Resilient Lady Downunder

[wynkys]

It is currently day four out of five for Virgin’s second Australian local voyage.

There are only 1300 on board despite heavy promotion and that may be an

influence on my subsequent comments.

I am a solo traveller and not part of a group travelling together.

This is a crucial point as the ship lacks any sort of communal space such as Holland

America’s Crows Nest, Cunard’s Commodore Club or even Carnival’s the Alchemy Bar

where it is possible to meet others.

Shared dining is limited and, therefore, sitting in virtually empty communal spaces is all that is offered.

On embarkation, there was an invitation to a solo gathering at sailaway but when I went to the venue, nothing happened including no staff member in attendance to explain why.

I am adding this later as I have just returned from the DBE cocktail party where the venue was changed due to the weather but invitees were left to their own devices to find out where to.

I am making these comments in a constructive manner to alert future cruisers as to what awaits them.

Overall, it is a good but not great experience in the current market and let’s hope they do their due diligence for the local market.

[CruisingWalter]

2 hours ago, wynkys said:

This is a crucial point as the ship lacks any sort of communal space such as Holland

America’s Crows Nest, Cunard’s Commodore Club or even Carnival’s the Alchemy Bar

where it is possible to meet others.

The entire ship is a communal space to meet others. But if you want specific locations...

The Dock on the back of Deck 7.

Social Club on Deck 7.

On the Rocks on Deck 6. 

Sips Champagne Lounge Deck 6

Grounds Club on Deck 7

Those are all spaces that are generally great spaces to sit and meet with fellow Sailors, at least on our 3 sailings. 

 

2 hours ago, wynkys said:

Shared dining is limited and, therefore, sitting in virtually empty communal spaces is all that is offered.

Gunbae is the go-to for shared dining and the venue I recommend all my friends start with. It's a great space to meet your fellow sailors. 

 

For the other venues, unless it is requested by fellow Sailors, there will not be shared dining anywhere else. It's not like pre-pandemic where people were automatically seated with others. You have to request this and if there are not enough solo sailors requesting to be seated with 'strangers' it's not going to happen.  Razzle Dazzle has multiple communal tables that might allow you to sit with others, but in most of the restaurants, you're going to need other solo sailors to give the 'ok' to sit with others. 

 

2 hours ago, wynkys said:

I am adding this later as I have just returned from the DBE cocktail party where the venue was changed due to the weather but invitees were left to their own devices to find out where to.

That happens quite often on any cruise ship when venues are changed last minute due to weather. You just have to ask a crew member where the event moved to. This happened to us on Princess and Carnival this past year as well. Each time the first person we asked didn't know where the new venue was, but they called a supervisor and off we went to the correct location. 

[cantgetin]

On our sailings, there was a solo dinner in Razzle Dazzle at 6:30 on the first night, hosted by a Happenings Cast member.  There was at least one solo activity on each sea day which was listed on the paper schedule....I'm not sure if it appeared on the app or where it might have been hidden.  Walter gave you a great list of hang out and meet people areas above.  At The Dock, there are tables for 6 or 8--feel free to take any empty seat and meet other cruisers.  There are lots of places that I wouldn't consider hang outs where I met people....show up 10 minutes early to the VHS work out class.  There is a lounge area outside of Sip where people can gather who don't want the HighTea but the entertainers often come over.  We ended up with a lovely group there one afternoon.

Make your own fun--join a FB group or other social media prior to the cruise.  We had several sub-groups, one of which was solo or cruising solo...and planned our own activities.

[CruisingWalter]

4 hours ago, cantgetin said:

There is a lounge area outside of Sip where people can gather who don't want the HighTea but the entertainers often come over.  We ended up with a lovely group there one afternoon.

 

I forgot about that, the Happenings team was hanging out in Sip while we were doing High Tea. A few came over to hang with us, they were awesome, especially the Spark and Glow. 

