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It's been an incredibly busy and exciting couple of weeks for Virgin
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Voyages and us here at VV Insider.
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We've been keeping on top of all the latest news across the Virgin
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Voyages fleet, and we have some big changes to tell you about today,
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including a really clever Insider hack to get some free
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Sailor Loot on your next voyage.
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So stick around for that.
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I'm David from VV Insider.
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and in this Virgin Voyages Insider update, I'm gonna tell you all about
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the brand new Happenings events onboard.
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A glimpse at the star studded launch party for Brilliant Lady
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when she launched in Miami.
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we'll be looking forward to 2027 for some brand new itineraries.
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Announced for Brilliant Lady.
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Some exclusive offers that are only available until the end of October,
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and of course, if you like sailing for less, we're gonna highlight
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those Sail and Save offers as well.
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I'm gonna highlight our trip to Virgin Hotels in London Shoreditch and a
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comparison between the Virgin Voyages experience and the Virgin Hotels.
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some sad and disappointing news for UK Virgin Voyages fans.
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A look at an exclusive partnership between Virgin Voyages and Google when it comes
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to AI and how that will influence the Virgin Voyages experience in the future
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Some unexpected changes to Caribbean itineraries.
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A full artist lineup of the Nikki Jam voyage that is
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happening in December this year.
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And , last but not least, we're gonna take a look at the fantastic new headline
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show onboard Brilliant Lady, Red Hot.
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With some clips recorded from the opening night.
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So I wasn't wrong when I told you there was a ton to
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cover, so let's jump right in.
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Okay, so first up, there are some brand new Happenings events on Brilliant Lady.
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We were lucky enough when we were onboard to try some of these out
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ourself and I must say the Happenings events on Brilliant Lady are really
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unique and they are a step change from what you see on the other ships.
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Some of them are really silly, some of them are really fun, some of them are
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very intriguing, and we put together an article which lists off all these brand
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new Happenings, entertainment highlights.
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and I'll just mention a couple of these before you head over to the
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website and read more about them.
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so one that I have to mention is one of my absolute favorites.
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It's called Retail Rumble.
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And if you've ever watched Supermarket Sweep from the 1980s,
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you'll know the kind of silly campy atmosphere that that show has.
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Well, Abi The Hostess does an incredible job of making this
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even sillier and even campier.
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It might just be because I'm British and it's very British
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humor, but I really loved it.
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I'd love to hear what you think about it, if you saw it as well.
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So drop your thoughts in the comments.
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There's also another couple of game shows, and again, head over to the
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article to read more about them, but that's The Big Remix and Hot Seat,
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And then heading over to Foodie events.
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one of the events that I enjoyed a huge amount was Secret Vintage, which is a
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wine tasting class, and it's hosted by the foodie, and it gives you a really good
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beginner introduction to wine tasting.
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I knew absolutely nothing about tasting wine when I head into this session,
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but it was really, really informative and it's super interesting to learn
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about the different grape varieties.
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This, of course, is a paid for event onboard, but as ever, you can read
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all about them on vvinsider.com.
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Another really cool foodie event is Cereal Killers, which is a murder mystery
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style event It's hosted in the morning.
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It's based around cereal, so of course you get bowls of cereal when
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you enjoy, and this is a free event.
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No cost to participate, but it's a lot of fun.
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Another big change to the lineup is the introduction of Bingo Blitz After Dark.
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Bingo with the Diva and Bingo with the Happenings.
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Cast are still available on Brilliant Lady, but this is a new take on Bingo,
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which happens late at night in The Manor.
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It still played the same, so the Bingo tickets cost the same, but because
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it's hosted in the nightclub, it's got a very different atmosphere.
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It's very silly, very campy.
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Again, this is the one that got slightly mixed reviews and we were traveling with
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both British people and American people.
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So it'd be good to know what your comments are, but I really enjoyed this one.
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and then one other highlight I wanna mention
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is Suitcase of Secrets: The Fallen Flotilla,
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this is hosted in a very unique part of the ship that most sailors will never see.
