Cruise Line ProgramsAdults only, more than twenty restaurants included in the fare, and a beach club in Bimini built for exactly this kind of program.
Virgin Voyages set out to build something that would appeal to people who had never considered a cruise, and by most measures it worked.
The ships are adults-only, the design language is closer to a boutique hotel than a cruise ship, and a great deal of what is normally an extra is simply included — dining in every restaurant, gratuities, wifi, group fitness classes and soft drinks. For a program budget, that inclusiveness removes a lot of variables and a lot of awkward conversations.
The fleet is also unusually uniform, which is genuinely useful. The ships are close to identical, so a program that works on one works on all of them, and repeating it next year is straightforward. See the at-sea overview for the rest of the brands we represent.
There is no buffet and no fixed seating. Instead there are more than twenty eateries — a Korean barbecue, a steakhouse, a Mexican restaurant, a vegetarian-forward room, a test kitchen, a proper diner — all included in the fare. Your attendees book what they want when they want, and nobody is calculating what dinner is going to cost them.
Roughly a hundred designers worked on these ships, and the result reads as a very good hotel rather than a cruise ship. Terraces, a running track wrapped around the deck, a tattoo studio, a record shop and a nightlife space that genuinely works after midnight. Attendees post about it without being asked.
Virgin commissions immersive, unconventional performance rather than traditional production shows — pieces staged in the round, late-night events and resident DJs. For a brand-forward audience it lands very differently from a theatre show, and it gives an evening a real sense of occasion.
Group fitness classes are included, the gym is a serious one, and there is a spa, a thermal suite and a great deal of open deck for running and training. Programs with a wellness thread find a lot to work with here.
Virgin’s private beach club in the Bahamas is a designed space rather than a beach with umbrellas — pools, cabanas, DJs and food, with ships often staying into the evening. It makes for a showpiece day that needs very little from you.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons — Scarlet Lady in Liverpool in February 2020: The Silver Novice, CC BY 2.0; Resilient Lady (ship, 2022) in Palermo: Thomas Dahlstrøm Nielsen, CC BY-SA 4.0; Resilient Lady docking at Sydney: Dicklyon, CC BY 4.0.
Virgin sails the Caribbean and the Bahamas from Miami and San Juan through the winter, and moves to the Mediterranean from Barcelona, Rome and Athens for the summer, with Northern Europe and transatlantic repositioning sailings either side.
Because the ships are so similar, the same program structure travels well between seasons and hemispheres — useful if you intend to repeat it. Tell us where your people are and we will tell you what is available.
Buy the Sea works directly with the Virgin Voyages charter and group teams, and we have placed corporate programs across the fleet. We know the ships, we know the people, and we know what to ask for and when to ask for it so that your program gets the dates and the spaces it needs. That is the part we handle.
Bring us a headcount, a budget and a range of dates. We will come back with real options across the Virgin fleet — and across every other line, because we represent all of them and we are paid by the cruise line, never by you. There is no fee, no markup and no obligation. Here is why that matters.
Absolutely — the ships are adults-only, which many incentive programs find is exactly the right setting for a couples reward. We will talk through how to structure it.
For a group block, nine to fifteen months gives you the best choice of dates. For a full charter, plan on eighteen to twenty-four months. The fleet is compact, so popular dates move early.
Nothing. Buy the Sea is paid by the cruise line, not by you. More in the FAQ.