Valiant Lady Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The Valiant Lady, Virgin Voyages Cruise was a fantastic experience! I had no idea how much Virgin is really standing apart in some specific ways compared to other cruise lines! Included all food, basic wifi and gratuities! The food: I was supremely impressed by the quality, creativity and flavor of the food. It also blew me away that all of the restaurants are included. There are a couple of items at each restaurant that you can buy as an upgrade too. From Pink Agave, the Mayan/Yucatecan/Mexican restaurant to the Korean BBQ- Gunbae and also the Galley which presented you with a variety of food options at stands-almost like a food court. We tried Razzle Dazzle-another one of our favorites which included plant-based options in addition to delectable meat varieties including an amazing lamb shank. My tummy was happy the whole time. The rooms: Another highlight were the hammocks on the balconies. Loved relaxing in that red hammock while looking at the ocean. I also really enjoyed the technology part of the cruise.. You are given a bracelet fob that gets you into your room and you can use to pay for things, so you just tap your wrist. You can also use it at the casino to register your play/earn points. I loved the tablet in the room and how it controlled the lights, curtains and how you can contact your stateroom attendant through their or from using their app. The ship: The ship was mid-to smaller size but it is well designed and easy to get around. It seemed well kept and clean. I liked how there were a lot of seating on the pool deck, including different style lounges, beds, and other fun swingy things to hang out on. The pool and jacuzzi: I really liked the pool because they kept it cold! Also, they had jets in the pool. Of course, like most cruise ships it gets crowded, but the temperature was great. Was kept much colder than a few other cruise lines I have been on. The jacuzzis fell a bit short for me, but they did the trick. I say this because a couple of them did not have any jets! So more of a warm bath? The ones that had jets were fine, just all of them were a bit small. Entertainment: While we never made it to any show, I did like the variety of the events. The pool party we heard (and felt-think base) from our room until midnight one night. A bit annoying, but I heard it was a blast, so next time I’m thinking to attend it! Also of note is that they do host a pajama party so that could be fun as well. Casino: A bit small, but nice variety of machines. I liked that it was non-smoking. The hosts were very nice. One thing that wasn’t as up to par is the drink service. It seems like they may be still working some things out on that end. I’m not a big drinker so I would normally order a Pellegrino with lime, but they only had soda water. I think they should have some type of sparkling water in the casino bar. The cocktail party for casino players felt odd. We waited in a room and were not told what we were waiting on. The bartender was extremely slow and there was a long line to get a drink at that “event”. Finally the host came on and explained a few things and to welcome us. Maybe some form of entertainment..a band or magician while we waited to hear from the host would be good. The service: The servers at the restaurants and our room attendant were all fantastic. They were all very professional, friendly and mostly fast! I felt at a couple of the restaurants took a long time, however it was well worth the wait! Just something to keep in mind. We were at each restaurant an average of 2 hours. We couldn’t’ get into a couple of the restaurants as we did not have reservations so something else to keep in mind. We booked last minute so I’m not complaining that we did not get reservations. We were still able to walk in to a few of the restaurants and wait just a bit and got seated, but don’t count on that for all of the dining. Finally, the café was one of my favorites! I’m a big tea and coffee drinker and their café just blew Starbucks away!!!! Great high-grade tea and the coffee concoctions were incredible as well! Staff was fantastic! Impressed how the staff remembered people’s names and drink orders. Even though gratuities are included in the cruise fare we felt compelled to give tips to all of the hard working crew members that made the experience more memorable for us.

Don't be afraid of those who live a different lifestyle; they need a vacation like everyone else. It's also great to not see kids running around everywhere. You can relax at your own pace, and no one will bother you—except if your wife is the life of the party at the casino, and then everyone knows who you are!

This is our fourth Cruise on four different Cruise Lines. Virgin is by far our favorite, they did so many things right. The value and cost to us was right there with anyone else because everyone else has so many different up charges that are included on Virgin. Amazing food a great cabin and just an overall fun time.

Incredible in every way and already wish I could go back.

I could live on this cruise ship!!! Everyone onboard were amazing and so friendly!!! The cast members were amazing and loved to talk with you!!!