[Tralfaz1138]

It might be different when eating alone, but I will say that (in most of the restaurants) at least some seating was generally close together enough to where almost all nights we would end up in a conversation with the people seated next to us.  We also had fairly good luck at Gunbae with being seated with "fun" people that we ran into at other times during the cruise, and Test Kitchen has "bar" seating available.

 

As others have mentioned, there are also sea day activities and the various lounges.  At The Dock they also had a tapas hour of sorts every day.  We went to that on embarkation day and met a few people there as well.

[Tyler414]

I was on a Med cruise this summer on VV as a solo, and there little to no solo events.  Other than meeting people at the blackjack table, I probably would have never meet anyone.  Still had an enjoyable experience and cruise, just my two useless cents...

[wynkys]

Some observations on my recent experience (16-21 Dec) on Resilient Lady on her second cruise of the local

deployment.

As a seasoned cruiser on many different lines over many years, I found the whole experience to be a little 

underwhelming. It was missing the wow factor that is so much of their marketing pushes. There were only 1300

passengers onboard and considering how heavy the promotion has been, I believe VV need to look at their

approach. Quoting cruise prices in A$ would be a good start to allow prospective cruises to do a fair comparison

with other local offerings

The food was good with plenty of variety and availability, however the same can't be said for the entertainment.

I attended three different shows and they were indistinguishable from each other- a lead vocalist surrounded by

acrobats. Other musical options were limited.

Watching TV in the cabin provided challenges unless you are happy watching prone from the bed. Alternatives are

to have the cabin reconfigured or watch the screen at a forty-five degree angle from the only chair available.

The Sea Terrace cabins are adequate with the hammock a real plus. However, the bathroom is barely adequate.

If you take away the shower, you are basically left with an aircraft toilet.

One final comment is on the Casino. Unless you have US$ in cash you are left with the option of a room charge

with a 7% surcharge and an obscure (at least to me) process on the machines. This is something that Virgin should

be alerting clients about before they board.

It will be interesting to see how Virgin positions itself in the local market after this initial foray.

 

[Suzi66]

We were on the same cruise.  If you weren't one of the first into the Manor, pretty much don't bother, as it was so small. 
Food in some places for those with food allergies was great, others very limited.  On our first night at Extra Virgin I had the choice of one starter, one main and one sorbet for dessert.  That was it.  No point going back as it would be the same meal no matter what.  My husband who has no allergies was fine, but the menu wasn't explained as I think I think I may have thrown them saying yes straight away to the question of allergies and having 2.  Some of the places in the Galley had no GF options at all let alone ones I could combine with no dairy.
The app continually crashed on my husband's brand new phone and wouldn't load on mine as my phone apparently is too old, so this is a real problem that needs to be looked at as well.

On the flipside, we were worried about boarding as we had seen what had happened on the previous cruise and that didn't happen so at least that got sorted out.  We arrived when we were supposed to and boarded quickly.

[neverendingcruising]

In Europe the casino would accept Euros at the cage, I would hope they’d do the same in Australia 

[Tralfaz1138]

On 12/22/2023 at 5:31 AM, wynkys said:

Quoting cruise prices in A$ would be a good start to allow prospective cruises to do a fair comparison with other local offerings

The Virgin Voyages site has a drop down at the upper right to change prices to a few different currencies including AUD and NZD.  When I was browsing cruises while in New Zealand recently I also seem to remember it defaulting to NZD.  (Unless your talking about the price of on board items and events being listed in USD which could be a challenge I suppose).

[wynkys]

My initial point was that prospective customers were initially attracted to VV with what appeared to be great comparable prices with other local competitors and then to discover that they had been deceived

by the currency quoted.

I am pleased to see that local advertising is now in A$.

[kmorg1234]

Wow, I hope things get better!  We are booked for February, but it sounds like a miserable waste of money experience.  Not sure what to do at this point.  

[redransom]

Just got off The Lady - had a fantastic cruise. Yes, it's different and I think that's good. 

