Virgin is a good line, same feedback as Scarlet. Improve cleanliness in common areas, improve customer service and provide better training to your sailor servers and clean up crew. Diversify your ships, venues and offer different cuisine, activities and entertainment. Add more hand wash stations, pools, hot tubs and spa facilities that are actually ADA compliant and not overpriced.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
They have a strict 1:45pm check in for the guests with priority. They should start letting guests inside at least 30 mins prior into the terminal beforehand when it is 95+ degrees with Miami humidity. At least offer ice water in the waiting areas if you are charging premium sailing prices.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Most of the food is good, the issue on this sailing was that it was lukewarm. Don’t be afraid to ask your sever for a hotter meal.
Favorites:
The Dock House
The Sun Club Cafe
Extra Virgin
Pink Agave appetizers and drinks
Gunbae Korean BBQ
Razzle Dazzle breakfast
Pizza Place
Sushi at The Galley
Ice Cream at Lick Me Till I Scream
High end liquor selection at all bars
Intelligentsia Coffee at The Grounds Club (Virgin, please use milks that don’t have inflammatory oils for your soy, oat and and almond selections)
Dislikes:
The entire menu at Bimini Beach Club is disgusting (I tried, I really tried)
Pink Agave dinner, the fish has no flavor and the steak is stringy, one of the worst items on board.
Burgers at The Galley
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
I enjoyed the jazz band, karaoke, and private karaoke rooms at The Groupie.
I LOVE Bimini Beach Club.
The pools and hot tubs in the lido deck were too crowded, dirty and murky to enjoy. The common pool areas were not well kept in the evening. You will get the typical lounge chair hogs, but there was plenty available on higher decks.
I did not partake with the Spa this time because a $75 fee for a 3 hour visit was not worth it for me. On port days, the fee is $60.
They offered a behind the scenes ship tour that was I was interested in but the $250 cost was too steep.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Most of the entrainment was exactly the same as my sailing on Scarlet Lady. They need to switch things up and add new events, shows, and activities. The same thing on all of the ships is boring and doesn't make me excited about going on another Virgin ship.
Loved the energy and characters from the happenings cast/dance squad. Ryan, The Foodie is my favorite. They were energetic and fun during the sail away, Scarlet Night and pool party at Bimini. I enjoyed both DJs on board, especially the black, male (I forgot his name). I enjoyed the music selection at Bimini, but the female, Asian DJ didn't have to censor the music, it's an adult cruise. If you can have drag queens cussing and making sexual jokes, you can leave the expletives in the rap songs.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
The room stewards are always excellent.
90 days before your sailing, Virgin opens up 60% of their dinner reservation bookings on the app. The people who miss that opportunity have to go to Razzle Dazzle when they get on board and wait 10-30+ mins to talk to a host to schedule the rest of their week. It kills the vibe of embarkation day and is an annoying process. There has to be a better way to do this.
It took a little longer than usual to get on the ship from port because there was limited staff and metal detectors working, or people just moved slow. Not ideal when coming back tired from 100+ degrees weather.
I saw a lot of the staff just standing around or on their phones.
Most of the restaurant servers are good, there was a few times where I had to remind them to get me refills of drinks, condiments, an extra order of an item. There was even a cocktail server on the lido deck that took my drink order, charged me, waited for him for over 30 minutes and didn’t bring my drink. Im guessing they are overwhelmed with guests or short staffed.
I voiced my concerns at the end of the cruise but just like on Scarlet Lady, the Gen Z sailor servers staff seemed over it and didn’t seem to be taking any of my feedback notes.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
There are more sinks on here than Scarlet Lady. More wouldn’t hurt. Just like Scarlet, most of the hand sanitizing dispensers were empty.
The restaurants were always clean and neat. The common areas like the bars, lounges, lido deck were not kept up very well. The lido deck was especially dirty at night, a bunch of dirty towels everywhere, plates of food and empty drinks that were sitting there for hours.
I saw an empty tampon applicator near the restrooms at Bimini Beach Club that no one picked up the entire day.
Cabin / Stateroom
2 out of 5
My insider solo cabin was clean but I don’t recommend mid forward, 5th floor, I heard the ship noises below me, the lady having an asthma attack every night next door and the nightclub, thumping bass till 2am every night. I was able to identify the songs he was playing. I picked up ear plugs from Sailor Services but I was sleepless on this 5 day cruise.
Ship tip
Go between November - May, if you value space and (possibly) better service. The prices will (probably) be more expensive around that time, but it’s worth it. If you’ve done Virgin once, there is no use going again if they don’t change things up. On both of my sailings, I’ve encountered trash behavior from either overly drunk or uncultured guests who are not used to traveling. They bring their nasty attitudes from the trailer park, projects to the ship. I don’t even get into confrontations on Carnival. The Virgin crowd is more of my age group, and the offerings and vibe is more my style but some of the people it attracts are just weird. I do like the diversity, you have everything from cruise fanatics, first time cruisers, young, old, gay, and straight, etc. But that also brings the ghetto, trailer, bland, and soulless, more so than any other line (well kind of like Carnival and MSC 🤣). You don’t get the cruise community vibe like you do on NCL and other lines and they don’t cater well to solo cruisers (aside from offering solo cabins and daily meet ups that don’t offer much.)
Advice: Take a short cab ride to the city, instead of staying at port.
The port is fairly new construction and I liked the Mayan, tropical theme. But the common lounge chair areas and pools were dirty and goods are overpriced. There was an actual crab in the pool (no idea how it got there).
For the lounge chairs at port, an alcoholic drink purchase is required. Drinks range from $17-20.
I left at 10:15am and there was a line wrapped around deck 7. It was a mess and that floor, exit isn’t spacious at all. Most guests brought their luggage out with them.
It was also a nightmare getting an Uber out of there, full of rude private car vendors, supposed traffic control, guests that don’t know how to say, “excuse me” and bulldoze through you with the very tight space that Virgin terminal provides to get picked up for Uber/Lyft. Summer cruising with Virgin ain’t it.
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