Solo on Virgin Voyages: Cabins, Costs, and What It’s Actually Like

I have sailed Virgin Voyages alone twice, on sailings seven and eight, and I would do it again. I would not sail alone on any other cruise line I have been on, and I have been on plenty.

That is the short answer. The longer one is that I had six specific worries before I booked, and every one of them turned out to be wrong in a way worth explaining.

So here is what a solo sailing actually costs, which cabin makes sense, and what happens on board when you turn up on your own.

There is also a three step playbook at the end. It is the part I wish somebody had handed me before my first solo sailing, and it takes about ten minutes to action.

1. Won’t It Cost Twice as Much to Sail Alone?

This is the worry that stops most people, and it is the one with the clearest answer: no, not on this line, because they build cabins for one.

Solo travel almost always costs more per person, because you are not splitting anything. Virgin Voyages gets around it with the Solo Insider, a smaller interior cabin sold to one sailor with no single supplement bolted on.

It is small, and it has no window. It is a good place to sleep and shower before you go and use the rest of a very large ship, and it is priced accordingly.

Here is a rough comparison for a five night Caribbean sailing, priced for two people against one. Treat these as a shape, not a quote: fares move constantly with season, demand and how far out you book.

Room Type	Price for 2	Price for 1
Mega Rockstar	$13,000	$7,400
Rockstar	$8,000	$4,500
Sea Terrace	$2,600	$2,300
Insider	$2,300	$2,000
Solo Insider	not available	$1,600

The line that matters is the bottom one. A Solo Insider comes in well under the cabin types you would otherwise be paying single occupancy on.

I did not book one, and I want to be honest about that. Both times I sailed alone I paid up for a Sea Terrace, because I want daylight and a balcony and I will spend money on that over almost anything else.

So the Solo Insider is the reason the maths works, and you do not have to take it. Sailing alone in a balcony cabin costs more than sharing one, and it is still not the double you are bracing for.

2. Won’t I Feel Lonely?

I do not get lonely easily. I have travelled alone through nine countries and spent three weeks in Vietnam by myself. Cruising still worried me, because almost everybody arrives as a pair.

What changed it is that Virgin Voyages notices you are alone and does something about it, without you having to announce anything.

I never told anyone I was sailing solo. There was one name on the cabin, so a letter turned up in my room inviting me to the solo sailor meetup. That is the whole mechanism, and it works.

The invite tells you exactly where to be. On my sailing it was 5pm at The Athletic Club on deck 16 aft, then dinner at Razzle Dazzle at 6:45pm, where you look for the table with the vinyl record on it.

The part that is new and that nobody seems to know: it is not just the first night any more. There is now a solo table reserved every single night of the voyage. Turn up at The Social Club on deck 7 at 5:45pm and you will be walked to it.

If the weather is poor the meetup moves inside to Loose Cannon rather than being cancelled. Check your letter, it tells you which.

You are allowed to come and go. This is the misperception I hear most: people think that if they have a show booked, or a dinner reservation, they cannot attend at all.

The first time, I brought a drink up from the bar, chatted, and left halfway through so I could get to my actual dinner. The second time I arrived late. Nobody minded either time. It is a door, not an appointment.

There is also an opt-in WhatsApp group for the sailing. That is the thing I would genuinely miss now. People post that they are heading to the beach club, or ask whether anyone fancies dinner, and you join in at exactly the level you want or just read it.

The app has its own connect feature and I use it less. It shows other sailors your itinerary, and sometimes I want to go to dinner on my own without explaining myself.

3. But What If Nobody Talks to Me?

Here is the difference that actually matters, and it is about staff rather than sailors.

I have seen solo meetups on other cruise lines. They are a sign in the corner of a bar and a time. You walk over and hope, and then you stand there working out whether the person next to you is also there for it.

On Virgin Voyages the Happenings Cast run it. They introduce themselves, then they introduce you to other people, and they keep doing it. That is a job someone is actually doing, not a sign.

Then there is Gunbae, which does the work for you. It is the Korean barbecue, you are seated with strangers at a shared table, and there is a drinking game built into the meal. You do not have to drink to play it. I fill my glass with something else.

A tip I use every time at check-in: tell the host you would rather wait a little longer and be seated with a fun table. I have watched quiet tables from across the room and it is a different night.

The Grog Walk is the other one, and it is the best $50 on the ship for a solo sailor. It is a bar crawl with a specialty cocktail at each stop, so it roughly pays for itself, but that is not why I recommend it.

It has social cards. You physically have to go and talk to the other people on the crawl to get your drink. Compare that with bingo, where everybody arrives with whoever they came with and leaves with them.

I have done two Grog Walks and drank nothing on either. I gave every drink away. It still worked.

One detail that tells you how it is run: there is a caboose. A member of the Happenings Cast stays at the back, so if you need the bathroom you tell them and they wait, because you have no idea which bar the group is walking to next.

4. Can I Still Try Everything If I Am Eating Alone?

This one sounds trivial and it is the question I personally had hardest.

When I sail with my boyfriend he orders enormously, and I get a taste of everything without committing to a whole plate of it. Alone, I assumed I had to pick one thing and live with it, and I hate wasting food.

