Virgin Dining

[mfs2k]

Having sailed Carnival, NCL, Celebrity, and now Virgin V. I now have an informed opinion of the dining comparisons I've read and want to express mine. 

 

I agree with many reviewers who have said Virgin offers the best all-included overall dining experience and the best all-included food of main-stream cruise lines.  (and that includes Blu and Luminae on Celebrity)

 

but I say this with a few caveats...

 

1. While the all-inclusive specialty restaurants we went to (Pink Agave, Extra Virgin, Wake) were very good, the food and service were not as good as the Specialty restaurants on board other cruise lines I've experienced.  Now, you're going to say: "That's not a fair comparison! You had to pay for Specialty Restaurants on other cruiselines and they were included on Virgin." And I'm going to reply: "That's true!  I did pay for specialty restaurants on board other cruises, but the problem in my opinion, is Virgin didn't offer me an OPTION to pay for better food and better service. I would have spent the money."  For those on a budget or those who don't want to spend more, the dining options are excellent. One can eat very well on board Virgin (if you can snag a reservation on a sold out ship).
2. The reservation experience leading up to the cruise is frustrating when it's difficult to book restaurants if you missed the first day or two in the booking window.  I was fortunate to have priority boarding, and I made it a point to rearrange all our dining immediately when I got on board.  Others I spoke to, who had boarding times after 2:30, were not as fortunate. 
3. I did not feel the Galley was as good as a Celebrity Buffet. The breakfast food was better in the Galley, but the wait for food was not good.  One goes to a buffet/galley for quick dining, and to wait 30 minutes, two days in a row for poached eggs, isn't good. I know a lot of people like the Galley better. To each his/her/pickapronoun own.
4. I believe the Galley saves VV a lot of money on food vs a traditional buffet and VV can allocated those resources to other venues, but I felt the options for lunch, dinner and late night to be limited.  My last two Celebrity cruises had excellent buffet options.
5. I think the Galley options would have been awesome for late night bites after 11pm.  I definitely would have had tacos, ramen, or sushi at midnight, but the only choices after shows which ended at 11 were burgers or breakfast. 
6. I also wish the Social Club was open later.  I would have wanted late night wings or a hot dog but it also closed at 11 and that was too close to our 8pm dinners to be hungry.  I didn't have the opportunity to experience SC.
7. I didn't have room service because I didn't want to wait an hour.  The one night I wanted to order breakfast in advance, I couldn't.  Apparently one can't order breakfast ahead the night before debarkation morning.
8. Pizza.  Nom.  I enjoyed it.  My wife didn't like the crust. 

 

There ya go.   That's my opinion. 

[cantgetin]

1.  I thought the standard restaurants on VV were every bit as good as specialty restaurants on Princess (where I've had not so good food in a specialty restaurant), but not as good as Celebrity or Disney in their specialty restaurants,  On the other hand, I wasn't paying extra.  There are some special items in some restaurants that are an upcharge but are completely excellent.

 

2. We didn't have any problem.  We were able to make all our reservations in advance, but we also changed several after boarding.  We also did walk ups several times with a wait of under 10 minutes.  If a sailor has trouble making reservations, the TA has access to a different portal and can often help.  You can also call shoreside Sailor Services, but they can only see the same things as the app...thus, they can only help if the app is wonky.

 

3.  The Celebrity buffet was the best we've experienced, but I like the safety of The Galley as well as the selections and not having to juggle a tray.  And the food in THe Galley is much more fresh.  I agree that more late night options would be nice.

 

7.  We never waited an hour for room service....typically 20-30 minutes.  Didn't do room service breakfast at all.

 

8.  Pizza was good.  That was our late night snack.

[scubagal44]

Thanks for sharing!  

 

I do agree that VV needs to provide more late night options.  I find it ironic that they tout these fun, late night events and then there are extremely limited food options when you're inevitably feeling snacky after a long night.  Personally that never had an impact on me because I did a Med sailing with super long/intensive port days so I was wiped out and in bed by 10:30 every night, but I could see that this would be an issue on a more chill itinerary.

 

Aside from dining, how did the rest of your trip go?

 

 

[garycarla]

You might want to read this other current thread about dining.

 

(sadly, the poster did not indicate dining was the topic in their title)

 

[mfs2k]

1 hour ago, scubagal44 said:

Aside from dining, how did the rest of your trip go?

We had a lot of fun.  Stayed up a lot later for 4 nights than we typically do.

We went to the pajama party on embarkation night and had fun and danced at the Scarlet night party .  

