Just did the Dominican Daze cruise in early august. over all it was a great experience on Virgin. the best thing, which i think you left out, is NO KIDS! It was so quiet and relaxing on the boat during the day with out some crotch goblin screaming "mom" all day long at the pool. The bimini stop was absolutely amazing, but i left the Dominican with kind of a "meh" feeling abt that excursion. The pools and hot tubs being open 24/7 is wonderful for night owls, but I do wish the pool bars stay open later. They no longer do the nightly pool parties, but i kinda wish they did like every other night. Scarlet night was so much fun and the best night on the ship.
@@MiliThibodeau we did the cultural /heritage shopping one that ends at one of the beach clubs. Just dont book one like that if its going to be on a sunday. Most things are closed.
We just got back from our first ever cruise that was on Scarlett Lady and absolutely loved it. It was nice to eat basically anything we wanted and not have to worry about costs. It was also nice not having kids around.
If you are thinking about this cruise and have never been on a cruise like myself. This was hands down the best 8 days of my life!! Having zero kids around made this cruise amazing! The staff was happy and helpful! Just booked again for December 2024!
@@Dilaxan123 just came back from a short 4 day trip to Key West. It’s honestly whatever you make of it. My wife and I are 27 and now 28 and it’s not a college party, I would say go to Carnival if that’s what you want. But Virgin is accepting of everyone of all walks of life and age isn’t even a thing. One of the performers was in her 50’s and was hilarious, one of the older gentlemen on this cruise 82 and was living it up!!
@@Dilaxan123 just don’t be that young couple pregaming in your room during scarlet night with your own music. That’s what nearly ruined this trip was the young group probably early 20’s. Smoking weed and being extremely loud next door to us. Because during Scarlet night the entire ship is a massive party everywhere besides your room, makes no sense 🤣 plus there are spots on the ship where you can smoke because if you get caught in your room smoking it’s a massive fine and could get your permanently banned.
@@SuperSxeMatt thank you for responding. Im also planning the n proposing to my girl during the cruise. Do you think the staff will arrange me a small private proposal?
I just disembarked Scarlet Lady a few days ago. Good review and I concur. Mega RockStar cabin was great; basic Sea Terrace not so accomodating; but service friendly throughout and food was special. All inclusive was a welcomed feature; and we enjoyed mingling with crew and passengers besides our own group. This cruise was about the ship not the ports; so I'm looking forward to a Virgin cruise in the Med or Greek Isles during Summer, where I do care about the ports (having seen everything in the Caribbean often over the years). Adult only was great; very chill (friendly) and would suggest it for anyone that's not stuffy and open to people. Personal service aboard ranked about the best; and I've done most major cruise lines. Bon Voyage!
Well, this is not quite "all inclusive" because alcoholic drinks are extra. This is fine for those who don't drink, but they don't even offer a drink package for those who do.
Going on my first ever viging cruise, but very disappointed before I get on that it is really really small. its only 30 meters bigger then titanic and not even average size of a cruise ship. Wish they build bigger and different ships instead of copy and pasting them 4 times.
Some other extras cost items to consider are the special dinner shows that can be booked, as well as the Dining upgrades avaliable at the sit down restaurants.
I've only cruised with Norwegian a few times. My mom went on my most recent cruise with me April 2023. I was disappointed on how they nickle and dime you so much, so I am checking out Virgin, which seems to be more inclusive. I'm just worried we are to old and won't fit in. I am 43 and mom is 65.
The name of Virgin Voyages ice cream shop - 'Lick Me Till.....Ice Cream' is enough to entice me to try them at least once. What a creative name. I love it!!
I booked the Barcelona cruise to Ibiza in Sept…i dont drink alcohol so it was worth it for me, plus I can spend a few extra days in Paris then onto Barcelona
thanks for the overview! do you happen to know if additional servings at restaurants are also included/complimentary? as in like if i wanted to order seconds (or even thirds) of an entree
Hi people that have already taken a Virgin cruise..@ 1:25 in the video it says that the regular room is a bed at night and a couch during the day. I know that was intended but I had heard they really stopped doing that as it was too time intensive to switch every cabin from bed to couch and back again. Personally I'd just like a short cushion where the end of the couch should be instead of a hard shelf. Anyway, are we able to change the setup oursleves? does the steward do it? or is the narrator incorrect? Thanks knowlegable friends!
