Virgin Voyages - repeat customers?

[johnnylikely]

Just came off my 3rd cruise (one last summer, one a month ago and the 5 nighter just now as it was dirt cheap to go!)

Overall had a blast as met some amazing people (VV really rocks in this area- great people and vibe).

I have to say I did feel the samey samey (first world prob I know) but as the menus were pretty much the same I did miss the ever changing menus they have on other cruise lines...

I had to drag myself out of bed to go to the Wake for lunch- as I couldn't deal with the thought of noodles or sandwiches again lol

Time will tell but I'm not sure I would do Virgin again unless I got some good people to go with (don't mind going solo usually), as it really is a bit same ol same ol... Lol

 

[genian_travels]

14 hours ago, johnnylikely said:

Just came off my 3rd cruise (one last summer, one a month ago and the 5 nighter just now as it was dirt cheap to go!)

Overall had a blast as met some amazing people (VV really rocks in this area- great people and vibe).

I have to say I did feel the samey samey (first world prob I know) but as the menus were pretty much the same I did miss the ever changing menus they have on other cruise lines...

I had to drag myself out of bed to go to the Wake for lunch- as I couldn't deal with the thought of noodles or sandwiches again lol

Time will tell but I'm not sure I would do Virgin again unless I got some good people to go with (don't mind going solo usually), as it really is a bit same ol same ol... Lol

 

Might it have felt less samey samey if you hadn’t just been on the ship a month ago?
 

There’s definitely more than five different lunch options to cover the duration of a 5 night cruise - 4 or 5 restaurants off the top of my head, before you include around 6/7 locations in the galley.
 

Did familiarity and return frequency play a part in your opinion?

[jon81uk]

11 hours ago, demon_princezz said:

 

There’s definitely more than five different lunch options to cover the duration of a 5 night cruise - 4 or 5 restaurants off the top of my head, before you include around 6/7 locations in the galley.
 

for lunch/brunch there is just Razzle Dazzle and The Wake open out of the major restaurants. Then there is pizza or the options in the Galley of sandwiches, noodles, tacos, burgers.

So I do think a bit more needs to be done on cruises with lots of sea days to offer plenty of different options as the Galley doesn’t have quite as many things as I would expect. 

[genian_travels]

4 hours ago, jon81uk said:

for lunch/brunch there is just Razzle Dazzle and The Wake open out of the major restaurants. Then there is pizza or the options in the Galley of sandwiches, noodles, tacos, burgers.

So I do think a bit more needs to be done on cruises with lots of sea days to offer plenty of different options as the Galley doesn’t have quite as many things as I would expect. 

I was counting Razzle Dazzle, The Wake, the Dock House and the Pizza place as “restaurant” options - plus the Sun Club cafe, although I don’t think it was open when we were on board. Then sandwiches, noodles, sushi, American diner, burgers, tacos and salads in The Galley, with multiple options at each food place - and even the Social Club is a lunch option.
 

On that basis you could easily have something different for lunch every day on a two-week cruise, which I’ll be testing out next year. But I’ve spent 7 nights so far on Virgin ships and still haven’t tried everything - for both lunch and dinner.

 

Generally speaking, the options in The Galley are pretty much the same as what you get in every buffet on board any ship - although granted there may be 3 or 4 daily different options in other buffets - it’s just in more of a food court type set up on Virgin, so it seems likes there’s less choice.

 

 

Edited April 30, 2022 by demon_princezz

[johnnylikely]

18 hours ago, demon_princezz said:

Might it have felt less samey samey if you hadn’t just been on the ship a month ago?
 

There’s definitely more than five different lunch options to cover the duration of a 5 night cruise - 4 or 5 restaurants off the top of my head, before you include around 6/7 locations in the galley.
 

Did familiarity and return frequency play a part in your opinion?

Perhaps, but the thing is, the menus very virtually identical to the ones last summer so whether I go in a month, or 6 months I know exactly what to expect (with maybe some minor changes). Whereas the other cruise lines there's change on the daily.

 

That may be more of a personal thing but it is a bit of deterrent on going back for longer- I couldn't bear the thought of a 10+ days as I'd go insane. I'd happily do 2-3x Cunard/P&O/RCCL within the space of a few weeks on the same ship because there's enough variety.

 

That's my concern for the line- but that might be just me. Time will tell!

[johnnylikely]

Interestingly if you had asked me before- would I want the same menu but 5* quality or ever changing  menu at 3-4* quality, I probably would've gone with the 5* quality same but I defo like the variety more than I thought!

[Nymich]

We will most likely be a one and done when it comes to VV.  We have not found any reason to repeat. Their cruises are too short and others do the same ports.  The Bimini Club they lead you to believe is their own is not.  It is rented by VV and we have been there before a couple of months ago on a day pass which you can get any day VV is not there. 

We got our VV cruise cheap and only 700 onboard so that made it worth trying it out.  