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so that alone adds a little mystery and intrigue, But this Happenings event
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is actually held like an escape room.
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So when you head in, you are presented with a chest, which has
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clues and mysteries around it, And the idea is that you work through
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these puzzles and clues to unfold the secret of the fallen flotilla.
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And if you win, you get a very special prize at the end.
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It's a really interesting concept.
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It is a paid for activity.
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So do go ahead on vvinsider.com and read all the details before
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you commit to booking that event.
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now, although I skipped through them very, very quickly.
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There are 15 brand new event pages that we've added to vvinsider.com
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that are all based on the new Happenings events onboard.
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So go ahead to vvinsider.com, click on events and you can read
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all about them and all of the events on the other ships as well.
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Speaking of Brilliant Lady, there was a star studded event to celebrate the
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launch of Brilliant Lady in Miami,
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where Sir Richard Branson himself stepped onboard.
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He was joined by DJ Khaled, the Real Housewives of Miami, and many, many more.
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This really was a star-studded event, And it was also Richard Branson's
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first opportunity to get a preview of Red Hot, the brand new headline
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show on Brilliant Lady, which we'll talk about in just a moment.
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And if you are looking at getting away on Brilliant Lady in the future, The
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2027 itineraries have been announced, including the Panama Canal sailing.
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It starts off in March with some four night sailings from
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The Bahamas and the Bimini.
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Before heading on a 16 night voyage through the Panama Canal to LA.
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From there in May, she repositions again this time to Vancouver in Canada.
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Expect to see some Alaska sailings coming up in the next itinerary drop.
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if you are interested in those, stay tuned to vvinsider.com and we'll
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let you know exactly when they hit.
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So this October is really important for us here at VV Insider.
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So we launched VV Insider two years ago, back in July.
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And back then we set things up to tell sailors around the community, around
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Facebook how to get the most out of their Virgin Voyages experience.
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And from the day we launched, we've done exactly that and we love doing it.
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We love telling people all of this information about Virgin
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Voyages, about the ships, about the events, about the menus,
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and we wanna continue doing that.
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We never want to charge people to access this incredible content
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and in order for us to keep the content free and also for us to be
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able to make this our nine to five and concentrate more on this really
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fantastic content, We rely on the likes of you viewers choosing vvinsider.com to
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make your next Virgin Voyages booking.
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It really, really does help.
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There's not a big team behind the work that we do.
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It's me and my husband.
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I do all of the coding and the programming work on the websites.
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And of course, I'm responsible for this YouTube channel, whereas my
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husband is a little bit camera shy.
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But he does a fantastic job of managing people's bookings and inquiries, as
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well as writing a huge amount of the content that you read on vvinsider.com.
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Between the two of us, we get an incredibly humbling amount of feedback
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about how informative and how helpful the work that we do is to people
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planning their next Virgin Voyage.
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But what I'm gonna ask today is if you are planning to make a Virgin
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Voyages booking, and you normally book through the website, for example.
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Or if you are hunting for a First Mate, we would love for you to show your
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appreciation for the work that we do By placing that booking with vvinsider.com,
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it doesn't cost you any more at all.
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That's no fees whatsoever, and you'll pay exactly what you would pay if you
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were to book on Virgin Voyages.com.
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So I've talked about how booking with us can support us, but
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what do you get in return?
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. So if you book with us before the end of October, that's the crucial thing.
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Before the end of October, you'll get at least $50 Bar Tab when you book with us.
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And the reason I say at least $50 Bar Tab is that you could actually get
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up to $400 Sailor Loot, so onboard credit to spend on anything simply
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by booking with vvinsider.com.
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The only exclusion here is lock it in rates, but as long as you make a booking
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and it's not lock it in rate, you are gonna get at least $50 of Bar Tab.
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We've got all the details that you need to know about this particular
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offer on this article on vvinsider.com.
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So head over there, But I'm not done yet.
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So we set this YouTube channel up back in March and it's had an incredible
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amount of traction and feedback, which I, again, I can't thank you enough for.
