Virgin Voyages is a new and popular cruise line known for its innovative, trendy, and all-inclusive experiences. As part of their “Always Included Luxury” cruise fare, all guests receive free basic WiFi on the ship and at their private resort, The Beach Club at Bimini.
Their decision makes Virgin Voyages one of the only cruise lines providing guests free WiFi.
While the basic internet service is good for email, web browsing, and instant messaging, Virgin Voyages also offers premium packages for guests who require faster connectivity or the ability to stream music and videos. Prices for the highest-speed package start at $40 for a four-night cruise vacation.
While onboard Scarlet Lady, we tested their Virgin Voyages WiFi packages to see if the premium package was worth the price and compared their internet speeds with other cruise lines.
Virgin Voyages WiFi Packages and Pricing
Virgin Voyages provides two WiFi packages for guests.
- Basic WiFi is provided for free to all sailors. The basic plan is slow but provides internet, email, messaging, and social media access.
- Premium Voyage internet plan provides faster browsing speeds at an additional price. It’s the only internet plan that includes video and movie streaming.
The internet service can be accessed anywhere on the vessel. And their “always on” WiFi makes it easy to connect.
There’s no fancy password to log in. Simply enter your name and cabin number, and your device is connected for the cruise.
There’s no logging in and out while you’re onboard.
Unlike other cruise lines, you don’t need to log out to change devices or log out to save precious internet minutes. The WiFi is unlimited and usable on multiple devices, even when upgraded to the faster internet plan.
Best of all, the WiFi plans are accessible at The Beach Club at Bimini, Virgin Voyages’ private beach destination in the Bahamas.
Basic (Free)
Virgin Voyages includes the Basic WiFi package for every sailor as part of their all-inclusive fare. Sailors can use the onboard internet to browse the web, access emails, use social media, make voice calls, and send messages.
While sailing on Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady in the Bahamas, we found consistent internet speeds of 1-2 Mbps.
This basic internet service provides a reliable experience for casual browsing but may not be suitable for more demanding tasks like streaming or video calls. While we could browse the web, pages took longer to load.
Additionally, we didn’t notice drops in connection throughout the day. However, we were surprised to find a consistent connection throughout the ship. We found no dead zones or drop-off spots while exploring the cruise ship.
Premium Voyage
For passengers who require faster connectivity and the ability to stream music or videos, Virgin Voyages offers a Premium WiFi package at an affordable price. By upgrading to Premium WiFi, you’ll get faster internet speeds.
You’ll need to upgrade to Premium Internet to stream audio and video.
The cost of the Premium WiFi package varies depending on the length of the cruise. Upgrading to the Premium WiFi plan costs $50 for our five-night cruise. But it is available at a discounted price of $40 if you book it on the first day of the voyage.
Virgin also allows guests to purchase the upgraded internet plan daily at $15 per day.
The Premium package is a must to stream videos, movies, or audio. We purchased the package simply for the faster internet speeds and were pretty impressed.
How Much Does Virgin Voyages Internet Service Cost?
The basic internet service on Virgin Voyages cruise ships is entirely free for all sailors. Premium WiFi can be purchased for $50 during a four or five-night sailing or at a daily rate of $15.
If you purchase the Premium Voyage internet service on embarkation day, you’ll receive a $10 discount, bringing the cost down to $40.
Virgin Voyages is one of the few cruise lines to offer free internet for cruisers.
Even their Premium internet plan is cheaper than other cruise lines. Most mainstream cruise lines charge anywhere from $25 to $40 per day for basic internet. But Virgin’s Premium WiFi is only $50 for the entire cruise or $10 per day on a five-night sailing.
It’s important to remember that while onboard WiFi is included in the cruise fare, Virgin Voyages’ cruise fare is considerably more than other mainstream cruise lines.
But you get what you pay for.
The cruise line’s basic fare includes WiFi, soda, gratuities, and all dining onboard Virgin Voyages. It’s all part of their “Always Included Luxury” pricing.
How Fast is Virgin Voyages Internet Service?
While on Scarlet Lady in the Bahamas, we tested the Basic internet plan. On our five-day cruise, we conducted multiple speed tests at different times of the day.
Overall, Virgin Voyages Basic internet package provides internet speeds of 1-2 Mbps.
The internet is fast enough for basic web browsing, email, social media, and messaging. But you won’t be able to stream music and movies.
Below is a screenshot of a speed test we conducted while docked in Key West, Florida. I took this speed test from our cabin on the 13th deck in the middle of the ship. The speed test recorded download speeds of 2.07 Mbps and upload speeds of 2.25 Mbps.
And again, here is another screenshot of a speed test we conducted while sailing off the coast of the Bahamas. This speed test was slightly faster than the previous day in Key West. We recorded download speeds of 2.18 Mbps and upload speeds of 1.26 Mbps. This time, I was sitting by the “Well-Being Pool,” the smaller of the two main pools on the pool deck.
We had some luck loading Facebook and Twitter videos, but only after a long buffering time. But we couldn’t get YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Disney Plus to work on the Basic service.
Overall, the internet connection was mostly consistent. I say mostly because there were some times during the day when internet speeds noticeably dropped. This is likely due to the inconsistency of the satellite internet service.
We didn’t notice any drop-offs or dead zones as we made our way around the ship. This was a pleasant surprise as it provided a more consistent internet experience. As a newer vessel, Scarlet Lady is built with technology in mind. And the internet access was consistent no matter where we were on the ship.
As we stayed with the Basic package, we couldn’t directly test the Premium Voyage WiFi.
However, several passengers were kind enough to give us speed tests with the Premium internet service.
We found a wide range of internet speeds, but generally, the Virgin Voyages Premium WiFi provides speeds of 3-8 Mbps.
The Premium WiFi plan provides a noticeably faster web experience. Web pages loaded considerably faster than on the Basic plan, though nowhere near the speeds were used to seeing back home.
The most significant benefit of the upgraded WiFi package is the ability to stream music, podcasts, movies, and television. While passengers who purchased the Premium package could access YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, and more, passengers couldn’t always stream in high definition. The video was somewhat blurry, with occasional buffering of 10-20 seconds.
