Just Cruised on Valiant Lady - Here's my review

[FirstTimeFreddy]

Disclaimer:  This review is based on my experience of a 5 night Amsterdam to Portsmouth sailing on 24th April 2022. This was my first experience with Virgin Voyages, but not the Virgin brand. I can only speak from my own experience of the ship. Your mileage may be different. On this particular sailing of Valiant Lady, only 600 passengers were on board. I sailed solo and I'm a 48 year old man.

 

As a loyal Virgin Atlantic customer and also regular cruiser, I decided to try Virgin Voyages on a 5 night sailing on the Valiant Lady from Amsterdam to Portsmouth. From the moment I boarded the ship it was very apparent that Virgin were determined to do things differently and set themselves apart from the mainstay cruise lines. They've dared to challenge passenger (Sailor) expectations and in many ways the ship feels like it's 'out with the old and in with the new'. On paper this clean sheet approach sounds quite exciting and innovative. However, the reality is somewhat opposite, as there are numerous problems with Virgin's 'redefined' cruise model.

 

Firstly let me start with some positives.

 

1. The attitude and demeanour of the crew.

The friendliness of the crew was the real silver lining to my voyage. The crew seemed genuinely relaxed and happy to be there. Every crew member that I encountered was friendly and approachable. Virgin have introduced a relaxed dress code for its crew and they all seemed to appreciate the less formal environment. Virgin have also allowed crew to be individuals as part of their policy of inclusivity. You will find many of them sporting Tattoos and Piercings and the crew certainly appreciate and enjoy this freedom of expression. This was great to see and I think other cruise lines could learn a thing or two here. 

 

2. Hydration won't be a problem.

Unlike other cruise lines that charge for bottles of water or include them in paid drinks packages, Virgin ensures that everyone on board has access to both still and sparkling water at all times. You can order multiple Carafes of water to your room at any time without charge. There is also plenty of water bottle filling stations throughout the ship. You won't go thirsty for water on a Virgin Voyages cruise. 

 

3. The Cabins and the Hammock.

Since debuting their first ship, the Scarlet Lady, Virgin have brought some much needed extra warmth to the interior of the cabins on the Valiant Lady. Many have criticised the cabins as looking like an Ikea catalogue, but I really enjoyed the decor and as a solo cruiser, there was plenty of storage. However, I can appreciate that others may require more storage overall. All cabins have tablet controlled LED mood and main lighting. In the Sea Terrace (Balcony) cabins, your tablet can also control your curtains/drapes. I thought the mood lighting was fun and innovative idea and it helped bring an extra feel to the cabin. However, the winning feature was the Hammock on the balcony. It was comfortable, safe and very relaxing, no matter what your body size is. I'm a big chap and would never dream of getting in a Hammock usually, but I did get into this one and it was extremely relaxing and a lovely addition to the cabin.

 

4. Virgin's interior design.

I thought the ship looked modern and stylish, just as you would expect from the Virgin brand. The real stand out were the elevators which have large LED screens on the back wall, as well as clever lighting that gives the illusion of being in an Aquarium or Pool. Very innovative and a fun addition where every elevator has a different colour palette.

 

5. Some honourable mentions.

The speciality restaurants on board are very good. In particular, Pink Agave which is their Mexican cuisine offering. It was delicious. But overall, all of the speciality restaurants on board served food of excellent quality. The fact that these restaurants are included in your cruise fare is also a great move by Virgin Voyages. Big thumbs up from me.

 

Which brings me to the things I didn't like about the Valiant Lady.

 

1. Level of service

On any other cruise ship you can expect to be offered a drink, be it alcoholic, soft or a hot beverage not matter where you are on the ship. On other cruise lines you can happily sit in the Atrium, soft seating areas of the ship or the sun decks and be tended to by plenty of waiters. However, on my particular sailing Virgin really let itself down. I sat in the Atrium area of the ship very close to a Bar. It took 20 minutes before a member of the bar staff approached me to ask if I wanted a drink. He had been busy chatting with his colleague prior to this. When he eventually came to me, I asked for a coffee and some milk, but was told 'No'.

 

Virgin sell premium Coffee on board and also free drip Coffee from specific areas of the ship. The bars onboard don't have individual Coffee machines and bar staff won't bring you a hot beverage. They will bring you a paid alcoholic drink, but if you want a Tea or a Coffee, you'll be told to go to the Coffee Bar and purchase a drink or visit those decks that have free drip Coffee available. This is unheard of on other cruise lines. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than capable of getting up and getting my own drink. However, this is not what we've come to expect from full service cruise lines such as Celebrity, P&O, Princess and Royal Caribbean. Likewise, on the sun decks there was one member of bar staff behind the bar and just one person acting as remote bar staff nearby. I appreciate that sailing the English Channel is hardly typical sun-bathing weather, but when the sun did come out, there simply wasn't enough crew to take drinks orders. I spent one afternoon on the highest sun deck of the ship and not once did the bar staff come near or by. 

