Up next in 10
🚢 February is here… and Virgin Voyages has dropped a surprising set of changes across the fleet. In this week’s Virgin Voyages INSIDER Update, David from VV Insider covers menu and dining updates (including the retirement of Sip & Savor drink pairings), itinerary shake-ups (Grand Turk updates + a cancelled Halloween sailing), new official LGBTQ+ meetups onboard, and a first look at Winter 2027–2028 planning and deployments — plus we meet the latest Happenings Cast on Brilliant Lady. ✨
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Extra perks + planning support when you book through VV Insider:
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WHAT WE COVER TODAY 👇
🍽️ Dining changes – Sip & Savor drink pairings RETIRED (what this means for dining plans)
🗺️ Itinerary updates – select 5-night sailings updated to include Grand Turk
🎃 Cancellation news – Resilient Lady’s 26 Oct Halloween sailing cancelled (what happens to bookings)
🏳️🌈 New onboard programming – official LGBTQ+ meetups added across the fleet
🗓️ Winter 2027–2028 – deployments, new itineraries, and key release dates to watch
🌴 Scarlet Lady preview – early look at Winter 2027–2028 Southern Caribbean sailings
👯 Meet the cast – Happenings Cast 2 on Brilliant Lady
🔗 LINKS & RESOURCES
🍸 Sip & Savor drink pairings retired ➜ https://vvinsider.com/virgin-voyages-retires-sip-savor-drink-pairings/
🗓️ Winter 2027–2028 deployments + itinerary release dates ➜ https://vvinsider.com/winter-2027-2028-deployments-virgin-voyages-new-itineraries-release-dates/
🏳️🌈 Official LGBTQ+ meetups across the fleet ➜ https://vvinsider.com/virgin-voyages-adds-official-lgbtq-meetups-across-the-fleet/
🗺️ Grand Turk added to select 5-night sailings ➜ https://vvinsider.com/virgin-voyages-updates-select-5-night-sailings-with-grand-turk/
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0:00
It's hard to believe that we're in February already, but with a new month
0:03
comes a lot of new changes across the entire Virgin Voyages fleet.
0:08
With some really unexpected changes that even we weren't prepared for.
0:11
If we haven't met already.
0:12
My name is David from VV Insider,
0:15
which is a website dedicated to letting everyone know about what's happening
0:19
in the world of Virgin Voyages across the ships and across the brand.
0:23
So whether you are planning your first Virgin Voyage, or if you're a bit
0:27
of a Virgin Voyages fan like we are.
0:29
Our website and our YouTube channel are here to try and help you keep
0:33
up to date with all the changes and everything you'll need to know about
0:37
planning your perfect Virgin Voyage.
0:39
Well, we've actually been onboard Resilient Lady over the past
0:42
couple of weeks, so there's been a little bit of a longer gap between
0:45
our last update and this one.
0:46
So there's plenty to go through.
0:48
So we are gonna take a look at a big change to the restaurant
0:51
menus across the whole fleet,
0:53
and why this might affect your experience when you're onboard.
0:56
We're also gonna take a look at some changes to some itineraries that have
1:00
been made, not only to itineraries this year, but next year as well.
1:04
So if you have anything booked in the pipeline, you'll want
1:06
to hear what those changes are.
1:08
We're also gonna be taking a look at the new LGBT focused programming
1:13
and events that are onboard and how that will contribute to there
1:16
being a more inclusive experience
1:18
Then we're gonna take a look a bit further into the future ith some new
1:21
itineraries that have been announced for longer repositioning voyages that
1:25
take us all the way up to Summer 2028.
1:29
So if you're someone that prefers a longer voyage and planning
1:32
ahead, then that's perfect for you.
1:34
Then finally, as a bit of a first for Brilliant Lady, Brilliant
1:37
Lady's first Happenings Cast are handing over to a brand new cast
1:41
of folks with some familiar faces.
1:43
and we're gonna take a look at the cast together and see who we can find.
1:47
So as I say, it's been a little while since we've been here before,
1:49
so there's plenty to go through.
1:51
So let's jump right in.
1:53
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1:57
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1:59
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2:02
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2:05
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2:10
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2:12
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2:18
So as I say, we've actually been away on our own voyage.