We had some great brunches.  Went to the Diva show, Ships in the Night, and Duel Reality and enjoyed those. The music on board was excellent.  We used $395 of our $400 bar credit (so you get a good idea we were having "fun."  My wife got a massage and enjoyed it a lot.  We went to an outdoor bar in Key West and had conch fritters, key lime pie, and drinks while listening to music.  We had a relaxing beach day in Bimini.  All in all, a great trip. Just what we needed.  Wish I wasn't at work today. 

[mfs2k]

47 minutes ago, garycarla said:

You might want to read this other current thread about dining.

 

(sadly, the poster did not indicate dining was the topic in their title)

 

Ive read other threads

[Cloud9 Bob]

I really thought your review was well witten and spot on and I totally agree with you, except for two minor points.  Social Club hours for me, were not an issue and (former NY'er here) I found the pizza to be the closest thing to a traditional NY style pie that I have ever tasted on a cruise ship.  😊

[mfs2k]

1 hour ago, mfs2k said:

We had a lot of fun.  Stayed up a lot later for 4 nights than we typically do.

We went to the pajama party on embarkation night and had fun and danced at the Scarlet night party .  

We had some great brunches.  Went to the Diva show, Ships in the Night, and Duel Reality and enjoyed those. The music on board was excellent.  We used $395 of our $400 bar credit (so you get a good idea we were having "fun."  My wife got a massage and enjoyed it a lot.  We went to an outdoor bar in Key West and had conch fritters, key lime pie, and drinks while listening to music.  We had a relaxing beach day in Bimini.  All in all, a great trip. Just what we needed.  Wish I wasn't at work today. 

I'm still trying to process if this is a cruise line I want to return to, or was it One and done...  With other cruise lines, I felt like they provided the space and it was up to me to bring the party.  With Virgin, I feel like they bring the party.  My question for myself is "Do I want to go to that party again or find a new party?"  It was like 4 days of an interactive dinner theater and I'm asking myself: Do I really want to see the same show again?"  I'm not sure the answer the day after my return.   

[karmamule]

We were just on Celebrity Apex a couple months ago and agree their specialty restaurants are top notch! However for us the buffet was only slightly better than what we've had on other lines, and the breakfast we had in Luminae was surprisingly mediocre. With our first cruise on VV coming up it'll be interesting to see how it compares for us. Thanks much for sharing your thoughts!

[cantgetin]

7 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

I'm still rying to process if this is a cruise line I want to return to, or was it One and done...  With other cruise lines, I felt like they provided the space and it was up to me to bring the party.  With Virgin, I feel like they bring the party.  My question for myself is "Do I want to go to that party again or find a new party?"  It was like 4 days of an interactive dinner theater and I'm asking myself: Do I really want to see the same show again?"  I'm not sure the answer the day after my return.   

Our last VV cruise was 5 months ago, and already at least 3 of the shows are different on our next scheduled cruise.  Whether that means the originals were not well received, that they are a new line and trying things, or that this is their plan, I don't think anyone knows.  They also seem to be scheduling different shows on different ships--potentially another plus.  THe only consistency seems to be Dual Reality.

[Jessetfan]

I agree with you about late nights. We often wished that the Social Club were open later. We would get out of a 10 PM show to find everything that offered a sweet option closed, so resorted to picking desserts up in the afternoon or early evening and stashing them in our room for snacks on the balcony. It would have been nice for Sweet Side, Lick Me Til Ice Cream, and the Social Club to be open until midnight or 1:00 AM. 

 

We didn't find the service in the Galley to be slow most of the time. We enjoyed the food for the most part, except for a ramen dish that just wasn't to my taste. 

 

We really liked the restaurants, and we were happy not to have to worry about paying extra. 

[CruisingWalter]

23 hours ago, mfs2k said:

I agree with many reviewers who have said Virgin offers the best all-included overall dining experience and the best all-included food of main-stream cruise lines.  (and that includes Blu and Luminae on Celebrity)

 

Having sailed 8 different cruise lines, including Celebrity & Princess I'd say your observations are spot on. 

 

1: The meals included are awesome, but you do get that 'extra level of attentiveness' at a specialty restaurant onboard other ships, especially Celebrity Princess and NCL. We love the VV style and it's a bit more casual, but that's a valid point.

 

2: Very frustrating for a lot of folks. Especially on their first cruise. You really do have to be ready to book your dinners at that 60 or 45 day mark depending on whether you're suite level or not. We have to tell our friends to be ready to go when the booking window opens. That being said you can usually change out your meals once you're onboard, but you have to go directly to the restaurant to make the changes.

