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How Do The Bar Tab Changes Affect Your Vacation?

Virgin Voyages have made changes to the popular Bar Tab drinks package options. We look at how this might affect your cruise. Virgin Voyages have added a $100 and $200 option to the existing deal.

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Guests drinking beer
Bar Tab is a great way to save money on your Virgin Voyages cruise © Photo by Virgin Voyages

A Change To The Virgin Voyages Bar Tab Scheme

Announced with the release of new itineraries last week, Virgin Voyages has expanded their pre-purchase Bar Tab offering with lower amounts to suit all type of sailors. Pre-purchasing a Bar Tab will always score a bonus onboard credit for additional rounds throughout your entire voyage. We have also updated our very own Bar Tab Calculator to reflect the new changes.

Try the Bar Tab Calculator

What Is The Virgin Voyages Bar Tab?

As of right now, Virgin Voyages don’t offer an ‘all-you-can-drink’ package like most other cruise lines. Instead, Virgin Voyages allow sailors to pre-purchase a Bar Tab – a type of on-board credit that can be used exclusively on beverages. Why pre-pay? Virgin Voyages offer a bonus when you buy certain amounts of credit.

From Our On-board Credit Guide

  • The Bar Tab is specifically designated for purchasing drinks during your cruise.
  • It covers a wide range of beverage options, such as cold-pressed juices, cocktails, coffee, alcoholic beverages, and afternoon tea.
  • You don’t need to tell the bar to use your Bar Tab – if possible the Bar Tab will be used up before you start dipping into your Sailor Loot.
Champagne Flutes filled with champagne with a bottle pouring
Your Bar Tab credit can be used for all beverage purchases on board the Virgin Voyages fleet and at Bimini Beach Club© Photo by Alexander Naglestad

The Changes In Detail

The existing deal when adding a $300 credit still applies and is still based on your loyalty status:

  • An extra $50 is added when adding a $300 Bar Tab Credit (an extra 16.67% value)
  • This is expanded to $100 bonus if you are a member of the Virgin Voyages Sailing Club (an extra 33.33% value)
  • This is further expanded to $125 for those who sailed in Virgin Voyages’ first year (these sailors are called Sea Blazers) or members of the exclusive ‘Club 485C’ loyalty group (an extra 41.67% value)

In addition to these existing deals Virgin Voyages have added two more options which are unaffected by loyalty status:

  • $100 – with a $10 bonus (an extra 10% value)
  • $200 – with a $25 bonus (an extra 12.5% value)

The best Bar Tab bonus continues to remain the $300 Bar Tab but these new options do offer a level of flexibility.

Glasses of champagne, tea and a tower of food
Although Bar Tab can be used only on drinks you can also use it for Afternoon Tea and Bottomless Brunch© Photo by VV Insider

Ordering Bar Tabs

Bar Tabs are available for purchase until 24 hours before sailing. To secure yours and lock in your drink bonus after booking, head over to the My Account section on this website or the Virgin Voyages app.

Bar Tab Calculator

At VV Insider we have an exclusive Bar Tab Calculator that lets you figure out how much you need for your voyage based on average drinks prices across the fleet. We have now updated our Bar Tab Calculator to reflect the new Bar Tabs that are available allowing you more flexibility without spending unnecessary money.

Visit the Bar Tab Calculator

About the author

Co-Founder and Director. David has a background in web design and development and writes travel content, vacation guides and tips about Virgin Voyages.


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