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Stuart with Special Guests Chris Fountain and Suzanne Shaw

As part of the Blue Bay Concierge team, Gemma and I were invited to the launch of the new v-room at Manchester airport on 28th June 2011.

Following the fantastic success of the v-room at London Gatwick, Virgin decided to offer passengers travelling from Manchester the opportunity to experience the same Rockstar Service by opening a v-room at Terminal 2. Since opening in 2008, Virgin Holidays’ London Gatwick v-room has achieved customer satisfaction scores of almost 90%.

The v-room is exclusively for Virgin Holidays customers, allowing travellers the chance to escape the hustle and bustle of crowds, be treated like an ‘A-lister’ and enjoy the special extras like the amazing surroundings, facilities, free food and soft drinks.

We were greeted at the reception area where you can enter the lounge via two ways; to the left is the adults-only area and to the right is the family area. The lounge is decorated very tastefully in the colours of Virgin with a funky modern twist. There is an amazing picture along the wall; as you walk towards the family area it appears as a picture of the Salford Bridge, then as you walk the other way towards paradise the picture changes to a beautiful beach setting. It has been very well thought out down to the smallest detail, like the light shades over the help desk… they are made out of sunglasses!

We sampled the food service area where you can enjoy an array of spectacular foods as well as hot and cold beverages. The drinks menu in the lounge is chargeable, but it is at a competitive price.

The lounge can accommodate 100 guests and includes different areas for adults, teens and younger travellers. There are state-of-the-art entertainment systems including a wall-sized interactive gaming screen with an Xbox 360 Kinect. Flat screen televisions feature throughout the lounge. The teens area has table football, a PlayStation and laptops. The younger children’s section features a soft secure area with a television showing children’s TV programmes, a magnetic wall and toys for them to enjoy. Not forgetting the adults; they are able to enjoy their own dedicated area with a stylish bar.

I have never personally been in a lounge before and I was pleasantly surprised by how fantastic they are in terms of facilities and what you actually get for your money. The v-room was so spacious even though there was over one hundred people in there for the launch. People are often under the impression that if they are travelling economy class that they can’t have access to the lounges, but they most certainly can! Next time I go on holiday with Virgin I will definitely be booking my family in to the v-room.

The v-room is available for use up to 3 hours prior to your scheduled flight departure and is exclusively available to Virgin Holidays customers only.

You can book a v-room for only £20 per adult and £12 per child (aged 2–11) and infants go FREE.*

If you are interested in booking a v-room to add a little something special to your dream holiday, please contact our Blue Bay Concierge department on 08444 999 349 or email concierge@bluebaytravel.co.uk.

You can learn more about our concierge department here.

Terms and conditions
Opening times are 06.15-13.00 daily. v-rooms are subject to availability. *When booked in advance.

Laura and Gemma (center) enjoying the v-room launch

Click here to book The Verandah Resort & Spa from £1159pp

Kevin and the gang

Having heard excellent things about The Verandah Resort & Spa, I had rather high expectations. I have to say it more than lived up to these expectations and in most cases, far exceeded them.

The resort has a sort of ‘village’ feel with each villa being individually named. Another nice touch were the little buggies that were always driving around to take you around the resort… very handy when you’ve got tired legs after a busy day.

The Verandah Resort & Spa

Although the hotel only has 3 restaurants, the choice of food was extensive and the quality of the food was very high. It had one of the best selections of all inclusive food that I have seen. The only thing I would say is that the restaurants had a tendency to be a bit warm, though a table by the window helped a little.

The staff were all really friendly and were always on hand to help. Nothing was too much trouble and they seemed to genuinely go out of their way to have a bit of a chat with each guest and ensure everyone was having a good time.

The Wedding Gazebo

The hotel has two pristine reef-sheltered beaches; I am not the world’s greatest swimmer, but because the water was so calm (due to the bay location of the resort) and the beach was very shallow-sloping, you couldn’t keep me out of the warm, turquoise water. The Verandah is also Green Globe Certified, with the resort’s daily operation being geared towards ecological preservation of the surrounding environment.

We spent quite a bit of time in the huge free-form pool at the hotel and I would certainly recommend the cocktails which they serve from the pool bar.

The main pool area

There are lots of different watersports and activities to enjoy on the main beach and not just one, but two 18 hole golf courses.

I would highly recommend taking the short stroll to the nearby Devil’s Bridge; be sure to take your camera because the views are stunning! The ferocity of the water beating down onto the limestone cliffs not only creates fantastic scenery, but also a series of extreme sounds, produced when the water is forced through holes in the limestone, which it has created over time. You can also go on various island tours, including one that takes you past Eric Clapton’s mansion… which has to be seen to be believed!

Devil's Bridge

This hotel has definitely earned its place high on my list of favourites and I would definitely recommend it for couples, families and groups. There was so much to do, I could have easily stayed for 14 nights and I would have still had plenty to do on a return visit!

Click here to visit our Verandah hotel page and learn more about the resort.

Plus for a limited time only you will also receive a FREE UK Airport Lounge Pass when you book The Verandah with us, as part of our Exclusive Offer of the Week.

Click here to learn more about this offer.

I’m very pleased to announced that our new Staff Favourites page is now live!

If you have ever spoken to one of our team, you will know how much they love to rave about their favourite resorts! So much so that we’ve given them all the chance to share their favourites with you all. Naturally, most of them wanted to include a whole selection of favourites… but eventually they gave in and managed to narrow it down to just one each.

Head on over to our Staff Favourites page here to read all about at what everyone got up to on their trips and what they recommend.

We recently had a little surprise visit from Leah and Amanda at Sandals who very kindly brought along a plethora of cupcakes for us all to enjoy for winning the Sandals Weddings Cupcake Incentive.

Take a look at our girls enjoying some yummy cupcakes (click to view larger), as featured in Travel Bulletin magazine.

The South Ari Atoll from the Seaplane window

Having heard my colleagues talking so passionately about the Maldives and not travelled there before, I was really looking forward to this trip! There was going to be so much to see and do, it wasn’t going to be a relaxing break but one which I knew both me and my clients would benefit from…

Sunday 15^th May

After a very easy train journey down to London, I met up with the rest of the agents at Heathrow Terminal 4 ready for our Sri Lankan Airlines flight to Male. The flight was relatively quiet so as soon as the plane took off we were able to move seats and I had a row of 4 in the middle of the plane to myself. Add the fantastic Sri Lankan food to this and it amounted to a very pleasant overnight flight!

Monday 16^th May

I arrived into Male at just gone midday after an uneventful but very comfortable flight. We were met in the arrivals hall by the rep and shown to the speedboat for our 90 minute transfer to Kuramathi.

What a place! After a look round the various Villas we walked up to the Sand Bar at the top end of the island for sunset.

Sunset on the Sandbank at Kuramathi Island Resort

Definitely a great way to spend the first evening in the Maldives! We walked back from the sandbank (via the jetty to watch the Stingray feeding) back down to the main part of the resort to enjoy a very relaxing meal in the Malaafaiy Restaurant. After dinner there was time to relax on the beach at one of the Islands 6 bars before well and truly breaking the peace and quiet on the Karaoke in the Havana Club.

Tuesday 17^th May

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