Up next in 10
Virgin Voyages has packed a lot into the past few weeks — and we’ve got plenty to catch up on.
In this week’s VV Insider update, David covers the latest fleet and brand changes, including Valiant Lady after dry dock, newly released Resilient Lady Caribbean sailings for 2028, Pride Month onboard, updates to the groups program, how the June–July “free balcony upgrade” offer actually works, and the newly announced UK Comedy Fest lineup.
This update is going out on Tuesday instead of Sunday after some patchy WiFi onboard Valiant Lady.
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👇 WHAT WE COVER TODAY
🚢 Valiant Lady dry dock follow-up and what’s coming in the full coverage video
🌴 Resilient Lady’s new short Caribbean sailings in 2028
🎃 A standout Halloween sailing on October 28
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Only a few weeks after Virgin Voyages
0:02
set sail to Alaska for the first time,
0:04
they then introduced the sailing world
0:06
to Valiant Lady 2.0 with all the brand
0:09
new changes after Dry Dog. Well, in
0:11
those few short weeks, there's also been
0:13
a huge amount of changes across the
0:16
brand and across the fleet as well,
0:18
including some massive changes to
0:20
entertainment with 20 new events added
0:22
to the lineup. There's also some huge
0:25
updates and announcements that every
0:26
Virgin Voyages sailor needs to know
0:28
about. If this is your first time
0:30
joining us, my name is David from VB
0:32
Insider, which is a website all about
0:35
Virgin Voyages and nothing else,
0:37
including everything you'll need to know
0:39
about every single venue, every cabin,
0:41
every bar, every restaurant on the ship.
0:44
Well, this is our regular Virgin Voyages
0:46
insider update, where we take a look at
0:48
all the news over the past couple of
0:50
weeks and fill you in on the most
0:52
important bits that might change the way
0:53
that you sail in the future. And in
0:55
today's edition, we're going to take a
0:57
quick look at the new changes on board
0:59
Valiant Lady as she came out of Dry Dog
1:02
just a couple of weeks ago. For those
1:04
that like to plan ahead, we're taking a
1:06
quick look at some new Caribbean
1:07
sailings in 2028. We're also going to
1:10
dive into what Pride Month is really
1:11
like when you step on board. There's
1:13
also been a shakeup to the Virgin
1:15
Voyages group program. So, if you're
1:17
planning a special celebration and
1:19
you're bringing a number of your friends
1:20
along, there's a few ways that you can
1:23
save. But that program has been shaken
1:24
up a little bit. So we're going to take
1:26
a look to see what you need to know. And
1:28
Virgin Voyagers have announced a June
1:30
July offer that offers sailors a free
1:33
balcony upgrade, but not as all it
1:35
seems. So we're going to take a quick
1:36
look into that as well. There's also
1:38
been the announcement of the featured
1:40
act that will be joining the Comedy Fest
1:42
voyage on August the 20th. So as you can
1:45
see, there's a ton to get through. So
1:46
let's jump right in. But before I do,
1:49
for anyone that's waiting on our Valiant
1:51
Lady Dry dock coverage, we were on board
1:54
last week and we were able to capture a
1:56
ton of footage. The issue is we did run
1:59
into some issues with the Wi-Fi on
2:01
board. And although those issues did get
2:03
resolved later on in the voyage, we
2:05
simply did not have enough time to edit
2:07
everything together and upload it. But
2:09
by the end of the voyage, we had the
2:11
chance to do a few more happenings
2:12
events, and I really want to tell you
2:14
about them because they were really
2:15
incredible. So, I'm going to re-record
2:17
the entire thing and really do it
2:19
justice because you need to know how
2:21
incredible the new Valiant Lady is. So,
2:24
that will be this week all being well.
2:26
So, make sure if you haven't subscribed
2:28
yet, make sure you do. I'm going to talk
2:30
you through all of the spaces, the brand
2:32
new events, and of course, the brand new
2:34
Indian restaurant Arya by Razledazzle.