2:21
We were onboard Resilient Lady's Western Caribbean Cruise on the 24th of January.
2:26
Despite some pretty hard going weather, we did actually have a fantastic
2:30
time and it was so lovely to meet so many of you viewers onboard as well.
2:35
it was so incredible to hear directly, the really lovely feedback that
2:39
you have, not only for this YouTube channel, but also the website as well.
2:43
So thank you so much for saying hello.
2:45
and I am sure we'll be sailing together again in the future.
2:47
So let's take a look at something that we actually just missed out on, and these
2:51
are the brand new menus that are available across all the restaurants in the fleet.
2:56
Now, forgive me if that sounds more exciting than it really is.
3:00
Really the big change here is the removal of the Sip and Saver menu options.
3:05
If you are not familiar with what the Sip and Saver menu was, It was
3:09
actually an idea from Virgin Voyages to blend some chef selected dishes
3:14
with three paired drinks that you can order alongside each of these dishes.
3:19
And this always confused sailors a little bit.
3:21
And admittedly, when we first saw the Sip and Saver options, it confused us as well.
3:26
So an example of this is that you may have been sitting in Razzle Dazzle
3:30
and the Sip and Saver may have been split into three different sections;
3:33
an appetizer, an entree, and a dessert.
3:36
and it would give you an idea of a couple of dishes you could
3:38
choose from, and there would be a beverage assigned to that course.
3:42
The Sip and Saver menus were available on every restaurant across the
3:46
ship, apart from The Test Kitchen.
3:48
And the prices range from $25 to $35, depending on which restaurant
3:53
you were in, and which beverages were linked up with that menu.
3:56
and although these menu options included food items, sailors were
4:00
actually free to choose whichever food items that they wanted.
4:03
But this was a little bit confusing as well.
4:06
we've heard a lot of feedback and experienced it in
4:08
person where sailors assumed
4:10
that,
4:10
the food mentioned in the Sip and Saver menu were the only things you were
4:13
able to order along with your drinks.
4:16
so although the fixed pricing for the three beverages seemed like a good idea,
4:20
I think Virgin Voyages have decided to part their ways with this scheme entirely.
4:24
One thing to note before we go any further is that if you do enjoy The
4:28
Test Kitchen pairings, so that includes the cocktails, the non-alcoholic and
4:32
the wine pairings, those do remain.
4:35
They were never part of the Sip and Saver menu.
4:37
They're simply pairings that are designed to go with each of the courses at The Test
4:41
Kitchen, and they will continue as normal.
4:44
Our current understanding is that there's no replacement planned
4:47
for these Sip and Saver offers,
4:49
and the new menus have been released, which obviously omit
4:52
that Sip and Saver section.
4:54
As far as we understand.
4:55
There's no material differences with the food options on those new menus, it
4:59
simply removes that Sip and Saver option.
5:02
As ever, the best place to check the latest restaurant menus if you wanna
5:07
plan your dining before you head onboard is vvinsider.com, we have a
5:11
page dedicated to all the restaurant menus across the entire fleet of ships,
5:17
and we keep them constantly up to date.
5:19
we only uploaded those brand new menus only yesterday, So they're ready for you
5:23
to have a gaze through whenever you like.
5:25
now, keeping those menus up to date for everyone is just one of the little
5:29
jobs that we do here at VV Insider to make all of this information
5:33
available to sailors across the world.
5:36
if you find things like that and all the rest of the things that we do on our
5:39
website useful, then the best thing that you can do to support the work that we
5:43
do is to simply make your next Virgin Voyages booking through vvinsider.com.
5:48
if you choose to do that, it doesn't cost you any more than it would if you just
5:52
booked on the Virgin Voyages websites.
5:54
The only difference is that you'll have the experts connected with your
5:57
booking, so we can tell you what you'll need to know before you head onboard.
6:01
You'll also get some incredible perks,
6:03
including allowing you to collect loyalty points, what we call diamonds on every
6:08
single booking that you make with us.
6:10
You can collect those diamonds up and spend them on real, onboard
6:14
credit on your future voyages.
6:16
this is a super unique offering that nobody else in the business is doing.
6:20
And like I say, it doesn't cost you anymore at all.
