valandemmy Posted July 9 #1 Share Posted July 9 My wife loves her Espresso and last time we were on the ship, we were not that impressed with the quality of The Grounds Club so we would like to bring our own "travel" esspresso machine. would this be allowed or would it get taken? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaysha2004 Posted July 10 #2 Share Posted July 10 That is hilarious!! I, too, do not like the Intelligentsia coffee beans they use. The flavor profile is really bland. I add a shot of alcohol to make it taste better. I haven't brought my own espresso machine, but I do bring Starbucks Via packets now. You may get away with bringing it if it doesn't look like a coffee maker. If it makes the espresso under high pressure, though, it may be considered a fire hazard should it malfunction. Best to check with Virgin directly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon81uk Posted July 10 #3 Share Posted July 10 Items with heating elements are prohibited (except for hair irons). https://www.virginvoyages.com/safety-security/prohibited-items Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare 1025cruise Posted July 10 #4 Share Posted July 10 Quick answer, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebeccac Posted July 10 #5 Share Posted July 10 You might want to consider an AeroPress. It involves no electricity. You would need to bring your own ground coffee and then get hot water from the galley. There are several different versions for sale on Amazon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tralfaz1138 Posted July 10 #6 Share Posted July 10 I wasn't that impressed with the coffee in the sense that it didn't seem like there was a huge difference between buying a coffee they made at the Grounds Club vs just drinking the coffee they have at The Galley. I got a manual pump espresso machine designed for camping off a Kickstarter years ago that I'm tempted to bring with me on our next cruise. The problem is it's an odd shape, so I don't know that it will pack that well, plus I don't know that I want to keep dumping grounds and cleaning something up while "on vacation". I figure I'll let my wife use our bonus bar tab for her latte's and I'll use mine for wine or whatever at dinner and stick with The Galley coffee. I'm a coffee snob in a way, but not to the extent where I can't drink what's available while on vacation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon81uk Posted July 10 #7 Share Posted July 10 1 hour ago, Tralfaz1138 said: I wasn't that impressed with the coffee in the sense that it didn't seem like there was a huge difference between buying a coffee they made at the Grounds Club vs just drinking the coffee they have at The Galley. Personally I found the free drip coffee in the Galley more flavourful than an Americano from a barista. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tralfaz1138 Posted July 10 #8 Share Posted July 10 1 hour ago, jon81uk said: Personally I found the free drip coffee in the Galley more flavourful than an Americano from a barista. That's about where I was at. As will happen with drip coffee in an urn, how good it was could depend a little on how long it was in the urn, how full it is when you pour some out for yourself, etc. So the Grounds Club Americano was probably more "consistent", but on average the Galley coffee was probably better. I'm a black coffee person, so more flavorful is pretty important. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Rogueperson Posted July 10 #9 Share Posted July 10 4 hours ago, Tralfaz1138 said: I wasn't that impressed with the coffee in the sense that it didn't seem like there was a huge difference between buying a coffee they made at the Grounds Club vs just drinking the coffee they have at The Galley. I got a manual pump espresso machine designed for camping off a Kickstarter years ago that I'm tempted to bring with me on our next cruise. The problem is it's an odd shape, so I don't know that it will pack that well, plus I don't know that I want to keep dumping grounds and cleaning something up while "on vacation". I figure I'll let my wife use our bonus bar tab for her latte's and I'll use mine for wine or whatever at dinner and stick with The Galley coffee. I'm a coffee snob in a way, but not to the extent where I can't drink what's available while on vacation. Really, I found a marked difference between the coffee between the Galley and the Grounds Club. Before this cruise, I've never had Intelligentsia Coffee before. On other cruise lines, I generally bring my own coffee and aeropress, but since this was my first Virgin and they touted Intelligentsia coffee, and I was flying, i chose not to bring coffee and my aeropress. First day at brunch, i had their coffee at the Wake for Brunch, and yeah, not good. One of the reasons I haven't had Intelligentsia coffee was that it costed more than the coffee beans I normally use. I would have tried it eventually, but I hadn't when i boarded. I tried it at the Galley too, and it tasted the same. I figured it was from the same source. So on Day 2 after brunch, as I was exploring the ship, I noticed on the shelf that they actually sold beans on the ship. So, I'm having this deep conversation with the barista about buying a pound of beans, having him grind it and trying to figure out a jury rig filter so i can have decent coffee. He's clearly humoring me and after a 15 minute conversation, he goes "well, you know, you could just ask me for a pour over". And that, solved everything. I found their pour over to be decent, especially since i could choose which of the 4 beans they had on the ship to use. Ironically, later in the cruise, my wife and I did the coffee tasting class, and recognize that two of the beans they sold, were not to our liking, but the other two were more than good enough for pour overs. For me, I think it was their El Diablo roast that we liked the best. I felt their Espresso was weak, so i didn't get it often. I never get Americanos as they are generally weak and too diluted for me. The Pour over was the best. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tralfaz1138 Posted July 10 #10 Share Posted July 10 51 minutes ago, Rogueperson said: He's clearly humoring me and after a 15 minute conversation, he goes "well, you know, you could just ask me for a pour over". And that, solved everything. I found their pour over to be decent, especially since i could choose which of the 4 beans they had on the ship to use. I will admit, I didn't think about asking for the pour over. I should have, since I occasionally do them myself at home, but it's just something I don't typically get at coffee shops so I didn't think about it at the Grounds Club. I'll give one a shot on our upcoming cruise and see how it works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyTrain2 Posted July 11 #11 Share Posted July 11 Just put a leash on it and identifying cover on it and call it a therapy animal. As long as you cover it in fur, there should be no problems. After they say "NO!", you simply retort, "So I guess my propane grill and outdoor heat lamp are a no go?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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