Breakfast on Virgin Voyages - Valiant Lady

[Maxximum23]

We are cruising on Valiant Lady in a few weeks time around the eastern Caribbean. First time with Virgin.

 

We are staying in a Central Sea Terrace cabin. Is there a kettle and any coffee/tea facilities in the cabin?

 

Also can we eat breakfast in one of the speciality restaurants in the morning? We would like a cooked breakfast of bacon and eggs etc.

 

Any good general tips would be useful too. We have sailed with MSC, Royal Caribbean etc before, Virgin seem very different, but we are young at heart and I am a big pop and rock music fan. Thank you in anticipation.

[jon81uk]

23 minutes ago, Maxximum23 said:

We are staying in a Central Sea Terrace cabin. Is there a kettle and any coffee/tea facilities in the cabin?

No there isn’t a kettle or coffee maker in the room.

You can order room service, no delivery fee if you get a paid-for item (like a latte).

 

24 minutes ago, Maxximum23 said:

Also can we eat breakfast in one of the speciality restaurants in the morning? We would like a cooked breakfast of bacon and eggs etc.

 

Razzle Dazzle offers a breakfast/brunch menu but their bacon is candied style, they do also have eggs and vegetarian sausage patty. My favourite there is the waffle. The Wake also offers a brunch menu but there is no bacon & eggs, they do offer Benedict’s and steak & eggs as well as French toast.

 

The Galley food court has standard breakfast items, burritos, French toast, pancakes, bagels, pastries, cereal and oatmeal.

 

Main tips are to do the check in steps in the app ASAP and get an arrival time booked in, book dinners and brunches in the app at 45days out and fitness classes then shows once onboard

[cantgetin]

Do not count on the tea water from room service to be tolerable.  They use thermos type containers for the water and soup broth, and do not distinguish between containers used for coffee and those used for water.  Most non-coffee drinkers realize that you can't ever get the coffee residue taste out of the hot water that is placed in a coffee container.  We've had this happen on Scarlet and Valiant,  Most of the time, the tea was delivered as leaves in the brewing pot with the water in the thermos; I could go to The Galley or Grounds Club to get good hot water.  However, once they brewed the tea in some kitchen and placed the brewed tea in the thermos--it went down the sink as it was awful....as did all the water and the soup broth from the thermos on other occasions.  However, I was only charged the $5 for the undrinkable tea in thermos rather than $7 had I not ordered a charged item.

They don't care.  I've commented on this in my review of every one of my VV cruises and it doesn't change.

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

Room service has bacon, eggs, sausage, French toast and croissants. No cheese for the eggs and no plain toast. But it is hot and good! 

[CruisingWalter]

13 hours ago, Maxximum23 said:

We are staying in a Central Sea Terrace cabin. Is there a kettle and any coffee/tea facilities in the cabin?

No.

 

13 hours ago, Maxximum23 said:

Also can we eat breakfast in one of the speciality restaurants in the morning? We would like a cooked breakfast of bacon and eggs etc

Razzle Dazzle and The Wake offer breakfast / brunch daily.  You can also get eggs and bacon 24 hours in The Galley at Dine and Dash. During breakfast hours you can get a slew of breakfast options in The Galley.  Razzle Dazzle has a unique bacon that's got some spice to it, quite good when it's hot. 

 

My guilty pleasure at least once on every VV cruise is the French Toast Burger from the Burger Bar in The Galley. Ridiculously over the top but I love it.

 

13 hours ago, Maxximum23 said:

Any good general tips would be useful too. We have sailed with MSC, Royal Caribbean etc before, Virgin seem very different, but we are young at heart and I am a big pop and rock music fan.

 

You'll probably be surprised at how chill the ship is, especially with that itinerary. Most people seem to think VV is a 24 hour party because the vlogs concentrate on Scarlet Night and The Manor. 

 

Social Club is a very popular spot on the ship for games, puzzles, trivia and the Diner has great quick snacks including addictive rice krispy treats.

 

The included retro Arcade is in that area too, really fun spot to relive your childhood.

 

The Groupie is a hilarious private karaoke spot, I don't do public karaoke, but a private booth with your partner or a few new friends is hilarious.

 

Two great places to go when you board the ship. The Dock on the back of Deck 7 for tapas or The Sun Club Cafe up on Deck 16 for a poke bowl or bao buns. 

 

The drip coffee in The Galley is somewhat drinkable, not very great. Grounds Club however is awesome, they usually have some of the better baristas at sea. The coffee they deliver to the room with room service is surprisingly good however. And I love how they deliver it in a nice carafe so you can have an extra cup of coffee or two. The Grounds Club locations close by 8pm, which is surprising to be honest I would keep at least one of them open till 10.  But if you want a good cup of joe later in the evening, go to Sips Champagne Lounge. They have hand pulled espresso machines and make a mean cappuccino or espresso. They make an Espresso Martini but you can also just have good strong coffee. 

 

Must eats for dinner for us are Razzle Dazzle & Pink Agave. Extra Virgin has been improving of late. Test Kitchen is fun while The Wake is a hard pass for us at dinner. We gave it another shot on Scarlet Lady earlier this month and it was just as bad as the last time we went. The very first sailing 2 years ago it was great, since then, not so much. Very slow, unattentive service, food so-so, tables not bussed at all. Like tables that were abandoned when we arrived for dinner and were still not cleaned off when we left after dinner. Gunbae is a good 'first night of the cruise' dinner because you get seated with other guests. It's a great way to meet some new folks on the first night of the cruise. Dinner isn't the best, but it's not bad either. 

 

Pizza is usually pretty good, though we noticed the pies have gotten a little smaller of late. Probably not a bad thing. And the ice cream is surprisingly good too. 

 

You'll find The Galley is a bit weird at night if you decided to go up there for dinner. 

 

Whoever the music act is in On the Rocks in the evening is usually among the best musical entertainers at sea. I don't know where they find these bands and singers but they are usually really good. 

 

If Carlos is your Diva, be sure to catch Around The World In 80 Minutes. Silly, campy show that Carlos makes so much more fun. And if she is your Diva, check out the Cabaret show on the final night of the cruise in On The Rocks. That's one of our favorite shows on any VV cruise when she's there. 

 

You probably already know this, but the pool is a postage stamp sized pool for the size of the ship. Don't expect to lounge in the pool much during a sea day as it tends to fill up by about 1pm. Not much lounge space on Deck 15 around the pool either, more space up on Deck 16. You also have that large round hot tub that's not a hot tub pool near Gym and Tonic bar.

 

The Net on Deck 16 is great for a photo, but otherwise impractical and that entire space back there barely gets used during a cruise. At some point in the future it'd be nice to see that space reconfigured with an infinity pool ala NCL's Prima class Haven. 

 

On The Rocks and The Dock bar have usually been the better bars for good cocktails when we have sailed. 

 

If you want to be in the thick of Scarlet Night be on Deck 15 around the pool. Towards the end they will invite you to come dance in the pool. If you prefer to watch and be out of the fray, got up on Deck 16. We bring earplugs because it is a very loud environment up there. Fantastic party, but a bit too loud on these ears.