Why Virgin Voyages Is Perfect For Solo Travel
It’s 2024 and about time that more companies are realizing that there’s a huge number of solo travelers out there and accordingly attracting and catering to them. Hostels have always been great about this but cruise lines have slowly been warming up and making strides in this area. But I was not prepared and honestly just blown away by my Virgin Voyages (VV) cruise for how incredible the solo travel experience was on this cruise line.
I solo travel…a lot. There are so many reasons for why I do but it boils down to two things: I would miss out on so many places, experiences, things if I was to wait for others to be able to join me and solo travel doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be alone. After traveling to more that 50 countries by myself, I have learned that there are some commonalities between the companies that foster a great experience for solo travelers and how this can make/break the experience. So let’s take a look at how Virgin stacks up and why my solo traveler experience was so incredible for my most recent VV cruise.
#1: What Does Pricing Look Like For Solo Travelers
One of the downsides to solo travel is that there isn’t another person built into the trip to split expenses with, so it can be more expensive to travel on your own (many times considerably more). Not only are you not splitting costs for things like transportation, meals, hotels, on other items, there can be the dreaded solo supplement. Typically this is common on multi-day tours and cruises in which pricing assumes two people split a room/cabin and if you are solo, often you are paying to have the room/cabin to yourself with the fee sometimes being as high as paying for the price for two people!
Virgin Voyages has a certain sailings (and an unspecified number of rooms on these sailings) in which they have a reduced single supplement fee. The great part is that this isn’t something that is hidden on the website but something that VV actively promotes!
My experience: this was not applicable to me as I was on a comped cruise (the casino status match jackpot continues to pay off handsomely!) so I didn’t have to worry about paying a single supplement of any amount
#2: Is A Solo Traveler Experience Fostered By The Company?
What type of activities does that company have that allows solo travelers to connect? This is main reason I have stayed at hostels is that many have planned activities throughout the day that allow you to meet other travelers and often are more affordable alternatives to large tour companies’ offerings. I have booked or participated in such events as walking or biking tours, group day tours, pub crawls, foodie experiences, arts and crafts to so many trivia and bar game nights.
I had this letter in my stateroom upon embarking with information on first day solo activities including a meetup and dinner.
My experience: I arrived really late to the first portion of Solo Sailors meetup but was able to talk and meet a number of people right away. The meetup concluded shortly before the sail away party was starting so we all headed there. There were also other meetups scheduled throughout the cruise for solo travelers if you were unable to attend the first evening.
#3: Does The Company Participate in that Solo Traveler Experience?
I have found that if companies have their employees be part of the experiences, it sets the vibe for the property/company/experience. Many of the best hostels I have stayed at were exceptional due to property amenities but more importantly, the employees that worked there. They lead some of the tours or gave incredible recommendations (and would often join for a meal or drinks).
My experience: The first Solo Sailors meetup was led by members of the VV entertainment crew who also gave us recommendations for the rest of the week. Furthermore, there was the opportunity to dine with fellow solo travelers nightly and a member of Sailor Services was there to help facilitate organizing and distributing dinner reservations. We had a large crew for the first dinner at Razzle Dazzle and it was really fun being able connect and meet so many other people. And for some, dining alone can be a pain point so this would be very welcomed.
I have been on a few other cruises solo and there have been solo traveler meetups but they weren’t sponsored by the cruise line and didn’t attract a lot of people. It also could be that there wasn’t a lot of solo travelers to begin with on the line which leads to the most important question:
#4: Does The Company Attract Solo Travelers?
It is one thing to offer some pricing for solo travelers along with meetups and dinners, but what matters is are solo travelers actually booking with a company?
My experience: I was BLOWN away by the number of people at the Solo Sailors meetup that first day and I continued to meet even more solo travelers throughout the cruise. I had someone once remark that hostels become self selecting (AKA a certain type of traveler or a person wanting a certain type of experience will book X hostel so more likely to get along) and I wonder if this was also the case for Virgin Voyages. It was many people that wanted to connect and we ended up creating an incredibly large WhatsApp chat group by the second song during the sail away party.
There are two things that I find difficult to do while solo traveling – eating dim sum and going dancing by myself. I love that I have always found people to dance with (and feel safe) on my Virgin cruises but there was a different type of vibe for this cruise upon finding so many other Solo Sailors – I was able to find my tribe. For those that know the feeling, that is what makes traveling and connections so magical.
