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there have been some huge changes in the world of Virgin
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Voyages over the past few weeks.
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And everywhere we go from the comment section on YouTube and our website as
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well as the Facebook community sailors around the world, have been really
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vocal in some of the changes that have happened over the past few weeks
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And what's more, some of them have noticed some big changes
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happening on board as well.
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so I'm gonna run through exactly what we've heard and all the
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news from across vvinsider.com
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in this Virgin Voyages Insider Update so you can be informed
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the next time you sail.
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I'm David from VV Insider, and this week we're gonna take a look at all of the
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changes in entertainment on Scarlet Lady,
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including a massive show that has just departed the ship.
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And a little preview of a brand new fan favorite that's
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onboard Scarlet Lady right now.
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We're also gonna take a very quick look at the changes that have happened
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when it comes to VoyageFair Choices and the choices that you get when
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you book your next Virgin voyage.
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Including a really requested feature that we've added to vvinsider.com
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that I'd love to tell you about.
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We are also gonna take a quick look at the video that was released
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about the Brilliant Lady launch in New York City with the Don't
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Stop Me Now Pub Choir Performance.
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We're gonna look ahead to the New Year's Eve voyages happening this December.
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And we also part ways with a particular thing to do with Virgin Voyages that I
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think we're all glad to see the back of.
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So wait around for that one.
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So as ever, there's so much to cover.
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VV Insider is the number one resource for the latest Virgin
1:31
Voyages info, guides and news.
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From picking the perfect cabin to booking dining, or simply just
1:36
making the most of your voyage and saving money while you do it.
1:39
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Support our work by hitting SUBSCRIBE and stick around to
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1:53
So starting off with some really big news, And this is all to do with one of the
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most famous shows on Virgin Voyages ships.
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And this is one of the headline shows that launched it all.
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And this is Duel Reality.
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Duel Reality has had its final performance on board Scarlet Lady.
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So the ship that started all and the headline show that started it all as well,
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have parted ways for the last time.
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And although Duel Reality performances went on to Valiant Lady, that
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ended as well in March this year.
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But it got a new lease of life back in September this year with
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the launch of Brilliant Lady.
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So for fans of Duel Reality, you can still catch Duel Reality on
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onboard Virgin Voyages ships.
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You're just gonna have to head over to Brilliant Lady to see it now.
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And if you caught our last Insider Update, and if you didn't, where have you been?
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Make sure you are subscribed to this channel for Virgin Voyages News
2:45
and information every single week.
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But on our last Insider Update, we heard that UNTITLED DANCESHOWPARTYTHING ended
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its run on Scarlet Lady as well.
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That leaves two headline slots.
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So if Persephone is taking that one headline slot, what goes into the other?
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I'll come onto that in just one moment.
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But before I do some more Scarlet Lady Entertainment News, And that is
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that Club Caliente joins the roster of parties available on Scarlet Lady.
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Club Caliente is a show slash club night that is shown in The Manor.
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These club nights are somewhat of a Virgin Voyages staple, and you
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may have heard of other club nights
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Like the PJ Party, We Fancy, Electric, and Disco Reimagined.
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Well, this one is all themed around Latin music.
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And the way these parties generally work is that the Happenings Cast on board
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the ship will get the party started by doing some performances at the
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very beginning of the night and invite sailors to join the dance floor in The
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Manor to then get the party started.
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And generally a DJ will take over until the early hours.
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We often find that the themed nights are really good fun, and we make
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sure that we don't miss a single one.
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we've heard really good things about Club Caliente because Club
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Caliente actually launched over on Valiant Lady in March this year.
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but as of the 30th of September, fan favorite, DJ James Campbell Got the party
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started for Club Caliente on Scarlet Lady.
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as for Club Caliente on Valiant Lady, It'll be interesting to see
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if it stays around when Valiant Lady enters dry dock in March, 2026.
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And if you are interested in knowing more about that and the dry dock
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and the changes that are to come for Valiant Lady, including which restaurant
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will be replacing Razzle dazzle on Valiant Lady, make sure that you stay
4:34
subscribed to VV Insider and head over onto our website to subscribe to the
4:38
newsletter as well, because as always, you will hear about it here first.
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Alongside club nights back over on Scarlet Lady.
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The club nights that remain are Studio 72, which is a 1970s disco style party.
