Alsmez

The regular rooms are indeed bare bones. Our friends were in a lower level suite and their room/bath was nicer and less dorm-like, but not remarkably so. The ship decor overall was nothing special and lacked cohesion. Lots of individual Instagram backdrops but no flow whatsoever.

I probably wouldn't sail an M-class ship outside of Aqua or a suite due to the lack of specialty dining options. On an S-class or E-class ship, I might pay $20-25 for Blu if I was bored with the specialties. As others have noted, Blu is really only a step or two above the MDR, but when your options are limited...

Very dorm-like. We didn't mind the lack of bathroom door but it would have been an issue if I were traveling with a friend or relative rather than my spouse. The shower was FANTASTIC, I must say - nice rainshower head and a handheld with fantastic water pressure, very roomy (even for two 6'+ people with long arms - no elbow bumping!).

I was standing next to the closet in the XL Sea Terrace when I took the room photo posted above. Here is the closet, with curtain open and closed. The bathroom is directly behind it.

Except Virgin. We refuse to cruise during school holidays because we don't enjoy sharing a ship with children or entitled parents. We took our first VV cruise over New Years this year and the adults-only aspect was AMAZING. As someone mentioned upthread, it only takes one obnoxious child or entitled parent to ruin a venue, and the absolute guarantee that that would not happen on VV was fantastic. There were other things about the cruise and ship that we didn't love, but the adults-only policy is beyond fabulous. I don't think I would consider any other line if cruising during a school holiday.

Correct, no door closing off the bathroom and LR areas, though you do have to make a complete 90-degree turn to get into the bath area from the main room. This wasn't a problem for me and DH, but I could see it being a little too close for comfort for some folks (especially non-spouses). I agree that the bathroom decor is EXTREMELY lacking on VV as well!

Just for comparison purposes, here are photos of the XL Sea Terrace bathroom and room. The XL room is basically the same as other balconies but the bathroom is much larger. We really liked the layout, although I did miss having drawers and shelves for storage as on X's S-class ships. BTW, Scarlet Lady is about the same size as the S-class (17 decks and 2,770 pax on Scarlet vs 17 decks and 2,850 pax on S-class; tonnage is somewhat smaller at 110K vs 122K for S-class), but IMO she feels quite a bit smaller due to her choppy layout and lack of wide open spaces. I think she's narrower than S-class as well - reminded me a bit of Summit in that regard.

I agree that all of the included stuff on VV is nice, but I did feel a bit nickle-and-dimed in comparison to Celebrity simply because of alcohol. X's drink packages eliminate a lot of guesswork and mental math compared to VV's bar tabs (e.g., did I buy enough bar tab? Too much? Is this mimosa really worth $13 to me in this moment? Do I want to spend $15 on a drink I may not enjoy? And so on). Not to mention the fact that once waiters/servers know you have a package, they will rarely ask for your card. On VV I was forever swiping my bracelet (though I will admit the bracelet was convenient!). Most of the other things you mention (wifi, tips, specialty dining, etc) can be purchased pre-cruise on X, so you dont need to think about it or feel like you're paying for every little thing on board. If you have a drink package on your X cruise and take care of your desired upgrades pre-cruise I think you'll find the overall "included" feel to be similar to VV.

After giving VV a try, we're probably headed back to Celebrity too, at least until they make some changes or debut a new ship design. We enjoyed some parts of our VV cruise, but we really didn't care for the ship overall. Husband liked the whole experience less than I did, and I think both of us would have enjoyed it even less if we hadn't been traveling with friends who were very into the VV experience.

Rather than long-time Celebrity cruisers (especially those who are 65+), I think VV is targeting the same demographic Celebrity has been targeting recently, i.e. DINKS (double income, no kids) in their 30s-50s who want a somewhat elevated experience in terms of food/service/entertainment, but still plenty of fun. As someone who took her first X cruise 13 years ago at the age of 33, I know I wasn't Celebrity's target sailor back then. However, their marketing (and the product) has changed significantly since then, and now at the age of 46 I feel like I am precisely who Celebrity is trying to attract - at least until their general marketing strategy fell to pieces. At this point they it's impossible to tell what kind of sailor they're after!

Very interesting. I agree that VV is the most obvious Celebrity competitor and I'm not sure why Celebrity doesn't seem to agree. Say what you will about VV, their product IS different and has very specific features that hold immense appeal for their target demographic, which USED to be Celebrity's target demographic as well but no longer seems to be. Some of their head-to-head points are pretty silly (especially trying to compare soft drinks and alcohol packages separately, come on), but others would make good arguments IF the two lines' base prices were comparable. Which they aren't, at least on the sailings I have looked at recently. Virgin has cranked prices to the point where you can pay for all the extras on X and still come out ahead. We'll see if they come back to reality...