6:23
So if you'd like to connect your next booking app free of charge, then head over
6:27
to vvinsider.com/book and we have all the information that you'll need to know about
6:33
making a new reservation or if you've booked recently, within the last 30 days
6:37
you'll also find some information on that page about transferring
6:40
your booking to us and still snagging those incredible perks!
6:44
Moving on to some news around itineraries.
6:47
So there have been some updates to some five night voyages in the Caribbean.
6:51
this mainly affects Voyages out of Miami towards the end of this year on
6:55
both Brilliant Lady and Scarlet Lady.
6:57
the main difference here is that some itineraries have been adjusted to include
7:01
a stop in Grand Turk in Turks & Caicos.
7:04
So what does this itinerary look like now?
7:06
Well, you start in Miami, you then have a sea day, Which is always welcome.
7:11
After a first big day with PJ Parties and all the rest of it!
7:14
Then on the third day, you're in Grand Turk.
7:18
Then another Sea Day, and then you finish off in Bimini in The Bahamas before
7:23
heading back to Miami the day after.
7:25
If you head to our article on vvinsider.com, we list out all of
7:29
the affected itineraries on that page, so do make sure if you are
7:33
sailing at the end of this year,
7:35
Head over to our website to check if your sailing is on that list.
7:38
Also Resilient Lady's Halloween Voyage, intended to leave on the
7:42
26th of October, has been canceled.
7:45
It's understood that this sailing has now been changed into a
7:47
chartered sailing instead,
7:49
bookings are automatically being moved to a Scarlet Lady sailing
7:53
instead,
7:53
That Scarlet Lady sailing is heading off the day before originally
7:57
planned on the 25th of October.
7:59
those that have been affected by this change have already been made aware.
8:02
But there is a compensation scheme on offer.
8:05
Please get in touch with your First Mate or Virgin Voyages if this affects you.
8:09
Now some news, which changes the lineup a little bit when you head
8:13
onboard with a brand new event.
8:15
All centered around LGBTQ+, Virgin Voyages have officially added an LGBTQ+ meeting.
8:22
It's our understanding that this follows with many, many other cruise
8:26
lines that offer, a very similar style event to those in the LGBTQ+ community.
8:31
The first meetup happens around day two on each of the voyages,
8:35
they occur at 5:30 PM either in The Dock or The Dock House,
8:39
depending on the weather.
8:40
Virgin Voyages have said that everyone in the LGBTQ+ community and
8:45
allies are welcome to this event,
8:47
which is designed to help people meet new people, swap stories, and enjoy a
8:52
low pressure environment to hang out.
8:54
So it sounds to us very similar to the Solo Sailor meetup that Virgin Voyages
8:59
have been offering for a while now.
9:00
At least the first event will be hosted by a member of the Happenings Cast
9:04
and depending on the attendance, other meetups along the voyage
9:07
may also be hosted as well, while others will remain unhosted.
9:11
it's worth mentioning that these type of meetups have only come about because these
9:15
were traditionally arranged informally by sailors when they got onboard.
9:19
So for example, if you're on the Facebook group or the WhatsApp group with the
9:23
cruise that you're going on, you may have seen a few people talking about
9:27
arranging one of these events onboard.
9:29
Well, now the pressure is off the guests trying to organize such a thing, because
9:33
now it's something that Virgin Voyages offering officially, which is nice to see.
9:38
It is worth mentioning as well that Virgin Voyages have made a commitment to
9:41
celebrating Pride Month in June as well.
9:44
I can of course, speak from experience and say that sailing with Virgin Voyages is
9:49
an incredibly inclusive experience, so if you are somebody in the LGBTQ+ community
9:55
and have been considering Virgin Voyages for a while, I would say make the plunge.
9:59
There has never been a better time than to get onboard.
10:02
and speaking about getting onboard, there's gonna be some
10:04
new opportunities very soon
10:06
to book some sailings that are a little bit further out.
10:09
So very recently, over on vvinsider.com, we announced a slew of brand new
10:15
Scarlet Lady sailings, which are occurring between 2027 and 2028.
10:20
These include a whole host of Southern Caribbean sailings,
10:24
including a Halloween sailing.
10:26
At the end of next year,
10:28
San Juan, will host Scarlet Lady as her home port for 2027 - 2028 winter season.
