Photo review of Resilient Lady- Sydney to Burnie, Tasmania

[OzKiwiJJ]

15 minutes ago, aussielozzie18 said:

So plan for lunch on boarding day was to eat at The Dock.  Had heard this recommended in the lead up to the cruise.  The Dock is a “view drenched mezze lounge designed to channel seaside vibes”.  Managed to get an outside table looking at the Sydney Harbour Bridge but service was slow so gave up.  Grabbed some grab & go eats and took them back to cabin for a late lunch (hadnt discovered The Galley at this point).  Never made it back to The Dock (so much to see, not enough time) so no photos.

We went there one evening before dinner. It was a very pleasant place to sit and have a drink. Yes, service was very slow there. Rolf ended up going up to the bar to order our drinks.

[OzKiwiJJ]

The bathroom was the smallest I've ever seen on a cruise ship but still managed to have a decent-sized shower cubicle. I hated the rain shower fitting - I always get water and/or shampoo in my eyes with those. The alternative spray fitting was at chest level so could only be used as a hand-held spray. Weird! 

[aussielozzie18]

Just now, OzKiwiJJ said:

It did seem a bit crowded at times on our cruise. I think the width of the interior of the ship is narrower than most. The lifeboats are on deck 7, with some lovely wide deck space between the two lifeboat clusters, but instead of the decks going up partly over the lifeboat infrastructure, they were set back. And, of course, the interior of deck 7 was narrower as well so there were traffic jams at times moving forward or aft through deck 7. 

 

This is looking forward from our aft cabin on deck 10. You can just see the cluster of deck furniture in the middle after the white oblongs. 

 

It’s funny that on other cruise lines the view of the lifeboats would be called an obstructed view but not on Virgin.

 

You could see directly down to the water from the balcony but you also could see directly into the lifeboat if you looked to the left.  
 

 

 

 

[SinbadThePorter]

4 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The bathroom was the smallest I've ever seen on a cruise ship but still managed to have a decent-sized shower cubicle.

 

Princess need to hire away Virgin's bathroom designer. The bathroom was smaller, yet the shower cubical was so much better than on Coral. They just need to add a few shelves.

 

My experience with the restaurants was that you could almost guarantee a walk in seat at 5:30. Even if not, they would generally tell you they will try to fit you in later.

Edited February 20 by SinbadThePorter

[aussielozzie18]

7 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The bathroom was the smallest I've ever seen on a cruise ship but still managed to have a decent-sized shower cubicle. I hated the rain shower fitting - I always get water and/or shampoo in my eyes with those. The alternative spray fitting was at chest level so could only be used as a hand-held spray. Weird! 

 

I saw the bathroom on the Sydney open night and thought they were the size of an airline cubicle….but I found it was fine to actually use during the cruise. Loved the rainforest shower head  but the horizontal wand spray in the shower was weird…kept turning it on by accident

Edited February 20 by aussielozzie18

[aussielozzie18]

5 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

Princess need to hire away Virgin's bathroom designer. The bathroom was smaller, yet the shower cubical was so much better than on Coral. They just need to add a few shelves.

 

My experience with the restaurants was that you could almost guarantee a walk in seat at 5:30. Even if not, they would generally tell you they will try to fit you in later.

5.30pm woulf have been far too early.  Struggled with 6pm which I had prebooked prior to cruise.  6.30-7pm would have been best on this cruise personally.

[aussielozzie18]

Sailaway was scheduled for 5.30pm-7pm.  Always enjoy a sailaway party and was told  the Virgin one was not be missed (especially as there was free flowing champagne) but had already prebooked dinner at 6pm and was reluctant to mess around with dinner bookings….other issue was had eaten a late lunch at 4pm so wasn’t particularly hungry at 6pm but didn’t want to waste the opportunity to eat at the restaurant booked with only four nights on board.

[aussielozzie18]

So, first restaurant on board was Extra Virgin (Elevated Italian Eatery serving fresh handmade pasta).

 

Bread/focaccia for starters was so fresh and yummy.

 

Entree was fried artichoke - yum

 

 

Main was fish (was fine but wish I had chosen the pasta).  The tables of 2 are very close to together, so was drooling from a short distance over those who had chosen the pasta.

 

Dessert menu:

 

Dessert choice - yum.  

 

The service was top notch.  In hindsight, I wish I had asked the waiter for his suggestions for mains.  I feel I didn’t get the full experience of the menu.  Definitely keen to dine again at Extra Virgin.  
 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, aussielozzie18 said:

It’s funny that on other cruise lines the view of the lifeboats would be called an obstructed view but not on Virgin.

