Virgin Dining

[_tacocat_]

1 hour ago, DaCruiseBug said:

Every cruise line offers this kind of food on their private island. Including RCL, NCL, and Disney.

 

It's not a Carnival thing. It's common sense.

VV set out to be different.  hot dogs/hamburgers/garbage food like that are just another (US-centric!) cruise line thing.

[DaCruiseBug]

6 hours ago, _tacocat_ said:

VV set out to be different.  hot dogs/hamburgers/garbage food like that are just another (US-centric!) cruise line thing.

 

Oh really? Is that why all those items are offered onboard the actual ship? How does that make sense?

[DaCruiseBug]

6 hours ago, Back to school said:

Lechon Asado so good.  I’m tired of cruise “private island” eating shitty hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken tenders, again, and again.  I want experience more healthy and more interesting food.  That’s common sense!

Great...so you eat the foods you want to eat and let the majority of people eat hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders etc...

 

Why should there NOT be at least one of those options for people that want them? Should everyone be forced to eat what you want to eat?

[mfs2k]

17 minutes ago, DaCruiseBug said:

Great...so you eat the foods you want to eat and let the majority of people eat hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders etc...

 

Why should there NOT be at least one of those options for people that want them? Should everyone be forced to eat what you want to eat?

 

You spend a lot of time thinking about hamburgers, hotdogs and chicken tenders.  

[DaCruiseBug]

1 hour ago, mfs2k said:

 

You spend a lot of time thinking about hamburgers, hotdogs and chicken tenders.  

 

I do, and I spend a lot of time eating them as well. Can't beat a nice juicy burger and french fries while partying and getting tipsy at a pool party.

[jon81uk]

3 minutes ago, DaCruiseBug said:

 

I do, and I spend a lot of time eating them as well. Can't beat a nice juicy burger and french fries while partying and getting tipsy at a pool party.

But what about when relaxing at a beach club? 

[DaCruiseBug]

4 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

But what about when relaxing at a beach club? 

Then instead of eating 1 juicy burger I eat 2.

[cantgetin]

This thread is becoming silly.  When you sail on VV, they send an email asking for comments.  If you didn't like the food at Bimini, let them know what you'd like to see.  If you liked the food, say so.

VV has made lots of changes since their first sailing less than 2 years ago, and lots of changes since our first sailing less than 6 months ago.  They are very interested in customer feedback.  If enough sailors voice the same opinion, VV will listen...at least sometimes.

[Travel-and-See]

It seems the majority isn't particularly crazy about the food options at Bimini. On my first cruise I had lunch there and it was fine, but on my second cruise I intentionally had lunch at the Galley before heading over to the beach.  I feel like they could do alot more with the food service at Bimini if they wanted to, but what they have is fine.

 

If it was me, I would retheme one of the food stands as "Social Club on the Beach" and serve hot dogs, popcorn, pretzels, milkshakes, etc. and then have some games and activities around it.   This way people would have snack options as well. 

[curlstravel]

We didn’t care for the food choices either. I think the the whole area looked run down which might have made the food seem less appetizing.  It was really hot out and I think I would have preferred to grab a sandwich and a cold drink instead of sitting down for a meal of chicken and rice, etc..

[mfs2k]

On 3/27/2023 at 2:22 PM, mfs2k said:

I'm still trying to process if this is a cruise line I want to return to, or was it One and done... 

I think I've reached my decision.

One and done.  I didn't hate our Virgin cruise, but I don't think it's the right fit for me. 

Edited April 17, 2023 by mfs2k

[cantgetin]

To each his own.  Our next 2 cruises are booked full ( not selling any more cabins), so they are definitely growing.

You can sit in The Galley and choose from a variety of sandwiches, salads, etc. Each meal does not need to be a hot, big meal.
But if VV isn't the line for you, best wishes for finding the one that is right.

[fndecker]

On 4/10/2023 at 8:25 AM, DaCruiseBug said:

 

I based my "most people" on the fact that nearly everyone was complaining about the food options at the beach club while waiting in line, while sitting at one of the tables, and even people around us by the pool.

 

If you want to keep serving your fancy food that's fine...but to not have a single option of either burgers, hot dogs, pizza, chicken wings, chicken tenders or whatever else you generally eat at a pool party is a mistake.

