Virgin Voyages Reviews

We chose to sail Virgin Voyages' Valiant Lady in January of 2023 because we heard rave reviews about the food & liked the idea of small venues & small group activities.

Positives:
• There were only 800 sailors on my cruise, and children are not allowed.
• Even the worst of the rooms are really nice. The beds are shockingly comfy.
• Aesthetically, the ship decor is gorgeous, uncluttered and visually serene.
• The crew is very diverse, both in nationality & ethnicity. I was happy to have that experience.
• The restaurant food is diverse and divine. I could eat at "The Wake" for every meal. (Note, if you don't book for 7 days or longer, you can only eat dinner at each restaurant once). Our cruise was 8 days, so we got to repeat our favorites.
• It was not a cruise of model perfect, beautiful bodies, and I felt comfortable while dressed casually most of the time.
• The filtered water is delicious
• We appreciated no use of single-use plastics.
• No buffets. Table service is provided in the food court, known as "The Galley" and the serving staff was almost always happy, smiling & efficient. The servers on the ship from the food court to fine dining were top notch.
• I had a touch of motion sickness, and the Medical clinic was fast, efficient & free except for the actual medication which was available for purchase for cheap, even by the pill if you so choose.
• The bracelet that serves as room key, I.D. & form of payment is brilliant.

Negatives:
• Much of the Virgin Voyages experience is managed via the Sailor app, which would have been a positive, except that even with premium WiFi ($90 per person if you aren't a Sailing Club member), it took 8 to 10 mins for the app to open EVERY time. I did not have issues with any other app on my phone, just with Virgin.
• All things "tech" from in room TVs to public digital displays glitch A LOT or only work intermittently.
• Room service, known as "Ship Eats", has a very limited selection, no option for special requests, like salt/pepper, & all of our food arrived cold, each & every time, despite very fast delivery. The food was free, delivery cost $5 ea delivery.
• Most of the food we had at The Galley (food court) was served at or below room temp & I hate cold fries. And all of the soft drinks were nearly flat, ship wide.
• Signage, directions & instructions are completely lacking in every situation, and Sailor Services crew members were curt, at best, but most often rude & unhelpful.
• I could write a book about the music alone. With the exception of a couple of solo musicians, the live music was mostly terrible. I would not have been surprised to learn that most of the musicians were just learning their instruments.
• Entertainment shows mostly contained juvenile, low brow humor. If you are easily offended by sexually overt content, or explicit language & F bombs, skip the floor shows. I am not offended by any of that, I just found most of it unfunny or unentertaining.
• Many of the small group artistic activities were also juvenile from painting with dollar-store quality paints to making friendship bracelets, it was all very summer camp.
• Virgin claims their average Sailor is 40-45 years old, and that seems like a fair tepresentation based on the 800 sailors on my ship. But they are offering music & activities targeted at the very children they have banned from the cruise up through the low to mid twenties crowd.
• If you have anxiety of any sort that is fed by noise, run from this cruise as fast as you can. There is thumping house/dance music playing in almost every location 24 hours per day. Every place that could offer a relaxing respite like the Mediterranean inspired Dock & Dockhouse or poolside was invaded by a DJ or adjacent to a space with inappropriately LOUD music. Without end. If you stick your head out of your cabin at 3 am, music thumps in the hallways. If you have autism-related chaos or sound issues, don't take a Virgin cruise. The only spaces we found that did not have the same music blaring constantly were the pizza joint & The Wake restaurant. Even with my 37 decibel + sound baffling ear plugs, the music volume was too often aggressive making casual conversation all but impossible. Shouting was actually necessary. And, there is zero variety. No tropical music, no rock, country or jazz... just club music 24/7. The irony that this comes from a company that owns Virgin Records is not lost on me. It was miserable. Even at the Beach Club in Bimini... no relaxing under a palm tree in a hammock w/o screamingly loud club music.

So, it was not a great experience for us, but I can see how it might be a great time for someone else.

Most annoying part is even after writing a letter/email to Virgin, no one has bothered to email or respond to my points of upset.