 

What confuses me is that Virgin already knows how to provide excellent waiter service. Just look at the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at Heathrow. At the Clubhouse your every need is tended to and anything you want is brought to you. Why Virgin haven't simply taken this model and transferred it to their cruise ships is beyond me. But this issue needs to be addressed and improvements made.

 

2. Crew training and levels of cleanliness in The Galley

 

On deck 15 you will find The Galley which is Virgin's take on main dining and a buffet. Virgin have removed all main dining options from their cruise ships and instead offer 6 casual dining options in a buffet style table service area. You have to sit and wait for a crew member to approach you to take your order, then wait for your food to be brought to you. As lovely and friendly as the crew are, the level of cleanliness was very disappointing. Crew were so laid back and chatty with one another that often tables were left dirty with crumbs and other food detritus left on the floor.

 

On my first afternoon on the ship I decided to eat in The Galley. I watched crew members within feet of dirty tables, making no effort to clean them. It finally took a supervisor to instruct them to clean the tables and the floor. On another occasion I decided to grab some drip Coffee from The Galley. I decided to sit and enjoy the sea views, but quickly realised that 5 tables in my vicinity were dirty with no one around to clean them. Then on my third day on the ship I attended The Galley for Breakfast. The table looked clean and so I sat down ready to order my food. To my dismay, when I looked at the floor under my table it was strewn with food and crumbs.

 

There is clearly a training issue here that needs to be addressed by Virgin. Not once did I see any crew member with a broom or dust pan cleaning under tables. On other cruise lines standards are much higher, but with Virgin there seems to be no one assigned to specific tasks. Instead it appears that all crew are expected to share the responsibility. Sadly, from what I witnessed, few wished to accept that responsibility. Though I appreciate Virgin's relaxed approach, its crew seemed easily distracted by one another and were quick to forget that they have a job to do.

 

3. Poor entertainment, little to do of a daytime and removal of a daily newsletter.

 

Apart from a Guitarist and a venue where you can play board games, I found very little else to do on the ship. On other cruise lines you have a Cruise Director who is visible and interactive with their passengers. There is no such person that I could see who fulfilled this role on the Valiant Lady. Indeed I couldn't even tell you who the Captain was. On other cruise lines you have such things as indoor archery, dance classes, a Library,  glass blowing, art auctions, ice skating etc. Virgin's reinvention of the cruise experience has completely removed such things. Instead, they seem focused on fitness and wellbeing and concentrate their offerings in this area. Overall, the ship lacked the energy and atmosphere that I've experienced on other cruise lines.

 

Virgin have also removed paper daily newsletters from cabins. Instead, they wish you to use the Virgin Voyages App to keep abreast of what's happening on the ship. For me, this is a big step backwards by Virgin. The App isn't reliable and the events information contained within it is piecemeal at best. With the conventional newsletter, a cruise passenger could expect up to 4 pages of concise information detailing events and opening times. Though I appreciate Virgin wanting to save on paper waste, most cruise lines have comprehensive recycling systems in place. I can see what Virgin was aiming for by removing paper and replacing it with a digital technology. However, the App must at least be on par with what it's replacing. Sadly, it isn't. In addition, not everyone is tech-savvy or can download and use Apps. Older generations or experienced cruisers may not appreciate this move away from what they're used to on other cruise lines, and may not be inclined to use the App.

 

As for the entertainment, I could only find one main show. Duel Reality was their only offering and it was located in their theatre called The Red Room. Now I say theatre but I use this term very loosely. Virgin call it a 'transformational multi-use theatre at sea', but it looked more like a basketball court with cinema style seating on either side. It was very odd looking and didn't have the capacity of a conventional theatre. In fairness the show was entertaining and fun, but in my opinion, cruise ship theatres really don't need Prosceniums or Alleys. As innovative as it appeared to be, it added nothing to the experience. 

 

4. Terrible WIFI that cannot be upgraded.

The WIFI offered by Virgin Voyages is included in your cruise fare, but it was very poor. It didn't help matters that the crew are also given free reign to use ship WIFI, so at any one time there can be a lot of people trying to access it. Also, you cannot upgrade to a better WIFI package that enables streaming of any kind. I was so relieved when we arrived into Zeebrugge for two days, because I was able to use the 5G connectivity on my phone. Compared to its competitors, Virgin's free WIFI is bare bones and I found it incredibly frustrating that there was no way to upgrade it.