[cruisecrazyaussie]

Can I bring a bottle of wine on board the Resilient Lady when I depart Melbourne for Hobart on 27 January 2024  for a five night cruise?

[Luvsbooks]

47 minutes ago, cruisecrazyaussie said:

Can I bring a bottle of wine on board the Resilient Lady when I depart Melbourne for Hobart on 27 January 2024  for a five night cruise?

Yes you can. You're allowed 2 x 750ml bottles of wine per cabin.  Extract from their policy...

Edited January 4 by Luvsbooks
Provided more info

[cruisecrazyaussie]

Fantastic news Luvsbooks if this applies to Australian sailings. Do I need to bring the 2 bottles of wine in my carry on luggage and show it before boarding or can I put it in my checked in luggage?  Also, I'm a solo cruiser so maybe I can only bring one bottle? What do you think? Cheers!!

[Luvsbooks]

6 minutes ago, cruisecrazyaussie said:

Fantastic news Luvsbooks if this applies to Australian sailings. Do I need to bring the 2 bottles of wine in my carry on luggage and show it before boarding or can I put it in my checked in luggage?  Also, I'm a solo cruiser so maybe I can only bring one bottle? What do you think? Cheers!!

Yes this applies to Australian sailings too. They advise to put it into your carry on luggage so it can be easily checked at security prior to boarding. As to whether you can bring 1 or 2 bottles as a solo passenger, the policy states 2 bottles per cabin - it doesn't state the limits per person, so you may be lucky.  You may want to double check with VV before your voyage. 

[cruisecrazyaussie]

Thanks Luvbooks, I'll contact VV to check if I can bring a second bottle.

While I'm on the topic, does anyone have a Resilient Lady wine list in Australian dollars?

Cheers

[jon81uk]

50 minutes ago, cruisecrazyaussie said:

Thanks Luvbooks, I'll contact VV to check if I can bring a second bottle.

While I'm on the topic, does anyone have a Resilient Lady wine list in Australian dollars?

Cheers

Onboard the ships all prices are in US Dollars. Wine lists vary by restaurant and wines are regularly out of stock, but the below site will give an indication (could be two years old so some prices may have gone up) https://profcruise.com/virgin-voyages-bar-menus-and-drink-prices/

Edited January 4 by jon81uk

[cruisecrazyaussie]

Thanks jon81uk. The range on the drinks menu is mindboggling! I'll stick to beer ($5 for Heineken and more reasonably priced wines) but obviously many other explore a wider variety drinks.

[jon81uk]

3 hours ago, cruisecrazyaussie said:

Thanks jon81uk. The range on the drinks menu is mindboggling! I'll stick to beer ($5 for Heineken and more reasonably priced wines) but obviously many other explore a wider variety drinks.

If it also helps with cheaper drinks, as standard house spirits aren’t shown on the menu, spirit (Absolut vodka, Beefeater gin, Barcardi rum etc) with a free mixer (Coke, Sprite, tonic, juice etc) are US$8. 
Heineken is served in US standard 12oz measures, about 350ml which is about a standard can, they don’t serve the equivalent of a British pint.

[tbmrt]

3 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

If it also helps with cheaper drinks, as standard house spirits aren’t shown on the menu, spirit (Absolut vodka, Beefeater gin, Barcardi rum etc) with a free mixer (Coke, Sprite, tonic, juice etc) are US$8. 
Heineken is served in US standard 12oz measures, about 350ml which is about a standard can, they don’t serve the equivalent of a British pint.

Is there a list we can look at for other standard house spirits?  

[jon81uk]

4 minutes ago, tbmrt said:

Is there a list we can look at for other standard house spirits?  

I’ve not come across them as a list on the menu but by checking the various menus you can get an idea, for example On the Rocks lists all the whiskey and bourbon options and can see that Buffalo Trace is the cheapest. 
 

The only ones I can remember are Absolut vodka, Beefeater gin, Buffalo Trace bourbon, Bacardi rum.