 

You could see directly down to the water from the balcony but you also could see directly into the lifeboat if you looked to the left.  
 

 

 

We couldn't see down into the sea from our balcony, just into the lifeboat.

 

The restrooms just outside The Gallery had great views from the handbasin area, and that deck must have extended right out as there was no sign of lifeboats or decks directly below, just ocean.
 

Edited February 20 by OzKiwiJJ

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, aussielozzie18 said:

 

I saw the bathroom on the Sydney open night and thought they were the size of an airline cubicle….but I found it was fine to actually use during the cruise. Loved the rainforest shower head  but the horizontal wand spray in the shower was weird…kept turning it on by accident

I have seen smaller bathrooms but they were on luxury trains! But, yes, it was actually a very usable bathroom. 

 

The Regent cruise we did in November had a similar shower setup but the wand spray was set higher so you could use it as a regular shower. But it was too easy to overshoot when turning it off and accidently turn on the rainforest shower which obliged with a burst of cold water right onto my head! Did I say I hate rainforest showers?

[aussielozzie18]

On the first sea day, went to Bingo with the Diva.  Bingo booklet sales were 11.15am-11.45am outside the venue. Bought the large bingo booklet which was $45usd. It Bingo started at midday and ran for an hour.  Bingo had a very enthusiastic host & the Diva who did audience interaction and sang two songs in between Bingo games.  Winnings started off at $500 usd then the second last game was approx $1.5k in USD.
 

For the third game, the host announced this was a green coloured sheet game.  We all looked at those around us in puzzlement all thinking our booklet was missing a sheet, as our sheet was clearly brown The host then said hang on a minute, switched the venue lights and the brown page turned green.  
Second last game prize was $1.589k USD which I came this close to winning.  Ahhh…

Final game prize was $2.119k USD and two young friends each won.  All prize winners announced when asked that they were from Sydney. The young woman who  was the prize winner of the big jackpot was so excited, of course, and proudly announced she was from Campbelltown.

 

 

 

 

 

This was a fun game of Bingo but it was very LOUD.
 

Edited February 20 by aussielozzie18

[aussielozzie18]

Our roll call had organised a slot pull on the first  sea day at 1pm.  Entry was $20usd.  I had fully intended to go and the casino was conveniently located next to the bingo venue but unfortunately I came out of Bingo with a pulsating headache so had to give it a miss.  I needed quiet time and fresh air.

 

Speaking of our roll call, in the lead up to the cruise, our admin posted a call out for any one interested in meeting up on board with a couple who were swingers 🍍

Admin stated it was an inclusive line so she was happy to post the request anonymously on behalf of the couple.

[aussielozzie18]

This area was very popular for cruisers to play board games & puzzles - all supplied by Virgin.  

 

 

A food area nearby with free lollies in a jar and a range of free sweet treats.

 

 

 

There was also apparently a  games room close by  - The Arcade - with old style machine games that could played for free but I didn’t see it.

Edited February 20 by aussielozzie18

[Colin 2905]

3 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

There was also apparently a  games room close by  - The Arcade - with old style machine games that could played for free but I didn’t see it.

 

Using your last photo as a reference point, The Arcade is towards the windows then around to the left. It's a rather smallish arcade, with about ten machines (I didn't actually count them). A couple of the machines were Out Of Order when we cruised on RL at the beginning of the month. I only went there a couple of times, and played Space Invaders (badly) and the car racing game (even worse). Our son (28) went a few more times than I did, and seemed to enjoy it for what it was.

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

This area was very popular for cruisers to play board games & puzzles - all supplied by Virgin.  

 

 

A food area nearby with free lollies in a jar and a range of free sweet treats.

 

 

 

There was also apparently a  games room close by  - The Arcade - with old style machine games that could played for free but I didn’t see it.

We didn't see the Arcade either but the games area was very impressive.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We went to a show on the last afternoon by The Diva - Round the World in 80 minutes. It was a hoot but it was one of those shows where they pull up members of the audience to participate for a short time and there was just a bit too much of that. Great costumes though, and most of the songs were well known so everyone joined in. 

 

Edited February 21 by OzKiwiJJ

[aussielozzie18]

7 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We went to a show on the last afternoon by The Diva - Round the World in 80 minutes. It was a hoot but it was one of those shows where they pull up members of the audience to participate for a short time and there was just a bit too much of that. Great costumes though, and most of the songs were well known so everyone joined in. 