 

5. Noise from the Gym & Running Track in Deck 14 cabins.

My cabin was 14124Z on the deck 14. The Gym is located directly above and covers both sides of the ship. One side is cardiovascular and the other weight training. The crashing and booming of weights being dropped or pull bars being released with heavy weights attached, was horrendous. The Gym must have been open 24hrs because the noise was continuous day and night, even into the early hours of the morning.

 

I complained to the Gym attendant and was told that signage had been placed in the area to ask people to use the equipment responsibly. However, both crew and passengers were slamming the weights continuously. Upon inspection of the Gym, none of the heavy equipment had any kind of rubber matting underneath to absorb the noise. Equipment on the Valiant Lady has simply been placed onto the floor surface. As such, there isn't any kind of noise dampening, and so noise travels directly to the decks below.

 

It's also worth noting that the elevated running track attached to Deck 15 doesn't have any noise dampening. In deck 14 cabins you will continuously hear the pounding of running feet above you. In all my years of cruising I've never experienced a cabin with so much noise coming from above.

 

In fairness to Virgin, every cruise ship has noise and vibration issues. Some cabins are in close proximity to theatres, clubs, bars and sun decks. I've learned from experience to always travel with a good set of Ear Plugs and I advise anyone going on a cruise to take plenty with them. Nevertheless, If you're cruising with Virgin, make sure you look at the deck plans very carefully before selecting your cabin. Avoid cabins on the upper decks on these Fincantieri designed ships. You have been warned.

 

In conclusion:

 

Virgin Voyages have tried to reinvent the wheel, but did the wheel really need reinventing? By trying so hard to be different, they may have only succeeded in confusing the traditional cruiser, making the experience less, not more enjoyable. Virgin's service provision isn't on par with its competitors and it shows. There are personal touches that you'll find on other cruise lines which are glaringly omitted here.

 

Though it's commendable that Virgin have tried to think outside the box and innovate, they've removed or reimagined parts of the cruise experience that really didn't need to be touched. Other cruise lines have finely tuned their offerings over many decades and with great success. They know what the customer wants and they make sure they deliver in order to grab their share of a multi-billion dollar market.

 

To this, it seems quite arrogant that Virgin has entered the industry presuming it knows better. The truth is that it's possible to be both innovative and trendy without removing some of the traditional spaces on a cruise ship. Just ask Celebrity or Norwegian and look at what they've created on their new ships. Change for the sake of change doesn't make sense.  

 

There's a lot of style to be found on Virgin Voyages, but sadly the substance still needs work. If Virgin Voyages want to play with the big boys, they're going to need to improve service standards in line with their competitors. They're charging a premium price and experienced cruisers will have premium expectations. Indeed, for the same price you pay on a Virgin cruise, you could cruise with other all-inclusive cruise lines and have alcohol included. 

 

In my opinion, Virgin Voyages will appeal to the younger, trendier, fitness focused and less experienced crowd. For those of us that are older and have had the pleasure of experiencing many other cruise lines, Virgin Voyages as it currently operates, can only disappoint.

Edited April 30, 2022 by FirstTimeFreddy

[gumshoe958]

That’s a fair review.

 

My best guess is that when they were coming up with the concept for VV, they aimed it at people who partied in Ibiza or Cancun in their late teens and 20s and now, in their 30s and 40s, want to relive those holidays by partying at night, getting up at lunchtime, lying by the pool, having dinner and partying again.

 

In other words - they’ve thrown everything at their night-time events but assumed no-one really wants to be entertained during the day.

 

I’m yet to be convinced the concept will succeed, however brave and well-intentioned. Most of those 30 and 40-somethings will now have full-time jobs and kids who aren’t allowed to sail, so that’s them lost. And the people who DO have the money, no kids at home and time to cruise all year round - the over-50s and retirees - are actively being put off the brand. 
 

There’s a reason why the mainstream lines all tend to copy each other. I applaud VV for trying to be different - the crew and the food really do set them apart - but I’m not convinced the market they’re trying to win is big enough. They can’t survive if they’re only selling 600 tickets on ships that hold 2,700 (although I realise your voyage was a late notice one-off).

[tuxieloaf]

4 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

That’s a fair review.

 

My best guess is that when they were coming up with the concept for VV, they aimed it at people who partied in Ibiza or Cancun in their late teens and 20s and now, in their 30s and 40s, want to relive those holidays by partying at night, getting up at lunchtime, lying by the pool, having dinner and partying again.