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Klub Rubiks, which is a 1980s style party, and then to round things off,
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you have Y2K, which is a celebration of the new millennium, so this is a really
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fun party with nineties music in it.
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One thing to mention about Y2K though is that instead of being
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run by an alternative entertainment cast, Y2K is actually now fully
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cast with the Happenings Cast.
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so instead of having particular vocalists for that performance, you now have
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the Happenings Cast joining instead.
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And if you are interested in knowing more about the Happenings Cast on
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Scarlet Lady, of course the best place to go is vvinsider.com, where we show
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you all of the new Happenings Cast for every single ship when they launch.
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So now let's move on to the really big news, which is the other headline slot
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that's been taken on Scarlet Lady and this is all to do with the previews
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of a brand new show called Booked!
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Or, To Give It its full title, Booked!
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A Lola's Library Story,
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and if you've ever sailed on board Resilient Lady, you'll know exactly
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what I'm talking about because Lola's Library has been a fantastic
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cabaret show that has always been shown in The Manor on Resilient Lady.
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Well now Lola has stepped out and moved into a much bigger venue.
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So this is a Red Room headline show That is hosted by none other than Lola herself.
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so we have all the details that we could possibly find about this show that's
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currently in previews on Scarlet Lady.
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So if you'd like to read more about this brand new Lola's Library story,
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you can head over to our article on vvinsider.com and give it a read.
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We've been sent some pictures by the Sailors that are on board Scarlet Lady,
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and this show looks really incredible.
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a little birdie told us that this CEO of Virgin Voyages, has said that this is his
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favorite show on board all of the ships.
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You'll notice in these pictures as well, if you've went to see Lola's Library on
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Resilient Lady, You may see a recognizable face here because the original Lola, Meggi
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herself is stepping back into those shoes to deliver this brand new original show.
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So if you are heading on board, Scarlet Lady, do not miss Booked!
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A Lola's Library Story, this has been developed by No Ceilings Productions,
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which is the production house that has just been responsible for launching
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Out of Time on Brilliant Lady as well.
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So they've been very busy indeed, but this show is getting some really good
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early preview reviews, so make sure that you don't miss it if you are on board.
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So let's take a quick look at what that means for the new
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Scarlet Lady Entertainment.
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So So firstly we have Persephone, which is coming to Scarlet Lady after
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a fantastic run on Resilient Lady.
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this show continues to run on Resilient Lady as well.
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So there will now be two ships where you can catch Persephone.
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Club Caliente joins the themed party nights, and this is
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a Latin style club night.
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and then finally you have Booked!
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A Lola's Library Story, which joins Persephone as the second
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headline show on Scarlet Lady.
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so quite a shakeup with entertainment on onboard Virgin Voyages' Very first ship.
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And remember she went through dry dock last year.
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So if you've sailed on Scarlet Lady in the past, you might be in for some new
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surprises the next time you sail on her.
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The 7th of October saw the launch of the new VoyageFair
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Choices from Virgin Voyages.
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These were the big changes that were touted in that big announcement
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that came out from Virgin Voyages a couple of weeks ago.
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And namely, this brings the introduction of Base, Essential and
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Premium style fares, and it leaves the 'Legacy Fare' in the past.
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This means that there's a different booking flow when you are choosing your
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voyage on the Virgin Voyages' website.
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We have talked at length about these changes to VoyageFair Choices.
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So if you want a reminder of exactly what the changes mean, head over
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to our explainer video on this, where we break down exactly what
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those different choices mean.
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One other thing that has changed, of course, is that the gratuities
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are now shown separately from the cost of your voyage fare.
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so when you go through the checkout on virginvoyages.com, you will now see
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the option to add prepaid gratuities into the cost of your voyage, or you
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can decide to pay those closer to your sailing or even onboard if you prefer.
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Do remember, of course, you are paying slightly more for the gratuities
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if you decide to pay them on board instead of before you set sail.
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Now of course, this has been a slightly controversial topic for those that
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prefer to see the gratuities included as part of their fare, Well, here
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at VV Insider, we've listened to that feedback and we've heard so many people.
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Preferring just to see one price and knowing exactly what it's gonna cost.
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So what we've done on our website, if you go over to vvinsider.com/
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book, you can actually choose to see all of the prices just as they were
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before, with one very simple option.