[johnnylikely]

5 hours ago, Nymich said:

We will most likely be a one and done when it comes to VV.  We have not found any reason to repeat. Their cruises are too short and others do the same ports.  The Bimini Club they lead you to believe is their own is not.  It is rented by VV and we have been there before a couple of months ago on a day pass which you can get any day VV is not there. 

We got our VV cruise cheap and only 700 onboard so that made it worth trying it out.  

Interesting! I hear Bimini was really nice? Never done a private island thingy before!

[cantgetin]

Interesting comments.  Yes, I've been on ships where the menu changed nightly, but the rotation stayed the same from one cruise to another...so if I did 3 cruises in a year, I'd see the same three rotations.  And I've been on ships where restaurants rotated in conjunction with the menu rotation.  What is different about Virgin is that there are 5 main dining restaurants that I can choose from; I don't have an assigned rotation and can make a reservation or walk in where I choose.   True that each has the same menu each evening,  but I'm certainly not seeing the same menu each night as I'm eating in a different venue.  At this point, Virgin seems to have plenty of dining options and availability, although that might change when they are sailing fill rather than at the covid allowed booking levels.  And hopefully the improvements in the app prevent loss of my advance reservations!  I don't mind changing my preference for a night, but I don't want to find myself "shut out" due to loss of a reservation in their system.

In my experience, most other lines only vary their menus every couple of years,  other than perhaps changing an item or two.

[Nymich]

2 hours ago, cantgetin said:

Interesting comments.  Yes, I've been on ships where the menu changed nightly, but the rotation stayed the same from one cruise to another...so if I did 3 cruises in a year, I'd see the same three rotations.  And I've been on ships where restaurants rotated in conjunction with the menu rotation.  What is different about Virgin is that there are 5 main dining restaurants that I can choose from; I don't have an assigned rotation and can make a reservation or walk in where I choose.   True that each has the same menu each evening,  but I'm certainly not seeing the same menu each night as I'm eating in a different venue.  At this point, Virgin seems to have plenty of dining options and availability, although that might change when they are sailing fill rather than at the covid allowed booking levels.  And hopefully the improvements in the app prevent loss of my advance reservations!  I don't mind changing my preference for a night, but I don't want to find myself "shut out" due to loss of a reservation in their system.

In my experience, most other lines only vary their menus every couple of years,  other than perhaps changing an item or two.

There are not any covid allowed booking levels anymore in the US.  Scarlet is currently at 25% this week as that is what they could sell.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nymich

[Fogcityca13]

The only restaurant I’d probably be one and done with is the Test Kitchen. Alinea even makes changes in their menu while keeping signature dishes. Will be interesting on how VV tunes things over the next year. 

[Nymich]

19 hours ago, johnnylikely said:

Interesting! I hear Bimini was really nice? Never done a private island thingy before!

Bimini is very nice but it is NOT a private island.  

[jon81uk]

I think they just need to add a daily rotation option to each counter in the Galley. The Taco place only has two options, don’t like them and it rules that place out, Ramen counter only had 2-3 options too I think. So if there are ingredients you don’t like it cuts down the options. But add in a daily special and if you don’t like Mondays tacos you might like Tuesdays and so on.

That was my main problem, ingredients we don’t like ruled out places due to the tiny menus.

The daily special doesn’t have to be completely new, can be the same every Monday all year because most people are onboard for under a week.

[CruisingWalter]

@Mattsudds That's a really interesting take on the ships. It would certainly become a bit boring if it's the same venues and the same entertainment on every single ship. That's one thing the other cruise lines are good about, having a few ships that might be identical, but then as they roll out more in the same class, they mix it up a bit. Especially the entertainment. It's rare to have the exact same slate of entertainment across multiple ships in a cruise line. Certainly some crossover, but not the same slate for the entire cruise. We are sailing on Scarlet Lady for the first time in July and I've been wondering about their long term programs since they don't have any sort of a loyalty program. If you're going to get the exact same experience on every single ship, right down to the entertainment, that can get old. The same dining venues don't bother me so much as they have too many for us to visit in a single 5 day cruise. But if it was the same slate of shows every cruise, every evening, that would definitely get boring. 

 

Perhaps the Brilliant Lady might show us the first subtle changes with the entertainment? At some point they will have to start mixing up the shows so the evening entertainment stays fresh as you do repeat sailings with the line. 

[cantgetin]

On 5/1/2022 at 2:48 PM, Nymich said:

There are not any covid allowed booking levels anymore in the US.  Scarlet is currently at 25% this week as that is what they could sell.

My cruise is out of Europe and is capped at 65% currently--could change by sailing time.  Yes, I've read how empty the cruises out of the US are.  That might make it really nice.  I've certainly enjoyed cruises that were only 50% full...many years ago.  There is an 11 or 12 night cruise this month (May).  It will be interesting to see how this is handled as they can't really expect to run it as 2 6 night trips.....

 

 

Edited May 2, 2022 by cantgetin

[CruisingWalter]

On 5/1/2022 at 11:34 PM, Nymich said:

Bimini is very nice but it is NOT a private island.  

