Alsmez

The regular rooms are indeed bare bones. Our friends were in a lower level suite and their room/bath was nicer and less dorm-like, but not remarkably so. The ship decor overall was nothing special and lacked cohesion. Lots of individual Instagram backdrops but no flow whatsoever.

I probably wouldn't sail an M-class ship outside of Aqua or a suite due to the lack of specialty dining options. On an S-class or E-class ship, I might pay $20-25 for Blu if I was bored with the specialties. As others have noted, Blu is really only a step or two above the MDR, but when your options are limited...

Very dorm-like. We didn't mind the lack of bathroom door but it would have been an issue if I were traveling with a friend or relative rather than my spouse. The shower was FANTASTIC, I must say - nice rainshower head and a handheld with fantastic water pressure, very roomy (even for two 6'+ people with long arms - no elbow bumping!).

I was standing next to the closet in the XL Sea Terrace when I took the room photo posted above. Here is the closet, with curtain open and closed. The bathroom is directly behind it.

Except Virgin. We refuse to cruise during school holidays because we don't enjoy sharing a ship with children or entitled parents. We took our first VV cruise over New Years this year and the adults-only aspect was AMAZING. As someone mentioned upthread, it only takes one obnoxious child or entitled parent to ruin a venue, and the absolute guarantee that that would not happen on VV was fantastic. There were other things about the cruise and ship that we didn't love, but the adults-only policy is beyond fabulous. I don't think I would consider any other line if cruising during a school holiday.

Correct, no door closing off the bathroom and LR areas, though you do have to make a complete 90-degree turn to get into the bath area from the main room. This wasn't a problem for me and DH, but I could see it being a little too close for comfort for some folks (especially non-spouses). I agree that the bathroom decor is EXTREMELY lacking on VV as well!

Just for comparison purposes, here are photos of the XL Sea Terrace bathroom and room. The XL room is basically the same as other balconies but the bathroom is much larger. We really liked the layout, although I did miss having drawers and shelves for storage as on X's S-class ships. BTW, Scarlet Lady is about the same size as the S-class (17 decks and 2,770 pax on Scarlet vs 17 decks and 2,850 pax on S-class; tonnage is somewhat smaller at 110K vs 122K for S-class), but IMO she feels quite a bit smaller due to her choppy layout and lack of wide open spaces. I think she's narrower than S-class as well - reminded me a bit of Summit in that regard.

I agree that all of the included stuff on VV is nice, but I did feel a bit nickle-and-dimed in comparison to Celebrity simply because of alcohol. X's drink packages eliminate a lot of guesswork and mental math compared to VV's bar tabs (e.g., did I buy enough bar tab? Too much? Is this mimosa really worth $13 to me in this moment? Do I want to spend $15 on a drink I may not enjoy? And so on). Not to mention the fact that once waiters/servers know you have a package, they will rarely ask for your card. On VV I was forever swiping my bracelet (though I will admit the bracelet was convenient!). Most of the other things you mention (wifi, tips, specialty dining, etc) can be purchased pre-cruise on X, so you dont need to think about it or feel like you're paying for every little thing on board. If you have a drink package on your X cruise and take care of your desired upgrades pre-cruise I think you'll find the overall "included" feel to be similar to VV.

After giving VV a try, we're probably headed back to Celebrity too, at least until they make some changes or debut a new ship design. We enjoyed some parts of our VV cruise, but we really didn't care for the ship overall. Husband liked the whole experience less than I did, and I think both of us would have enjoyed it even less if we hadn't been traveling with friends who were very into the VV experience.

Rather than long-time Celebrity cruisers (especially those who are 65+), I think VV is targeting the same demographic Celebrity has been targeting recently, i.e. DINKS (double income, no kids) in their 30s-50s who want a somewhat elevated experience in terms of food/service/entertainment, but still plenty of fun. As someone who took her first X cruise 13 years ago at the age of 33, I know I wasn't Celebrity's target sailor back then. However, their marketing (and the product) has changed significantly since then, and now at the age of 46 I feel like I am precisely who Celebrity is trying to attract - at least until their general marketing strategy fell to pieces. At this point they it's impossible to tell what kind of sailor they're after!

Very interesting. I agree that VV is the most obvious Celebrity competitor and I'm not sure why Celebrity doesn't seem to agree. Say what you will about VV, their product IS different and has very specific features that hold immense appeal for their target demographic, which USED to be Celebrity's target demographic as well but no longer seems to be. Some of their head-to-head points are pretty silly (especially trying to compare soft drinks and alcohol packages separately, come on), but others would make good arguments IF the two lines' base prices were comparable. Which they aren't, at least on the sailings I have looked at recently. Virgin has cranked prices to the point where you can pay for all the extras on X and still come out ahead. We'll see if they come back to reality...

I find this to be a weird strategy for Celebrity. I understand that young families' money is as green as anyone else's, but RCI already has a family-oriented line under its umbrella. They should be seeking to differentiate Celebrity, not turn it into Royal Caribbean lite.

Hey VV fans! I've been home from our Scarlet Lady cruise for a couple of weeks and I'm STILL thinking about that delicious mushroom tartare on the brunch menu at Razzle Dazzle. Does anyone by chance have the recipe? Or would someone currently on board be willing to ask if they will share it? I have had good luck in the past asking waiters on Celebrity ships for specific recipes, but not sure if VV is as willing to share. Thanks in advance - and if you haven't ordered this particular dish before, I urge you to try it! One of my favorite dishes of the whole cruise.

This is true, at least for this Celebrity sailor. Especially the focus on food and the adults-only policy. Celebrity hasn't priced us out, but certain changes to the X experience definitely had us wanting to try something new. Virgin was a good time but not a replacement for X, at least not for now. It will be very interesting to see how the line (and prices) evolve as VV finds its niche.

Virgin Voyages also does this with Richard's Rooftop, although I didn't find that it hampered my enjoyment of the ship in any way since their ships' layout is already choppy and full of dead ends.