I find this to be a weird strategy for Celebrity. I understand that young families' money is as green as anyone else's, but RCI already has a family-oriented line under its umbrella. They should be seeking to differentiate Celebrity, not turn it into Royal Caribbean lite.

Hey VV fans! I've been home from our Scarlet Lady cruise for a couple of weeks and I'm STILL thinking about that delicious mushroom tartare on the brunch menu at Razzle Dazzle. Does anyone by chance have the recipe? Or would someone currently on board be willing to ask if they will share it? I have had good luck in the past asking waiters on Celebrity ships for specific recipes, but not sure if VV is as willing to share. Thanks in advance - and if you haven't ordered this particular dish before, I urge you to try it! One of my favorite dishes of the whole cruise.

This is true, at least for this Celebrity sailor. Especially the focus on food and the adults-only policy. Celebrity hasn't priced us out, but certain changes to the X experience definitely had us wanting to try something new. Virgin was a good time but not a replacement for X, at least not for now. It will be very interesting to see how the line (and prices) evolve as VV finds its niche.

Virgin Voyages also does this with Richard's Rooftop, although I didn't find that it hampered my enjoyment of the ship in any way since their ships' layout is already choppy and full of dead ends.

The existence of this thread clearly indicates otherwise :). I didn't mean math in the literal sense. Of course I know, and you know, that the 20% grat is added automatically, but obviously many people are unaware, resulting in them leaving an additional tip when they have already tipped. Add this to the prevailing idea promoted by X that the shipwide auto-gratuities (which used to be included in the all-inclusive package but suddenly are no longer) are the bare minimum required and that additional tipping is encouraged if not expected, there is indeed a lot of mental gymnastics going on around tipping. I didn't think I wasted too much mental energy on it until I sailed VV and realized how nice it was not to have to think about it at all.

We've been considering other lines for a while now - since our Summit cruise to Bermuda in 2019, in fact. We planned to try MSC Yacht Club (canceled due to Covid) and Crystal (canceled due to bankruptcy), and finally were able to sail Virgin Voyages' Scarlet Lady a few weeks ago. VV was nice but not a perfect fit for us, so we're back to the search. We'll probably sail an E-class ship before we try another line, but we still want to get back to MSC Yacht Club and maybe try Princess to Alaska. Also looking at some expedition-style ships/lines for more exotic itineraries (Antarctica!). As frustrating as the changes on X are, our trip on VV taught us that no line is perfect. We're trying to adjust our expectations and also reminding ourselves that there are other types of vacations besides cruising!

I must say this is the kind of mental math I did not miss doing when we sailed Virgin for the first time a couple of weeks ago. The no-tipping policy removes a significant source of stress that I didn't even realize existed until it was gone. Since Celebrity is already adding a non-negotiable 20% gratuity to drinks/specialty dining, they are halfway there - IMO they should just go no-tipping and be done with it. Build the cost of paying your staff fairly into the cruise fare and cost of drinks/meals and take the mental burden of figuring out who's getting what from whom off your passengers.

We felt the same. I purchased a future cruise certificate on our Eclipse cruise that I intend to use on E-class in 2025, but didn't feel compelled to do the same on VV. We don't care all that much about itineraries in the Caribbean, but we want to LOVE the ship, and we just don't love the Lady ships. For Northern Europe, which is my next dream destination, VV's itineraries can't compare with X yet. We'll sail VV again someday, but probably not soon.

Your review illustrates why I we have no interest in trying NCL or HAL. I'm sure you will have a great time on Edge in Alaska!

Haha, we were supposed to give both of them a try too - both thwarted by Covid. Well, in the case of Crystal, thwarted by a rogue ship and bankruptcy! 🤣

Maybe not, but I think the cruise lines might be surprised if they would just give it a try. A couple of adults-only ships per class could be a good starting point for X. Adults-only resorts are popular for a reason. Milennials are having kids later, if at all, and prioritize spending money on experiences rather than things. As more younger adults try cruising on lines like VV, I think the adults-only policy will see a huge surge in popularity. Like I said in my review, you really can't appreciate exactly how much the adults-only policy can improve the cruise experience until you've tried it.

Haha, my husband is the lazy tenor in our family. He misses being a baritone SO MUCH. Unfortunately many of us are singing less and less since COVID (and since the 2008 recesssion, and, and, and...). The changes the industry has undergone are distressing to say the least.

FULLY AGREE. As it stands now, Virgin has no head-to-head competition among mass market lines largely because of this policy - Celebrity is a natural choice to fill that void. Now to get corporate to agree! 🙂

I was - and thank you very much for the compliment 😉. I switched to dramatic soprano a few years ago but still switch hit for specific roles. I'm very glad to know that my mezzo personality still shines through 😁. Or maybe it's just the user name!