The answer is just to ask, and the answer is almost always yes. Tell your waiter you are dining alone and you want to try more things in smaller amounts. Every one of them has worked with me on it.

My favourite example: at Extra Virgin I wanted the cheese and charcuterie board but only had room for the charcuterie. So that is what he brought me. Meat only, no negotiation, no fuss.

A few other ways round it:

• The Galley is a food hall rather than a buffet, and it is built for grazing across several things.
• Test Kitchen serves small coursed portions by design, so it is the easy one to do alone.
• Double up. Have dinner at one restaurant and a second, smaller dinner somewhere else. They will let you if you ask nicely.
• At Gunbae, ask for the mixed barbecue and you get a taste of everything rather than committing to one meat.

Nobody limits how much you order here, solo or not. The constraint is your appetite, and the staff will work around it.

OR if you’re just looking for some inspo! See the curated list of Amazon items I’ve put together (and use!) for Virgin Voyages.

5. Will I Be Unsafe Going Out Alone?

AI went out. The Manor, the pool parties, Scarlet Night, all of it, on my own, and I felt fine. Two things did that.

There is security everywhere, and it does not feel heavy. What I actually do is make eye contact, and often just introduce myself. A quick hello, I am Christine, I am sailing alone. Now somebody knows, and if I ever walk over to them mid-party I do not have to explain why.

The second thing is the Happenings Cast again. They are out dancing at the pool party with everybody else. You can stand next to them, and it is very hard to feel like the only person on their own when the staff are having a better time than you are.

Now the thing I did not like, because a review with nothing in this section is not a review.

Every restaurant host asks for your cabin number, out loud, in a queue. As a solo sailor I was announcing which room I was staying in, several times a day, to whoever was standing there.

Nothing came of it. It still bothered me, and one night somebody worked out exactly where I was staying purely from hearing it.

So here is what I do now: I show them my cabin number on the app instead of saying it. It takes the same two seconds and nobody in the queue learns where I sleep. If you take one thing from this post, take that.

6. Won’t I Be Bored?

No. The real risk on this ship is the opposite one, and I have made that mistake too.

On my early sailings I tried to do everything and came home needing a holiday. There is more programming here than you can physically attend.

What I did not expect is that sailing alone is the version I enjoyed most, for the obvious reason: nobody else gets a vote.

I ate at two restaurants in one night, which they will allow if you ask nicely. I took every fitness class I wanted. I finally lay in the hammocks at the Beach Club and finally got up to The Perch on deck 17, both of which I had skipped on every previous sailing.

And I had over $1,000 of Sailor Loot that I did not have to share with a single person. I will not pretend that was not part of the appeal.

Not sure if we can get you the best deal? Learn more about us in Virgin Voyages Facebook group by clicking here!

The Three Step Solo Playbook

This is the part I would hand to anybody sailing alone for the first time. Three steps, and two of them have deadlines.

Step one, 45 days before you sail: book Gunbae for night two. Dining reservations open 45 days out. Night one is the solo dinner, so putting Gunbae on night two means you meet a second set of people early in the week, while there is still a week left to run into them.

Step two, the moment you board: sign up for the Grog Walk. You can get on the ship’s wifi and book it as soon as you are on. There are only one or two per sailing and they sell out. Take the earliest one for the same reason as Gunbae.

Step three, 15 to 30 minutes before the sail away party: go to the solo meetup. Your welcome letter tells you where. Go to the party with the people you meet there, then go back for the solo dinner.

That is it. Two bookings and one appearance, and your first two nights are handled.

Virgin Voyages Solo Cruise FAQ

Does Virgin Voyages have solo cabins?

Yes. The Solo Insider is an interior cabin built and priced for one sailor, with no single supplement. It is small and has no window.

Is it expensive to cruise alone on Virgin Voyages?

Less than you would expect. On a sample five night Caribbean sailing a Solo Insider came in around $1,600 against $2,000 for a standard Insider priced for one.

Do you have to book the solo cabin to sail alone?

No. You can book any cabin as a single sailor. I have paid up for a Sea Terrace both times because I want the balcony.

How do you meet people sailing solo on Virgin Voyages?

A welcome letter invites you to the solo meetup on day one, there is a solo table reserved every night, an opt-in WhatsApp group for your sailing, plus Gunbae and the Grog Walk, which are both built around talking to strangers.

Is Virgin Voyages safe for solo female travellers?

I felt safe on both my solo sailings. Security is visible throughout. My one change: show your cabin number on the app rather than saying it out loud to restaurant hosts.

Is there a single supplement on Virgin Voyages?

Not on the Solo Insider, which is sold for one. Other cabin types priced for a single sailor cost more than half the double rate, but nothing like the full double.

So, Should You Cruise Alone on Virgin Voyages?

I did it twice and I am not finished. What makes it work is that you can choose your level, hour by hour, without negotiating it with anyone.

Some days that meant the WhatsApp group, the Grog Walk and a table full of strangers at Gunbae. Other days it meant a hammock at the Beach Club and not speaking to a soul.

If you are weighing up which sailing and which cabin to do it in, that is worth a conversation rather than a guess, and it costs you nothing to ask.