We had a lovely room, and the ship was lovely and food in the Restaurants during the evening was amazing and two of the shows we watched were good, But the "Gally" where you eat breakfast and lunch was extremely slow for food, often cold as was sitting around waiting to be bought to us, and often not what we ordered. Onetime I even said to the waiter I think that’s my order that’s been sitting waiting to be delivered to me !! One afternoon my nieces husband waited 45 minutes for a burger and fries and I have never known eggs to take so long to be cooked, we never actually all ate breakfast or lunch at the same time, as it took so long and all coming at different times, the quickest was to grab a box of fruit if we wanted to get off the ship!
We couldn't use the pool as it was rather small or any of the hot Tubs as they always seemed to be over run by members of "Staff" ( apparently virgin employees had all been given vouchers to use ) the atmosphere actually seemed more like a company staff outing/team building event than a cruise for holiday makers.
We were also conned into buying a an upgrade "romance package" $200 pp which was a total waste of money as apart from the dedicated check in experience not one member of staff knew anything about the so called "advantages" of this upgrade, we even did a survey asking members of staff if they knew why we were wearing these so called "Special wrist bands" they didn't, only 1 member said he vaguely recalls seeing an email about it, but had no idea why we were wearing them !!! when we bought this up with "Sailor Services" she just said it was at the discretion of the staff to surprise us with things, but as no one knew anything about it that was not going to happen !!

and as I said at the beginning, the fact that no one has even bothered to reply to my letter is awful.
Customer service for this part of the "virgin" family is rubbish

After the pandemic, I was looking to get out and experience a cruise, which I'd had numerous people tell me I should try over the years. I was traveling alone, and found Virgin Voyages as a recommendation to me. This was an excellent choice. I found the food incredible, the atmosphere inclusive and welcoming, and my Solo Sea View cabin was cozy and relaxing -- an excellent getaway when I needed to be alone.

The totality of the experience is brought down somewhat by a deceptive marketing tactic. During a sea day, a note was slipped under my Solo Seaview cabin door with the Future Voyages offer -- make a deposit for a future cruise, get onboard credit on that cruise. This sounded like an excellent deal to me -- and I purchased it immediately.

When I attempted to book my next trip, I was informed that this offer was *only* available for those purchasing the larger terrace rooms with a balcony, and were not available with my solo room at all. This restriction is buried in the Terms and Conditions section of the website, and was entirely omitted from the flyer that was slipped into the Cabin I was staying in -- the same cabin that was ineligible for this offer.

I had an excellent experience with the cruise line, and would have booked again without this deceptive offer. But I am disappointed that Virgin resorted to this to gain my repeat business. While I still plan to go on VV again -- and would not hesitate to recommend it to my friends (particularly my LGBTQ+ friends) -- all should be aware of this restriction they're selling on ship.

The best cruise I have been on. I have experience a number of cruises but Virgin Voyages takes it to another level with food in particular. 5 star and Michelin standard with all restaurants included.

The entertainment was outstanding if you love music. Not your usual mediocre cruise musicians but outstanding professional musicians catering for all tastes in music.

I also loved the fact that the fitness classes are all included in the fare and they are very varied.

Age is not a problem as this cruise is for any age group. There is something for everyone who loves music and is young at heart who loves to party but if you just want to relax then there are plenty of areas on the ship to do that too.

I had a fantastic cruise with VV in September 2022, and on board I had a postcard left in the room that stated pay $300 now and receive $300 discount plus $600 Bar Tab. I thought this was good deal so I did this. I have just tried to rebook on the same cabin type I sailed on in Aug/Sep and they wont let me use it against this LTD view balcony in which the voucher just states off your next voyage. No T&Cs . I feel like they have ripped me off and I have emailed 6 times to Virgin asking for my money back and they just ignore me even though I received an acknowledgment. They have lost a customer due to service.

Our trip with Virgin was excellent! This was our first time going on any cruise and specifically Virgin so we enjoyed our time onboard and at each of the destinations. Our Rockstar agent Karina was amazing and MJ always brought fresh ice to our suite. Djuro up at Richard’s Rooftop was amazing and kept our bubbles filled up. Entertainment was excellent and the Ryan the foodie was amazing! Definitely take the tequila tasting class if you can and do the grog walk also.

I have not completed my cruise but I am booked on R Lady Athens-Sydney in October. I checked activities and very disappointed to see the ship does not have Paddle Tennis(also known as pickleball). Game is played in a very small area and is growing rapidly in popularity with all particularly the elderly. Cunard Lines include the game!!! Please Please consider adding this activity as it takes up little space and it is a very enjoyable game employing 4 players! Please consider!!

