Would I like Virgin Voyages?

[JCruise85]

We went in February and have a second (longer) cruise booked for next year.

It's my favorite line.

The food is outstanding.

I could literally eat at Gunbae every night and the Galley always seems to have more than one thing I want (curse having only a single stomach). 

The staff went out of their way to make us feel welcomed and happy.

The scarlet night was rainy and cold so they did everything inside and it was a blast. Lots of games and activities all over the ship.

 

[scubagal44]

I have the same questions as you, wondering if I'll like it or not.  I AM their target demographic, but I'm also not really into the partying/clubbing scene so I'm a bit wary.  I embark on Valiant Lady a week from today, I'll let you know how it goes!

[PTC DAWG]

Offer me a drink package, I’ll book. Celebrity fan here, mid 50’s.  
 

[cantgetin]

8 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Offer me a drink package, I’ll book. Celebrity fan here, mid 50’s.  
 

I actually prefer the "bar tab."  The deal is that for every $300 you pay  for the bar tab, you get a bonus os $50-125 depending on the current offer.  Right now, the bonus is $100, so you are basically getting 25% off any drinks you buy.  The advantages are that that you can share your bar tab with anyone,  It is not per person and length of cruise is irrelevant. The price you see on the menu is the amount deducted for the drink--the grats are already included.  So that $10 glass of wine takes $10 off your tab, not $11.80 or $12 as on other lines!  If you end up with extra on your tab on the last night, treat your new best friends or buy a bottle of wine to take home.  What I really like is that I see people drinking more responsibly.  I've never seen an ugly drunk on VV, perhaps because no one is trying to max out their drink package.  The bar tab concept can work for almost anyone and gives you a discount, unlike a "drink package" where you and your cabin mate must drink quite a bit to make it worthwhile.  If you are a light, or even a moderate drinker, many drink packages are not a good value.  NCL just raised their price to $129 pp per day, while most lines charge $80-100 and then add gratuity.  The only kicker is that you need to estimate up front how many "bar tabs" you wish to purchase.

 

[krueg2828]

Shep_Proudfoot….I found a nice b2b out of Athens next September.

Edited October 12, 2022 by krueg2828

[chisoxfan]

On 9/24/2022 at 9:57 AM, Shep_Proudfoot said:

Considering trying Virgin but not sure it would be a good fit. Been on a dozen plus cruises across half a dozen lines and current line of choice is Celebrity. I am very lukewarm on the latest generation of Celebrity ships and their fake balconies and it might be fun to try something new. We are a married couple in their 50s who typically book a veranda cabin.

 

On one hand the dining options sound interesting (no MDR sounds awesome!) and food and drink (especially good and varied beers) is a big part of cruising. We find most cruise entertainment, especially the music, subpar or uninteresting, and Virgin seems to be less cookie cutter there. Quality music options would be hugely appealing.
 

On the other hand, although especially for our ages we not averse to partying some, we are a bit older than the VV target demographic and not remotely hipster, in fact living in a major city where hipster venues abound we tend to avoid them, or at least certainly don’t go out of our way for them. Also while we love music and live music, we’re selective and anything hip hop or “new” country is absolutely despised and it sounds like at least hip hop may be present (prevalent?) on Virgin. I don’t want to spend my vacation rolling my eyes or holed up on my veranda, excuse me, sea terrace. Also a big part of the cruise experience is relaxation and being at sea without hearing the noises of others or the PA system (think Carnival) and some quiet public spaces are desired.

 

So given this, not sure if VV is worth a try or not, anyone who has been have any thoughts?

Thanks for posting. I came over to the  Virgin Boards to ask the same question and your concerns and preferences match ours perfectly. X was our favorite line- we will do our first cruise on a new X  ship next year but I already am resigned to being disappointed with the infinite (ie. no) balcony. Will read all of the responses with great interest.  As an aside HAL seems to mark many boxes for us (particularly new ships) and maybe that would be a line for you to consider.

[chisoxfan]

Went to their site...was surprised at the low costs for these cruises. If readers would be kind enough to indulge a few questions...... by comments above sounds as if 'table for 2' dining is not the norm.
Also it appears that they only assign cabins (no preselection)?  Also it seems you can only book directly (no TA's). 

Thanks in advance.

[rebeccac]

1 hour ago, chisoxfan said:

Went to their site...was surprised at the low costs for these cruises. If readers would be kind enough to indulge a few questions...... by comments above sounds as if 'table for 2' dining is not the norm.
Also it appears that they only assign cabins (no preselection)?  Also it seems you can only book directly (no TA's). 

