Is Virgin Voyages more European?

[Kordy]

Can someone tell me if VIRGIN VOYAGES, in general, skew more towards more European food on board, or more American food on-board. By that I mean:

- breakfast choices - eg: English bacon vs. American bacon, Black pudding, etc.

- desserts which are MORE sweet on average, or LESS sweet on average

- general food tends to be more seasoned, more salted and more carbs/protein heavy on cruises catering more towards American audiences

- On average, cruises catering towards Americans have more fried food choices (incl. burgers/hot-dogs), more choices such as bagels, cupcakes, muffins, etc.  Also, there tend to be more Mexican options such as tacos, which is not as popular in Europe

- European cruises tend to have more LAMB options, such as Lamb Shank, but on American cruises, you tend to see more beef options and less lamb. Same goes for Beef Wellington, more common on European cruises

- European cruises have more black tea choices, and stronger tea, eg: PG Tips rather than weaker Lipton

- European cruises will have options such as herring, haddock, but Americans would have more things like tilapia, seabass

- Steak on American cruises would be called Fillet Mignon, but on European, the equivalent could just be Fillet or Angus Beef

- Afternoon Tea being frequently offered is more popular on cruises in Europe than in US

 

A good example here are the overall food choices offered by someone like Cunard compared to someone like Royal Caribbean.

Edited September 12 by Kordy

[kaysha2004]

American all the way.

[Kordy]

1 hour ago, kaysha2004 said:

American all the way.

Can you expand on this?  It's kind of interesting as Virgin is a European company...

[David8965]

8 minutes ago, Kordy said:

Can you expand on this?  It's kind of interesting as Virgin is a European company...

 

Virgin Voyages is an American company.

 

The Virgin brand originated in the UK.

[kaysha2004]

I'm sitting in the Social Club right now... popcorn, hot dogs, pretzels, chicken wings, reuben sandwiches.

 

Dock House, light bites of shrimp, goat cheese polenta, as an example.  Greek food from 3:30-5:30.

 

Tonight in The Galley, the special is beef wellington.  There's a new special dish each night.  Last night was roasted turkey.

 

 

This is my 9th Virgin cruise  and I've never seen traditional English food.  Had I seen it, I would avoid it, as it's not for me.

[Kordy]

What about afternoon tea?  most cruise companies seem to offer this daily (around 2 or 3pm) and it's a popular choice?

Edited September 12 by Kordy

[Kordy]

Does the breakfast on Virgin (occasionally) have English breakfast, in addition to American breakfast?  By English breakfast, I mean: Bacon (aka "Canadian Bacon" in USA), Eggs, Baked Beans, Mushrooms, Fried Tomato, Toast?  bonus points for black pudding, but don't expect that anywhere these days!

Edited September 12 by Kordy

[cantgetin]

My experience only--leans toward American but there are lamb options, Beef Wellington has been a special in The Galley on each of our cruises (one night only).  Bacon is American style.  They claim to serve a "full English breakfast" but it is different than what we had in London when we lived there. Never saw black pudding.

On European cruises, there was a dessert special representing the port we were docked at.  Also, some of the lunch specials were geared toward our location.  Tea is Twinnings or Lipton. 
Afternoon Tea is served daily in Sips, with or without champagne.  It will be billed to your bar tab if you have one.  It looked great and I was always way to full to try it. I've done it on other lines and in England.....the one on VV has a nice spread.

Edited September 12 by cantgetin

[Kordy]

45 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

Afternoon Tea is served daily in Sips, with or without champagne.  It will be billed to your bar tab if you have one.  It looked great and I was always way to full to try it. I've done it on other lines and in England.....the one on VV has a nice spread.

 

Thanks.  Is it served with real clotted cream, or just whipped cream?  How is the quality of the scones?

Edited September 12 by Kordy

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, kaysha2004 said:

I'm sitting in the Social Club right now... popcorn, hot dogs, pretzels, chicken wings, reuben sandwiches.

 

Dock House, light bites of shrimp, goat cheese polenta, as an example.  Greek food from 3:30-5:30.

Yum, sounds delicious! This is what I get for reading about food at lunchtime, LOL! Enjoy your cruise, sounds wonderful.

[cantgetin]

4 hours ago, Kordy said:

 

Thanks.  Is it served with real clotted cream, or just whipped cream?  How is the quality of the scones?

Not sure on VV.  Princess switched to whipped cream (blah).
Dock house hanger steak bites are also great!

 

[Kordy]

Scones with Whipped Cream instead of Clotted Cream ... JUST NOT THE SAME 😛

[Chrish2]

Ive heard the restaurants described as being more like higher end restaurants found in London or Barcelona.

