliant… but group trips can go sideways fast if you don’t get a few key things right. In this video, David from VV Insider shares practical group-travel tips (based on 20+ sailings, many with multiple cabins) to help you avoid the common pitfalls — from booking correctly and aligning expectations, to sorting logistics, handling dining, and keeping the budget stress-free.
FOOTAGE CREDIT: Virgin Voyages
⚓ BOOK YOUR VIRGIN VOYAGE (extra perks + planning support)
https://vvinsider.com/book/
WHAT WE COVER 👇
✅ Group booking tips (and when the official group programme is worth it)
✅ Aligning expectations (so nobody feels dragged to every plan)
✅ Sorting logistics early (arrival plans, comms, “who’s doing what”)
✅ Dining strategy for multiple cabins (reservations + flexibility)
✅ Bar Tab & budgeting (keeping it fair and simple)
✅ Daily “anchor points” so you can split up and still meet up easily
➕ Bonus: why *not* over-planning is the secret to a great group trip
🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES
👥 Virgin Voyages revamps group programme (perks + how it works)
https://vvinsider.com/virgin-voyages-revamps-group-program/
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
as with most things in life, sailing on Virgin Voyages is better with friends.
0:03
but there's a few things you need to know if you are traveling as a group cause
0:06
there is a number of things that can really trip you up if you're traveling
0:10
with more than one cabin in your group.
0:12
If we haven't met before, I'm David from VV Insider, which is a website
0:16
that's dedicated to Virgin Voyages.
0:18
All the information, the guides, and the news that you'll need to
0:22
plan your perfect trip onboard the four Virgin Voyages Lady ships.
0:26
Personally, we've sailed on board over 23 times, and most of those
0:30
times have been with a larger group.
0:32
And when I say group, I mean anything that's more than just one cabin.
0:36
So this ranges from just you as a couple, traveling with another couple, all
0:40
the way up to a huge number of people.
0:43
Maybe you're celebrating a wedding or an anniversary and
0:46
you have a number of cabins.
0:47
Well, these tips are designed to cover all eventualities.
0:50
We're gonna take a look together to make sure that we perfect the booking
0:53
process, but also take a look at some hint and tips of what to do when you
0:57
get on board to make sure that you all have the best time traveling as a group,
1:01
so there's lots to cover together.
1:02
So let's jump right in.
1:04
VV Insider is the number one resource for the latest Virgin
1:07
Voyagers info, guides and news.
1:10
From picking the perfect cabin to booking dining, or simply just
1:13
making the most of your voyage and saving money while you do it.
1:16
vvinsider.com has helped thousands of sailors around the world sail smarter!
1:21
Support our work by hitting "SUBSCRIBE" and stick around to
1:23
hear how you can get exclusive perks by booking directly with us!
1:29
so the first thing that we're gonna look at is to make sure
1:31
that you get your booking correct.
1:33
and it's really vital that you get this step right.
1:36
If you wanna make sure you have a great time together on board.
1:39
So the booking process might look a little different if you are looking
1:42
to plan a number of cabins together.
1:45
and this is especially important if you are booking a larger group.
1:49
Now, most of the time when you're booking your Virgin Voyages vacation,
1:53
you can either book direct on the Virgin Voyages websites, or you can work
1:56
with a First Mate or a travel agent.
1:59
Well, when it comes to booking multiple cabins or booking as a
2:02
group, this is where Booking Direct with Virgin Voyages on their website
2:06
maybe isn't the best way forward.
2:08
And that's down to a few reasons
2:10
but the most important reason is really down to price.
2:13
There are deals and offers available when you book multiple cabins together,
2:17
and a First Mate are in a really unique position to be able to navigate that,
2:21
to make sure you get the best deal so you're not spending too much money.
2:25
We ourself here at VV Insider have already worked with a number of groups, including
2:29
birthdays and wedding trips, and have helped them secure great offers, but
2:33
have also managed to help them in ways that you wouldn't necessarily expect.
2:37
Including simple things like making sure your group cabins are all bundled
2:42
together so that when you are done for the night, you all head in one direction.
2:46
It's simple things like that that can make the experience onboard so much better.
2:51
So I would always recommend booking with an expert, but especially if you're
2:54
wanting to book more than one cabin.
2:57
So head over to vvinsider.com/book and use the enquiry form there to let us know what
3:02
your plans are and we'll make sure we can help you in the best way we possibly can.
3:07
with some of the larger groups, you actually get some included perks,
3:10
like some exclusive onboard dining.
