THE V LIST… A WHOLE NEW WAY TO GET THE ROOMS YOU WANT!
What’s The V List and who is it for? We’re so glad you asked.
Our Alumni list is long and growing with each and every trip we produce. We have thousands of guests who’ve been with us multiple times and really love to book our adventures. Sometimes, though, the limited capacity on some of our smaller trips (which can be as small as 84 people) creates booking challenges for those who want the trip, but can’t get it. The same challenge applies to suites onboard our bigger ships and at our resorts. Suites are the first rooms booked and there’s always more demand than supply.
So, The V List is a way for those who simply MUST have a suite or a spot on a limited capacity trip to have first shot at booking – whether they’re an Alumnus or someone new to VACAYA who’s had India, for example, on their bucket list for years. In the past, we’ve opened up those smaller trips first to Alumni, but they’ve sold out incredibly fast (in some cases, in as few as 3 hours and before some of our Alumni even had a chance to open the email announcing the trip), and that has led to frustration and heartache for many who’ve missed out. And let’s face it… there’s no perfect way to get a product in low supply into the hands of everyone when demand is sky high. Following best practices from others in the travel industry, The V List is our attempt to find a way to limit the booking chaos when demand far outweighs supply. It’s certainly a good problem to have from our side, but it can be painful from the consumer’s side if you’ve had your heart set on a destination or a room and then miss out.
With our 2026 season, we’re launching the trips in a slightly different way than we have in the past. Everyone on our eNewsletter List, including VACAYA Alumni, will receive a preview of each new trip simultaneously. This preview page will launch one week before sales open for that trip, allowing everyone to explore the trip, rally their friends (or find a roommate if you’re a solo traveler), and request vacation time. Then, on designated dates and times, booking begins for our global audience.
For our trip releases, the cadence will look like this:
- V List Diamond Members
- V List Platinum Members
- VACAYA Alumni
- General Public
Please keep in mind that the number of V List members is capacity controlled and those guests will have access to the available inventory based on two different timelines:
- V List Diamond Members will have access to ALL inventory – including Suites – 72 Hours Before General Public Sales Begin – CAPACITY REACHED FOR 2026 SEASON
- V List Platinum Members will have access to ALL inventory – including remaining Suites – 48 Hours Before General Public Sales Begin
The V List is being introduced for our 2026 season and will include early access to available suites/rooms on the following soon-to-be-announced events:*
- Med Cruise – ALREADY RELEASED
- Caribbean Cruise
- India Tour
- Northern Europe Cruise
- Indian Ocean Cruise
- Chile Tour
- Resort Program
The cost for early access to our entire 2026 season of trips is as follows:
- V List Diamond (with 72-hour early access) – 397 USD
- V List Platinum (with 48-hour early access) – 197 USD
Once you’re on The V List, you’ll receive each trip’s preview link along with everyone on our eNewsletter List (if you haven’t joined that list, you should do that HERE) one week before general sales for that trip are scheduled to begin. Then, at your designated window, you’ll receive an email from us with your exclusive booking link. This booking link will give you access to all the available rooms on the ship or at the resort/on the tour, and you’ll be able to lock in the room you want during your exclusive booking window.
Now, the converse question… Who DOESN’T need The V List?
- If you’re looking to book a standard stateroom on our big-ship cruises or at one of our resorts, or you have no interest in our small-ship cruises or tours, you do NOT need to consider joining The V List.
*Vacation events are subject to change at any time.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE V LIST TODAY
- A VACAYA “season” is defined as all vacation events scheduled between January 1 and December 31 of any given year.
- You will be able to join the program via our online reservations system.
- Membership is capacity controlled.
- All V List program members receive simultaneous access to the inventory based on your purchased Diamond or Platinum level. Rooms are sold on a first come, first served basis within those levels. You’ll receive an email from us with your exclusive booking link at the designated time.
- Be sure to whitelist “info@myvacaya.com” with your email server to ensure timely delivery of our email with your exclusive booking link. Otherwise, our email might go into your Spam Folder.
- Not all vacations offer an extensive line-up of suites (for example, our small-ship cruises). But as a V List participant, you’ll have first access to the entire inventory of rooms for that season’s vacations.
- For couples/friends traveling in the same room together, only ONE V List membership is required for the two of you to book.
- A single membership entitles the member to book only one room per trip during each V List booking window. For multi-room or connecting room bookings, one V List membership is required for each individual room being booked.
- While we encourage all interested guests to join The V List prior to launch of each new season’s first trip, if you join after a cruise, resort, or tour vacation has already gone on sale, you’ll be given priority position on the Suites Waitlist for any programs that have launched prior to you joining The V List. This is handled person-to-person with our V Team Vacation Planners, available to you via email at info@myvacaya.com or by calling +1.718.504.0404 Mon-Fri 10am-4pm ET.
- The proceeds from the sale of V List memberships will support VACAYA’s onboard loyalty recognition initiatives, as well as help strengthen our ReachOUT initiatives.
- A note to our Travel Pro partners: V List fees are non-commissionable.
For a deeper look into how VACAYA is Re-Examining Loyalty, we invite to read our BLOG.