Like a Virgin, sailing for the very first time

We’re taking a small break from our Tokyo Tour to say a massive thank you to Virgin Voyages for a wonderful and informative day out in Portsmouth onboard their Resilient Lady cruise ship.

The weather was perfect in Portsmouth docks on Friday 30th August for spending a day exploring one of only cruise lines sailing from the UK that I haven’t experienced. This was a complete freebie and a lovely invite to experience Virgin Voyages. We were toured round the ship by our lovely hosts Paul and Andrea who I couldn’t fault. They were welcoming, funny and incredibly informative.

Virgin Voyages take great pride in doing things different. This includes embarkation. Embarkation means arriving at Portsmouth port, checking in and getting on a bus to the cruise ship. If Virgin are going to be in Portsmouth long term, Portsmouth docks need a major revamp. To get on board the ship for the passengers seemed hard work. The shuttle bus drops people off at a hanger open to the elements. While this was fine on a beautiful sunny day, I doubt there was much enthusiasm on a rainy day. The walkway to the ship is also one of the steepest I’ve ever been on. I don’t think someone with extra physical needs would have been able to do it. I’m sure with prior communication that Virgin Voyages would have been able to sort this, but worth bearing in mind.

Upon embarkation, coffee and croissants were given in the beautiful The Dock. This is an outside chill out zone catering towards tapas plates with an unlimited menu. Your menu comes with a flag of either up for “yes please more tapas” or down for “no thank you”. I could have spent all day in this area. It’s relaxing, quiet and gave a real sense of split within Virgin Voyages.

From here the ship tour began in earnest. First shown the future cruise booking section and the “Get lost” shore excursions. Virgin Voyages currently have one of the highest retention rates at sea at 42% of sailors come away with another booking. The average age of these sailors is 52 with 82% having children at home.

From here there is a DJ booth and draught beer bar. Both of which are themed immaculately and could certainly be a place to sit and enjoy a drink.

The beer bar was shut for us, but that means we moved in to ice cream, Pizza and the first of the restaurants. Virgin Voyages take great pride in their food which was obvious to be seen and had the biggest vegetarian and vegan selection I’ve ever seen at sea. I really hope other cruise ships take note of how well Vegetarian food can be done. They also don’t scrimp on small portions either, you don’t walk away with a slice of pizza, you walk away with a whole pizza.

Next up is the most popular restaurant on board and that is the steak house. It easily has some of my favourite decor at sea and is absolutely beautiful. It also has a extravagant light fixture that I wouldn’t like to try and clean myself

I can honestly say at this stage of the tour I was seriously considering booking a Virgin Voyages cruise. The atmosphere seemed relaxed, the decor was lovely and the food seemed to be fantastic. It is undeniable that Virgin Voyages have made a bold statement with their intent and no where else is this more obvious than the vegetarian focused restaurant Razzle Dazzle. I could not comfortably eat in this restaurant without getting a headache. It’s a real shame as the food is meant to be fantastic.

This area was either love it or hate it. I can’t imagine comfortably having dinner in this area and enjoying it. From here it was another restaurant called Test Kitchen. Described as Virgin Voyages homage to Heston Blumenthal, all your presented is a small menu with titles such as “eel” or “watermelon” the decor here, while much less brash than Razzle Dazzle, reminded me of an airport bar. As someone who appreciates food in a less fussy capacity, I’m not sure this restaurant would have been good for me either.

Our final restaurant was Pink Agave. A Mexican restaurant which seemed more my style again. No menu was shown here but I’m told again there’s lots of vegetarian options.

Entertainment zones were next. Starting off with the casino. Considering the ship holds 2700 people, the casino is quite a large space and is much more traditional than I would have expected from Virgin Voyages. While I don’t know what it’s like when sailing, in port it’s seems quite a calm place and I can see myself spending a lot of time at that bar.

Running along the side of the casino is Virgin Voyages Instagram famous, The Manor. A corridor with sparkling lights running along it. While Virgin Voyages doesn’t have a formal night, it has a scarlet night and this area is normally packed all evening.

Cruise lines normally have a West End Style show in a main theatre twice a night. Virgin voyages have done away with this and have what they call The Red Room. This is their version of a theatre and can be changed to 4 or 5 different layouts. The one presented was for a dance party planned later on that evening.

I’ve spoken to some really good friends to get some feedback and they’ve said they’d all love this and would love to have this option. This is where cruising, and the line you go with, is so important as I really wouldn’t enjoy this.

From here it was a room tour. All of the ships in the line are famous for their balcony cabins having a hammock on them. The hammocks are made by a village in Thailand and have revolutionised the village and changed their lives. This is wonderful to hear and gives a real sense that Virgin Voyages are trying to give back to the community.

Instead of a traditional cruise card, you’re presented with a bracelet that acts as a room key and can charge things to your onboard account. This room key has an anchor on it and it gets caught in the hammock making it difficult for people to get in and out. A re think needed for the bracelet.

The bed can be configured in a couple of different ways. Either as the double presented below, in an L shape twin or can be converted to a sofa. From my perspective I don’t want to be spending a lot of money for a balcony cabin to have a sofa bed.

Lunch time beckoned next. It was here that we met Virgin Voyages selling point, the fantastic crew. The crew we met in The Galley (Virgins quick service option) were wonderful. The crew being able to express themselves with tattoos on show, hair as they like was a real breath of fresh air. Everyone of them was kind, courteous and loved having a chat. I would go on Virgin Voyages purely for the crew.

The Galley is a lovely space. Very light and open with many different food options, all catering towards a wide selection of vegetarian food. It is worth noting that there were few fish options.

Post delicious lunch it was a tour of the outside. This section of the ship is designed very different to the other end of the ship. This section looks like it is made up of painted metal bars. The logic is that it is an outdoor gym which people can use all time of the day and is called The Adult Playground. I get the logic and they’ve certainly designed it to the theme very well. It is an area I think you’d use once on embarkation day and would potentially become a walk through unless your fitness focused.

Our tour was now nearing completion with only a couple more venues to look at. One was the pool. As everyone has written before hand, the pool area and the pool itself is very small. There is only 1 onboard and I can imagine it getting very crowded on sea days. Considering the focus on fitness else where I’m amazed there is wasn’t a bigger pool for swimming.

Karaoke booths and a champagne bar rounded off our tour. The karaoke booths i’m reliably informed are packed out and a real highlight for people. I’ve certainly never seen them on any other cruise line and they’re unique to Virgin Voyages.

The champagne bar is an exclusive use zone for people staying in suites and looked fantastic, it’s an area I would spend alot of time in.

Waiting to get off we saw embarkation of other passengers in full swing. They’re met by a party atmosphere with crew dancing in cropped life jackets, hi vis and a DJ. It’s certainly the most unique welcome at sea I’ve ever seen.

Virgin Voyages are certainly different to any other cruise line out there. You can tell they take great pride in their crew, individuality and having nothing that is standard with other cruise lines. If you want to do a Virgin Cruise you have to be prepared for this. It’s certainly not for a traditional cruiser who enjoys set dining and west end shows.

There are certain places on board that I loved and would spend a lot of my time in. There are also places that I wouldn’t frequent, which is the same as all cruise lines really.

The over arching question I keep asking myself is “would I go on a Virgin Cruise?” The very honest answer is I’m not sure, there are certainly options which other cruise lines needs to adopt such as better vegetarian options and more individualised design. There is certainly a market for individuals who would enjoy this cruise, but am I one of them? I guess the only way to tell is to go on one in a suite!

#VVFirstmate