My Top 6 Favorite Things on Virgin Voyages

10/14/2021

Scarlet Lady was supposed to make her US debut back in March 2020 and I was supposed to be on that first voyage so I am glad that finally about 18 months later I got set sail onboard! I think when Virgin Voyages first started advertising there were some mixed messages about who Virgin was really targeting. A lot of people thought they were going after the millennials but I can tell you as someone who is a parent of a millenial I think I enjoyed this ship way more than anyone half my age! There were so many 80s things that I really feel like the target market for this cruise is my generation, the Gen Xers!

There were so many things I loved about this ship! Here are my Top 6 -

#1 - I LOVE that it is ADULT ONLY! I have been on other adult only cruises and there are some I haven't tried yet but generally I tend to be the youngest person on those cruises. There used to be a saying that cruising was for the newlywed or the nearly dead but then came along Disney Cruise Line and some of the other cruise lines realized the family market was a huge untapped one. While it is great that there are now lots of ships filled with things to attract families with kids, there are many of us that really do not enjoy sharing a cruise ship with hundreds of other people's kids. I love that Virgin went adult only but yet added so many things that really let adults feel like a kid again.
Another bonus to adult only right now is that it means everyone onboard is vaccinated. This made for a much more relaxed vibe onboard and things really almost felt like pre-covid times. Where else could you go right now and know that every single person you will come in contact with is vaccinated?

#2 - I Love the way they do Dining! I really am not a fan of always having to eat in a huge dining room every night. Sure some limes have changed it up a bit and got rid of the traditional set dining times and others added some smaller dining locations but those usually come with a fee or can be very hard to get a reservation for. On Virgin there is no main dining room but instead they have a bunch of smaller places to choose from and not a single one will cost you more to go to. There might be a few upcharge items on the menu but those are very few. At first I got worried when I couldn't find many reservation times available but then I realized each day I could make one day of without any problem so I really liked that you can be a bit more spontaneous. They also don't technically have a buffet but let's be real it sort of is a buffet / food court type location. It is called The Galley so if you know boat terms you know that is the kitchen on a boat so it is a good name for this spot. It has a bunch of stations all offering something different to choose from. No reservations needed, just walk in, grab a table and a server will come take your order. We were told that the servers taking orders are a covid thing in place temporarily but my hope is they will get the app upgraded and offer the option to order your food on there. There was a bit of a learning curve when everyone goes to The Galley the first time as all us of seasoned cruisers are just used to walking up to a counter to order our food and take back to a table ourselves so once I realized that wasn't what you did I realized I liked it even more. I also loved that there is an ice cream shop onboard with lots of great flavors and waffle cones and it doesn't cost anything! There is a candy shop (again no extra cost) and you wouldn't believe the line it had everyday! I had to laugh watching all of these adults picking out the candy they wanted from the candy jars - for me that is my life everyday.

#3 I Love the Staterooms! We had a Terrace room which is Virgin's fancy way of saying balcony room. There are so many things I love about the rooms it is hard to pick a favorite but I I think I will have to go with the hammock on the terrace (every terrace room has one). It was my most favorite spot to sit anywhere on the whole ship! The room itself has a lot of very cool features such as when you leave the room goes into eco mode and it automatically turns everything off and shuts the curtains to keep it cool. As soon as you return the curtains will automatically open and the lights will go back to which setting you had them on when you left. Yes I said setting as in there are more than one option for the lights in your room. There is a tablet in each room that controls all kinds of things like the tv and the lights and there are a few preset settings for the lights to set a particular mood. There is one setting called "Get It On" which of course closes the curtains, puts on some pink lights and plays a quick little bit of music to set the mood. I thought it was cute and I liked the pink lighting. I also really enjoyed the 2 carafes of chilled water that were refilled in our room everyday. I try to drink more water but usually when on vacation I forget so this was perfect. I also really liked the shower it has a nice rainshower option and the water pressure was great. I got to tour the Rockstar suites on my agent preview day and you will definitely feel like a Rock Star if you stay on any one of those!

