Virgin Add-ons: Splash of Romance vs. Splash for Your Bash
When choosing a cruise for an adult getaway, where adults can relax and have fun, Virgin Voyages has a lot to offer. And, while the up front price tag is generally more than other cruise lines, so much more is included in that price tag. On Virgin, basic drinks such as sodas, basic coffee, tea and juices are included, all of the food is included, gratuities are included as well as exercise classes and internet. This is a great value but even with all of this there are few items that you can add on to your experience.
Aside from adding bar tab to your cruise ahead of time, which comes with a certain amount of bonus bar tab depending on how much you purchase, there are two other items you can purchase: Splash of Romance and Splash for Your Bash. How are these two items similar and how are they different? Which of these might be right for you?
Splash of Romance is an add-on that currently costs $250 (valued at $350), which is the total cost for 2 sailors. It includes 1)cold-pressed juices, 2)a 3-hour thermal spa pass per sailor, 3)a sail away event that includes complimentary champagne, 4)aphrodisiac bites delivered to your room a couple of times per cruise, 5) a shake for champagne (a bottle of Chandon is delivered to you almost anywhere on the ship) and 6) priority check-in and boarding.
We purchased the Splash of Romance on our last cruise and found that, for us, the most desirable item included in this package is the priority boarding. Getting checked-in and on the ship early is really nice as you get the opportunity to rearrange in dining reservations, take a tour of the ship, and go to your room for most others. The shake for champagne was a bit gimicky but still fun. We didn’t really need it because we already had some bar tab on our account plus they are constantly giving away glasses of champagne and we had brought champagne with us. The juices were tasty but we only tried them one or two mornings. The aphrodisiacs were tasty but we were so full from all of the other good eats on the ship that we didn’t really need that either. We enjoyed the thermal spa experience but would opt to go at a time that was less crowded. The sailaway party was nice. We grabbed a complimentary beverage, listened to the live music for a bit and then headed out to find some other fun on the ship.
Splash for Your Bash is an add-on that also currently costs $250 (valued at $375) and is designed for 2 sailors in mind as well. For bigger groups, each group of two should purchase this package so as to enjoy everything together, which is really how the package was designed. This package includes 1)Bottomless Brunch for 2 at the Wake (the steak house) or Razzle Dazzle (the mainly vegetarian restaurant), 2)a dinner party that pairs beverages with that restaurants best dishes, and 3)a bottle of Chandon champagne.
We have not experienced Splash for Your Bash first-hand but we have experienced parts on it. While at brunch at the Wake on our last cruise, I opted for the bottomless brunch. For a set-fee of $25, I could order bottomless and varied drink items such as a Bloody Mary, Mimosa, Sparkling Wine, glass of rosé, Heineken, or Strongbow. It was nice to be able to switch back and forth between different beverages and seemed like a decent deal (you would need to order more than 2 make it a really good deal as Mimosas and Bloody Mary’s are $11-13). The dinner party sounds fun and looks to include 3 glasses of wine but you could easily plan your own dinner party and order whatever beverages you would like. Finally, as with Splash of Romance, having a bottle of Chandon is nice but you might have already had your fill of it while on the ship.
Our thoughts are that since many sailors already have bar tab or sailor loot gifted to them whether through a promotion, the My Next Virgin Voyages deal, or from their travel agent that perhaps these add-ons might be unnecessary. If you are a sailor without priority boarding and you do not have a lot of sailor loot or bar tab lined up, then Splash of Romance is a pretty good value, in our opinion. It is really nice to get on the ship before others. Many couples purchase Splash of Romance just for the priority boarding and this makes a lot of sense to me. Virgin’s current loyalty program includes priority boarding as a perk (and $100 bar tab per sailor) once you have sailed 5+ times so you might not need either package once you have sailed with them a bunch. Do either of these add-ons appeal to you?