2:37
So, we're going to cover all of that in
2:39
a separate video. But with that said,
2:41
let's leave Valiant to the side and talk
2:43
about some new sailings, this time on
2:45
Resilient Lady. The Resilient Lady Short
2:47
Caribbean sailings in 2028 have finally
2:50
been made available for booking. This is
2:53
particularly useful if you're the type
2:54
of person that really likes to plan in
2:56
advance. This entire release is a roster
2:59
of 38 new voyages that have been added
3:02
to the calendar in 2028. And these are
3:04
the real Caribbean favorites. Those four
3:07
and five night voyages. These shorter
3:09
sailings out of Miami tend to be a lot
3:11
of fun indeed. And there's a really good
3:13
variety of ports and sea days available
3:16
in those different itineraries. As
3:18
always, if you head over to our article
3:19
on vbvinsider.com,
3:21
we break down all of these itineraries
3:23
and tell you what the availability and
3:25
pricing is like. But there is a
3:27
particular voyage that I want to call
3:29
out and that is the Grand Turk and
3:30
Biminy beach sailing on the 28th of
3:33
October because that is the very special
3:36
Halloween voyage. And I have it on very
3:38
good authority that the Halloween and
3:40
Christmas sailings are getting better
3:42
and better this year and onwards with
3:45
even more specialized programming and
3:47
overlays being applied to these special
3:49
sailings. So if you want to make sure
3:51
you don't miss out, take a look and get
3:53
booked now. Moving on to something a
3:55
little bit more current. It is June,
3:57
which means that it is Pride Month, and
3:59
that means that anyone who's on board
4:01
right now is able to enjoy the
4:03
specialtity food and beverages on offer
4:05
across Pride Month. We did, of course,
4:07
cover what was promised for Pride Month
4:10
back in May, but because we've just been
4:11
on board, I thought I'd give you a
4:13
little insider peak of what it's really
4:15
like. Certainly, the most prominent
4:17
thing that you'll recognize on board is
4:19
the return of this curated list of
4:21
cocktails by Absolute Vodka. You'll
4:23
notice on the bar menus in six different
4:25
venues across all the ships that there's
4:28
a brand new pride option on those menus.
4:31
Well, don't worry. This isn't a
4:32
scavenger hunt. You don't need to find
4:34
these yourself. You can actually go
4:35
ahead and collect one of these
4:37
passports. This will be left in your
4:39
room at the start of the voyage, and it
4:41
will show you exactly where you need to
4:43
go. So, you'll start off with a card
4:46
which will list all of the different
4:48
cocktails that you'll be able to get at
4:49
each of the venues. The idea here is
4:52
that for each of these special cocktails
4:54
that you order, you'll also be given a
4:56
card which corresponds to that cocktail.
4:59
So, you'll be able to collect six of
5:00
these cards. And finally, when you've
5:02
collected all six of these cards, you
5:05
then take them to a very special event
5:07
on the very last night of the voyage to
5:09
claim your gift. The gift was a very
5:12
special cocktail party hosted by two of
5:14
the Happenings cast. There was also one
5:16
of the iconic Virgin Voyages photo booth
5:19
set up so you can take a picture of your
5:21
group as well. I did also see a picture
5:23
on social media where somebody got a
5:25
bandana as well as a gift, but I didn't
5:27
get that. I'm not sure if maybe they
5:29
didn't make it to Valiant Lady or
5:31
somebody forgot to give me. I'm not
5:32
sure. But even if you're not collecting
5:34
all the cards, there are a few standout
5:36
cocktails. Maybe for the wrong reasons.
5:39
The first one I'll mention though was
5:40
delicious and it was definitely my
5:42
favorite. This one was from the draft
5:44
house and it's called beach balls. This
5:46
had absolute vodka, vanilla, Malibu,
5:49
coconut rum, shambbo, cranberry juice as
5:52
well as peach and coconut syrup. It was
5:54
then garnished with two marishino
5:56
cherries. This drink was really
5:58
delicious. And also to say there are
6:00
non-alcoholic versions of every single
6:02
one of these beverages, but they are
6:04
priced at the same amount which I feel
6:06
is a little bit expensive. But the one
6:08
that really missed for me unfortunately
6:10
was something called the Moonlight
6:12
Colada which as you guessed it was based
6:14
on a penina colada. This was up in the
6:16
athletic club. The weird thing about it
6:18
though is that they added coffee lure to
6:21
it and it just didn't work for me at
6:23
all. Maybe it's for somebody. It wasn't
6:25
for me. Other than that, we also saw a
6:27
few pride themed food options around the
6:30
ship. These were generally just
6:31
preserved for pick upand go items. So
6:34
normally where you see in the grounds
6:35
club where you can pick up a quason or a
6:38
cake there was some cakes available
6:39
there and some biscotties all of them
6:42
brightly colored with colors taken from
6:44
the progress flag. There was also an
6:46
additional DJ on board our voyage who
6:49
was brought on specifically for Pride.