Thanks in advance.

Most restaurants do have tables for two.  The one exception is Gunbae where most are tables for six (I think there might be a couple of even larger tables).  You can preselect a cabin, but you have to call in to do so or use a TA.  And yes, you can use a TA, but not all of them will book VV, so you just need to look around for ones that do.  

[chisoxfan]

Just now, rebeccac said:

Most restaurants do have tables for two.  The one exception is Gunbae where most are tables for six (I think there might be a couple of even larger tables).  You can preselect a cabin, but you have to call in to do so or use a TA.  And yes, you can use a TA, but not all of them will book VV, so you just need to look around for ones that do.  

Thanks for responding!

[chisoxfan]

One more question please (I spent some time seeking an answer without success).  Bottled water apparently is not included. Can anyone give some guidance on this.  We are looking at this line as an option but we likely have 8 bottles of water a day and are used to drink packages an just wanted to get a sense of addition cost for lack of package.  Thanks.

[cantgetin]

23 minutes ago, chisoxfan said:

One more question please (I spent some time seeking an answer without success).  Bottled water apparently is not included. Can anyone give some guidance on this.  We are looking at this line as an option but we likely have 8 bottles of water a day and are used to drink packages an just wanted to get a sense of addition cost for lack of package.  Thanks.

There is no bottled water available on the ship.  Their focus is to eliminate all single use plastics.  You can bring an empty bottle and fill it yourself if you want it for excursions.  You will be provided with a carafe of sparkling and one of still water in your cabin daily which will be refilled as often as you wish.  There is also a refill area at the soda station.  

To your other questions....travel agents must have done VV training, which they can do on line, in order to book VV.  This also, at least at the beginning, gave them a severely discounted cruise to experience the product for themselves.  After the training, they can book VV.  Untrained agents cannot book.  An agent can select a particular cabin for you, or you can select one by calling VV yourself. Booking that you make on line result in an "assigned" cabin.  Again, if you wish, you can call and change your assignment.  IMHO, the easiest thing is to use an agent and let them know your cabin specifications.

 

Dining tables are available in any size you want, from one person to ???  The only exception is Gumbae which is cooked at the table and is in tables of 6.  When you make reservations thru the app, you indicate how many of you the reservation is for, and when you check in, you tell them the table size you want.

 

VV is my new favorite line.  They still have a few bugs to work out, but overall the product is amazing.  THe bugs are things like the app and long phone waits to talk to shoreside sailor services (another reason to use a TA!)  The app is much better after you arrive at the terminal than it is in advance!

[chisoxfan]

2 hours ago, cantgetin said:

There is no bottled water available on the ship.  Their focus is to eliminate all single use plastics.  You can bring an empty bottle and fill it yourself if you want it for excursions.  You will be provided with a carafe of sparkling and one of still water in your cabin daily which will be refilled as often as you wish.  There is also a refill area at the soda station.  

To your other questions....travel agents must have done VV training, which they can do on line, in order to book VV.  This also, at least at the beginning, gave them a severely discounted cruise to experience the product for themselves.  After the training, they can book VV.  Untrained agents cannot book.  An agent can select a particular cabin for you, or you can select one by calling VV yourself. Booking that you make on line result in an "assigned" cabin.  Again, if you wish, you can call and change your assignment.  IMHO, the easiest thing is to use an agent and let them know your cabin specifications.

 

Dining tables are available in any size you want, from one person to ???  The only exception is Gumbae which is cooked at the table and is in tables of 6.  When you make reservations thru the app, you indicate how many of you the reservation is for, and when you check in, you tell them the table size you want.

 

VV is my new favorite line.  They still have a few bugs to work out, but overall the product is amazing.  THe bugs are things like the app and long phone waits to talk to shoreside sailor services (another reason to use a TA!)  The app is much better after you arrive at the terminal than it is in advance!

Thank you for taking time to answer so completely. Everything sounds good except for the no bottled water.  We bumped NCL from our cruise list  a few years ago when they dropped bottled water from their 'free' drink package. It sounds as if Virgin has some environmental concerns  regarding plastics but there are many sources of water in glass bottles which we prefer anyway. 

Good to know and thank you again.

 

[_tacocat_]

2 hours ago, chisoxfan said:

Thank you for taking time to answer so completely. Everything sounds good except for the no bottled water.  We bumped NCL from our cruise list  a few years ago when they dropped bottled water from their 'free' drink package. It sounds as if Virgin has some environmental concerns  regarding plastics but there are many sources of water in glass bottles which we prefer anyway. 