I previously wrote a negative review related to my experience with customer service on Virgin Voyages. Since then I finally was able to connect with a customer service rep that could and did do what I was requesting. I think the previous representatives I got were new or just didn’t know what could be done. I basically wanted to cancel my booking and create a new booking using the credit from the original booking against the new booking so that I could get a better promotional deal that I missed by 8 days. Luckily the last time I called I connected with REM who knew what to do and how to do it thereby giving me the better promotion. He restored my faith in customer representatives and gave me a better feeling about cruising with Virgin. My cruise is not until March but I’ll be sure to review it afterwards. I have been on 5 other cruise lines but this will be my first on Virgin.

Virgin is very different and amazing compared to other cruise lines. Great entertainment and service onboard. The food is out of this world with so many options to choose from. Would highly recommend them to anyone. Two things to be careful of - 1 is the APP, its broken and not ideal. Easier to speak to someone. 2 is the Richards Rooftop - we waited a couple of hours to be served a drink.

It was a great time, more than we expected! We upgraded to Rockstar status, had an awesome agent Lazar Ricci! Top notch treatment, great shows, loved the Adult only environment, food was excellent, made friends, lived the life and ready to do it all over!

I have been on 20+ cruises over the last 20 years, and I have to say Virgin Voyages is my new Favorite! From the Dining options, to the music, Virgin knows what they are doing to accommodate the younger crowd. Being that it was an 18+ adult cruise, it was nice not having kids running around everywhere. The food was incredible, and the night life and entertainment was top tier. I definitely recommend cruising with Virgin if you are under the age of 65 and want to vacation with no kids.

We’ve been aboard many, many “top tier” competitors and Virgin is hands down the coolest, most hip and outstanding experience!
From the dining, activities and especially the ship crews we had a wonderful experience. As a matter of fact we signed up for back to back “voyages”, May of ‘23!
Thank you Valiant Lady!!

Overall this cruise is new, nice inside, free wifi (excellent), coffee, soda and juices. Specialty Restaurants are excellent my favorites: Pink Agave, Extra Virgin, The test kitchen, Razzle Dazzle and The Wake. The Galley is a food court concept of a variety of food but you will need to sit and order from a menu( is not signs explain the way you order) I didn’t like the Virgin Voyage App is NOT user friendly, poor entertainment, only one small pool, like 4 jacuzzi ( no jets and not hot). I can’t complain for the service because all the waitresses are nice, welcoming and give you an excellent experience. I travel and cruise frequently and I love Royal Caribbean and Carnival and they are more entertaining and probably because of that I consider Virgin Voyage boring.

If you've read my title- I'm sure you can see where this is going. While I'm sticking with them, I'd admit that my 2nd sailing wasn't as phenomenal as my 1st- which was an absolute 'WOW, THIS IS AMAZING'.


I hate the nickel and dime model seemingly showcased by other cruiselines, while I love waterparks and rides-- I'll choose peace of mind, always included, no hidden fees, adult only voyages first.

The food and drinks are delicious, the service was not as strong but still great.... the shows aren't my cup of tea but they've made some changes recently and I delight in more now. My biggest issue is music choices and attitudes of djs-- he was absolutely rude to all of the persons of my group- who were all POC... NOW HEAR ME CLEARLY- I don't think anyone is racist, not even a tad.... I'm just saying we felt underrepresented in the music and were totally ignored when we spoke up in the clubs.

So that's the main reason I gave a 4 and not a 5. Would I support Virgin-- 🤔-- ask me after my next 4 cruises I have booked4 😅.
Q
It's great to read others experiences, but in most instances, it's even better to experience it... come with an open mind- erase everything you've experienced elsewhere- and see why some have sailed with this cruiseline 5xs a year!

Wonderful experience, no kids no kidding peaked my interest. The staff was spectacular especially the two young lady bartenders at the Test Kitchen, their hand crafted cocktails were exceptional. I loved all the food options. The pink agave was my favorite. I hate buffets so that was another selling point for me. My husband who’s not a big cruiser like I am really enjoyed himself. Scarlet Night and the PJ party was so much fun! A lazy day relaxing in the balcony hammock can’t be beat. Great job Virgin Cruise Line!