6:51
His name was Billy Andrew and he's quite
6:53
notable in the gay scene in the United
6:56
Kingdom. We thought in particular this
6:57
was a really nice touch and the music
6:59
was really incredible. I think it's just
7:02
a shame that Virgin Voyages didn't
7:03
really talk about this until we got on
7:05
board, so we weren't able to tell anyone
7:07
about it. But rest assured, there is
7:10
that special resident DJ on board for
7:12
Pride, and you're going to love it. Now,
7:14
a change for those that like to travel
7:16
as part of a larger group. Virgin
7:18
Voyages have always offered a group
7:20
program, but it has been shaken up
7:23
lately. So, I'm going to go through what
7:24
you'll need to know about the new group
7:26
program if you're looking to bring on a
7:29
few people at a time. So the first thing
7:30
to mention is that Virgin Voyagers have
7:33
split the group program into three. The
7:35
first one being small groups which is
7:37
anything from 8 to 16 cabins. The next
7:40
one is large groups and that's from 17
7:43
cabins up to 75. And then finally if you
7:46
need more than 75 cabins then you'll be
7:49
specially contracted through Virgin
7:51
Voyages who will take care of you. I'm
7:53
not going to cover all of the details of
7:55
the group program on this video because
7:57
this video is mainly meant for sailor.
8:00
First mates will generally have a great
8:02
understanding of what's available for a
8:04
group, including ourself. So, if you are
8:06
managing a larger group that's coming on
8:08
board, we'd love to help you out. And
8:10
there are certainly benefits included
8:12
with booking as a group rather than
8:14
individual cabin, including some
8:16
additional bar tab and help with dinner
8:18
reservations to make sure you can all
8:20
dine together. Depending on how many
8:22
cabins you have, there could also be
8:24
additional discounts available. We've
8:27
had some great success helping groups
8:29
get booked on board and making things
8:31
super simple for them. So, if you'd like
8:33
to take the stress out of booking a
8:35
group, head over to bbinsider.com/book
8:38
and use our inquiry form to get in touch
8:41
with us and we'll be in touch to
8:42
understand exactly what your group
8:44
needs. So, looking forward to helping
8:46
you take the stress out of it. Speaking
8:48
of getting a good deal, Virgin Voyages
8:50
have announced the June July promotion
8:53
which includes a way of how to snag a
8:55
free balcony upgrade. But the reason I
8:57
say that in quotation marks is it's not
9:00
exactly what it sounds like and I'm
9:01
going to tell you all about it. So quite
9:03
often when it comes to these Virgin
9:04
Voyages offers, they will discount a
9:07
second sailor and the percentage of that
9:09
saving varies, but this time it stays at
9:12
70%. So 70% off a second sailor is not
9:16
too bad and it certainly brings the cost
9:17
of your voyage down if you're traveling
9:20
with more than one person. That being
9:22
said, if you are traveling solo, there
9:24
is a new solo offer out just now. So go
9:26
to vbvinsider.com, scroll through the
9:28
articles, and you can find out all about
9:30
that as well. But sticking with this
9:32
offer, let's delve a little bit further
9:34
into that free balcony upgrade. So, a
9:37
lot of sailors do get caught out by this
9:39
and end up going through the booking
9:40
process and choosing a sea view room
9:43
hoping that their booking will magically
9:45
turn into a sea terrace booking.
9:48
Unfortunately, that's not how it works,
9:50
but I can totally see how you'd think it
9:52
would. What it actually means in effect
9:54
is that some sea terrace rooms are
9:56
simply priced at the same price as a sea
9:58
view room. So, you still need to make
10:00
sure that you're choosing the sea
10:02
terrace when you book your voyage.
10:04
Specifically, this will be the lowest
10:06
level option, which is the limited view
10:09
sea terrace. If you're on brilliant
10:11
lady, this is called the sea terrace
10:13
with a slightly smaller balcony.
10:15
Regardless of what it's called, those
10:16
are the ones that you can get for the
10:18
same price as your sea view. So, that's
10:20
what they mean when they say free
10:22
balcony upgrade. So, make sure you don't
10:24
get caught out by that. But the good
10:26
news is, like most of these big
10:28
promotions, is that they are combinable
10:30
with other offers. So, if you're looking
10:32
at doing a painful discount or you've
10:34
got an MNVV placeholder discount, you
10:37
can apply it to this promotion as well.
