We’ve sailed Virgin a number of times now, but none of us ever tried out the Splash of Romance package. Which is kinda strange, to be honest. Virgin Voyages’ Splash of Romance is one of the most popular add-ons they offer and we get asked about it all the time by clients. So, on our last voyage with them, I decided to remedy that oversight and try it out.
What is the Splash of Romance Package?
Have you ever wanted literal Cupid, the classical mythological figure, to grace your romantic getaway with a few heart-tipped arrows and some cold-pressed juice? Well, if the answer is yes, I’m sorry to say that there’s no Cupid, but Virgin does have you covered with the cold-pressed juice.
The package costs $250 (up from $200 in the past) and only 90 people can purchase it on any voyage. That means that availability is limited and you might not be able to get it if you wait to purchase it later on. So, what is it then?
Here’s what ‘s in the Splash of Romance package:
- Priority Boarding
- Curated daily cold-pressed juices
- Two 3-Hour Thermal Spa Passes
- A Shake for Champagne
- Exclusive Sail Away Hour
- Sultry bites
Let’s break that down a little more.
Virgin Voyages Splash of Romance – What you get
Priority Boarding – This allows you to board before most others. Rockstars (the people who booked a suite) still get to board before you, but you get to board before all the other standard boarding times. This is at the same time that the folks with Deep Blue Extras, DBE, get to board. But let me warn you about something a little weird with this.
When you have DBE or Splash of Romance, there isn’t a special booking time available to you or displayed on the Virgin Voyages app. You still need to select boarding time in the app as you register for the cruise, but it doesn’t matter. You simply show up at around 1:30-2:00 (actual times may vary) and you just… have to know that. I don’t know why Virgin does it that way, but they do, and now you know what to do.
Curated daily cold-pressed juices – This is pretty self explanatory, but here’s what you do to get it. Each day of your voyage, head up to deck 15 and go to the pool. The bar there is called Gym and Tonic and they serve cold-pressed juices until 11AM each day. You will scan your wrist band and get your juice. Pretty simple.
If you like juices, it’s really tasty!
Two 3-hour Thermal Spa Passes – Down on deck 5, there is a thermal spa. If you buy the Splash of Romance package, you’ll get two passes for three hours at the spa together. I’ll talk more about what the spa is like in a minute.
Shake for Champagne – This is a fun feature! Anytime during the trip, when on the ship, you can open up the Virgin app and literally shake your phone. It will trigger a prompt to appear on screen and you then select “Yes” to receive the champagne. It’s a bottle of Moet and Chandon, which is the partnered champagne brand with Virgin.
This is a significant part of the value proposition to the package because that same bottle would otherwise cost around $105 to purchase on the ship.
Sail Away Hour – On the first day, as you leave your port, Virgin schedules an hour at one of the ship’s bars where you can go and get some complimentary drinks and hors d’oeuvres. There are usually two options for drinks, usually a bubbly and a sangria.
Virgin Voyages Splash of Romance – These are one of the Sultry Bites. Ooohhh, so sultry! (I guess? I don’t know what makes a macaroon sultry. It was tasty though!)
Sultry Bites – Several times during the voyage, someone on the crew will come by with some sweet treats made just for Splash of Romance people. They offer a variety of chocolates and pastries for these bites, and they’re meant to be romantic-y types of things. You don’t get to choose what you get, but they do bring them right to you!
That’s the overview of the perks, but let’s weigh things a bit.
Value is Very Subjective
Everything that comes with this pack is potentially worth it, but it all depends on what matters to you. Let me explain.
Take the champagne, it’s the second most valuable item in the package at around $105 on board price, but if you don’t like champagne, then it’s worthless to you. If you know someone who likes champagne, it’s possible to bring the bottle home to them in your luggage, but the bottle can be purchased for around $50 in many places, so justifying the champagne as a gift for someone else, doesn’t really make sense.
The same thing applies to the Savory Bites and juices. If you like those things, then they provide value to you, if you don’t like them, then it’s meaningless. I liked them both, but I like sweets and juices. Your enjoyment may vary.
Early boarding is what most people buy Splash of Romance for, which I understand. Typically, people want to get on the ship as soon as possible so they can start enjoying their vacation to the fullest. Personally, I get this mindset. I don’t want to stick around the port town, I want to get on the ship – if I wanted to stay in the city, I would have booked the vacation there instead of the cruise. Lots of folks think that early boarding is all the reason they need to spring for the package. In addition, the people who board soonest tend to have the best luck making reservations for dinner, and other events like the Grog Walk.
Thermal Spa
The thermal spa passes are the most divisive among people though. If you’ve never been to a thermal spa, I’d say give it a try, because you never know if you like something without trying it! I’ve spent time in thermal spas before and I enjoy them and I enjoyed what Virgin offered. I didn’t take any pictures, because that’s a creepy thing to do in a spa, but you can find promotional images on Virgin’s site to give you an idea.
Inside there’s a sauna, a salt room, a mud room, heated marble benches, and hot and cold plunge pools. If you haven’t used these facilities before, staff are happy to give you a tour and explain it as you go. The biggest thing that I don’t think many U.S. folks understand is that these are shared spaces, they aren’t private and just for you. Spa culture isn’t as prevalent in the U.S. as it is in Europe, at least in my experience, so this explains a lot of the confusion I see. Since you will be sharing the area with other guests, wearing a swimsuit is necessary.
There’s also no massage included with Virgin Voyages Splash of Romance. It’s not that they don’t have massage services, they do, it’s just not part of the Splash of Romance package. Some folks think that’s part of what they get and are disappointed when they find out what the package really is. I enjoyed my time in the thermal spa and would do it again. The staff is excellent, and the quality is quite high for a cruise ship.
As the most valuable item in the package, at least monetarily speaking, it’s worth talking about on its own. Purchasing it for two people separately costs between $120 and $160 (the price changes if you are in port or at sea), so out of the $250 price tag of Splash of Romance, this is a big part of it. As a final tip, the spa staff recommends coming on a port day because it’s less busy, but that’s only true as long as it doesn’t rain heavily and cancel all the excursions!
Is Splash of Romance Worth it?
It’s an easy answer for me, yes. But the answer may not be so quick for you.
I can’t say that it really represents a significant bargain. If you purchase the champagne and thermal spa passes separately, you would wind up close to breaking even. The juices push it over the goal line, again, just in monetary terms, but not by much. The Sultry Bites are nice, but they’re not better than all the other already amazing sweets available on the ship, and the Sail Away Hour is fine, but it’s easy to miss it as you’re getting your room set up or getting changed for dinner.
What does it come down to then?
Priority Boarding.
It was always going to be about Priority Boarding, wasn’t it? Yes, it was.
Virgin Voyages Splash of Romance doesn’t represent some sort of great deal, it’s basically pre-puchasing a few things. Priority Boarding is where the value truly lays.
Look, if you want to get on the ship ASAP and you don’t have Deep Blue Extras or a suite, Splash of Romance is made for you. This is really what the package is about, just feeling a little more special on your vacation. It doesn’t represent an amazing deal or some steal of the century thing, it’s just about feeling special.
So, ask yourself, when you take a vacation, do you want to feel special? I know that I do, and that’s why Splash or Romance gets a thumbs-up from me.