Good to know and thank you again.

 

the water onboard is reverse osmosis filtered, which is basically what you're drinking in bottled water anyway, just with less container waste.

[chisoxfan]

14 hours ago, _tacocat_ said:

the water onboard is reverse osmosis filtered, which is basically what you're drinking in bottled water anyway, just with less container waste.

Yes, I get it. When we lamented about no bottled water on NCL we were bombarded with people who

said the on board tap water was fine to drink.  Not intending to get into a 'water war' but many of us drink bottled water routinely (even when we have 'safe' tap water at home)and when I am on vacation don't expect to change this preference/habit at the whim of a cruiseline. From an environmental standpoint glass would be a substitute that I would pay for (just in London and all the water at our hotel was served in wonderful glass bottles).

Did not mean to come off 'on the attack' as I know you were just trying to be helpful but wanted to expand upon our impressions whether popular or not.

[yarramar]

My last cruise was on RCL and we both had stainless steel double walled drink bottles. I would fill those each morning prior to an excursion. Even if bottled water was provided as it was on other cruises I have been on, I would forgo taking them as the SS bottles keep the water cool all day and when finished I would buy a bottle of chilled water and decant it into the SS one. Far better than carrying multiple bottles of warm water in a back pack.

[cantgetin]

On board Valiant right now.  As mentioned, you will get 2 carafes of still or sparkling water delivered to your cabin each day with refills available just for entering the request on your app--unlimited.  Bring along an insulated cup and fill it from your carafe!  As above, it will stay cold all day.  It is heavier to carry than plastic.

[Wildcatllamas]

On 9/25/2022 at 5:18 PM, cantgetin said:

 The other thing is that we want to try Waygu beef, which is the "treat yourself" at Gumbae....maybe I'm cheap, but I don't like the idea of paying for it to share with the table, but not sure how to make it for "just us." That's especially a problem as we want to have the server cook it so that it is done correctly.
 

The friend and I ate at Gumbae and we had some OBC to blow through so we ordered the Waygu beef. The server cooked it specifically for us and to our desired temperature. Mine warm and still kicking and my friend's was dead. I will be honest I didn't feel it was anything to write home about but with OBC to spend on the last night it made it a treat.

[Wildcatllamas]

On 10/14/2022 at 6:25 AM, chisoxfan said:

Did not mean to come off 'on the attack' as I know you were just trying to be helpful but wanted to expand upon our impressions whether popular or not.

I like to drink a lot of water too. I have a light weight insulated metal back packing bottle that I would fill with ice and water to keep with me when I was out wandering around. It has a nice clip that I could attach to my belt loop. And the carafes in the cabin easily fit into the little frig to keep it cold. I can't stand tepid water.  So maybe not plastic bottles but believe me I didn't miss them on my trip.

 

I have shared my comparison of Discovery Princess with my cruise on Scarlet under the heading "Will Virgin Ever Come to the West Coast". The only thing I didn't cover on that one was the Spa facial I had. On both Princess and Virgin it was $199. But that was the only common factor. The facial on Princess was as basic as you could get. Total time including intake info was a little less then 60 minutes on Princess and then the push for a tip. On Scarlet the facial was over 90 minutes with all the bells and whistles. I have never felt so pampered during a facial as I was on that one. And absolutely no mention of a tip. When I asked if she could accept one she replied that she couldn't but she was glad I felt it was that good.

 

I am a TA and have completed all of their training for Virgin and I can understand why they won't allow agents who haven't trained with them to sale their product. It is different but for the right clientele it can be very enjoyable.

[cantgetin]

3 hours ago, Wildcatllamas said:

I like to drink a lot of water too. I have a light weight insulated metal back packing bottle that I would fill with ice and water to keep with me when I was out wandering around. It has a nice clip that I could attach to my belt loop. And the carafes in the cabin easily fit into the little frig to keep it cold. I can't stand tepid water.  So maybe not plastic bottles but believe me I didn't miss them on my trip.

 

I have shared my comparison of Discovery Princess with my cruise on Scarlet under the heading "Will Virgin Ever Come to the West Coast". The only thing I didn't cover on that one was the Spa facial I had. On both Princess and Virgin it was $199. But that was the only common factor. The facial on Princess was as basic as you could get. Total time including intake info was a little less then 60 minutes on Princess and then the push for a tip. On Scarlet the facial was over 90 minutes with all the bells and whistles. I have never felt so pampered during a facial as I was on that one. And absolutely no mention of a tip. When I asked if she could accept one she replied that she couldn't but she was glad I felt it was that good.

