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Earlier in the year, we saw Virgin Cruises dropped the award rates for specific cruises in the Med or Caribbean with 5 nights coming in at 80k Virgin Red points and 7 nights pricing at 100k Virgin Red points.
Well, Virgin has outdone itself this time. You can score a 7 night cruise in the Mediterranean for just 80k points. It’s roundtrip, 7 nights, all inclusive ( aside from booze ), adults only, and a very good use of points on a cent per point basis. These cruises are almost $4000…for just 62k points. WOW.
When you go to the Virgin Red site and select cruises you will see the offer below. Make sure you don’t hit Redeem until you’ve checked to see if the cruise you want is available.
What is Virgin Red?
Virgin Red is the new all emcompassing Virgin Program. If you have Virgin Atlantic, you can just link your account and your points will merge. You can use those points on a variety of things including Safaris, Hotels, and Cruises
Programs the transfer to Virgin Red
Since Virgin Red and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club are basically the same thing and can be linked, all transferrable programs can be moved into Virgin
- American Express
- Bilt Rewards
- Capital One
- Chase
- Citi Thank You
Note that both Amex and Chase have 30% transfer bonuses.
How much would these special Virgin Cruises normally cost?
Here is a look at the Greek Island Glow cruise in early June. At the 80k rate, you’re talking over 5 cents per point and at the 62k you’re talking nearly 7 cents per point. That is very good.
What dates are available for the 80k Virgin Cruise?
You need to contact Virgin Cruises, but your travel must be between June 1st and July 31st. You can go to the Virgin Voyages website to see if a Sea Terrace or Partial View Sea Terrace is available. As soon as you hit Redeem, the points will be deducted for the cruise, so personally I would double and triple check.
You can you use this link to search
Where does the Virgin Cruise depart from?
You can choose from two different departure cities
- Athens
- Resilient Lady
- Barcelona
- Valiant Lady
How exactly does this work?
What are the itineraries avail for the Virgin Cruise priced at 80k points?
So there are a couple to choose from:
The choice of itineraries (all local time):
Greek Island Glow
- Day 1 – Piraeus (Athens). Departs at 7:00pm.
- Day 2 – Santorini. Arrives at 9:00am, departs at 10:00pm.
- Day 3 – Rhodes. Arrives at 9:00am, departs at 6:00pm.
- Day 4 – Bodrum. Arrives at 8:00am, departs at 8:00pm.
- Day 5 – Sailing.
- Day 6 – Mykonos. Arrives at 9:00am.
- Day 7 – Mykonos. Departs at 2:00pm.
- Day 8 – Piraeus (Athens). Arrives at 6:30am.
Adriatic Sea & Greek Gems
- Day 1 – Piraeus (Athens). Departs at 6:00pm.
- Day 2 – Sailing.
- Day 3 – Split. Arrives at 9:00am, departs at 9:00pm.
- Day 4 – Dubrovnik. Arrives at 9:00am, departs at 10:00pm.
- Day 5 – Kotor. Arrives at 9:00am, departs at 07:00pm.
- Day 6 – Corfu. Arrives at 9:00am, departs at 09:00pm.
- Day 7 – Sailing.
- Day 8 – Piraeus (Athens). Arrives at 0630.
The Irresistible Med
- Day 1 – Barcelona. Departs at 6:00pm.
- Day 2 – Toulon. Arrives at 9:00am, departs at 6:00pm.
- Day 3 – Marina di Carrara. Arrives at 8:00am, departs at 8:00pm.
- Day 4 – Sailing.
- Day 5 – Ajaccio. Arrives at 8:00am, departs at 5:00pm.
- Day 6 – Ibiza. Arrives at 7:00pm.
- Day 7 – Ibiza. Departs at 6:00pm.
- Day 8 – Barcelona. Arrives at 6:30am.
French Daze & Ibiza Nights
- Day 1 – Barcelona. Departs at 6:00pm.
- Day 2 – Marseille. Arrives at 8:00am, departs at 7:00pm.
- Day 3 – Cannes. Arrives at 8:00am, departs at 9:00pm.
- Day 4 – Palma de Mallorca. Arrives at 6:00pm.
- Day 5 – Palma de Mallorca. Departs at 6:00pm.
- Day 6 – Ibiza. Arrives at 7:00pm.
- Day 7 – Ibiza. Departs at 6:00pm.
- Day 8 – Barcelona. Arrives at 6:30am.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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