For those who’d prefer to ebook a Virgin Voyage I encourage you to make use of the next hyperlink, courtesy of my buddy Isabella, who can reply much more questions than me (depart a remark and I’m completely happy to place you in contact along with her!). Full disclosure: I don’t obtain a factor from her if you happen to use the next hyperlink, simply supporting a pricey buddy: Virgin Voyages Reserving Hyperlink
I used to be form of carried out with cruising. Once I was a youth we went on cruises with our prolonged household and we had some nice instances (we even ended up within the information after our ship’s air con went out in the midst of the Caribbean). When some mates and I had been in our twenties we did a few massive group cruises on the Carnival Conquest. The cruises had been high quality however all of them form of felt the identical:
- Giant eating halls with assigned seating
- A statistically important variety of buffets serving very common meals
- So. many. individuals. and by individuals I imply children working round vomiting on every thing
- Feeling nickel and dimed at each flip, particularly with the obligatory ideas
Now the final cruise I went on was in 2009 so admittedly I hadn’t actually stored up with issues, as a substitute simply casually being attentive to headlines like Royal Caribbean Unveils New Ship Bigger Than Island of Manhattan filled with theme parks, helipads, lazy rivers, the world’s largest common meals buffet, even lazier rivers, full-size soccer fields, and nonetheless the eating corridor with assigned seating. It was simply misplaced on me, I believed I had grown out of it till I’ve children sometime and inevitably spend the whole lot of my disposable revenue for them to go on a Disney Cruise and cry whereas Mickey Mouse tries to make them snigger…so long as they’re of their assigned seat within the eating corridor.
However then a buddy invited me on a Virgin Voyage final month.
How Virgin Voyages has modified cruising
As traditional, when Sir Richard Branson wished to make a cruise line, he wished it to be totally different. He wished it to be edgy, enjoyable, and freed from the eye-rolly issues like Formal Night time. Freed from the nickel-and-diming and roaming photographers taking photos to try to promote you later. A easy, enjoyable, refined expertise.
Oh, and there wanted to be hammocks.
And a dance social gathering the place everybody clothes in scarlet in entrance of an infinite octopus.
Oh and NO DINING HALLS WITH ASSIGNED SEATING (thank goodness, that joke was getting previous).
And the way did Sir Richard do?
He could have transformed me again right into a cruiser.
What makes Virgin Voyages totally different than the others
I believe cruise traces typically fall into certainly one of 4 totally different classes, with a number of examples for every (observe: I’m not the main market skilled on cruise model categorization so give me some rope right here):
- Mass-market massive ships: Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, MSC
- Upscale greater ships: Princess, Crystal, Azamara
- River Cruises: Viking, Ama Waterways, Avalon Waterways
- Antarctica/Expedition Vessels: Lindblad, Quark, Seabourn
Virgin Voyages, for my part, sits completely between the mass-market and upscale classes.
Right here’s what makes Virgin totally different:
- Facilities are constant: the 4 Virgin Voyages ships are all precisely the identical, not like needing an abacus and/or slide rule to determine the totally different facilities provided from ship-to-ship on greater cruise traces
- Ships are model new and reasonably-sized: the present 4 Virgin Voyages ships are model new (the primary was solely delivered in 2020) and extra reasonably-sized than the mass-market mega ships. Virgin Voyages ships have a capability for slightly below 2800 passengers and 1160 crew. Evaluate that to Royal Caribbean’s Marvel of the Seas, the upcoming largest ship on this planet, which has a passenger capability of 6988 and 2300 crew
- A lot is included along with your fare: Suggestions are included. Delicate drinks and drip espresso are included. Fundamental wi-fi is included even!
- The meals is INCREDIBLE: you’ll see in my subsequent publish, however the meals is totally insane on Virgin Voyages. Gone are the ridiculous eating halls, as a substitute there are a selection of specialty eating places together with a meals corridor the place you seat your self and may eat from quite a lot of meals “stalls” that includes every thing from American Diner fare all the way in which to a legit Ramen spot
- Adults-by-Design: No children are allowed on Virgin Voyages
- Much less…I don’t know say it…Generic Cruise Stuff: there’s no formal night time. There’s no photographers leaping into your face and taking photos to try to promote you later. There’s no Overly Caffeinated Cruise Director. As an alternative there’s Scarlet Night time, pictures meetups, and the Happenings Crew to supply all kinds of leisure all through the voyage
It simply looks like a extra trendy evolution of an institutionalized business.
Let’s get began so I can present you the entire thing.
The Virgin Voyages “Girl Ship” Fleet
Like I stated above, Virgin Voyages at the moment has 4 ships in its “Girl Ships” fleet (Scarlet Girl, Valiant Girl, Sensible Girl, Resilient Girl), and so they’re all the very same design.