 

In other words - they’ve thrown everything at their night-time events but assumed no-one really wants to be entertained during the day.

 

I’m yet to be convinced the concept will succeed, however brave and well-intentioned. Most of those 30 and 40-somethings will now have full-time jobs and kids who aren’t allowed to sail, so that’s them lost. And the people who DO have the money, no kids at home and time to cruise all year round - the over-50s and retirees - are actively being put off the brand. 
 

There’s a reason why the mainstream lines all tend to copy each other. I applaud VV for trying to be different - the crew and the food really do set them apart - but I’m not convinced the market they’re trying to win is big enough. They can’t survive if they’re only selling 600 tickets on ships that hold 2,700 (although I realise your voyage was a late notice one-off).

All made worse by sea-day-heavy itineraries (especially with Caribbean routes). Their strategy could work with a port-heavy itinerary because at least people can get off the ship.

[johnnylikely]

Yes, that was my question from the off- what can Virgin do that is better- even on the more cheaper cruise lines I still find the service to be pretty good- defo better than most places on land lol

 

They've missed the mark on many things, but you can't beat the vibe of people on the ship. All 3 cruises I've done, I've met some great people.

 

You have to wonder with $3-4billion in ships can they sustain it?

[cantgetin]

The target audience seems to have changed a bit since the first ship was launched.  At that time, it seemed to be aimed at the 20 somethings who were spending Daddy's money.  Now it is appealing to a much wider age group.  They've also changed some of the ship decor in cabins and some of the facilities in response to customer requests, comments, etc.  For example, they remodeled some cabins to what they are calling "ambulatory accessible," which will not admit a wheelchair or scooter thru the doorways, but had additional grab bars and other assist devices added as they discovered that they had more requests for HA cabins than they had in the original design.

In the Caribbean, the wifi can be upgraded (for a fee).  There is a paper schedule available at their equivalent of Guest Services, and the schedule is far more complete than what is on the app.  The pop up entertainment is fun, but obviously you never know where or what will happen--fun, but would rather know sometimes that there will be a short presentation.  I don't know what to say about the dirt/crumbs on the floors and tables in the Galley not cleaned.  Hopefully someone will get the crew in gear and keep things spotless as most other lines do....but this ship has been in service for a short while now.  I would have thought that training would have been completed!

Thanks for  a great, comprehensive review.

[CruisingWalter]

@FirstTimeFreddy Thanks for the fantastic review. We have been sailing since 2006 and have so far cruised 7 different lines. Princess, Disney, Celebrity, NCL, Holland America, Royal Caribbean and Carnival. We were more intrigued with Virgin when the first announced the ships and the drag brunch along with what appeared to be a lot more entertainment than what ended up rolling out after the shutdowns. We are sailing Scarlet Lady in July and were able to upgrade all the way to a Cheeky Corner Suite so we'll most likely lounge the day away in Richard's Rooftop or on our own balcony. 

 

The pattern of 'inattentive' or 'lazy' crew seems to be a prevailing thread in many of the reviews both here on Cruise Critic and other forums. Friendly as can be, but they don't have that same attention to detail and cleanliness as you come to expect from the amazing crews aboard the cruise lines. I've had attendants at the pool go down multiple decks to get me a cappuccino with me even realizing where they had to go. The crews are the main reason we keep coming back to cruising, there is no other experience like it. 

 

We'll see how they do on Scarlet in July. Thanks again for a really well thought out review. 

 

 

[jon81uk]

I think a lot of your negatives are due to comparing it to another cruise line, whereas I hadn’t done a before and thought of it differently.

If I wanted a coffee I would go and sit in a coffee bar, I wouldn’t assume the beer bar would serve me coffee. I never saw waited service in the upstairs atrium but didn’t expect it either, I might have found it intrusive and like they were constantly up selling being asked if I wanted drinks when not in a bar area.

 

There were paper newsletters schedules available if you wanted it too.

 

Personally I also thought of the daytime as being like in any other resort, time for the pool or hot tub, sunbathing, gym, reading a book that sort of thing. But we also did the VHS casual group workout, had brunch, watched a comedy show and played a game show during the daytime too so personally I wasn’t bored on both a three night and a four night sailing.

 

For evening entertainment there was Duel Reality, Never Sleep Alone (didn’t watch it as not interesting for me), UntitledDanceShowPartyThing, pajama party, a blues band and several other things. I also loved the Heartbeat clubbing night in the Manor and stayed out til 2am.