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So say I prefer to see things as they were in the past,
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And I'd like to see the gratuities included as part
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of all the prices that I see.
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Well, I just head over to vvinsider.com and change this from excluded from
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pricing to include in pricing.
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And as soon as I do, that $20 per night per Sailor is added onto the
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cost of every single voyage listed.
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So this is an illustrative example of what gratuities will
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cost for two people sailing.
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So vvinsider.com is the only place you can go if you wanna see the
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original pricing, just as it was when Virgin Voyages first started.
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And of course, here at vvinsider.com we're full of good ideas like that.
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And what's more, if you wanna see the history of all the pricing
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changes for a voyage, you can click further into that voyage.
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So let me just choose this one here,
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and if I scroll down, I'm gonna see a list of all the pricing changes.
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And if I've chosen to see the prices including gratuities, we've
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even saved that option for you, so you don't need to click it again.
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So every price that you see from here on out will include those gratuities,
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just like it was in the old world.
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And we've also made it super clear of when the VoyageFair Choices came into play.
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So you can see the pricing history really accurately.
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So these are the things that VV Insider do to go above and beyond
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for every single Sailor, regardless if you book with us or not.
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But if you'd like to reward our efforts and book with us directly,
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it doesn't cost you any more at all.
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And you'll get exclusive perks, like ad free access to our website.
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Also, you'll collect Diamonds every time you sail, so you'll get double loyalty
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and you can exchange those Diamonds for onboard credit when you sail.
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So you're getting extra for doing no more than simply trusting
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your next booking with us.
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So make sure, if you want to make a booking, head over to vvinsider.com
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and simply click book voyage and you can browse all those prices
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and get the best price possible.
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So it's an absolute win-win.
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You get double loyalty, exclusive perks, and you'll be booking with the number
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one Virgin Voyages experts anywhere!
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So why on earth would you book anywhere else?
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And speaking of fans of VV Insider; Richard Branson showed up on a
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YouTube video that was released by Virgin Voyages over the past week.
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And this specifically was talking about the pub choir performance
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of Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now'.
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When Brilliant Lady entered New York City Harbor back in September.
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We were lucky enough to be invited along to this incredibly special voyage
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and this incredibly special event, so it's really fantastic to relive
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this moment where we were sailing in, we saw this Statue of Liberty, and
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we were all singing this incredible song with Richard Branson himself
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and all of the top executives in Virgin Voyages who are celebrating
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this incredible achievement of launching the fourth ship in the fleet.
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The video shows how they pulled this incredible feat together, and also shows
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the final moments of us all singing this Queen song under the Statue of Liberty.
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An incredible memory, and I really encourage you to go and watch that
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whole video because if you're a fan of Virgin Voyages, like we are,
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it was a really incredibly special moment, whether you were there or not.
12:56
It's amazing to see what they were able to bring together in
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this very, very special moment.
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So here's a little taster of exactly what you'll expect in that video,
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but we're gonna link directly to that video on the Virgin Voyages
13:07
Channel in the description below.
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Speaking of having a fantastic time on board, there's nothing better than
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having a fantastic time on board and not spending a huge amount to do it.
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So actually what we do every single week is compile the Sail and
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Save offers from Virgin Voyages.
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and if you are not familiar with what the Sail and Save offers are,
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these are the best value fares available across all the
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itineraries, across all the ships,
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and to make things super easy, VV Insider list off all of these
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itineraries that are available to book.
13:38
And there's ones in there that are just coming up.
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So for example, Resilient Lady's, Transatlantic Halloween Soiree Cruise,
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which heads off on October 26th, Or there are some itineraries
13:49
all the way up in 2027.
13:51
So there's something for everyone.
13:53
And because of the VoyageFair C hoices, some of these sailings start
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from just $99 per Sailor per night.
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And again, these are all eligible for our Red Diamond Club.
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so if you want to book through vvinsider.com, you can get
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your extra special perks
14:06
Even on these most affordable sailings.
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And of course, speaking of special voyages, We have some very special
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voyages coming up at the end of December to ring in the new year.
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These are the New Year's Eve voyages that are celebrating at the start of 2026.
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And Virgin Voyages have announced the live music acts and the exciting entertainment
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that's gonna be available on those special sailings across the entire fleet.