3:12
and also price protection on offers and deals until everyone
3:16
is ready to pay their deposit.
3:17
Like I say, there's a number of ways that groups can be helped
3:20
during the booking process.
3:22
As soon as we know what your group looks like, we can make
3:24
sure we give you the right advice.
3:26
This also leads me onto tip number two, which is to align your group
3:30
expectations before you sail.
3:32
And we can say this with some authority.
3:34
we've traveled with large groups in the past, and it's really important to realize
3:38
that some members of a group may want to do different things than others, or maybe
3:43
just bring a different vibe on board.
3:45
I feel like I'd say every time on these videos, that you can really choose the
3:49
vibe that you like on Virgin Voyages.
3:52
So whether you're a night owl and you like the nightlife and you like partying, or if
3:56
you prefer a chilled and laid back vibe, everything is possible on Virgin Voyages.
4:01
And that doesn't need to stop just because you're traveling in a larger group,
4:04
It's very possible, even if you are sailing with multiple cabins, that
4:08
individuals in those cabins might want a different vacation during the sailing.
4:13
Because there's so many options and what to do on board that is perfectly
4:16
possible whilst also making sure that everyone remains part of the group.
4:21
So what I would really recommend is to make sure everyone in your group
4:24
has a good understanding of what's available on board Virgin Voyages.
4:28
One of the best ways to do that is to make sure that you're
4:31
looking at expert resources
4:33
As you well know the number one expert resource is vvinsider.com, where we list
4:38
off a huge amount of information that you'll need to know for your sailing,
4:42
including all of the events that you're expecting to see on board the ship.
4:46
We also list off all of the restaurants and all of the bars,
4:50
including the menus as well.
4:52
Of course, all of that information can be a little overwhelming, so that's
4:55
why we produce videos like this that introduce individual aspects of sailing
5:00
with Virgin Voyages, one step at a time.
5:02
So if you're managing and planning a group yourself, you may wanna
5:05
send links to individual guides and pages on vvinsider.com to your group
5:11
and also encourage them to subscribe to this channel.
5:14
And while you're at it, you can of course subscribe yourself.
5:17
That way you'll get notified when guides like this come out.
5:20
But also every two weeks we have a Virgin Voyages Insider Update where we tell
5:24
you all of the news and changes that are happening on board the ships as well.
5:29
And this is a really good way to get excited for your next vacation coming up.
5:33
One other thing I would recommend is to join the Facebook group that's
5:36
connected to your individual sailing.
5:38
so over on Facebook, sailors will set their own community of
5:42
individuals up that are looking forward to an individual sailing.
5:46
This way you can talk about plans, excursions, ports, and trips.
5:50
and also share questions and tips about your upcoming voyage with people that
5:54
will be joining you on that voyage.
5:56
You may also meet some new people before you even set sale.
6:00
If you're looking for the individual Facebook group for your
6:03
sailing, we've made it super easy.
6:05
If you head over to vvinsider.com and hit the "FB Groups" link, there'll be a huge
6:11
list of all the sailings that are coming up in the future, each with an individual
6:15
Facebook group link associated with it.
6:17
If your sailing is maybe far into the future,
6:20
there may not be a Facebook group yet, You're very welcome to set
6:23
a Facebook group up and manage it yourself and share the link with
6:27
us so we can list it on our site.
6:29
tip number three is to sort logistics out early.
6:32
This is because there's multiple risks associated with
6:36
going on one of these voyages.
6:37
Even before you arrive at the port,
6:40
for example, it's not uncommon to see flights getting delayed or canceled.
6:44
if you are relying on a train like the Brightline, they too can be canceled
6:48
or fall victim to maintenance problems.
6:50
or you might run into some personal problems like forgetting
6:52
a passport or something important.
6:54
That's why we always recommend arriving to the port city the day before you travel.
6:59
and this is especially useful and fun if you're part of a big group.
7:03
Because it means that you're able to coordinate and get together
7:06
for a celebratory meal and a drink before you set off the day after.
7:10
It's also really useful at this point to set up some sort of group
7:13
communication between you all.
7:15
This will always really depend on the technology that your
7:18
group has available to them.
7:20
If everyone's on Facebook, you may want to use Facebook Messenger.
7:23
If everyone has iPhones, you might just wanna use FaceTime and the messaging app.
7:27
Or one thing that's really useful in Europe, especially because many
7:30
groups have a mixture of iPhones and Android phones, is to use WhatsApp.