 

Sounds great.  Wish I had seen it.  Did either of you participate?

[Relaxing Robbies]

16 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

So plan for lunch on boarding day was to eat at The Dock.  Had heard this recommended in the lead up to the cruise.  The Dock is a “view drenched mezze lounge designed to channel seaside vibes”.  Managed to get an outside table looking at the Sydney Harbour Bridge but service was slow so gave up.  Grabbed some grab & go eats and took them back to cabin for a late lunch (hadnt discovered The Galley at this point).  Never made it back to The Dock (so much to see, not enough time) so no photos.

It is a shame you missed trying the food there. The small prawn skewers and chicken ones were great.

[aussielozzie18]

57 minutes ago, Relaxing Robbies said:

It is a shame you missed trying the food there. The small prawn skewers and chicken ones were great.

Agree & yes that those are dishes I wanted to try as well as others.

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Sounds great.  Wish I had seen it.  Did either of you participate?

S/he gave Rolf a cuddle! 🤣

[aussielozzie18]

Dinner at The Wake Restaurant.  So named as it overlooks the wake.  Really nice interiors of this restaurant and the food  & service was top notch.  

 

The bread - warm - omg 🤤

Entree:

Clam Chowder - yum!
 

 

Continuing with seafood, 

Had a lot of promo loot (OBC) to spend so splurged on seafood - an additional $50.  I actually did a silent OMG when this bowl of seafood was served.

 

Lobster, crab legs, mussels, oysters etc.

 

Dessert was Baked Alaska

 

Yummy!

 

Cant wait to visit Alaska in May and have crab legs again….

 

Edited February 21 by aussielozzie18

[Ondine]

20 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

It is an absolutely ridiculous setup. In that picture the bed vertical to the wall has the head next to the feet of the person in the bed parallel to the wall. If that person has their feet out from under the covers, it's a bit confronting to turn over in the middle of the night to have someone's toes in your face.

 

The original singles configuration was for the heads to be next to each other, but that puts heads even closer together than the double bed setup, so what's the point?

 

The best option I think is to have the feet end of both beds next to each other. The downside of that is that there is no headrest on either bed to stop your pillows from falling to the floor in the middle of the night.

 

It's a fine example of Virgin doing boneheaded stupid things because they desperately want to be seen as outre. When it comes to beds, give me function over form any day of the week.

 

Son and I were on the inaugural voyage in December and "rearranged" the set up.  He didn't quite fit in the bed along the wall and I didn't want his feet in my face and I wasn't about to give up the other single because one has a spring base while the other doesn't and is harder.  They are both hard actually.

We put the "U shaped table" at the end of the bed near the window then we put the chair in backwards so the back of the chair would act as a wedge.  We put all the extra pillows on the "table" which brought it approximately to the height of the mattress.  He grumbled a bit but it worked.  We then brought one of the balcony chairs inside to replace the one we had used to make the bed.  The metal chairs are awful and I spent most of my outside time in the hammock anyway. 

We are sailing again tomorrow using credits we got when they cancelled my 20 night b2b NZ cruises.  And they wonder what went wrong.  They can't seem to make up their minds what they want to do. How can you book in advance when you can't be sure what will happen?

I will try to take a photo and upload it when I get back.  We find that the cabin not being squared also plays tricks with your mind.  It is around a foot narrower at one end.

[aussielozzie18]

Burnie, Tasmania.  We had perfect weather.  Warm, sunny, no breeze.  Working port, so free shuttle from ship to town centre.  Before we hopped off shuttle bus, the female Mayor hopped on wearing her gold ceremonial chain  and gave each bus load of cruisers an enthusiastic welcome. When we offloaded from bus,  Local tourism people greeted us & provided info if required.  A very small market was also set up at the shuttle drop off.

[aussielozzie18]

Here are the menus for Extra Virgin

The Wake

 

Forget to take photos at the time.  Printed these off in pre-cruise research.

 

 

[aussielozzie18]

Was tempted to do a tour to Cradle Mountain whilst in Burnie.  Decided against it due to travelling time there and back.  Those that went spent 3hrs there and took beautiful photos due to the lovely weather.

 

Instead did a private full day tour booked online beforehand. 

 

First stop on the Coastal Delights Sightseeing Experience was an scenic lookout over Burnie Port and town.  Was informed that 7 cruise ships have not been able to dock this season due to either striking dock workers or weather.