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Will set off on December the 26th for nine nights
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with stops, including Grand Turk, St. John's and San Juan
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before returning back to Miami.
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the soundtrack for the Brilliant Lady Sailing will be rock, funk,
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and soul, and the special guest band will be The Main Squeeze.
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Resilient Lady sailing heads off a day later on the 27th of December
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from Miami on a seven night voyage.
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this time with nineties hits from Empire Records.
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Valiant Lady is also setting off on December 27th, but this time from San Juan
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Returning to San Juan after seven nights.
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And Valiant soundtrack is Latin Beats with Fondo Blanco.
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and then last but not least, Scarlet Lady is setting off on the 28th of December
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from Miami with a five night voyage.
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And the soundtrack to this voyage is EDM sets with DJ MADDS.
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Whichever New Year's Eve sailing, you choose.
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There's always gonna be some special dining and drinks available, h
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eadliner music acts, photo keepsakes.
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Some special party favors, and of course you can always order
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champagne to toast the new year.
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and this year you can pre-order your champagne on the Sailor App.
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If you are not booked up for New Year's yet, well head over to vvinsider.com and
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we'll find you the best rates and give you exclusive perks for those special voyages.
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And finally a bit of good news for anyone that has ever had some
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terrible frustrations with the original Virgin Voyages Sailor app.
15:57
The original Sailor app for Virgin Voyages is a little bit of a running
16:01
joke 'cause it never quite worked.
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How it really should have.
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Well, thankfully earlier this year we saw the launch of a brand new app on the Apple
16:09
App Store and then a little later in the year, we saw the Android launch as well.
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So now the new app is out and it's feature-rich, Virgin Voyages have
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now decided to pull the old app from the stores, so sailors are no
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longer able to download it anymore.
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One thing Virgin Voyages are still putting the finishing touches on.
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On the new Sailor app is the ability to order Ship Eats,
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or room service to your cabin.
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Thankfully the ability to order Ship Eats is now available on
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the in-room tablet, so it's not a feature that's gone away entirely.
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You are able to do it.
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You just need to use the tablet inside your room.
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But we do have confirmation from Virgin Voyages that you will be
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able to use the Sailor app to order Ship Eats in the near future.
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If you wanna find the links to download the new app, or wanna read about the
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slightly tumultuous past of the Sailor app, then head over to our article on
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vvinsider.com to read all about it.
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So one thing I wanted to mention is a very special video is coming next week,
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so do make sure that you stay subscribed to this channel because we're bringing
17:13
you something slightly different and we're gonna show you what our thoughts
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are on the Virgin Hotel experience.
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So as you know, we've sailed Virgin Voyages tons of times in the past
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We've sailed more than 20 times each on Virgin Voyages.
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I know there are many people that have sailed a lot more than us, but we do live
17:33
in the UK, it's a little bit more tricky for us to get on board the ship than it
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might be for maybe other content creators.
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But it's fair to say we know what we're talking about when it comes
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to Virgin Voyages, but we've never stepped foot in a Virgin Hotel.
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Well, actually, we were really lucky enough to be invited along by the Virgin
17:50
Hotel's brand to see what the London Shoreditch location was all about.
17:55
So we're gonna bring you some fantastic footage from our visit to
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the Virgin Hotel in London Shoreditch,
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I just put the finishing touches to this video and it's really fascinating
18:04
the history of Virgin Hotels and how it interacts with the brand.
18:08
So make sure you don't miss that.
18:10
and then of course, as always, we're gonna continue doing these Virgin Voyages
18:14
Insider Updates, Every two weeks, so make sure you stay subscribed, follow
18:18
along, to know exactly what's going on with Virgin Voyages and all the
18:22
changes that are happening both onboard and to the land experience as well.
18:27
If you don't follow us on social media yet, head over to Facebook and
18:32
search for VV Insider or on Instagram as well and share your posts with us.
18:36
Make sure you tag us 'cause we love sharing posts that Sailors send us!
18:40
So make sure you tag us in there and we can repost that to
18:43
everyone who follows our channels.
18:44
We really love to see what you get up to on board.
18:47
So thanks again for following along.
18:49
If you'd like to support our channel, you already know the best way to do that,
18:52
and that is to make your next Virgin Voyages booking through vvinsider.com.
18:57
But until next time... Happy Sailing!