7:35
that's a perfect place to talk about plans and talk about
7:38
what's coming up on the voyage.
7:40
this will also become really useful when you're onboard the ship to
7:43
try and find members of your party when they're around the ship.
7:47
and on that same topic before you get on board, you might want to establish
7:51
a meeting point where everyone gets together maybe at a particular time during
7:55
the day, but also if you're meeting up before you head out to port, for example,
8:00
personally, our group tends to use On The Rocks at the bottom of The
8:03
Roundabout if we're all meeting up before we head out for the day.
8:07
now onto tip number four, and this is possibly one of the most
8:10
important ones, and this all comes to dining and reservations.
8:14
So dining reservations really is its own topic as there's a lot to cover, and we
8:19
do have a video on this channel which talks all about dining reservations.
8:23
But here are a few things that are really good to know when it comes
8:26
to traveling in a larger group.
8:27
The first thing to do is to make sure that you're all connected in the mobile app.
8:31
Once you've got your booking reference, you are able to log into your Virgin
8:35
Voyages account on the mobile app, once you're logged into your sailing
8:38
on the mobile app, look at the bottom of the screen and along the bottom
8:42
You'll see a button that says Messenger.
8:45
When you tap on that button, you'll see another button that says contacts.
8:48
If you head to that button, you'll be given a QR code, which you can
8:52
use with other people in your group to link your voyages together.
8:55
What that will mean is when you are ready to make your bookings for dining,
8:59
you will see everyone together a list of faces with everyone in the group.
9:04
you simply select faces from this list when you are booking your dining, and
9:08
everyone will be dining on the same table.
9:11
as you well know, this will mean very little unless there are actual
9:14
dining reservation spots available.
9:16
Again, if you're looking for hints and tips on making sure you get
9:19
those dining reservations, head over to our booking dining video.
9:23
One really good thing to know if you're traveling in a group is that
9:26
if just one of your bookings has a higher dining reservation window,
9:30
you'll be able to make group bookings from that date with cabins that have
9:34
a lower dining reservation window.
9:36
so let me explain.
9:37
Let's say you have a group of five cabins and four of those cabins
9:41
have booked a Base rate fare, which means they're only able to book
9:45
dining 15 days out from the sailing.
9:48
which means that most, if not all of those larger tables will already
9:52
have been reserved by other people But let's say that 1 out of 5 has
9:56
booked a RockStar suite, in which case their dining window is 120 days out.
10:02
So they're able to snag tables 120 days out from the voyage.
10:06
well, if you're all connected on the app, like I just mentioned, those RockStars
10:11
will be able to book a table for everyone
10:14
regardless of the fact that those individuals wouldn't be able to
10:17
choose their own dining and until 15 days out, you're actually able to
10:21
reserve everyone a table 120 days out.
10:24
This also applies if you're on the Essential or the Premium fare,
10:28
where your dining window would be 45 days or 60 days, respectively.
10:32
This is a really good perk and it just proves it's nice to
10:35
have friends in high places!
10:37
One thing to mention is that there is a limit to how many people you
10:40
can book on a table just using the app . So if you are looking for a much
10:44
larger group booking, you may want to speak directly to the restaurant
10:48
managers when you get onboard the ship.
10:50
there are much larger tables in The Test Kitchen and Pink Agave.
10:54
And in The Wake, which is the steakhouse on board, there are actually two
10:58
areas which effectively give you a private dining area for larger groups.
11:02
Again, if you're looking to secure one of those spaces, it's worth making sure
11:06
you speak to restaurant reservations as early as you can when you get on board.
11:11
It will really help, of course, if you are a RockStar or a Mega RockStar
11:15
and you have a RockStar Agent to be able to ask for this on your behalf,
11:19
you might have a little more success.
11:21
Now on to tip number five, which is all about how to make sure you use your Bar
11:25
Tab and budgeting to make sure you're not spending too much money on board.
11:30
One thing to mention here is that Bar Tabs are not transferable around cabins.
11:35
If you are in a cabin, you can share a Bar Tab together by connecting your
11:39
onboard accounts together, but you are not able to do that across different cabins.
11:44
if you want to use your Bar Tab to buy other people drinks, you are able
11:47
to do that, but you will need to be in the same place at the same time.
11:51
As you will need to tap your band in order to make the charge.
11:55
one thing that works really well on Virgin Voyages during dining is that you don't
11:59
need to worry about bill splitting because each individual person at the table will
12:04
be charged for their drinks individually.