 

I am a TA and have completed all of their training for Virgin and I can understand why they won't allow agents who haven't trained with them to sale their product. It is different but for the right clientele it can be very enjoyable.

Your facial on Princess started at the same base price, but had a gratuity of at least 18% added (some lines add 20%; we haven't been on Princess since before covid, so I'm not sure where they are now).  On Virgin, the price listed is the price you pay for spa services, alcohol, etc.  So not only was the service better, the final price on VV was less!

There is a lot different on VV.  I'm currently on Valiant.  The 14 night cruise has more of us "older people" than usual, and added lots of activities.  It's a great cruise.  The crew on VV is better than I've experienced anywhere else!

[Flafun888]

Love this thread - thank you for contributing. Can anyone tell me more about the music choices? I love standards, country, classic R&B, rock from any era. Absolutely avoid rap/hip hop, EDM at all times (no offense to anyone who likes these genres.) Is there anything for me or is it all hip hop/EDM/DJ dance club type mixes? 

[_tacocat_]

37 minutes ago, Flafun888 said:

Love this thread - thank you for contributing. Can anyone tell me more about the music choices? I love standards, country, classic R&B, rock from any era. Absolutely avoid rap/hip hop, EDM at all times (no offense to anyone who likes these genres.) Is there anything for me or is it all hip hop/EDM/DJ dance club type mixes? 

pool is mostly hip hop/edm/dj dance club type mixes, but they do sprinkle some classics in there - like we had dreams by fleetwood mac today.

 

the nightclub has a 70s themed night, which is heavily 70s/disco themed music, but still mixed together.

 

the live bands play lots of classic rock/pop.  right now, there's a house band and a guest band that play in various venues a lot of the night.  "the hostess" also does a cabaret style song show where she sings the classic american songbook songs.

[Flafun888]

11 hours ago, _tacocat_ said:

pool is mostly hip hop/edm/dj dance club type mixes, but they do sprinkle some classics in there - like we had dreams by fleetwood mac today.

 

the nightclub has a 70s themed night, which is heavily 70s/disco themed music, but still mixed together.

 

the live bands play lots of classic rock/pop.  right now, there's a house band and a guest band that play in various venues a lot of the night.  "the hostess" also does a cabaret style song show where she sings the classic american songbook songs.

Thanks! Live bands sound promising. Guess I just have to steer clear of the the pool. 😆

 

Don't mean to take this thread on an unrelated tangent, but I genuinely don't understand why all the major cruiselines refuse to offer even 1 decent venue option for those of us who like contemporary country - music from Chesney, FL/GA line, Luke Combs, Kane Brown, Chris Stapleton, etc.

 

They all treat it as some unknown/unliked genre, but country is far more profitable and popular ratings wise than hip/hop/rap or EDM by a significant percentage - both in sales and poll ratings - millions love and listen to it nationwide. (Kenny Chesney didn't buy his yacht and mansion in St John's with trust fund money lol.)

 

But you ask for country and they play some obnoxious novelty song from 1970-something and think they covered it for the night. smh.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Flafun888

[cantgetin]

If you haven't seen Ship Show, don't bother.  There was nothing positive about either the show or the food.  We left early and had dinner at Razzle Dazzle.

 

[yarramar]

23 hours ago, Flafun888 said:

Don't mean to take this thread on an unrelated tangent, but I genuinely don't understand why all the major cruiselines refuse to offer even 1 decent venue option for those of us who like contemporary country - music from Chesney, FL/GA line, Luke Combs, Kane Brown, Chris Stapleton, etc.

There are specifically themed music cruises, so you can live and breath it 24/7

This is one which may interest you. https://countrymusiccruise.com/

[Flafun888]

28 minutes ago, yarramar said:

There are specifically themed music cruises, so you can live and breath it 24/7

This is one which may interest you. https://countrymusiccruise.com/

Thank you for sharing. Sounds fun! But this is exactly what I mean - nothing against these performers - they're all talented, but their hits were 40-50+ years ago. There's a huge gen x/millennial/gen z audience for contemporary country and we don't need it 24/7 as a themed cruise - a few hours, dedicated venue or show offering on a regular cruise would be great. Just give us a fraction of the attention they show EDM, rap, etc. I just don't understand why country is always ignored, yet close to the top in music/concert sales and audience popularity worldwide.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Flafun888