I received the opportunity to sail on the brand new cruise line Virgin Voyages’ ship, Scarlet Lady, on the December 5, 2021 sailing. It was a 5 night sailing to Cozumel, Mexico and Bimini, Bahamas. From when they started their marketing campaign, VV described themselves to be a unique, adult-only, boutique style cruise line. I think they have certainly lived up to that image.
At the time of our sailing, the line was only sailing for 2 months and my sailing was also the largest amount of passengers they had held thus far. We were sailing at 67% capacity which was approximately 1770 passengers. Being it is a new line and we were their largest sailing thus far, I kept both points in mind to be understanding of what my experience will be on the ship. I think any new product (ship, resort) needs at least 6 months to work out its “kinks.” The crew has to gain more experience, management needs to see what works and what doesn’t.
There are already tons of blogs and vlogs giving out their reviews about Scarlet Lady. And frankly, it’s either they love it or hate it. I have to say I’m in the middle. I enjoyed many points of this ship and I found a few areas where I think it definitely can use improvement.
App Heavy
With the advent of apps, cruisers are getting more and more used to using their cruise lines’ app to better their onboard experience. With Virgin, your app is everything. You need it for your pre-cruise reservations (when you are allowed to start making them) for both restaurants and excursions, your check-in, health forms, etc. It also gives you notifications to remind you as to when you can book, when you have to fill out your forms, register for your Covid screening, etc. And you have to hope it works. The app takes a lot of data space, so you can’t have other apps open and sometimes it just won’t open so you need to delete it and check for an updated version. Onboard it becomes your lifeline for the ship. It is where you will get the daily schedule itineraries and also where you need to book the event you want to attend. Perhaps you want to go to a fitness class or a trivia game, you need to reserve your spot like you would for a show or dinner. The app is where you order room service, ask for more towels, water or anything else you need for your cabin. Virgin tells you in their one and only announcement that they will not be on the PA making announcements. And boy were they not lying. Again, it is your app that you needed to get information about when you will be docking and need to get back on the ship for ports of call. That’s where they send you information about your excursions. And it is where you had to schedule your group time to disembark. Virgin thinks they are being less intrusive on your time but I found the lack of communication and only through the app to be less personal and very hard to navigate. Cruisers were asking each other what they are supposed to do. Since I like to speak to a person, I went to the Excursion desk and asked how do you get off the ship, where will I meet our tour, do I get towels to bring with me? I also had to go to Sailor services to ask about the disembarkation procedure and discovered that they do have luggage service but I couldn’t find that mentioned anywhere in the app. It’s the little things like that cruisers need to know.
I can tell you one thing the app doesn’t have which it can use, a map! The signs are lacking on this ship and it hard to find certain things, like restrooms. Especially when they call it Heads. Fortunately, I have a good sense of direction, so I was able to figure out the ship easily. But I saw a lot of frustrated cruisers because the aft elevators don’t go down to 2 of the public space decks. If they had a map, they probably would have seen that ahead of time. They did offer a paper one in the cabin. One of the very few items given to you as communication.
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Service
This is where I will put an asterisk next to our experience because I feel this is something that needs some tweaking but I have faith (hope) that they will improve. Overall, I found every crew member we encountered to be friendly and always trying to be helpful. I can see that they were all trying to go above and beyond to satisfy everyone. I just think they can use improvements in certain areas. The biggest being in the Galley. The Galley is a food court area. Virgin’s answer to the buffet. They want you to find a table, pull a menu using their QR code and then wait for a waiter to take your order. Then a different person brings you your food. We went to the Galley at different times of the day and always had the same experience; long wait for waiter and hope we get the right food order cause you will often find waiters trying to find who to send the food to. They need a better system.
Cabin
Our cabin was the Sea Terrace Balcony. I thought the cabin was a decent size. It was ok for the 2 of us. Very comfortable bed and I found it to always be cleaned well. The storage space I think is fine for 2 people. The balcony was also a decent size. And we LOVED the hammock! A definite highlight which we both found ourselves falling asleep to nap on. The bathroom was very tiny although I thought the shower was a nice size with a rain shower head.
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Entertainment
Virgin Voyages does not have an entertainment crew like you would be used to seeing on other cruise lines. They do have a Hostess who I think was supposed to be like the equivalent to the cruise director but never in your face and the Happenings crew who you saw at the Board Gamers Club, trivia time, our coloring session. They also partied with the crowd at the Bimini Beach Resort pool area. Virgin put their own twist on all the entertainment. They had a free old school arcade, air hockey & shuffleboard tables, foosball and board games. In trying to keep a social environment, they had a communal coloring session, dodge ball, bingo, horse racing and trivia games. During the day they also had group fitness and beauty classes. They also offered paid classes of mixology and food that taught you how to also take that perfect social media shot. At night, they had pop-up performers throughout the ship doing folklore or quick 10 minute skits. There was a guitarist, a blues band and the VV band playing at different times throughout the sailing. They of course don’t offer your typical Broadway shows. We attended one show in their main theater which is set up to be a versatile room to play different kinds of productions. We saw an acrobat show that told a Romeo and Juliet story. It was pretty good. Being it is an adult-only show, they can also have an erotic cabaret show. VV brought on sex and dating expert Dr. Alex Schiller and her show Never Sleep Alone to offer tips on how to make sure you’re never lacking for a partner in bed at night. . It was actually fun and you do need to be comfortable and open-minded to attend. They do have audience participation but never embarrass or force anyone. I also really enjoy The NERD. He is a self-proclaimed nerd who showed off his impressive memory skills with lots of humor. Each sailing has a Scarlet night where you are invited to wear red and there is a party going on somewhere on the ship. We went to the pool area where the main party was and some even jumped, splashed and danced in the pool with their clothes on. Anything goes on Virgin.
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Food
I loved not having to go to a main dining room every night to get your included dinner. On VV, all of their specialty restaurants are included in your fare. We ate 4 of the 6 restaurants and each meal was unique and very good. My favorite was the Italian restaurant, Extra Virgin. It had the best gnocchi I ever ate and I just fell in love with the polenta. The Dock also offered quick bites which were great for lunch. They had a pizza place, ice cream shop and their food court area. My main critique of the food is the selections they offered. It was the same food every day with limited options at each place. At Bimini, they offered authentic Bahamian meal selections. I was able to find something to eat but I would like to see them offer other “American” options as well. If you are a picky eater or a person who has to be careful what you eat, like myself, you may find yourself eating the same thing all week as I did.
Vibe
If you have ever been on the Virgin Atlantic airplanes, you will see they kept the same vibe. The decor is the same and they even made this theatrical, fun video for the muster drill which reminded me of the video they have for their safety talk on the airplanes. Fun and unique. The vibe is chill, relax if you want, be social if you want. There are tons of great spaces to do either. I LOVED the Dock area. A great quiet space in the back of the ship with beautiful views and atmosphere. This is a great ship for fitness-conscious individuals and even a foodie. I think most importantly it is for open-minded people. Because it is an adult-only ship, they are open to be who you want to be with no judgments. Including certain innuendos throughout the ship that you certainly couldn’t have displayed for the family or conservative crowd.
So would I go on this ship again? Certainly. Virgin Voyages have great itineraries with long port times. It’s perfect to not have to feel you have to rush back to the ship and allow you to really explore and see the port you docked in. I also really enjoyed the chill atmosphere with the opportunity to socialize and party if and when we want. Communication and some service could be better but they are new and those are things that can easily be improved upon! Contact me to talk more about this unique style of cruising!
To check out more pics and video from our cruise, visit our Youtube Channel!