The cruise was fun but it is definitely not a party ship as people think. If you want to relax and have a few drinks to live music this is the cruise for you.we are foodies so the food on Virgin was not impressive at all. They need to improve the flavor and have better desserts.

Excellent cruise, we may have found our new go to!

My partner and I are 30s/40s age range now and booked this cruise sort of on a whim - essentially sold on the ‘no kids’ aspect of this cruise line. It’s vibrant and vibey with delicious food with an eclectic cruise population that has a nice balance of relaxation and party atmosphere

We enjoyed our cruise so much, we booked another one on the last night. My biggest complaint is that it went by too fast. Of all the cruiselines I've been on, this was the best all around.

Definitely going back again. Prefer this Cruise to the line I normally take. Love the fact that there were no kids and everything was catered to adults. This is by no means a Ranchi or over the top Cruise. I think anybody could go on and enjoy themselves if they’re open to something different

Disappointing.. was expecting more fun activities and better shows.

Virgin is a top tier cruise , I am always cost conscious but the Virgin cruise is coo pl assurance worth the money

A+ cruise. Great staff, amazing food, nice ship, shows we’re not very good

Don't hesitate to try a Virgin Voyage. We booked our next cruise before we left the ship which we've never done before. It's easily our favorite cruise line now and we recommend it to everyone. This was also our first time embarking out of San Juan and we are also doing that again next year. Very port heavy which is how we like to cruise and we got to experience islands that you can't get to unless you're on a longer cruise. Can't wait to be back next year!

My mind was blown with how great this cruise went. This was my 38th cruise and definitely in my top 3.

If I’m not cruising with my kids I will be cruising with Virgin! The food and crew were phenomenal. My husband doesn’t care for cruising but he loved it and he’s ready to do it again.

Virgin is new and has a lot of issues to correct. The app that they use is the worst we have ever used. Sometime things that we booked did not show up on others in our group. The wrist bands also worst we ever had. It is basically a string on your wrist. The best part is the hammock is great. You can take great naps in it.

We had a blast! Totally DIFFERENT cruising experience. It was the most chill, laid back party experience I’ve ever had. First time cruising with Virgin. First Christmas cruise. Will not be the last. Looking forward to the next one.

