Virgin Voyages cabin upgrades: how Level Upgrade bidding works

Virgin Voyages upgrades work through a program called Level Upgrade: on sailings Virgin opens to it, you offer an amount to add to your booking price for a higher cabin category. If Virgin accepts, your card on file is charged and your booking moves up. If it doesn’t, you pay nothing and keep your original cabin. Virgin says most answers come about 48 hours before sailing. Once accepted, the upgrade is final and non-refundable, with narrow exceptions.

How Level Upgrade works

1. Check if you’re eligible. Virgin may email you an invitation, or you can enter your last name and booking ID on the Level Upgrade page at virginvoyages.com. Eligible bookings are sent to Virgin’s upgrade partner site to place an offer.
2. Place your offer. Name the amount you’d add to your existing price. You see the total before you submit, and you get a confirmation email after.
3. Wait for the answer by email. You’re only charged if Virgin accepts.

A few rules worth knowing before you bid:

• One offer covers the whole cabin. If two or more people share the booking, one person submits the offer for everyone, and the amount is per cabin.
• You can bid on more than one category at once. Virgin’s example is open offers on a Seriously Suite and a Posh Suite at the same time. You’re only ever charged for one.
• Every category but one is in play. Virgin says all cabin categories except the Massive Suite are eligible, depending on availability.
• Not every sailing opens. Virgin picks which voyages get Level Upgrade and when, and it says no upgrade is guaranteed, even if cabins in that category are empty.
• Virgin keeps winning bids private. It doesn’t share what other Sailors paid.

Timing

Level Upgrade opens on specific sailings at different times, and Virgin says it will email you when you can bid. After that, the key dates count back from departure:

If you get no email, Virgin says to call Sailor Services at +1 954 488 2955.

How you’re charged

• A $1 hold goes on your card when you place the offer, and it’s removed once the offer is accepted or turned down.
• If accepted, the full amount is charged right away to the payment on file. Virgin notes the charge may show up under the name Plusgrade.
• Card declined? You get 24 hours to resubmit, though the cabin may be gone by then.
• How to pay: most credit and debit cards. You can’t use Future Voyage Credit (more in our Future Voyage Credit guide).
• Voyage Protection: if you bought it through Virgin, you pay the increase that comes with the higher fare.
• Flexpay: if your trip is financed through Flexpay, Virgin says you can upgrade by applying for a new Flexpay loan.

What changes with your booking

Your fare choice carries over. Virgin’s example: an Insider booked on a Base fare that wins a Central Sea Terrace becomes a Central Sea Terrace on a Base fare, with Base’s rules. The exception is suites: bid into a RockStar or Mega RockStar suite and you get that category’s perks. One clause says the suite’s policies apply too, while another keeps your original booking’s cancellation terms, so ask us which rules you’d be on before you bid. Virgin says a cabin-to-suite upgrade gets every amenity a suite guest gets.

Your existing promotions stay, but the upgrade doesn’t add any new ones. You aren’t promised a specific cabin number. And if you’re traveling with friends in separate cabins, each booking is judged on its own, so upgraded cabins may not end up near each other.

Refunds

Accepted means final. Virgin’s terms allow a refund only if Virgin cancels the voyage and your upgraded category isn’t available on the rescheduled one, or if Virgin moves you to another voyage in your original cabin class. If you change your voyage after winning, there’s no refund and no promise of the upgrade on the new sailing. Add-ons like Bar Tab follow their own refund rules.

Other ways to move up

• Change your cabin directly. Whether you can change or upgrade depends on when you booked and which fare you chose. Ask Sailor Services or your travel advisor.
• Lock It In rates. You’re guaranteed a minimum category at a lower price, and Virgin may upgrade you at no extra charge at its discretion. The trade-off: no changes, no refunds and no Future Voyage Credit.
• Once you’re onboard. Virgin’s upgrade pages only cover offers before sailing, and they don’t describe buying a cabin upgrade onboard. If you want to ask, Sailor Services onboard is the place.

Deciding which cabin to start in? Our choosing a cabin guide compares every category, and how booking works explains the fares that carry over to an upgrade.