10:35
Just as a quick aside, after just doing a winter sailing out of Miami, I would
10:40
say definitely head a little bit further south if you want a bit of better weather.
10:44
so maybe these Scarlet sailings are for you.
10:46
If you like things to be a little bit warmer,
10:48
We've released a huge amount of information about all these
10:51
different itineraries for those Scarlet Lady sailings, and what's
10:55
more, we've also opened up the floodgates if you want to register
10:58
for pre-release for those as well.
11:00
And we'll be in touch as soon as they become available
11:03
it's long been known that booking well in advance
11:05
is a really good way to snag a great deal And also you can pay in full to get
11:10
10% of your entire voyage fare, which is a discount that's only available if
11:15
you're booking at least 365 days out.
11:19
If the Southern Caribbean isn't calling your name and you prefer
11:22
maybe a longer sailing, well, there's also some news for you too.
11:26
So some itineraries have just been announced for those longer
11:29
trans-Atlantic and repositioning voyages all the way up to 2028.
11:34
These new itineraries are gonna be released in phases.
11:37
So the first of these phases will begin on February 19th with those Scarlet Lady
11:43
sailings that I was telling you about.
11:44
but within that release is a transatlantic sailing.
11:47
This time it's a sailing from Barcelona to San Juan on Halloween in 2027.
11:53
Then on March the fifth, a new slew of itineraries will be released for
11:57
Valiant Lady and Resilient Lady.
11:59
This will include many Caribbean sailings out of Miami, ranging
12:03
from three to eight nights,
12:05
but the big transatlantic to look out for in that release is a
12:08
sailing from Barcelona to Miami.
12:10
That is a 14 night sailing, and that's heading off on
12:13
the 24th of October in 2027.
12:16
Then last but not least, there is a release for Brilliant Lady's
12:20
itineraries, and these ones are all about the west coast of America,
12:24
But of course when that West coast adventure comes to an end, that's
12:27
where we have our final repositioning cruise that we wanna mention here,
12:31
Which is the Panama Canal crossing.
12:34
This one is going from Los Angeles to Miami.
12:37
This leaves Los Angeles on the 24th of October
12:39
. Now we know community is really important on these longer repositioning voyages.
12:44
so we've made an extra special effort to set up the Facebook groups
12:49
for these particular sailings.
12:51
So if you are one of those people that really enjoy those longer transatlantic
12:55
voyages and you like to be kept in the know, then use the links to those
12:59
Facebook groups that we manage and we can make sure that we're with you every
13:03
step of the way as you're planning those.
13:05
Very special voyages is
13:06
Now speaking of new voyages, there's a cast of 12 very special people that
13:11
are setting off on a new voyage of their own, and that is the second
13:16
Happenings Cast for Brilliant Lady.
13:19
the inaugural Happenings Cast for all of the Virgin Voyages' Lady
13:23
Ships are truly iconic and Brilliant Lady certainly is no different.
13:28
If you've been onboard, Brilliant Lady, You'll know how incredibly fantastic the
13:32
Happenings Cast are onboard that ship.
13:35
and dare I say, these are the hardest working Happenings Cast
13:38
there is simply from the sheer number of nights they've been onboard.
13:43
we've done a little calculation and we think that each of the Happenings
13:46
Cast have spent over 180 days onboard that ship, which even in
13:51
itself is an incredible achievement.
13:53
but this Happenings Cast is truly one to remember.
13:56
Abi The Hostess is the original hostess that launched all
14:00
of the Virgin Voyages ships.
14:01
And although she's not in the cast at the moment, I'll come
14:04
onto that in just a second.
14:05
she was part of this incredible Happenings Cast on day one that
14:09
also featured Dixie Krystals.
14:11
The Diva,
14:12
who is one of the divas that we hear an incredible amount
14:16
of positive feedback about,
14:17
and we just absolutely love her personally.
14:20
Some other incredible highlights.
14:21
Faith The Foodie, Oscar The Charmer,
14:23
Big Lew The Gamer, and many, many more.
14:26
We had an absolutely incredible time celebrating the launch of Brilliant Lady
14:30
with all those folks last year, but now of course it's time to hand the baton over.
