Disappointed in my Virgin experience

Item: Scarlet Lady
Rating: 3.3
Author: jdflaherty

Scarlet Lady Cruise Review

jdflaherty

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 8

Overall rating:

3.3 out of 5

4 Night Fire & Sunset Soirees (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 10, 2022

Ship: Scarlet Lady

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

I will not sail with Virgin again. This is the first cruise I have been on where I actually looked forward to getting off the ship on disembarkation day. I’m glad it was only four nights. If you like NCL, Royal, Carnival, etc., stick with them - your experience will likely be better.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Fast and efficient. They did a great job.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Anyone who has done premium dining with NCL or Royal will be disappointed with Virgin’s offerings. I left more food on my plate than I ate three out of four evenings. The Test Kitchen is hyped as a dining “experience” but plan to leave hungry because the servings are ridiculously small and you probably won’t like at least two of the six courses. Plan to get a pizza after you finish. Gunbae is the Korean offering. I ordered shrimp, pork and beef for my main course and the shrimp is the only thing worthwhile. The pork is literally bacon strips and the beef looked like minute steaks but was tougher than what you get out of your grocer’s freezer. The Wake is the high-end steakhouse and while I thought it was passable, it turned out to be the best of the bunch. Extra Virgin is the Italian offering. I struggled to cut through my steak and the bolognese sauce was tasteless. I left both on the table. Perhaps not important to some but if you like premium wines, especially California wines, forget it, you won’t find them anywhere on board.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

This ship doesn’t have a “real” pool. The main pool is a foot deep on both ends with a 15foot span of depth in the middle. Don’t plan on swimming laps! The second pool is a 20 ft circle that’s 18” deep. It’s a childrens wading pool except children aren’t allowed on this ship.The fitness center is broken into two offerings - weights and weight equipment on one side with cardio equipment on the other. There is a nice walking/running track on Deck 17. I also liked the private karaoke rooms you can reserve by the hour.

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Duel Reality is fantastic! The acrobats are terrific and the show is really well done. DANCESHOWPARTYTHING is all hype! You’ll get to see the same dancers in every event and activity on board multiple times so you can skip this one. “Never Sleep Alone” is the most awkward experience I’ve ever had on a cruise ship. The foul mouthed “doctor” would make Dr. Ruth roll over in her grave. Just terrible! “Ships in the Night” is the final offering and frankly its just like every other singing/dancing show you see on cruise ships with 2nd tier talent vying for you to clap. Also terrible. Virgin touts the variety of music you’ll experience but with one house band and a solo guitarist you don’t get much. You will get a lot of techno pop pumping through the speakers all over the ship - otherwise not much to get excited about.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Overall the staff was good. My cruise on August 10th was only at 33% capacity (900 guests) so I saw many workers standing around waiting for something to do. My room steward was very good!

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

Lots of miscues on ship design. I found this ship to be one of the most difficult to navigate. Little things like taking the elevator on the back of the ship down to the 6th floor and the having to walk up to 7, walk to mid-ship, and then go back down to 6 to get to venues at the front of the ship on 6 just seems wrong. Walking through restaurants and dining spaces to get to some areas of the ship is common. The shopping seemed scattered and segmented. The casino is very small. Adult see-saws, cargo nets and tire swings take up space and rarely, if ever get used. I can’t imagine what a full ship will be like squeezing through The Social Club aisle ways on Deck 7 - there were traffic jams with the ship only a third full!

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

The cabins are functional. The bathrooms are really small. The hammock on the balcony was great. I used it several times.

Ship tip

This line appeals to a young audience (20’s and 30’s). Activities align with this age group too. Set your expectations accordingly. The majority of people I spoke to were first time cruisers. Also, Virgin is very LGBT friendly for passengers as well as crew so if this is your thing you’re likely to find the experience positive.

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