Virgin Voyages to roll out three-tier fare structure

Virgin Voyages will roll out a three-tier fare structure on October 7 for all new bookings across its four-ship fleet.

 

The new VoyageFair Choices will apply to Sea Terrace Cabins and below and have been introduced based on customer and agent feedback about wanting “more choice, more transparency and more flexibility”.

The onboard experience will remain the same, but the three new fares will provide new cancellation options before the voyage, as well as separate Wi-Fi packages and dining reservation windows.

The Base Fare includes a new basic Wi-Fi package for one device per passenger, which is designed for social media, messaging and light browsing, a 15-day pre-voyage dining reservation window and no name, cabin or date changes.

This fare is about 5% to 10% lower in price than the Essential Fare, which offers a Wi-Fi package for one device per passenger, with social media, messaging, browsing and audio calling, a 45-day dining reservation window flexibility to adjust voyage dates using a Future Voyage credit and ability to make name changes for second, third and fourth passengers.

The Premium Fare will be $45 more per person per night than the Essential Fare, which includes a 60-day dining reservation window, Wi-Fi for two devices per passenger with streaming and video capabilities, a bar tab and access to a priority support line for pre-voyage booking.

The new fares will not be introduced for suite passengers in RockStar and Mega RockStar quarters, but a new 120-day dining reservation window will be introduced.

All passengers booked before October 7 will be given a 60-day dining reservation window.

Virgin Voyages has also opted to change how it shows its gratuities charge by showing is as a separate line item at the time of booking.

Previously this was baked into the fare, but now passengers can see how much is charged for the sailing and opt to pay before departure at $20 per passenger per night or settle on board for $22 per passenger per night.  

Virgin Voyages chief executive Nirmal Saverimuttu called the move “an evolution” for the brand, making it more comparable to hotel, airline and resort pricing which would appeal to the new-to-cruise market.

 

He added: “We are the first cruise line to bring this pricing structure into cruising. There are others playing with this on the margin, but more pre-packaged bundles of drinks packages and other things.

 

“No one has really put in place a true airline or hotel-like pricing architecture [in cruise], and we believe it is a big unlock, based on the research we’ve done.”

 

There will be training sessions and material for agents to help them understand the changes, Saverimuttu added, but he stressed the new fares were not intended to give them “more work”.

 

“I do want to reinforce that if you come to know and love us, we are not asking you to relearn how to sell this brand,” he said.

 

“The last thing I want to do is have our First Mates [agents] feel like they have more work, as this is about helping them accelerate their sales, not bogging them down.”

 

He advised agents who had customers already used to sailing with Virgin Voyages who want the same experience as they do today to book the Essentials Fare and pre-pay gratuities.

 

Saverimuttu expected the majority of passengers, between 60% and 70%, to choose this, especially if they have sailed before, but if agents wanted to expand their sales into Base and Premium Fares, there would be support for them.

 

He added the line’s promotional “lock-it-in rates”, which guarantee a cabin that is non-refundable, will still be available.

 

Virgin Voyages UK director of sales SJ Walker predicted the new fares would “bring significant growth” as it will mean agents can “cast the net a lot wider to a broader audience demographic”.

 

“This [fare structure] will unlock us to be able to exploit a much broader database on Virgin Voyages,” she said. “I think not only have we seen continued growth this year, but we will continue to see that trajectory go in the right direction for the remainder this year and into 2026.”

 

She added the new fares would not change the line’s stable pricing model which has been “one of the ingredients to our success this year”.