Virgin Voyages CRUISE

All 4 Virgin Voyages ships are identical in terms of size, venues and layout. Carrying a maximum of 2,400 passengers, they are classed as a mid size cruise ship. All are currently adult-only with 2 ships operating out of Miami and the others sailing around the Eastern and Western Mediterranean.

Virgin Voyages have a green ethos throughout. This begins with their app (rather than paper tickets ) - create an account using the email address associated with your booking and you can complete your checkin in a few easy steps. This makes turning up at your embarkation port a breeze - passport and smart phone in hand - and you are quickly onboard.

You can also use the app to prebook dining reservations up to 120 days ahead - Virgin Voyages don’t have a main dining room or fixed dining times, you eat dinner at a choice of 6 upscale and diverse restaurants. The options for breakfast and lunch are 2 leisurely table-service brunches, The Galley with 10 street food options and all day breakfasts, a pizzeria, The Dock House with small meze plates, 24/7 room service and a scooped ice cream parlour. The focus is on made-to-order food (and no buffets) in order to reduce food waste. Virgin Voyages offers some of the best food at sea in my opinion.

The ship offers several bars each with a different focus - craft ales, champagne, cocktails etc. a nightclub and the ubiquitous casino. There are no all-inclusive drinks packages onboard. Your cruise fare includes filtered still or sparking waters (no plastic bottles), soft drinks, tea and drip coffee. All other drinks are paid for individually. However you can pre buy a $300 ‘bar tab’ and Virgin gives you a $50 free bonus.

The entertainment onboard is modern, fresh and sometimes a little risqué - but incredibly good fun! Half of the shows are ticketed events, and you can pre-book on the app as soon as you connect to the ships’s free wifi.

Onboard purchases, access to your pre-booked shows and cabin are driven using the extremely cute wearable technology - a friendship-style wristband that removes 4lb of plastic out of the oceans in it’s production.

The whole ship has a high-quality modern, Scandi, chic, industrial feel. The crew wear different, but co-ordinating, casual t-shirts and sports trousers / shorts and appear to be comfortable and happy in their roles. They are all extremely friendly and helpful and we witnessed a real passion to resolve any issue (however small) to your complete satisfaction. Most things can be managed / requested through the app, but the real life customer services desk was always quiet and extremely efficient.

The most refreshing thing of all, was the sheer diversity of the passengers - lots of young people, but still lots middle aged and seniors around. People travelling as families, groups of friends, groups of couples and singles. Larger (fluffy) individuals, ‘beautiful people’, gay and straight, Brits, Europeans and a fair few Americans - all happily co-existing and celebrated and welcomed.

Is Virgin Voyages for everyone? No.

Those who prefer the company of their own kind, traditional cruise dining, formal nights and broadway-style shows may wish to continue with their favoured cruise line.

Anyone previously put off by the idea of cruising (and all it used to entail) or anyone open to a diverse environment and looking for a high quality, service driven, full board, top-notch food, 5 star hotel-at-sea experience - go for it!

Our strong partnership with Virgin Voyages provides me great cabin rates which I can package with flights for a fully financially protected holiday. Get in touch to find out more.