Edge/Apex vs. Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady/Valiant Lady

[CroozFanatic]

Anyone else considering these ships/brands against each other?

 

VV does not include alcoholic drinks, but does include WiFi and tips. Virgin does have a drinks promo ($300 for $400, and claims reasonable drink pricing).  I believe the consensus from reading this forum is that the free drinks on Celebrity are a sticking point. Anyone who doesn't drink considerably seems resentful having to pay for those that do...including me.

 

Food is very important to me and from the first small set of reviews, I think VV will have a competitive offering on dining vs. Celebrity.

 

Prices are very similar with the current promotions...obviously nobody has loyalty status, shareholder benefits, or on-board cruise promo benefits on VV and I know many of you do on Celebrity and that alone can influence your decision.

 

VV should be good for solo travelers. 46 solo cabins per vessel on VV, but not as many as NCL Epic/Getaway/Breakway/Bliss/Encore.

 

BTW, heard from a source that the average booking age for VV is 48. I thought that was surprising.  I recall on NCL it was 51, but can't recall if that was median or mean.

Edited March 24, 2021 by CroozFanatic

[Janthere]

We have cruises booked on both Apex 2022 transatlantic and Scarlet and Valiant Lady. 

 

We have always loved Celebrity and are excited to try Apex however booked an aft oceanview so we could get the traditional style balcony as opposed to the new infinity edge which we are quite sure we wouldn't like. This will also be our first transatlantic and decided we would rather not risk a 14 day trip on a cruise line we had never travelled on so we stuck with Celebrity.

 

For us the main draw to Virgin is the fact there are no kids as well as it seems like it will be a fun upscale and younger crowd than Celebrity sometimes is.  Also having 20 different food options is exciting!

[CroozFanatic]

7 minutes ago, janbear said:

For us the main draw to Virgin is the fact there are no kids as well as it seems like it will be a fun upscale and younger crowd than Celebrity sometimes is. 

 

Most folks on the VV board cite no kids as their #1 reason for booking.

[paulh84]

A mainstream price point cruise line with no kids will be a big draw, but their marketing will be a little too much for some of the more conservative cruisers. On this board specifically, I don't imagine there will be much overlap. We're in our 30's and it doesn't have much of a draw for me. It seems like the vibe they are trying to sell is Las Vegas 15 years ago. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

X and VV are apples to oranges, I've always compared of VV to a Caribbean all inclusive resort which often have instagram friendly bold comso and lots of different food options.  The two big downsides to VV are their single tiny pool for up to 4,000 pax and Cheaper accommodations.  The cheaper cabins are fairly basic with one of the smallest bathrooms and balconies in the industry.  They have the weird bed/sofa that is too low to store your suitcase under which add to the minimal storage which often means your cabin will be very cluttered because you have no where to put things (no desk storage, no night stands, etc).  Some of these issues are resolved in their more expensive rooms.  VV will most likely have better food (taste, selection and availability), service and design if you like "swanky".  VV is a slight moral win as they pay their crews an actual salary, they also added many energy saving devices/features so its slightly more environmentally friendly.

  

3 hours ago, CroozFanatic said:

Virgin does have a drinks promo ($300 for $400, and claims reasonable drink pricing).

They list the pricing on their on site, all include tips, beer $5-6, mixed $9 and wine says 42% of glasses of wines are $10 or less.

 

3 hours ago, CroozFanatic said:

Food is very important to me and from the first small set of reviews, I think VV will have a competitive offering on dining vs. Celebrity.

VV claims all their food, not just their suite restaurant, utilized a collective of Michelin star chefs.  Instead of a buffet, they have a food hall in which most food is made to order.  Many have unique themes including a test kitchen, Korean BBQ and have bold designs.  They also state many places are open late or 24 hours.  I think unless one is the kind of person who wants to eat at the suite restaurant every meal, VV has X beat on many levels.

 

3 hours ago, CroozFanatic said:

 

Prices are very similar with the current promotions...obviously nobody has loyalty status, shareholder benefits, or on-board cruise promo benefits on VV and I know many of you do on Celebrity and that alone can influence your decision.

 

VV should be good for solo travelers. 46 solo cabins per vessel on VV, but not as many as NCL Epic/Getaway/Breakway/Bliss/Encore.

Who knows post Covid how pricing will work but NCL is notorious for offering their always smaller and sometimes windowless solo cabins with a fare higher than an inside cabin even after paying the single supplement.  One popular theory is NCL figures people book a solo cabin without even comparing the price of an inside cabin. 

3 hours ago, CroozFanatic said:

 

BTW, heard from a source that the average booking age for VV is 48. I thought that was surprising.  I recall on NCL it was 51, but can't recall if that was median or mean.

 

VV was originally extremely expensive, the cheapest offering was a 4 night cruises were $725/person.

[mafig]

They don't have a casino, do they?

[Jeremiah1212]

6 minutes ago, mafig said:

They don't have a casino, do they?

 

No casino, no buffet, no main dining room. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

6 minutes ago, mafig said:

They don't have a casino, do they?

 

VV does: https://emmacruises.com/virgin-voyages-have-casinos/

[Jeremiah1212]

14 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

VV does: https://emmacruises.com/virgin-voyages-have-casinos/

I could have sworn the casino removal was part of the idea to make it seem less cliche  cruise-like...

[tfred]

It will be interesting to see V in action.  If you have ever flown Virgin Atlantic, the cruise ads seems to be very close in look and feel.  The Virgin Atlantic experience is really quite good in all classes and has almost a cult following. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

2 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

No casino, no buffet, no main dining room. 