 

3: Celebrity and Holland America have outstanding buffets with a lot of options and both are very good. The Galley works really well when it's quiet but completely breaks down when it's busy, such as morning on a port day. We understand they've added the 'flag system' from The Dock and we're going to try again in a few weeks to see if it's any better. Our first experience with The Galley at breakfast was not a good one. I would recommend The Wake or Razzle Dazzle for a better breakfast experience. VV needs to move the ordering system over to the app or tablets, ala Food Republic / Indulge Food Hall on NCL. Both MUCH better systems than The Galley currently. 

 

4: Late night the Social Club should be open and the Ice Cream should be open for sure. I think the Dine and Dash probably serves most folks late night cravings, but yes you would think with a ship that encourages imbibing late into the evening, there would be something other than Dine and Dash into the evening. 

 

On the room service, it was excellent. Best room service of any cruise line we've done so far, especially in the way they deliver it. 

 

Again, you have a lot of valid points. We LOVE Aqua Class and Blu on Celebrity, but there is so much to love across all the cruise lines. My goal is to be up to 10 cruise lines by the end of 2023 and then add some river cruising in 2024. 🙂 

[LibratPDX]

On 3/28/2023 at 6:16 AM, CruisingWalter said:

 

2: Very frustrating for a lot of folks. Especially on their first cruise. You really do have to be ready to book your dinners at that 60 or 45 day mark depending on whether you're suite level or not. We have to tell our friends to be ready to go when the booking window opens. That being said you can usually change out your meals once you're onboard, but you have to go directly to the restaurant to make the changes.

 

You can actually call to make changes to your reservations 🙂.

[cantgetin]

You can change your reservations after boarding thru the APP, at the restaurant, or by calling the restaurant.

[Travel-and-See]

On 3/28/2023 at 9:16 AM, CruisingWalter said:

We understand they've added the 'flag system' from The Dock and we're going to try again in a few weeks to see if it's any better.

The flag system didn't really help much in my experience. The issue is not how long it takes to place an order, it's how long it takes for the order to actually get to your table. When it's busy, you will be waiting a while. 

 

I've also regularly been served other peoples food.... they food runners don't really check to see if it's your order, they just put it on the table and say "enjoy" and walk away.  To be fair.. I ended up trying the noodle place because of this and it was pretty good! haha. 

[neverendingcruising]

Just used the new flag service option in the Galley last week and thought it was a vast improvement over trying to flag someone down or hope they noticed you. Now just to get the delivery logistics figured out!

[curlstravel]

I am very confused about which restaurants are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Will they have a list the night before telling you which restaurants you can eat at for breakfast etc. like the other cruise lines? I like to plan my day the night before. I also want to make sure we try all of the good restaurants.

[jon81uk]

10 minutes ago, curlstravel said:

I am very confused about which restaurants are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Will they have a list the night before telling you which restaurants you can eat at for breakfast etc. like the other cruise lines? I like to plan my day the night before. I also want to make sure we try all of the good restaurants.

The app will show you the opening times of all restaurants and food counters. The paper guide which can be picked up from sailor services and the coffee bars will list most of them. 
 

but the basics for breakfast are

The Galley food court stations

- bagels, cereal oatmeal

- yoghurts and fruit

- pastries

- pancakes, French toast, French toast burger

- all day breakfast items and omelettes

- bento boxes of fruit, granola, yoghurt.

- breakfast burritos (chorizo or avocado)

- ramen noodles

- open or toasted sandwiches 

 

most are open through to 11am, all day breakfasts are all day. 
 

Razzle Dazzle 

-breakfast and brunch menu with vegan and meat breakfast option, veggie hash, waffles and some unique items. Plus lunch dishes like a fried chicken sandwich 

open to 1pm I think. 
 

The Wake

- brunch with eggs Benedict’s, steak and eggs, French toast etc. More brunch that breakfast in my opinion. 
open to 1 or 2pm I think. 
 

Room service (Ship Eats)

eggs, French toast. Yoghurt granola, pastries etc. 

$7 delivery charge unless you order charged for items like latte or cappuccino.

best to pre-order room service breakfast the night before otherwise waits can be long.

No room service on the last morning, but the waited service brunches are available.

[Travel-and-See]

59 minutes ago, curlstravel said:

I am very confused about which restaurants are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Will they have a list the night before telling you which restaurants you can eat at for breakfast etc. like the other cruise lines? I like to plan my day the night before. I also want to make sure we try all of the good restaurants.