Or... They may be able to weed out the people whose preference is junk food since the point of Virgin is to be different. Like Disney and Carnival, there are different cruises for different people. It is good to have reviews an opinions so that cruisers on the other lines might find that VV is not for them, which works for me. They could have at least one more choice, and they do needs snacks for later in the day and even in the morning. They open up the bar too late also.

[Travel-and-See]

4 minutes ago, fndecker said:

Or... They may be able to weed out the people whose preference is junk food since the point of Virgin is to be different.

If they don't want people who like burgers, hot dogs, and pizza they shouldn't offer all of that on the ship.  I'm not sure why it seems so odd to expect some typical beach food at a beach club.  

[LetsGoToo]

On 4/17/2023 at 2:45 PM, cantgetin said:

You can sit in The Galley and choose from a variety of sandwiches, salads, etc. Each meal does not need to be a hot, big meal.
But if VV isn't the line for you, best wishes for finding the one that is right.

This is true at lunch. At dinner, it’s a very different story. I’m on the Scarlet Lady right now and these are your choices:

 

• sushi

• salad

• burger

• omelet  

That’s it. There is no all day breakfast as many have stated on here except for the omelet. 
 

Outside of the restaurants that require reservations, it’s slim pickings at dinner. Other non-reservation restaurants have pizza, hot dogs, and pretzels. It’s really disappointing since reservations at the restaurants that require reservations are nearly impossible to get. 

[cantgetin]

On Valiant now...The Galley has a dinner special each evening as well as a burger special.  The bread station has a couple of casserole type dishes as well.  THe pizza place is open during dinner hours as is social club.  We have 1813 sailors on board and no trouble doing walk ins at the main restaurants.

[jon81uk]

6 hours ago, LetsGoToo said:

This is true at lunch. At dinner, it’s a very different story. I’m on the Scarlet Lady right now and these are your choices:

 

• sushi

• salad

• burger

• omelet  

That’s it. There is no all day breakfast as many have stated on here except for the omelet. 
 

Outside of the restaurants that require reservations, it’s slim pickings at dinner. Other non-reservation restaurants have pizza, hot dogs, and pretzels. It’s really disappointing since reservations at the restaurants that require reservations are nearly impossible to get. 

The diner counter offers a fantastic steak sandwich during dinner hours only and the breakfast items should be available too.

 

But reservations should be possible and if you are having difficulty go to sailer services or a restaurant host stand.

[LetsGoToo]

4 hours ago, jon81uk said:

The diner counter offers a fantastic steak sandwich during dinner hours only and the breakfast items should be available too.

 

But reservations should be possible and if you are having difficulty go to sailer services or a restaurant host stand.

Only the omelet is available. I went two different nights and asked three different VV order takers.  I wanted the French toast burger. Instead, the first night I got a gross omelet that was more American cheese than anything (even though the description called for cheddar). It was made with 1-2 eggs and after three attempts of asking for the sweet potato tots and being delivered regular tots, I gave up. 
 

The steak sandwich isn’t on the menu, isn’t on display at the counter, none of the order takers offered that there was anything other than what is on the menu, and I haven’t seen a single person with such a sandwich. 
 

What’s the point of having a reservation if anyone can just show up without one? The reservations on this ship have been filled up for every restaurant and for every night with the exception of Gumbae. 
 

I’m glad that a lot of people on here have had a great experience with dining on VV. It’s just not been my experience at all. 
 

You’re allowed to make one dining reservation pre-departure. So I was able to eat at the Well. My opinion of that is that it’s a glorified main dining room. The food isn’t on the level of specialty dining restaurants on other cruise lines.  Adjust expectations accordingly. 

[jon81uk]

37 minutes ago, LetsGoToo said:

Only the omelet is available. I went two different nights and asked three different VV order takers.  I wanted the French toast burger. Instead, the first night I got a gross omelet that was more American cheese than anything (even though the description called for cheddar). It was made with 1-2 eggs and after three attempts of asking for the sweet potato tots and being delivered regular tots, I gave up. 
 

The steak sandwich isn’t on the menu, isn’t on display at the counter, none of the order takers offered that there was anything other than what is on the menu, and I haven’t seen a single person with such a sandwich. 
 

What’s the point of having a reservation if anyone can just show up without one? The reservations on this ship have been filled up for every restaurant and for every night with the exception of Gumbae. 
 

I’m glad that a lot of people on here have had a great experience with dining on VV. It’s just not been my experience at all. 
 