Casino: Yes

Buffet: It's essentially replaced with a food hall with most everything made to order; many still consider it a "fancy buffet"

MDR: No; food is where they really shine as you can go to a steakhouse and have seafood every night if you wish.  X's MDR steak and seafood offering/selection are better most other lines yet still very limited.

[Rockymaya]

Everything is speculation about Virgin until it actually sails which probably won't be till next year.

[AstoriaPreppy]

The most exciting thing to me (a millennial) about Virgin Cruises are the food options. Having a spectrum of food that is diverse and high quality is a huge incentive to try the line. Celebrity has gone a bit... basic in their MDR selections. It's still very well done, but seems a bit scaled back from years past. 

The multi-restaurant setup has a lot of parallels to NCL, except the experience on Virgin seems like it's going to be more global, refined and in line with current trends. The majority of NCL specialty restaurants are not nearly as good as NCL cruisers think they are. I'd take Korean BBQ over a teppanyaki any day of the week.

The "food hall" is great branding, but I'm having echos of NCL's Epic launch, when they touted "no buffet" and it just turned out to be a buffet with action stations. 

What worries me is the beverage pricing structure. It's odd that they've made the food all inclusive, specifically NOT done that with the drinks... and then gone to great lengths to assure everyone that drinks will be reasonable and it basically won't be an issue. After years sailing without sticker shock at the end of a voyage, I don't really want to go back to my mid 2000s pre-beverage package Carnival cruises with a folio slid under your door the last night.

 

[NutsAboutGolf]

  

54 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

I could have sworn the casino removal was part of the idea to make it seem less cliche  cruise-like...

Casinos are a huge money maker and Virgin is opening their first resort in Vegas which has a casino tomorrow.  VV is still very cruise like experience but with a focus on bold swanky swanky design and a far greater selection of food and food availability.

[Orator]

Virgin heavily recruited Celebrity staff to work at the corporate offices and on the ships and they were successful to some extent. I suspect that Virgin will be more of a party ship than Celebrity and will attract a much younger crowd. My advice would be to try a cruise on both of these lines and see what you prefer. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

14 minutes ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

What worries me is the beverage pricing structure. It's odd that they've made the food all inclusive, specifically NOT done that with the drinks... 

Many are scratching their heads to why they didn't do beverage packages.  One neat theory, they want people all day everyday to order the "shake for Möet Chandon Impérial", during pre-covid it was advertised as $95 (generally goes for under $40) and is delivered to you on a red bucket anywhere on the ship.

[Denny01]

Surprised no one mentioned that all the Caribbean itineraries appear to be 4 or 5N cruises.  For me, I guess a B2B might work but not that interested in the approach. And before someone says it’s for those who are working and is a better time fit, standard 7N cruises obviously include weekends. 
 

not that interested in traveling to Miami and back for short cruises such as that even from the Fla Panhandle. 7N itineraries are not long enough normally for us unless we are with our kids who need shorter ones. 
 

den

[TeeRick]

I would be interested in VV if they decided to cruise out of a Caribbean home port this year.  There would be no children on board, only fully vaccinated adult passengers and crew.  That would be appealing to me.

[AstoriaPreppy]

1 hour ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

Casinos are a huge money maker and Virgin is opening their first resort in Vegas which has a casino tomorrow. 

Oddly, Virgin isn't operating the casino at the hotel in Vegas. It's officially the Mohegan Sun Casino *at* Virgin Hotels. Assuming there were license issues, and they didn't want to go the route of that NY real estate tycoon and open a Vegas resort without a casino?

[NutsAboutGolf]

15 minutes ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

Oddly, Virgin isn't operating the casino at the hotel in Vegas. It's officially the Mohegan Sun Casino *at* Virgin Hotels. Assuming there were license issues, and they didn't want to go the route of that NY real estate tycoon and open a Vegas resort without a casino?

 

Hotels and cruise ships not operating their own casinos are common, often even when the casino has the hotel/cruise company in the casino name, it's a shell company run arm by a large casino operator.  If you run into a casino issue on an X cruise and decide to sue the casino, you're not suing X, you're suing Fortune LLC.

[PTC DAWG]

No drink package, no go for me...I’ll stick with Celebrity..

[NMTraveller]

All of the ships you mentioned are geared towards a younger crowd.  Not something that I would sail on as they are missing a good part of the cruising experience we have come to enjoy.

 

M and S class are the better ships on Celebrity.

Edited March 24, 2021 by NMTraveller

[LGW59]

2 minutes ago, NMTraveller said:

All of the ships you mentioned are geared towards a younger crowd.  Not something that I would sail on as they are missing a good part of the cruising experience we have come to enjoy.

 

M and S class are the better ships on Celebrity.

IMO, EDGE is spectacular, sleek, modern, bright and cheerful, I anticipate APEX upping that some.  I for one, will now only cruise on E-class or refurbed Celebrity ships.

[deliver42]

After seeing video and researching what Virgin offers, there's no way I'd want to go on one of their ships.

[hcat]

Watched the video review at  u tube link  ( post#9)

 

Def not for us....cabin shown was like a tiny  no frills dorm room...small bathroom, small shower, minimal storage.  Restaurants shown  remind me of food court decor....not very plush or comfy.

 

Did not see anything  upscale or luxurious, or any  interesting art....maybe other reviews will show more that might appeal in public spaces, theater or clubs.

 

  I sense we will stick with X if we continue cruising...we know the ships and the gen program.....not interested in starting anew with an unknown !