12:06
You don't need to ask for this to happen.
12:08
It will happen automatically when they're taking your drink order.
12:11
What they're actually doing on the device is putting that drink order
12:14
against you as an individual, so you will be charged for your drinks.
12:18
of course, if you want to cover the cost for somebody else's drink,
12:21
you can simply ask them, But by default, the bills are split anyway.
12:26
so you don't need to worry about this if you are dining in a big group.
12:28
as ever, if you're looking to make the most out of your Bar Tab, we have a
12:32
Bar Tab Calculator on vvinsider.com.
12:35
Where you can put the information for your sailing and how many drinks you
12:39
see yourself having on average per day.
12:41
And we calculate how much Bar Tab is best to put on your account
12:44
to save the most money possible.
12:46
That's a completely free tool that's available to sailors around the world.
12:50
Now, tip number six is all about planning one anchor moment
12:54
during every day on your voyage.
12:56
This is a really nice way to make it feel like you're not having forced fun
12:59
every single day because you're just planning one simple event per day.
13:04
It makes things a lot easier for everyone.
13:06
This means that everyone in your group can feel free to explore the
13:09
ship independently and do their own activities, but you still have
13:14
that planned event during each day.
13:16
so a few examples of what you might want do.
13:18
Everyone might wanna meet together at the Grounds Club for morning coffee together.
13:22
if it's a warm weather sailing, you might wanna meet up together
13:25
on the pool deck in the afternoon,
13:27
or perhaps
13:28
you might wanna organize pre-dinner drinks at one of the bars.
13:31
But remember, each day on the ship is gonna be different.
13:34
So you might have days where you're going to a particular port,
13:37
you might wanna organize a Shore Thing or an excursion together.
13:41
you may also have a sea day coming up where there's tons of Happenings, events
13:44
going on around the ship, so you might wanna choose some of these happening
13:48
events to do together as a group.
13:50
Of course, you've also got the big themed nights, so depending on which ship
13:54
you are on, you might have some themed nights that have a dress up theme that
13:58
you might all wanna get involved with and have a really good time as a group.
14:02
and regardless of which ship you're on, you are always gonna have things
14:06
like the PJ Party and Scarlet Night.
14:09
These events in particular are so much fun to do as a larger group
14:13
'cause it means you can do things like coordinating outfits or simply just
14:17
enjoying the themed night together.
14:19
If you're looking for any more information on which events are coming up on your
14:22
sailing, head over to vvinsider.com and tap on events and you'll see exactly
14:28
which events, including the themed events that are coming up for your particular
14:32
sailing on your particular Lady Ship.
14:35
There are tons of different tips that we could give you while traveling as a group
14:39
if you want to plan things meticulously.
14:42
But in our experience, about 70 to 80% of all of our voyages have been
14:46
with other sailors as part of a group.
14:49
I would recommend just planning things enough, don't over-engineer it.
14:53
Don't force a particular schedule on your group of friends.
14:57
especially if it's one of your first times on Virgin Voyages, because the
15:00
likelihood is everyone will still be discovering things for themself.
15:04
It'll be very difficult to have a regimented schedule when you're
15:08
sailing for the first time.
15:09
I would really recommend you to encourage everyone in your group to do a little
15:13
bit of research themself by watching videos like this and looking at which
15:17
venues and events to expect on your sailing, and decide what type of things
15:21
that you'd all like to do together
15:23
and not forgetting; there's plenty of things to do on board without having
15:26
to plan and pre-prepare, including live events that you can simply show
15:31
up to and all enjoy together as well.
15:33
But like I say, if you've got plans coming up that involve more than one cabin,
15:37
I do recommend that you get in touch with some voyage experts like ourselves
15:41
to make sure that we navigate that booking process, 'cause that will be
15:45
the most important thing to get right before you head off onto your sailing.
15:49
If you wanna learn more about that and also support the work
15:52
that we do here at VV Insider,
15:54
which is to get all of this information and free tools out to everyone
15:58
around the world, then head over to vvinsider.com/book and you can find
16:02
out more about the exclusive perks that you can get by booking or linking
16:07
your next Virgin Voyage through us.
16:10
thank you so much for coming along.
16:11
I'll be back next week with our Virgin Voyages Insider Update and there is
16:15
a ton of news this time, So make sure you stay subscribed to this channel
16:20
and I'll be back next Saturday.
16:22
Looking forward to seeing you then and happy sailing!
#Travel & Transportation