10:39
You just need to, of course, think about
10:41
the terms and conditions of your
10:42
particular discounts that you're looking
10:44
at using. It's also combinable with VV
10:46
Insiders sale forward loot offer, which
10:49
gives you an extra $200 of loot
10:52
depending on which sailing that you
10:54
choose. If you're ever hunting for those
10:56
particular voyages, just head over to
10:58
book voyage on the VV Insider website
11:01
and then scroll down to where we start
11:03
listing all the voyages off. And what
11:05
you're looking for are these yellow
11:07
symbols telling you how much bonus loot
11:09
you can get. That's the bonus loot that
11:11
you can get with VV Insider and not
11:13
through Virgin Voyages Direct. So, make
11:15
sure you take a look at
11:17
vbvincider.com/book
11:19
before you make your next booking. Not
11:21
only that, but you'll be getting the
11:22
expert service and expertise that we're
11:25
known for here at vvincider.com. So, we
11:28
can't wait to help you book your perfect
11:30
voyage exclusively with the experts here
11:32
at VV Insider. Now, something that many
11:34
people have been waiting for is the
11:36
announcement of the UK Comedy Festival
11:39
lineup. This one for me is very exciting
11:42
indeed because often what you'll see in
11:44
these comedy fest lineups is that
11:45
they'll choose one big standout
11:47
performer and then find some smaller
11:50
comedians to fill out the rest of the
11:52
roster. Well, I think they've played
11:53
this very smartly this time and instead
11:56
of going for one big headliner, they
11:58
managed to get a really good group of
12:00
very notable comedians in the UK. Often
12:03
those that you would see on things like
12:05
panel shows like Have I Got News for You
12:07
or Eight Out of 10 Cats. I certainly
12:09
recognized a lot of these faces and I
12:11
don't think I'm necessarily that into
12:13
comedy so they must have done pretty
12:15
well. First of all and definitely
12:17
recognizable for me is Milton Jones. He
12:20
has made a great career for himself by
12:21
delivering rapid oneliners on many of
12:24
the shows that he's been part of
12:26
including Mock the Week, Live at the
12:28
Apollo, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Road
12:30
Show and many many more. Then we have
12:33
Lucy Bowmont, who you'll recognize off
12:35
Taskmaster, Qi, and one of my absolute
12:38
favorites, eight out of 10 Cats does
12:40
Countdown. Then you have Babatunde
12:42
Alles, who undoubtedly you recognize off
12:44
Live at the Apollo, and I'm a Celebrity.
12:46
Get me out of here. But like I say, this
12:48
isn't all about the headliners. This is
12:50
a massive list of very, very funny
12:53
people. And we've put the list all
12:54
together on vivvinsider.com.
12:57
So, make sure you head over to that
12:59
article if you're on that sailing or if
13:01
you're considering that sailing because
13:03
this is an incredible lineup. I was
13:05
quite surprised when we got this list.
13:07
If you're interested in doing that
13:08
comedy festival alongside all the great
13:11
Virgin Voyages facilities, events, and
13:13
food, then you can book that voyage on
13:15
the 20th of August. It's a seven night
13:18
voyage heading out from Portsouth, and
13:20
there's a couple of sea days to make
13:21
sure that you see everything on board as
13:23
well. For the latest pricing and
13:25
availability, head over to
13:27
bbinsider.com/book.
13:29
Well, thank you for sticking around. I'm
13:30
sure I've lost all the Americans now who
13:32
have no idea what I'm talking about with
13:34
all these British TV shows, but never
13:36
mind. Like I say, we just got off
13:38
Baliant Lady a couple of days ago. We
13:41
were sailing in the mega rockstar suite
13:43
category, which isn't normal for us as
13:45
well. We quite often book a lock it in
13:48
insider. And actually on our next voyage
13:50
in a few weeks time we are going to be
13:52
in an insider right underneath the
13:54
manor. So how the mighty have fallen.
13:56
But I want to tell you all about the
13:58
mega rockstar experience. That's exactly
14:00
why we done it. I want to bring you what
14:02
it was really like. And I must say
14:04
things didn't quite go to plan. So you
14:07
obviously already know about the Wi-Fi
14:09
issues that we had. But there was a
14:10
couple of other things I want to mention
14:12
as well. Don't get me wrong, we had an
14:14
incredible experience and Mega Rockstar
14:16
is fantastic. But do make sure that
14:18
you've checked that you are subscribed
14:20
to make sure that video pops up when we
14:22
start talking about it. I just want to
14:24
say as well, we had an incredible time
14:26
on Valiant Lady thanks to two things.
14:28
One is the brand new happenings events
14:30
that were on board Valiant Lady. Those
14:33
are some of the best events I've been to
14:35
on board and I'm not being hyperbolic.
14:37
So I'm going to tell you about that when
14:39
the time is right. And the other thing
14:40
is down to once again the people that we
14:43
met. We met some incredible people on
14:45
this voyage. And that's mostly down to
14:47
doing the events and joining in. So
14:49
that's my biggest advice. Just make sure
14:51
you go along to those events. You're
14:53
going to meet the most incredible people
14:55
who are up for a good time. I think
14:57
that's sometimes easy to lose sight of
14:58
when you're looking at the new venues
15:00
and the menus and all these type of
15:02
things. Actually, it's about the people
15:04
in the end. So go out and enjoy. Well,
15:06
that's all from me today. I need to
15:08
crack on and get that Valiant Lady video
15:10
sorted out for you all. But until next
15:12
time, happy sailing.
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