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But actually I wanna go a step further and give you an extra bit of thanks.
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So if you book before the end of October with VV Insider.
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I'm gonna personally make sure you get at least $25 of Sailor Loot to spend
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on anything that you like onboard.
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So this is a special Insider hack to get some free Sailor Loot because we're not
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gonna talk about this offer anywhere else.
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It's not gonna be on Facebook, it's not gonna be on the website.
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It's for you that are watching this YouTube channel.
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So I'm gonna give you a booking at least $25.
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If it's one of the more expensive voyages, I'm gonna give you up to a hundred dollars
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if you go to vvinsider.com/ slash thanks, we're not gonna publish that
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link anywhere else, it's just here.
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But if you do want to tell your friends and family about our YouTube channel,
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you can share that link if you like.
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What will happen is once you've made your booking , you just return to that link
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and fill out the claim form with your name and your booking reference and I'll go
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in and make sure you get that extra Loot.
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I'll also send you a personal thank you message as well.
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. Just make sure you book before the end of October to get all of
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those exclusive perks and offers.
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and that moves us on very nicely to this week's Sail and Save offers.
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So if you're looking for a bargain and one of the cheapest cruises around
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in order to claim your offers that I just talked about, then head over to
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our Sail and Save offer this week.
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our Sail and Save articles always tell you about the best priced itineraries on
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every single one of the lady ships and their sailings from right now up to 2027.
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So there's tons of options to choose from.
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And what's more, we have links for pricing in every currency.
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So regardless of where you live around the world, you can book with
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vvinsider.com and we'll help you do that.
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Moving out of the the ocean and onto land for just a moment, We were given
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an incredible opportunity to try out Virgin Hotels in London, and we've done
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an article and a video comparing both the land and the at sea experience.
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So how does Virgin Voyages compare to Virgin Hotels?
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This is a really in-depth article that talks about Virgin Hotels in Shoreditch,
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we had an incredible stay,
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we were really surprised at some of the touches of Virgin Hotels
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that really go above and beyond and make a real difference.
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So if you're interested in reading about Virgin Hotels, head over to
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vvinsider.com to read the article.
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The comparison video is available on our YouTube channel.
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Some disappointing news for Virgin Voyages fans in the UK.
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When we look at the 2027 itineraries across the fleet, not a single
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ship is coming to the UK in 27.
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This is a real personal sadness for me 'cause I love a Portsmouth sailing
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and after Virgin celebrated the launch of all four ships in Portsmouth, it
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does feel like a little bit of a snub not having Virgin Voyages in 2027.
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If you are familiar with the Portsmouth itineraries, you'll know that also means
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no visits to Iceland in 2027 either.
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A real disappointment because Virgin Voyages made a splash earlier this year
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of making their first visit to Iceland.
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so could next year in 2026 be their last visit to Iceland?
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We'll just have to wait and see.
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But Virgin Voyages have told us that they are reassigning some of the itineraries
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to ports and destinations that the UK audience are showing signals of wanting.
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So you're gonna see more itineraries in the Caribbean and more itineraries
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in the Mediterranean as well.
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We've seen lots of community feedback over the last few days about
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expressing some sadness around not seeing these UK itineraries in 2027, but we'll
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just have to see what the future brings.
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In technology news, Virgin Voyages have announced a partnership with Google
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Cloud to bring artificial intelligence experiences into the Sailor journey.
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Virgin Voyages and collaboration with Google Cloud are gonna launch over 50
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different AI agents into the organization in the coming years With one of the
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first ones being called "Email Ellie".
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"Email Ellie" is an AI agent that was developed by the Virgin Voyages
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creative team using Google Gemini.
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This announcement will come as no surprise to anyone who has been
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following Virgin Voyager's relationship with artificial intelligence
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over the past couple of years.
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with many of the Virgin Voyages executives expressing the fact that AI will be at
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the heart of the Virgin Voyages brand.
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Now this topic is a very interesting one, And we do see a lot of feedback
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around Virgin Voyages use of AI across our social communities and our website.