#4 I Love the Entertainment! I always like being in the very aft of the ship when we leave port so as we pulled out of Miami we were back there just taking it all in and then all of a sudden there was someone with a guitar and he started singing a sailor type of song and then a few other random people sitting around chimed in with him. At first I thought what the heck is going on. Are these just some guests wanting to sing a song but then they finished their song and moved to another deck and started again so we figured oh they must be part of this new type of entertainment Virgin has been talking about. We ended up catching a few more of their pop up performances throughout the cruise and the last night there were actually a couple scheduled times where you could be sure to catch them do a few songs. There was a lot of pop up stuff like them and other stuff that you just needed to be in the right place at the right time which was fun. There are also 2 theatre type venues onboard but they are much smaller more intimate than the huge big production show theaters you get on the other ships. I really prefer these smaller spots. We missed a few of the shows but we caught the best one in my opinion which is the headliner show for this cruise called Duel Reality. I had already seen it on my sneak peak day and loved it so was so happy to get to see it again. It is one of those type shows where you end up holding your breath so much during the show that even seeing it again a week later I was still holding my breath and not believing they could do the things they did. It is a can't miss show! There was also a VHS 80s workout that I had assumed was going to be more of a show type thing poking fun at the seating to the oldies but it turned out it was actually a workout! It was a lot of fun though and sadly I realized that sweatin to the oldies now means working out to 80s music. I had flashbacks to highschool PE where the girls usually opted for the Richard Simmons workout instead of playing a sport.

#5 I Love all the Included in your cost items. Virgin includes a lot of things in your basic cruise fare. Like I already mentioned they include all the dining locations onboard - even the ice cream and candy! They also include basic beverages in your cruise cost. If you have been on some of the other lines you know you will shell out $10 a day for a soda package per person! I really am not a big soda drinker but on vacation it is nice to get a cold soda a few times. I also like that they have the self service drink locations open all the time so you can get one whenever you want. Yes I was a little surprised that they were actually self service but I was happy. Adult beverages are not included and they do not offer a drink package which I also actually think is better. The adult beverages are reasonably priced though so for someone like me that might only have 1 or 2 I would prefer cheaper prices vs the cruise lines with the drink packages that jack up the cost of the drinks so those of us paying per drink end up making up for the people who maximize their package. It was so nice to have free wifi! I know not everyone wants to be connected whole on vacation but let's be real we are all so used to being connected all the time that it is just nice to have the option without paying for it and also without having to worry oh no did I log off or am I wasting all my paid minutes. Some people said it was slow but honestly I thought it was just fine for doing things like checking email and popping a few photos onto social media. All fitness classes are included which I thought cool I will try to do some but that didn't happen - unless you count my sweating to the 80s. The couple classes I wanted to try were already full before I could make a reservation. Next cruise I will know to try getting on the ship earlier so I can go right in the app and grab those. I am assuming covid rules might have really limited the number of guests they could allow this cruise so hopefully getting into those will get easier. I saved the best for last - Gratuities are included! It was nice to know you didn't have to worry about either pre-paying or having that charge on your account at the end of the cruise. I was a little worried that service might not be as good since all the crew knew they were already tipped no matter what but I didn't find that at all.

#6 - I Love the Design of the Ship. Even though the ship is what I would call a large ship with the capacity to hold about 2800 guests it never feels like a big ship. The whole design is set up with lots of smaller nooks and comfy spots to hang out that you never feel like you are in some large open area that could be full of a lot of people. Despite the fact that there isn't a lot of signage once you find your way around you realize it was all very easy to get to. One of my favorite places is the very back of the ship on Deck 7 (there are 17 decks total so this is towards the bottom). Deck 7 goes all the way to the back of the ship whereas all the decks above are back a bit so when you are on deck 7 you can see all the way up to the bottom of deck 16 and the big net. The area is called The Dock and it has some comfy spots to sit and just enjoy watching the wake of the ship as we cruise. There is also a real tree back there which I think is a really nice touch. I love when cruise ships have real plants and flowers onboard. You can of course get some snacks or drinks delivered to you while you are enjoying this comfy area. The pop up entertainment even made some stops there.

That is my top 6 and really I could have written more but it has been a busy week and I am already getting this sent out late today. Stay tuned next week I will give some more information on the cruise in general and a few of the things that I didn't love as much.

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