You’re allowed to make one dining reservation pre-departure. So I was able to eat at the Well. My opinion of that is that it’s a glorified main dining room. The food isn’t on the level of specialty dining restaurants on other cruise lines.  Adjust expectations accordingly. 

You can make one reservation per night, not one for the whole trip! That can be done before boarding or more slots open up once onboard. Many posters on here have reported that they struggled with reservations before boarding but got them fine once on the ship. Personally I’ve always been fine both before boarding and on the ship and have eaten in a main restaurant most nights except for when we did Ship Show and one night when we stayed in port late so just got the beef sandwich.
 

Has the menu changed from the one shown here? https://magical-traveller.com/virgin-voyages-menus#the-galley-menu
The French toast burger on the burger counter is clearly breakfast only, but the all-day breakfast on the diner is all-day with the beef sandwich dinner only.

 

 

[LetsGoToo]

5 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

You can make one reservation per night, not one for the whole trip! That can be done before boarding or more slots open up once onboard. Many posters on here have reported that they struggled with reservations before boarding but got them fine once on the ship.

That hasn’t been the case for this cruise. 
 

You were allowed one reservation pre-departure. This was communicated via emails pre-departure and via message in the VV system if you tried to book more than one reservation. 
 

By 3 PM on departure day, that’s the time I tried to make reservations, literally everything was booked with the exception of Gumbae. I got a reservation at the Wake due to a cancellation on day three. 

[_tacocat_]

20 minutes ago, LetsGoToo said:

That hasn’t been the case for this cruise. 
 

You were allowed one reservation pre-departure. This was communicated via emails pre-departure and via message in the VV system if you tried to book more than one reservation. 
 

By 3 PM on departure day, that’s the time I tried to make reservations, literally everything was booked with the exception of Gumbae. I got a reservation at the Wake due to a cancellation on day three. 

That’s definitely not the case.  You can make 1 reservation per night pre-departure, starting at 45 days before departure.  You can make 1 reservation per restaurant if you’re on a shorter cruise and 3 per restaurant on a longer one (but can go as many times as you want as a walk in if there’s room).  

Perhaps by the time you made your dinner reservations there just weren’t book-ahead reservation time slots left?  Either way, a TON of reservations have opened up on departure day and throughout the voyage on all 11 VVs I’ve been on- whether we had 800 or 2,300 onboard.

[LetsGoToo]

3 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

That’s definitely not the case.  You can make 1 reservation per night pre-departure, starting at 45 days before departure.  You can make 1 reservation per restaurant if you’re on a shorter cruise

This is exactly my cruise. ONE reservation is allowed. Not sure why you insist on saying it's definitely not the case when your post agrees with what I've been saying.

[jon81uk]

3 minutes ago, LetsGoToo said:

This is exactly my cruise. ONE reservation is allowed. Not sure why you insist on saying it's definitely not the case when your post agrees with what I've been saying.

It’s not agreeing with what you said. You can make one reservation per night and one per restaurant. So The Wake night one, Gunbae night two etc.

[neverendingcruising]

Yeah, you can make 1 dinner reservation per day and can only book each restaurant once per voyage under 6 days and 3 per restaurant on longer itinerary. We've been on 6 sailings now and it has always been that way. We had no problem booking reservations for Resilient maiden voyage either. 

 

I do agree that dinner options are limited outside of the reservation restaurants but I like getting hot dogs and wings and really enjoy the beef sando. Really wish the Galley would keep sandwiches and tacos open in the evening. 

[cantgetin]

VV's policy is that for cruises of 6 nights or less, you can make one reservation per restaurant (so a total of 6 reservations) starting at 45 days before your cruise.  On cruises more than 6 nights, you can book up to 3 reservations at each restaurant, for a total of 18 reservations, again, starting 45 days before embarkation.  This is current info as I had 15 advance reservations for our 15 night cruise. 

VV holds back about 35% of the reservations until after boarding to handle people who didn't know about advance reservations, couldn't make the app work, or whatever.  Depending on length of cruise and number of sailors, these can fill fairly quickly after booking.

The idea of walk ins is that IF a restaurant isn't full and has sufficient staff, they are happy to take extra people.  This may be people who want to dine at that restaurant another time or had a change of plans for whatever reason.

Sure, there is room for improvement in terms of food choices, but it is not nearly as limited as some posts sound.