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so it'll be interesting to know what your take is on this embracing of
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AI by Virgin Voyages, let us know in the comments what you think.
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some small changes to Caribbean itineraries with the names of some of
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the itineraries having a big change.
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so these changes seem to be modifying the names of some of these itineraries
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That maybe had a little bit of more creative flare in them, to Itinerary
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names that better reflect the names of the ports that they're actually visiting.
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So a couple of examples of these name changes.
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Cost Mayan Coves and Honduran Waves now becomes Western Caribbean cruises.
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Antia Waves and Grand Turk Caves now becomes Eastern Caribbean cruise.
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Virgin Voyages have said that this will make it easier for people to search
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for the right crews, but it does feel.
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We have seen some feedback from some sailors saying that this does take
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some of the flare and some of the creativity out of these itinerary names.
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So again, let us know your thoughts
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if you are booked onto the Nikki Jam cruise that's coming
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up in December this year.
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The full artist lineup has finally been revealed.
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So this voyage is leaving Miami on the 5th of December on Valiant Lady,
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and this is a collaboration cruise between Nikki Jams and Virgin Voyages.
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Just like a Celebration Voyage or a Red Hot Voyage.
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This is one of those voyages that is studded with musical acts.
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so of course we know that Nick Jams will be providing some entertainment
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onboard, but now we know he's gonna be joined by a list of other artists
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like DJ Bash and Mati Gómez.
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We have a full list of all the artists that you can expect on this
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voyage so head over to our article on vvinsider.com to learn more.
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Now, hotly anticipated the brand new headline show on Brilliant
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Lady has finally launched,
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Red Hot is a headline show that is hosted in the Red Room and was due to launch when
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Brilliant Lady launched back in September.
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but the launch was delayed slightly until the Miami MerMaiden, so that
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Virgin Voyages could make some changes.
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We're pleased to say that Red Hot has now officially launched
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and it's receiving some fantastic feedback from a lot of sailors.
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Red Hot is a musical exploration through the history of Virgin Records,
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so expect songs from the likes of the Spice Girls, Janet Jackson, David Bowie,
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the Sex Pistols and the Killers to name just a few.
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We have some incredible photos from that first performance for you to
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see on our article, but we also have a few clips from the show as
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well that we'd like to show you.
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So here's a few clips from Red Hot on Brilliant Lady.
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Red Hot joins Out of Time and Dual Reality in the Red Room on Brilliant
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Lady for the third and final headline show to launch on the brand new Ladyship.
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So that's all the latest news from Virgin Voyages heading into November.
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Now, looking towards next week, We're putting together quite an ambitious
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video where we have a look at what the future of Virgin Voyages might look like.
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So we are going to use all the information that we have so far, and we're gonna
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add on a lot of wild speculation and rumors and have a think about what
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we're gonna expect to see from Virgin Voyages over the next few years.
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Will there be new ships?
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Will there be new entertainment?
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Will there be new restaurants?
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We're gonna take a look at what we know.
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It'll be interesting to note what your thoughts are as well.
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So what do you think we're gonna see from Virgin Voyages over the next few years?
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We know that there are some announcements coming up in November
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and we know what we kind of expect to see from restaurants on board,
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the ships in dry dock, but we're looking even further than that.
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Let's have a think all of us together and think about what we'd
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love to see on Virgin Voyages.
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So I'll be back next week with that video and then the week
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after with another update.
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So do make sure that you stay subscribed to this channel so that you get all the
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latest Virgin Voyages information guides and news as quickly as we get them out.
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And another quick reminder, you can get that exclusive Bar Tab and Loot offer
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by booking before the end of October.
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And then heading over to vvinsider.com/ thanks.
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Another huge thanks again for our regular viewers and a special shout
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out for anyone that I saw on the Greek Island Glow Voyage a couple of weeks ago
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It was a really lovely chill voyage around the Greek islands, just what
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I needed, and it was so good to meet some of you face to face as well.
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So I hope you made it safely back home and are busy planning and preparing for
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your next voyage 'cause I know I am.
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Well until next time.