14:36
So first let's talk about the voyage hosts stepping in those fabulous heels,
14:42
and there are two pairs of fabulous heels when it comes to the hosts, of course.
14:45
So starting off, we have Mitchie The Hostess.
14:48
Now she's actually already onboard.
14:50
Brilliant Lady because she stepped in when Abby stepped away a little
14:53
bit earlier in the contract.
14:55
But Mitchie will be onboard until the 21st of March.
14:59
If you've seen Mitchie before on the ship, she's absolutely incredible and
15:03
she's a real veteran with Virgin Voyages.
15:05
She was actually part of the very, very first Happenings Cast
15:09
onboard Scarlet Lady back in 2021.
15:12
In those other set of heels, we have Kara Kature who takes over
15:16
from Dixie Krystals as The Diva.
15:18
Kara is no stranger to Virgin Voyages having been onboard, both Valiant
15:22
Lady and Resilient Lady in the past.
15:24
then moving over to the aficionados, Starting with A.V. The Gamer
15:29
who's appeared on HGTV and the Drew Barrymore show in the past.
15:33
We have Kaleb The Charmer from the UK,
15:35
Faith The Artist, not to be confused with Faith The Foodie from the previous cast.
15:40
then we have Tyler The Foodie who was part of Scarlet Lady's 11th Happenings Cast.
15:45
And then another very familiar face, Katrina The B alancer
15:48
joins this cast as well.
15:50
Katrina was part of the launch cast for Valiant Lady and has really
15:53
made an incredible name for herself across the Virgin Voyages brand.
15:57
She's an incredibly positive and encouraging Balancer, and
16:01
I say that as a couch potato.
16:02
She's also notable for being involved in launching the "8 Legs Run Club",
16:07
which is an incredibly popular running event in the event lineup.
16:10
Then finally, Brilliant Lady's second influencer and dancer cast
16:14
include Adriano The Spark, Dulci The Glow, Sabrina The Flare, Anzey
16:19
The Hype and Kayla The Bounce.
16:21
They take the helm from the previous Happenings Cast come February 12th.
16:25
And are expected to stay until the 16th of July.
16:28
If you wanna read any more about the entire cast, then head over to
16:32
our specific page on vvinsider.com, simply search Happenings Cast,
16:37
and you can read all about it.
16:39
One thing to mention though is that we know that Mitchie The Hostess will be
16:43
leaving partway through this contract, so if you want to catch Mitchie The
16:47
Hostess, you'll need to make sure that you're onboard before the 21st of March.
16:52
but that does beg the question of who will be filling those
16:55
iconic heels from that date.
16:57
Well, if you want to find out more, you'll just have to stay subscribed
17:00
to this YouTube channel and we'll let you know as soon as we know.
17:03
So that's a lot of news to get back from our trip with.
17:06
But I will say it was a really incredible trip.
17:08
Despite the weather, whatever the weather's like in Miami or the Caribbean,
17:12
even if it's horrible, it's still gonna be nicer than whatever horrible weather
17:16
we've got going on in the UK right now.
17:18
If you're watching this from the UK, you'll know exactly
17:21
what I'm talking about.
17:22
It's so miserable.
17:23
I know as well in the US, it's incredibly cold there as well.
17:27
But look, if you're looking to get away from that horrible
17:29
weather, there are ways to do it.
17:31
And of course there are much worse ways to do it than to head over
17:35
to vvinsider.com/book and choose a fabulous sailing from there.
17:40
if you book through there, you'll be helping support the work that we do, but
17:44
you'll also get some sunshine as well.
17:46
I can't guarantee the sunshine, but I can guarantee some fabulous
17:50
perks and you helping us out.
17:52
so as ever, double check to make sure that you're subscribed to this channel
17:56
because next week we'll be releasing another one of our "Sail Smarter" Guides
18:00
where we talk about a certain aspect of sailing with Virgin Voyages and
18:04
how to nail the planning and have the best time possible, s o make sure that
18:08
you watch out for our video next week.
18:10
other than that, I just wanna apologize for planning our travel terribly and not
18:14
being around last week, but have no fear.
18:16
We are back now and we're back into our weekly rhythm, so rest assured, it's
18:20
good to be back and we're ready to go.
18:22
So until I see you next week, happy sailing!
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