Ship exterior
The ship’s exterior type and livery had been designed by Magpie Studio in London to imitate a luxurious yacht, sporting a silver-grey hull with splashes of Virgin Purple everywhere in the ship, together with the funnels on the very high of the ship.
86% of Virgin cabins have balconies (Virgin calls them Terraces) and 93% have an ocean view! Virgin truly makes use of lights on these terraces to spell out messages in ports once they’re nonetheless docked because the solar units (try the ship spelling “AHOY” beneath, in Bimini.
It’s only a beautiful ship throughout, not infested with random water slide tubes or go-kart tracks just like the monstrosities from the mass-market ships (though I’m certain these are enjoyable).
My Cabin
I had a Sea Terrace on the thirteenth deck, which is sweet and excessive on the ship however not too near any public areas.
The cabin had loads of cupboard space (my digicam was on a tripod subsequent to the closet space so I didn’t get any good photos of that, sorry).
In-room know-how was carried out effectively, just like the curtains opening while you opened the cabin door and the pill for all in-room controls, together with the TV. That is a kind of issues that makes getting on a brand new or newly-renovated ship price it, the considerate use of tech was nice.
To chop down on plastic bottle utilization and cut back their carbon footprint, Virgin Voyages as a substitute has a water carafe that’s refilled each time wanted so you may have contemporary water on the ship.
There’s a small desk space and a really comfortable chair the place I’d take video requires work (a lot of my prospects and inside colleagues didn’t even understand I used to be on a cruise). The mattress was supremely comfy and had shops close to the mattress for charging units.
However let’s be trustworthy right here. My favourite function of the room was the Sea Terrace itself, that includes the now legendary purple hammock.
Okay technically it’s a chair hammock. I spent numerous hours in my hammock and even slept in it a number of nights. They’re made by Yellow Leaf Hammocks, who’ve created weaving communities in underserved villages in Thailand to supply secure employment and sources of revenue for men and women dwelling beneath the poverty line. I cherished studying Yellow Leaf’s story, out there right here.
There was nothing higher on my journey than watching the solar set from the consolation of my hammock.
The Virgin room numbering conference is a tribute to how the ships had been constructed but it surely’s complicated. Let’s take the thirteenth deck, for instance. Room numbers begin with the deck quantity, adopted by the cabin quantity, adopted by a letter. So an instance can be 13210A, which might be a Sea Terrace cabin on the port aspect of the ship. Sounds easy sufficient, proper? Effectively, there’s additionally a 13210Z on the starboard aspect of the ship (there are additionally M cabins for the inside cabins). I ended up doing a back-to-back cruise and was in very related room numbers from one week to the subsequent however moved from a Z to an A and acquired it fallacious a number of instances. Don’t fear, although, your bracelet won’t allow you to into any cabin apart from the one you’re presupposed to be in, so that you’re secure there 🙂
The Ship Inside
The “Girl Ship” inside was designed by a Inventive Collective of inside designers, well-known the world over for trendy boutique resorts and resorts, however all of them had one factor in widespread – that they had by no means designed for the cruise business. The general public areas are luxurious, practical, and don’t have the standard overly-vibrant shouty interiors widespread to the mass-market megaships.
(This isn’t supposed to be a completely complete photojournalistic essay of each public area, simply illustrating a few of the design language)
As you got here aboard the ship, you had been within the Roundabout Atrium, one of many central hubs of the ship.
Downstairs was a small leisure venue for ship bands to play and for people to seize a beverage.
For those who ever get misplaced on board, there are three elevator banks which have a fast and simple information for which venues are on every flooring.
Dotted across the higher deck of the Roundabout Atrium had been quite a lot of small eateries and beer-focused bar. Every area had its personal design language to set it other than the primary strolling areas, separating the areas with out being obtrusive.
(and sure, there are many double entendres on board, together with the title of the ice cream parlor)
Subsequent to the ice cream parlor was an incredible pizza parlor, the place every pizza was custom-made, and likewise had inside/exterior eating areas.
Elsewhere on the ship, subsequent to the on line casino, was the champagne bar space, with plenty of seating and a swanky vibe.
The place I in all probability spent essentially the most time was the Grounds Membership for a morning latte or three.
Each space had plentiful seating and nice wifi entry.
Coming Up Subsequent
You higher consider this can be a multi-part assessment. Up subsequent, we’ll get into a few of the unimaginable meals on board at a few of the specialty eating places. Keep tuned!
Have you ever sailed on a Virgin Voyage? Which ship and route? What did you assume? Inform me within the feedback beneath!
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