We’re back with another guest post from Virgin Voyages’ Head of Music, Jeremy Larochelle. This time, he’s breaking down the way we channel the sounds you hear based on time of day, location, and — most importantly — vibe.

First of all, we got some good news in June: in the Rolling Stone Travel Awards 2026, Virgin Voyages got named "Coolest Cruise for Music Fans."  They called us out for being a cruise brand "with music deeply embedded into its DNA," which couldn't be more true.

This award is a testament to the way we've tried to build a program with a focus on culture-building, and we're honored by the distinction!

Now on to today's topic.

How Virgin Voyages does music for every part of your day on board

There are five vibes at Virgin Voyages: Dark, Chill, Awake, Groove, and Celebrate. These five vibes allow us to create moments of music, energy, enthusiasm, and connection not only across each day, but within each space and throughout the entirety of a Sailor’s voyage.

For example, if it’s a sea day and about 2 o’clock and you’re up by the pool, there’s a very good chance the DJ is up there and you are in a Celebratory moment. If you come down into SIP Champagne Lounge, you’ll find yourself in a Chill moment. Make your way out to Deck 7 Starboard, and you are going to be in a Dark moment. If you walk all the way aft to The Dock, you are likely going to find yourself in an Awake moment.

As the ship transitions through the day and through the voyage, so do these moments. The pool moves from Celebrate to Chill to Dark, while On the Rocks finds its way through Awake, through Groove, and through Celebrate.

These vibes not only give our Sailors opportunities for music choice, they also allow us to do something very unique: we can operate the way Virgin Records did for decades. We can hire musicians based solely on the quality of their music. It doesn’t matter the genre, the instrumentation, where they’re from, what they look like, or who they love. Pretty much any style of music will fit within our vibes.

This allows us to operate like that indie record label did, and is a key part of our overall success onboard, musically speaking.

Now these two elements — our ability to influence your experience through music throughout the voyage, the day, and the space, and our ability to hire solely based on quality and fit — give you, our Sailors, the opportunity to experience music viscerally in three ways throughout the voyage.

You’ll have moments to bask in music you may or may not know. You’ll have moments to revel in music and celebrate the moment. And finally, because we are an indie record label at our core, you'll have moments to explore new music to take home.

The five vibes of Virgin Voyages' onboard music program

So what are these vibes? Let’s talk about them.

1. The first is Dark. No music, because no music is a vibe too, especially when you’re at sea and you always have the ocean to hear. You’ll hear this on Deck 7 Starboard. You’ll occasionally hear it in The Perch, in The Scene, and of course from that red hammock on your balcony.

2. The next vibe is a step up energy-wise. A little more groove, a little more musical texture, limited vocals. We call this one Chill. You’ll typically find it during sunset on The Dock when a DJ is playing a Balearic or down-tempo house set. You can also catch it early in the morning in The Dock House, where it feels like the music is just massaging your brain. That’s Chill.

3. The third one is unique to us, special to the Virgin name. A little cheeky, a little European, a little out there, left of center. This is where our buskers live. Artists who treat The Roundabout like their pitch on the streets of Edinburgh. Laptap artists, loopers, violinists, even a flute beatboxer. Still chill in nature, still acoustic in nature, but with that element that makes you pay attention, keeps you alert. We call that one Awake.

4. For the fourth vibe, the best way to put it is this: if you’ve ever heard Slam Allen, that’s the vibe. If you’ve ever heard Kennedi & the Groove, that’s it too. Groove is that feeling where even if you’re not up and dancing, your ass is still wiggling in the seat.

5. And finally, the fifth. The apex of music energy on board. The moment where music makes you want to jump in a pool with all your clothes on. That’s Celebrate.

Those are the five vibes that steer the entire music experience on Virgin Voyages. Next time you sail with us, keep an ear out for them.