The idea of having to make extra reservations on top of reserving the cruise just to be able to eat good, not my idea of fun. What if you chose the last minute cruise? It seems very much the Disney issue with no available dinning close to departure day
Very informative video, thanks. My first cruise is still to come in September. I have a question - maybe this ist dumb but I couldn't find an answer anywhere yet. Is there something like a bus shuttle service when you arrived in the port of call? Something that takes you from the edge of the port to the city center or beach? I mean without booking a shore thing, just to explore on your own. I can't imagine leaving the ship in a harbour and being left all by myself among cargo trucks and warehouses.
Glad you found the video helpful. Your question about shuttles is port specific. Depends on the region and port. Many ports are purpose built for ships, so you can walk right off. Others in some ports do have shuttles, especially in Europe.
The videos do make it seem like that but there were none I could see on my cruise. It was really fun and relaxing. The staff and guests were wonderful.
Beware if you purchase insurance and have to cancel your cruise. I sustained an injury and had to cancel my trip. I initiated the claim in Oct 22. My best friend is about to go on a cruise at the end of Jan 23 without me and I still haven't received my refund.
Also, how much are basic alcoholic drinks. I don't drink a ton but like to enjoy a frozen drink at sail away or a couple in a lounge at night. I dont want to go broke buying a few drinks.
NO PASSENGER SHOULD EVER PAY AUTOMATIC CRUISE GRATUITIES! CRUISE GRATUITIES ARE NOT, NOT, NOT TIPS. THEY ARE SALARY PAID TO EVERY CREW MEMBER BY THE PASSENGER INSTEAD OF THE CRUISE LINE WHICH MAKES GRATUITIES NOT, NOT, NOT A TIP. TIPS ARE GIVEN TO INDIVIDUAL CREW MEMBERS WHO GIVE AN INDIVIDUAL PASSENGER EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE! I ALWAYS TELL THE SHIP, "DO NOT CHARGE ME GRATUITIES". I GIVE TIPS TO SPECIFIC MEMBERS OF THE CREW WHO MAKE MY TRIP SPECIAL, USUALLY TO THE 2 WAITERS AND THE CABIN STEWARD AS I DO NOT DRINK, BUT I REFUSE TO PAY SALARIES WHICH ARE THE RESPONSABILITY OF THE RELEVANT CRUISE LINE!
How was it? My wife and I (early 40’s) we’re considering it for our 10th anniversary but worried the guests could be to young (spring breakers) or to old (retired classy folk). Also, did you bring formal attire?
@Eatsleepcruise1 we are getting ready to do the Mayan (Scarlett) and we port out of Miami. Do you have any recommendations or suggestions that may be helpful before hand?
Look at few cruises 🛳 for me and my wife bc more for me and her no kids must travelers 30 and up . Plus wifi and pop is included. U ever done one of these for royal Caribbean?
What about storage in the cabins??? I understand there is nothing that even resembles a dresser, and there are also no nightstands with drawers. This being said, where do people put away their clothes and items??? Are people supposed to live out of their luggage while onboard the ship???
I stayed in the limited view sea terrace room. The closet had hangers, shelves and small drawers. I packed my clothes on hangers and hung my shoe organizer in the closet. Got your toiletries, you can take the tissue box out the holder and turn it upside down. Now you have storage unit on the sink. The cabin also had c storage tables on both sides of the bed for things like your glasses, books, and room service food/drinks. There’s also a mini fridge and a desk and chairs in the sea terrace cabins. Happy cruising!
@chucksw1 The limited view sea terrace was great. It’s the rooms where the lifeboats are. You can still see the ocean. It was private. I enjoyed the room a lot, it was spacious and the bed was so comfortable. The regular sea terrace room was a couple hundred more and I’d rather spend that money elsewhere. Compared to the inside cabins which are small, the limited sea terrace is a great value. If you go, please share your experience.
This will probably sound like a very stupid question, as to drinks, What are 'non pressed juices' Is that like orange juice, apple juice? what are they talking about, or what are the juices that are part of the drinks on the Virgin line up Thanks
@@Eatsleepcruise1 Thanks so much. It's just the term non pressed, we all know you must squeeze oranges to make orange juice or grapes or apples, so the term didn't make sense to me. Thank you again.
no drink package but you can open a discounted bar tab and get free money added. this way not everyone in the cabin needs a drink package. and you pay only for what you drink
They just added a loyalty program. As with most things, they have to work out some bugs but one interesting feature is that they will match your “status” on a competitor’s line , if it’s a high level status.