For Sit-Down Restaurants, the Wake and Razzle Dazzle are the only ones open for Breakfast / Lunch / Brunch.  All of the sit-down restaurants are open for dinner. 

 

For the Galley, all of the stations are open for lunch.  The Diner, Burgers, Sushi, and Salads as well as the Baked Goods are open for dinner and there is usually a dinner special as well.  

 

All of the restaurants are quite good. Your favorites will vary on taste - one of the nice things about Virgin is they have so many great options it's hard to try them all on a single cruise! 

 

I hope that helps, if you have more specific questions feel free to ask! 

[neverendingcruising]

Sun Club (poke bowls, bao buns), Pizza Place, and Social Club Diner (hot dogs, wings, pretzels, candy) are typically open for lunch as well. 

[cantgetin]

The Galley is open from ? (earlier than I was up) to 3pm.  Some of the stations change their offerings at lunch.  They have a 24 hour breakfast spot, most of the other stations close until dinner time but the popsicle cart is sometimes open.  They re-open for dinner, usually including one dinner special item, and close again at 10:30pm except for the 24 hour breakfast.

The Wake and Razzle Dazzle serve breakfast and brunch with the last seating time at 1pm.  The Wake adds a couple items to the menu between 12 and 1.  RD also adds some lunch items, but I'm not sure what time those start.

Lunch is also available at lots of casual outlets--Sun Cafe (poki bowls), The Dock/dock house, (small plates, grilled items grab and go boxes), Social Club (hot dogs, wings, etc), Pizza is open in the afternoon and again in the later evening until 1am.

Dinner is available in The Galley as noted above and in the  6 restaurants.

Reservations are recommended for anything in the 6 main restaurants, whether the 2 for breakfast/brunch or all for dinner.  However, we were only once denied a walk up, and in fairness, that was at about noon at The Wake.  They offered a reservation for the next day.  We did walk ups for brunch/lunch and for dinners when we wanted to change our previously made reservation,

There is NO reason that you'd go hungry at any time of the day.  If I could give VV one suggestion, it would be for more late night munchies.  Currently the only options are pizza or "Sailor Eats" which is room service.  All else closes at 10:30p

This might be helpful.  https://eatsleepcruise.com/virgin-voyages-restaurant-guide-with-menus/

 

Edited March 30, 2023 by cantgetin

[CruisingWalter]

On 3/29/2023 at 11:40 PM, neverendingcruising said:

Just used the new flag service option in the Galley last week and thought it was a vast improvement over trying to flag someone down or hope they noticed you. Now just to get the delivery logistics figured out!

 

NCL showed the way to do this with Food Republic years ago. They have touch pads at each table, you order and the items are brought to you. It's fast and efficient, we ate there three times during one cruise and it was great. They extended this into the Indulge Food Hall with Prima and soon to be Viva. All reports I've seen from Prima is the system works brilliantly. 

 

We had a similar system onboard the Sky Princess allowing us to order drinks and food items via the app to be delivered literally anywhere on the ship. They located us via the Ocean Medallions. We saw food and drinks being delivered all over the ship all day and into the night. 

 

Short of putting touch pads at each station, VV could move Galley ordering to the app. We put in our table number and place the order.  Our orders go in much more efficiently, then the servers would only have to retrieve food instead of taking orders & delivery. With all the 'tech' onboard the ships, this should be a no brainer. Although that app, while much better now, is still a bit of a work in progress. 

 

 

[mfs2k]

On 4/2/2023 at 8:02 AM, CruisingWalter said:

VV could move Galley ordering to the app. We put in our table number and place the order.  Our orders go in much more efficiently, then the servers would only have to retrieve food instead of taking orders & delivery.

 

I think this will be reality soon enough.  Those red flags on the table seem to be a temporary fix. 

[CruisingWalter]

21 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

 

I think this will be reality soon enough.  Those red flags on the table seem to be a temporary fix. 

 

I wouldn't hold my breath given how slowly that app has improved. It would be nice though. 

[RollWave]

On 3/27/2023 at 2:22 PM, mfs2k said:

I'm still trying to process if this is a cruise line I want to return to, or was it One and done...  

We are just off Scarlet Lady this morning and said this very thing on the drive home.

We are avid cruisers with Celebrity as our line of choice. We were intrigued by the Adult Only aspect of VV. We toyed with the idea of purchasing the future cruise offer while on board and decided not to. We may give VV another try but did not want to be boxed in with having to go again.