Travel-and-See

It’s really nice - I love taking a stroll up there and seeing the water all around (or an island if one is in sight or we are at a port). I think you can walk all around deck 5 if you don’t want to be in the sun… a few obstacles but that makes it fun! Haha

Virgin has a private beach club at Bimini. You take an open air tram from the ship to the beach club and they have lots of beach access, large pool, nice sitting areas, lots of free food, and they have the DJ and happenings cast having a pool party and activities. Pretty ideal for a beach day. There’s also a casino, fishing area, public beaches, etc. it’s a pretty nice - very relaxing.

definitely try for a walk up - I’ve always gotten in to every “sold out” shows on Virgin - often there is plenty of open seats even after they let the walk ins. the red room has a good number of seats so you have great chances.

Virgin is walking that line of not wanting to explain things too much and let you find surprises while on the ship - but I agree it’s easy to miss things. I’m 50/50 on the happenings cast - at worst they can come across as camp counselors trying way too hard to be cool and sexy (but that describes a few things on virgin). But there have been some standouts that are wonderful and I kinda like the concept.

Love the trip report - be sure to see “Duel Reality” the circus show in the red room. I promise you’ll love it - it’s crazy good!

Maybe it’s just an American thing. “Hash browns” for me are American diner style hash browns like you are served at Dennys, Waffle House, etc. the grated potatoes. Or breakfast potatoes that are cubed - like they serve at razzle dazzle.

When you say “smaller ones” were they still the hash brown patty like you’d get at fast food? I mean like real hash browns or breakfast potatoes. The kind a diner would serve.

Weird. Did you tell them how much fun you were having? I watched his masterclass and I really enjoyed it, he’s done some pretty cool things.

I’ll still get a small bar tab and coffee credits so I’m good. I’m a strange one, I think I prefer inside rooms although the hammock is comfy (got a free upgrade once).

Looks like bar tab promotions are only available for balcony and above now.

I’ve never seen the galley become “a zoo” the way I see the buffet on celebrity for breakfast. I’ve always been able to find a seat, and you can put up your table flag if you’d like table service - super easy.

I do wish they had “real” hash browns or breakfast potatoes- those little tater tot like things don’t count for me!

I’m really sorry that scared you away from the other excellent shows in the red room. Duel Reality (Circus show) and Ships in the Night (production show) do not have audience participation and are both incredible. They were produced by the 7 fingers - a fantastic contemporary circus company from Montreal and they are by far the best cruise ship shows I’ve ever seen. And the ship show dinner show is a really fun old time variety show with minimal crowd participation.

On your next cruise PLEASE don’t miss the Duel Reality Circus show - it’s the best show you’ll ever see on a ship. (I’m my humble opinion of course haha).

I’ve been lucky on both virgin cruises and gotten in to restaurants but I really don’t like dealing with the app. of the restaurant choices, Test Kitchen and Gunbae are experiences more than traditional restaurants, and Razzle Dazzle has great food but is really lacking in charm. That leaves 3 legit “fancy dining” experiences in my book and big surprise, those are the 3 that are usually always sold out. they really need a main dining option that doesn’t require a reservation. I can’t tell you how much more relaxing my celebrity cruise was this summer with anytime dining…. SO much better. virgin does a lot right, but they need to fix this.

I enjoy both Celebrity and Virgin - one of the things I LOVE about being back on Celebrity is the cabin. They are so much better designed with comfortable couch or chair for sitting, luxurious soap, better storage etc. - the virgin cabins feel like a cheap college dorm to me but the bed is still comfy so it does the job. Definitely doesn’t feel like a luxury vacation though the way Celebrity rooms do.

My biggest complaint with celebrity is how difficult it is to compare prices to see what the solo price is actually going to be. Other lines I can put it into the search and see what I’ll be paying before selecting each individual cruise and going down all these booking paths.

I don’t expect or desire anything - I just don’t want to pay MORE for 1 than others pay for 2!

For what it’s worth - I can get a solo insider on the Ascent for $1441 for a 7 night this month vs. $1470 on Virgin Voyages for a 5 night. now virgin includes more, but still celebrity still has some comparable pricing for solos.

I did the same thing by wanting to test the waters and started with the 4-day. The only negative is this seemed to bring out more of a party crowd vs. the longer sailings I’ve done since. it wasn’t too much for me, but the longer cruises will feel more natural for a celebrity cruiser (I came from celebrity as well).

Disney vs. Virgin is an interesting comparison - Disney provides a product that nobody else does. Sailing with Disney characters, Disney production shows, Disney fireworks... it's the Disney theme park style of experience that really can't be compared with anyone else. I'm not sure if Virgin offers enough different to really demand the high prices that Disney does. The most unique thing about them is the no-kids policy. I guess we will see although I'm not seeing really big price hikes on Virgin yet but I'm looking at the cheap rooms haha.

What lines are you comparing them to? Last time I checked (and things may have changed) Celebrity all included and Virgin were pretty close for similar sailings.

So I took an Alaska cruise on the Solstice last year and the Millenium this year. My opinion was the MDR was slightly better than the previous year and the Buffet was considerably worse with way fewer options, and less quality options.

I agree with this. Perhaps Valiant often being based in Europe uses less salt vs. Scarlet based in USA? My dishes in Pink Agave on Valiant were SO underseasoned I'm still wondering if the server thought I wanted Vegan prep (I ordered all Vegetarian items but not because I'm vegetarian, just that's what I wanted to try). Either way there is simply no excuse to not have salt or ice tea available at all restaurants.

I think some people think that “adults only” on virgin means just that. Adult entertainment like in a strip club. in reality it just means there aren’t annoying tweens and teens running around the ship! Haha.