 

In fact it's not even a Virgin exclusive space. I was surprised when I read up on it and watched a tour. It's a section of another resort in Bimini that's roped off for Virgin when the ships are in port. When they are not in port, that section is used by the resort apparently. Very smart play by Virgin to tag team with an existing property vs. building something entirely new from scratch. We're sailing Scarlet in July. I still wish the cruises were a full 7 nights vs. 5 but it is what it is. 

[_tacocat_]

yeah, VV partnered with Resorts World to design/build it.  it's exclusive to VV on their port days, but can be used by RW guests on non-port days.

[Nymich]

15 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

yeah, VV partnered with Resorts World to design/build it.  it's exclusive to VV on their port days, but can be used by RW guests on non-port days.

Can be used by anyone who pays the day pass rate on non vv days.  Many from the Hilton and other cruisers can use it to do a self excursion which we did.  The day pass was $40.  We actually had a great day there on a non vv day because it was not crowded at all.

 

Just did vv and went there with the big crowd from the Scarlet Lady. 

 

Two different experiences BOTH good for different reasons .

[pc_load_letter]

On 3/21/2022 at 7:12 PM, CroozFanatic said:

Itinerary is always #1. You have an opinion, but you don't represent the majority of cruisers.

 

And yours is an opinion as well....

 

...that I disagree with. You are not seeing people get off in Freeport or Nassua when on the 6000 person RCL "blank of the seas" is in port. I would extend that to a great number of ports with the exception of private islands. A surmise a great number of people may do a port once then when they've "been there, done that", they simply stay on the ship and enjoy all they have to offer nowadays. 

 

Maybe in Europe\Med, that could be the case, but for US cruisers, I'd say the ship is the draw, not the ports.

[mab4285]

On 3/21/2022 at 5:47 PM, Chrish2 said:

I was really surprised when rebooking recently that they decided to make all 3 (and maybe 4) ships with the same public venues and amenities. It's possibly a positive and negative. It simplifies the selection somewhat as you don't need to decide between ships, just which ever itinerary fits you. However it does remove the "collect them all" mentality.

 

My money is on the original plan was to have two sets of twins:

• The first set Scarlet and Valiant as we see them today
• The second set Resilient and "Project Virgin IV" been the same concept as Scarlet and Valiant but with some fresh and modified public spaces and amenities to given them a separate identity.

It would have been a "good balance" of speed, cost and variety. The pandemic might have made them decide on having identical ships with the idea they can swap out venues later.

I think the issue is that when a line launches a new class of ship, they're able to take time and learn from one to the other and progressively change it. Look at Oasis OTS vs Wonder OTS. Since the pandemic hit right as VV was supposed to be launching, they didn't have any feedback (Scarlet "launched" in 2020 and Valiant was 2022, so it should have been plenty of time to learn what worked and didn't in deck plans) to be able to make changes before they had to finalize layouts. I guess we'll see what happens when Resilient and Brilliant are launched. I do know that some of the shops have changed from Scarlet to Valiant, so there is still the possibility!

[cementhands]

On 3/23/2022 at 2:58 AM, westguy99 said:

"But just like I wouldn’t go to the same restaurant and same event every weekend night"

 

That would be a good point if you cruised back to back to back. Would you not go to a good restaurant a few months later and then again a few months later? I do.

 

The other cruse lines have different ships but the same or very similar restaurants and only one is typically free (the MDR and not very good) along with the buffet. With Virgin you get 5 decent included and different restaurants along with the Galley which gives pretty good variety and far and above any other main stream cruise line. You could go on 2 cruises and only go to each restaurant on Virgin 2 or 3 times for dinner which is less than most go to the MDR on a single cruise where many will dine there every breakfast and every dinner which would be 14 times on a 7 day cruise. That is repetitive. 

 

For entertainment the bands and DJs are different on each sailing with Virgin. I expect the shows will change over time. That may be the only thing that would be repetitive if they don't change. Although I think the shows are a small part of the Virgin experience and they would be at the bottom of my list as a reason to go on Virgin

 

Virgin also offers the most unique ports in Europe. Few main stream cruisers offer over nights and ports like Ibiza. 

 

Having said all that I expect there will be new different Virgin ships and new restaurants in the future. In the mean time I can handle going to 5 great restaurants a couple of times a year. I am booked on my second Virgin Cruise at the end of the year.  

How about dancing opportunities? My wife loves Zumba and line dancing, I practice yoga daily too!
We love to eat well but gotta have the activities to burn it off.

thanks 🙏

[jchipgcs]

1 hour ago, cementhands said:

How about dancing opportunities? My wife loves Zumba and line dancing, I practice yoga daily too!
We love to eat well but gotta have the activities to burn it off.

thanks 🙏

I think Zumba would be too mainstream on Virgin.  They DO have a VHS 80's workout.  Think Jane Fonda, Richard Simmons and Olivia Newton-John's "Let's Get Physical" video.  All the instructors are in leg warmers, leotards and short shorts.  I've heard it's a blast.

[cantgetin]

They have several yoga classes