I went on the 4 days cruise on Scarlet in May 2022, for me it was a side-by-side cruise with friends on RCCL's Explorer of the Seas. Early in the trip I met an Scarlet employee who used to work on 'normal' cruise ships so she was able to tell me what I wanted to know like how do I find the bow camera view on the TV or what channel is the navigation/location channel and the answer was they don't have it on Virgin. As a person in the inside cabins this was a disappointment, but I did find a news channel and during the sea day I found one movie. The included internet allowed me to use Cruise Mapper to see where the ship was. The next thing I like on a ship is a place where passengers can easily and conveniently look forward and see where we are going; Virgin has no place like that except from the jogging track in the middle of the ship. Even the extra charge forward area didn't have a good view of where we were going. Fortunately in cruise included back in destinations and the view off the back of the ship was great. I don't like having a waiter get between me and the buffet food; I asked for one slice of toast and one egg and what I got was two eggs, 2 slices of toast and potatoes and so I had to leave all of the extras on the plate to be thrown away because I knew what I wanted and no more. I did like the desserts that we could pick up and the salad area where they made what we wanted while we waited. We were only allowed to eat in each speciality restaurant once during our trip and I agree that reservations were needed and I made mine on day 1. The ship was less than 50% capacity when I was on it and at that point I don't think it had gone over 50% so the ship felt comfortable. On the last night of the cruise I found the comfortable lounge chairs on the back of the ship and was enjoying the night sky when a pop up entertainment duo showed up and it gave me an excuse to leave because it was getting late and frankly their routine was a bit silly. I needed to do a monitored covid test before leaving the ship so that I would be ready for my cruise that same day and had to use my phone's data on the back deck in the Port of Miami because the included internet would not allow my phone to do the job. I did find the passenger to be very nice as well as most all of the crew, (just not the ones who made a point of acting like they were better than the crew of other cruise lines.) Virgin prides itself as being different, but being the only cruise line to number their cabins from back to front as opposed to front to back just seemed silly to me. There is one thing that Virgin does, that none of the other ships do, but something that I've tried to convince other cruise lines to do is THEY HAVE BOTTLE FILLERS ALL OVER THE SHIP so they do not promote the use of throwaway plastics! I went on the ship to go to Bimini and went on their shore excursion to Alice Town because it had been about 25 years since I had been to Bimini. I will be going back to Bimini by cruise ship, but it will be on the one RCCL ship scheduled to go to Bimini in the next 2 years. There used to be affordable places to stay in Bimini and great night life, but now those are gone and mostly replace by the Resorts World on the north half of the North Bimini mainland; these changes occurred before there was a Virgin Voyages so the ships didn't cause this change but in-spite of that; I'm most likely a 'one and done' with Virgin Voyages.
How was your experience with the reserved dining? It looks like they went way overboard with extra crap on everything and nothing healthy as an option. Sauces, breading, CARBS CARBS CARBS, SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR is everywhere. We like to eat clean with no added stuff and I've examined most all menus and there is nothing clean on any menu except eggs and bacon. Even the steaks have tons of extra crap on them containing sauces, cheese and breading. CARBS & SUGARS. We enjoy clean, one ingredient foods with no fuss. I guess we will have to request special considerations everywhere. Any tips you can suggest?
@@1204nedes I get it. Normally on the other cruise lines, there are more choices and ways to request things without the sauces, breading and just go for protein and healthy veggies. The other cruise lines seem to have more options and flexibility. I checked most of the menus from each Virgin venue and I don't see much of a flexible selection. It will be fun to check it out in person in late September when we cruise on Scarlet Lady. It should be an interesting experience to see how they adapt standard offerings.
The worst cruise ever. OMG I hated the boat and it was like a freak show. The shows was all about DRAG and Tucking. The boat configuration is terrible. I wouldn't go back for free.
Until Virgin Voyages provides a beverage package, I’m afraid I’m out…. Too much of a pain to keep up with our tab. The rest looks great - thanks for the information! I do really like that they don’t require pre-cruise testing.
We got one $300 bar tab and was gifted an extra $100 due to a special. We actually didn’t miss the drink package. $400 was plenty for us to drink on. Their price for drinks is incredibly reasonable.
@@zol99intex You prepurchse the 300 bar tab for your cabin and Virigin cruises gifts you an additional 100 on your access card. It makes more sense to me than an unlimited drinks package since some days you drink more than others.
Went on my first and last cruise on Virgin. Shows were terrible unless you like drag shows. Food was more vegan than anything. It was hard to find a decent meal on their ship. Not at all impressed with Virgin.
Horizontal floating skyscraper ! It blows my mind someone would want to get on this cattle boat . Walk a mile to find what your looking for with thousands of others doing the same. All ships have possibility of sinking as we have seen in past years due to storms or mishaps . Last large cruise ship to sink took over 1 1/2 days to helicopter passengers off because ship was listing over and lifeboats couldn't be lowered. It's too big and too many people getting on and off at each port , ruining the cruise experience.