My family and I sailed on the Valliant Lady on its 2023 Christmas (Miami-to-Miami) cruise. My reservation, which included three passengers in one cabin, was part of a larger family group of seven that occupied three cabins. This was a family reunion since the family lives in different parts of the United States. Most of the group are experienced cruisers and have sailed on a wide variety of cruise lines including Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Clipper, NCL, Costa, Paquet and Sun Lines. In my case, I took my first cruise more than 50 years ago. The irregular aspects of our cruise began almost four months before our scheduled departure. We were originally scheduled to sail on the Brilliant Lady’s Christmas itinerary but were informed on September 8, 2023, that the commissioning of the Brilliant Lady had been delayed, which resulted in the cancellation of the trip we booked in May. As you can imagine, rebooking a party of this size for a trip during Christmas week on such short notice is a challenge and it was time consuming and stressful. Despite this, Virgin handled this situation well and we were satisfied with the outcome. On our departure day (Dec. 23, 2023), our flight to Miami was delayed due to an airline mechanical issue. We had a four hour layover en route during which my partner and I spent hours on the phone with Virgin customer service trying to coordinate our arrival in Miami. We spent most of that time on hold while we were waiting to speak with Virgin staff, both customer service representatives and your staff at the Miami terminal. At one point, we were both on hold for more than 30 minutes. We did finally manage to get through but then got cut off midway through the conversation. We called right back and asked by name for the representative who had been helping us, but the representative who answered refused to transfer the call. We then asked to speak with a supervisor but the representative refused. The rest of our party was able to board the ship on time. After they arrived at the Virgin terminal, they contacted representatives at the terminal on our behalf but the terminal staff refused to help. We were told there was a hard stop at 5:00 pm for late arrivals with no exceptions, which seemed unlikely since our original boarding time was 4:45 pm. It seemed increasingly unlikely as we drove past the ship at 5:30 pm on our way to a hotel and saw the ship still tied to the pier with the main passenger gangway in place. According to VesselFinder.com, the ship departed Miami at 6:46 pm, 14 minutes ahead of its scheduled 7:00 pm departure time. Day 1 of the cruise was a sea day, which meant we had to spend two nights in Miami before flying to Puerto Plata to meet the ship. Virgin provided no assistance at all – they simply told us we should board at the next stop (Puerto Plata) and make our own arrangements to do so. When we arrived at Puerto Plata, we discovered Virgin had neglected to inform port security that we would be arriving, which resulted in us spending 90 minutes in the port security guard booth while port security tried to contact the ship. (I would observe in passing that a Royal Caribbean ship was in port that day and also had to embark a group of late arrivals. RCL provided port security with a manifest of the late arrivals on a timely basis and their passengers were cleared through port security in only a few minutes). Our check-in process was equally frustrating as it occurred on the pier while passengers were returning to the ship from their shore excursions. The crew conducting the check-in apparently were inexperienced and encountered technology issues, both of which delayed the check-in process. Once the check-in was complete, we were left to our own devices to find our cabin and carry our own bags. No one showed us to our cabin or explained its features (or showed us the location of our life jackets or lifeboat muster station). There were a number of other, less serious issues as well including repeated cancellations of activities, both on-board and off. Of the activities that we booked, almost half were cancelled. While these were generally handled appropriately by crew, the number was much higher than I’ve experienced on other cruises. We were looking for a cruise that was a bit more sophisticated without being stuffy. The Valiant Lady was an adults-only cruise, which worked for us, but was less sophisticated than we had hoped. The ship has a younger demographic that wasn't always well behaved or decorous. There was one passenger who spent almost the entire cruise confined to his cabin with a security officer outside 24/7. This wasn't especially surprising since alcohol consumption was a constant theme and pushed hard (All alcohol had to be purchased and alcohol sales seemed to be a significant part of Virgin's financial model). I appreciate that Virgin is trying to reimagine the cruise experience and generally appreciated the changes. All of the customer-facing on-board crew were exceptional. However, the background systems were noticeably lacking. These obviously include not providing any assistance to passengers who miss the ship, which happens on virtually every cruise.* They also include (1) not meeting passengers at the airport, which the other cruise lines have routinely done for decades** to (2) frequently-heard complaints onboard about the inability to get reservations to the better restaurants and shows to (3) communication issues caused by over-reliance on technology as well as other technology issues*** to (4) editing mistakes in the cabin guidebook. The customer service staff was also consistently disappointing. They were friendly almost to a fault but their English fluency was below expectations and they often weren’t able to resolve issues, either because they didn’t know the solution or because they weren’t empowered to do so. Reimaging the customer-facing aspects of the experience is important but it can’t come at the expense of basic blocking and tackling. Similarly, technology can be used to enhance the passenger experience but it can’t replace it. Finally, it’s worth noting that the Valiant Lady already had a somewhat checkered history. It’s already suffered two passenger deaths in its first year of service. It doesn’t appear either was caused by crew negligence but it’s consistent with an overall theme: Virgin is new to the cruise industry and is trying to start a de novo cruise line – and it shows. They are trying to incorporate aspects of their other businesses to the cruise industry, but it is causing basic execution issues that you don’t see with more established cruise lines. * This is a rather stark contrast with other cruise lines. I had previous experience when airline issues caused me to miss a cruise ship departure. In that case, the cruise line helped us rebook our flights, met us at the airport and expedited our way through customs, arranged ground transportation and very efficiently handled our check-in process on the ship. Virgin did none of these things. ** When we arrived at the Miami airport for this trip, for example, we saw representatives for both NCL and Royal Caribbean meeting their passengers at the airport and helping expedite transfers to their cruise terminals. Virgin didn’t do this. *** At the time we rebooked our trip from the Brilliant Lady to the Valliant Lady, we were told we could use our Sailor Loot to book shore excursions. The Virgin app encouraged us to book these excursions well before our departure date but when we did, we were unable to use our Sailor Loot. We called the Virgin customer service line but they were unable to help and ultimately told us we would have to resolve the issue after we boarded. Several times, changes were made to dinner and activity reservations without notice. The Virgin app also presented other recurring technology issues. It sometimes crashed and didn’t work off the ship.

amazing! I cant wait to go on another virgin cruise! am hoping for Greece this year