 

Many parts of the ship and experience feel like they were designed by a british team.
* Lamb shank is served in the evening in Razzle dazzle

* afternoon tea in the sip lounge. This is in the correct setting given high back chairs are used for high tea, many lines use the dinning room which is the wrong setting

* locations and facilities often have word play more common with the UK (ice cream counter called “lick me till i scream”, duty free called “booty free” etc)

* the Mexican restaurant is not tex mex style (much to the annoyance of many Americans) but instead high end Mexican 

* pizza is high quality and definitely not American style

 

After Covid the line relaunched from the UK but has had a bit of a hiatus until recently from uk sailings.

 

Lack of expectation of tips
 

I think it might be best to describe the experience more of “Virgin Atlantic”, connecting both sides of the Atlantic with a focus on quality/ elegance / premium.

[jon81uk]

All of the menu items are American style with streaky bacon, chicken sausage, pancakes etc and it’s American English used in the descriptions. Biggest thing is the currency is USD.

 

But as above you can tell it’s an international design team.

[Kordy]

Based on the above, it looks like Virgin Voyages originated as a brand from the UK, but is in fact an American company, headquartered in Florida.

 

It tries to appeal to an international crowd, focusing on Americans and Europeans, but if I had to decide - it feels like it has a ~70/30 split between focusing on American and European aspects (especially food-preferences wise).

 

With that said, it's probably more American than European !  And with this, you have to follow where the money is - Americans are a bigger demographic, have more disposable income and it's basically a bigger market for cruising - therefore, as a business decision, it makes sense to focus more on American preferences.

 

For me personally, it's the little touches - eg: it's a little disappointing that they don't offer both English and USA style bacon for breakfast - I was on many cruise lines where the 2 styles of bacons were next to each other and it worked well.  Then everyone is happy!

[little britain]

On 9/12/2024 at 4:21 PM, Kordy said:

What about afternoon tea?  most cruise companies seem to offer this daily (around 2 or 3pm) and it's a popular choice?

Tea bags are PGTips and plenty of skimmed milk. 
 

 

for a comparison with RCI…

 

[jon81uk]

33 minutes ago, little britain said:

Tea bags are PGTips and plenty of skimmed milk. 
 

 

for a comparison with RCI…

 

In addition to the free tea there is also loose leaf tea for $5. You pictured the free desserts but you can also pay for afternoon tea (which includes the loose leaf tea) at Sip. I’ve never bothered with the paid-for afternoon tea because there is plenty of great free food.

[ryarger]

8 hours ago, Kordy said:

eg: it's a little disappointing that they don't offer both English and USA style bacon for breakfast

 

14 hours ago, jon81uk said:

of the menu items are American style with streaky bacon

I saw a video of someone on VL in just the past month who asked for English bacon and got it.

 

They also had baked beans and grilled tomatoes which are very British as part of breakfast.

[jon81uk]

8 hours ago, ryarger said:

 

I saw a video of someone on VL in just the past month who asked for English bacon and got it.

 

They also had baked beans and grilled tomatoes which are very British as part of breakfast.

Valiant Lady has been operating out of Miami for at least 9 months, are you sure it’s a recent video? I think they did have some back bacon when it was in the UK two years ago but I doubt they do in the Caribbean. I’ve not noticed it on any of their ship in the last two years. 
 

Baked beans and roasted tomato are listed on the menu for the diner counter https://vvinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/the-galley-breakfast-follow-vvinsider.pdf

[ryarger]

4 hours ago, jon81uk said:

are you sure it’s a recent video

I double checked and it was Caribbean but while the video was this week, the sailing was Dec. ‘22.

 

It was definitely the Galley that had the bacon, but she had to ask to get it.

 

That’s nearly two years ago though so obviously much may have changed!

 

It can be found on YT by searching “all the breakfast food on the valiant lady”.

[Kordy]

The proof they say is in the pudding - English bacon is there!... also, is that a Cumberland sausage?

[jon81uk]

1 hour ago, ryarger said:

I double checked and it was Caribbean but while the video was this week, the sailing was Dec. ‘22.

 

It was definitely the Galley that had the bacon, but she had to ask to get it.

Valiant Lady was in the UK March/April 2022, it’s possible they still had stock in the freezer from earlier in the year.

[Tatra603]

22 hours ago, Kordy said:

The proof they say is in the pudding - English bacon is there!... also, is that a Cumberland sausage?

That's great news. Of all the baffling things Americans do, cooking their bacon so much that it's dry and tasteless is one of the weirdest. 

[CruisingWalter]

Definitely leans American, heavily. That's their core audience. I don't know many European brands that offer a French Toast Burger for breakfast. 🙂  Steak, sandwiches, sweets, pretty much the entire menu leans into the American palette. Afternoon tea is lovely, that's more British but it should be. It's $19/pp but totally worth it. 

[Gretchendz]

On 9/12/2024 at 6:13 PM, Kordy said:

Scones with Whipped Cream instead of Clotted Cream ... JUST NOT THE SAME 😛

 

If you want a proper tea you don't pay extra for with CLOTTED cream, sail Cunard 🙂

P.S. I'm American and I agree with you completetly about clotted cream.