 

but I’ve never cruised before so what Virgin offered was what I wanted and expected. Sounds like many other cruises for me might be too much?

 

[Jeaannie55]

A very comprehensive review, which sort of matches my own experience, having just got off The Valiant Lady this morning, with the exception of the food, which was dismal.  We dined in the Extra Virgin the first night and thought the food was bland.  The second night we dined in The Wake, having had to wait 40 minutes in a queue  to get in for our 8.15 reservation.  There was no explanation as to the delay from anybody.  When we finally sat down, we then waited approx 1 hour for our meal and whilst 2 of us had our steaks cooked as requested, the 3rd one was cooked so much, you could have soled our shoes with it! What a waste of a fillet mignon!  When we complained about said steak, the waitress offered to replace it but was told no thank you, it was too late and put the vegetables on the plate, just to eat something and then the waitress reappeared with a new steak on a plate and took away the existing plate with vegetables on it, so then all she had was the new steak!   The 3rd night we dined in Gunbae, again had to wait for approx 30 minutes for our 8 o’clock reservation.  We noticed at a later time, they had actually cancelled our reservation at 7 o’clock because they were too busy, although we booked this slot on 26th March!  The food wasn’t To my taste, but that is just personal choice. Breakfast was a complete shambles with the food being cold, substituted without any consultation and being forgotten about.  I’m afraid there were a lot of problems with the app. as well, had to go to customer services 3 times to get answers to questions regarding mix ups over our bar tab and disembarkation time. 

We booked Virgin Voyages as we really like the Virgin brand and hoped for something exciting, but with all the problems we experienced,  I’m both sorry and sad to say that it would take a lot to entice me to cruise again with them.

[InVelvetSlumber]

I also just returned from the last 3-nighter on Valiant, and can relate to a lot of the issues mentioned so far. We were on the same trip a few weeks ago and weren’t impressed with the experience, but as that trip was cut short, we decided to give Virgin a second chance.

 

This time around the ship was much busier (I heard about 70% capacity), and it really felt like they couldn’t cope.

 

As soon as I boarded I tried to book an exercise class, but they were all fully booked for the whole trip! As were most of the shows. I managed to make one reservation for ‘songs with the hostess’, but the event ended up being cancelled with no prior warning. 

 

There were often cryptic things on the line-up, that really could have done with an explanation, for example I’m not sure how anyone is supposed to know that ‘Scoop there it is’ is some sort of quiz.

 

I even got told off a couple of times! Once for going down some stairs following signs for the ‘IV’ bar (which I guess doesn’t exist?) and once for using a weighing machine in the gym - neither of which were labelled as ‘off limits’ in any way!

 

All in all, another Virgin cruise does not appeal to me.

[InVelvetSlumber]

9 hours ago, Jeaannie55 said:

 I’m afraid there were a lot of problems with the app. as well, had to go to customer services 3 times to get answers to questions regarding mix ups over our bar tab and disembarkation time.

Did you ever get a clear answer on when to disembark? Sailor services couldn't seem to tell us, and the app had no information. We just guessed in the end, and finally got told in the Captains announcement at 9am on disembarkation day,  that we all had to be off by 11. 

[Jeaannie55]

No we didn’t, we did the same guesswork and guessed it would be about 10.30 by talking to other people.  Then we heard the announcement by the Captain while we were in the Galley on disembarkation day.

[gumshoe958]

There’s a section on the app where you can choose your disembarkation time. Not that it seems to make any difference. I’ve always just wandered off whenever, before 10.30.

[InVelvetSlumber]

2 hours ago, gumshoe958 said:

There’s a section on the app where you can choose your disembarkation time.

This feature showed up on our cruise last month (where we could stay on until 2pm), but was not available on the one this weekend

[cantgetin]

11 minutes ago, InVelvetSlumber said:

This feature showed up on our cruise last month (where we could stay on until 2pm), but was not available on the one this weekend

THe usual is that you can stay on until 11.  Boarding of the next cruise starts at 2pm and the rooms need to be ready for incoming guests.  So unless there is not a cruise immediately boarding after you, 2pm would not be possible.

[InVelvetSlumber]

36 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

So unless there is not a cruise immediately boarding after you, 2pm would not be possible.

The next cruise was a charter, so we were able to stay on until 2pm.

[MarkWiltonM]

We were thinking about a 5-night Caribbean cruise on Scarlet Lady this July but after reading this thread we are going to skip Virgin.

[_tacocat_]

On 5/3/2022 at 11:17 AM, MarkWiltonM said:

We were thinking about a 5-night Caribbean cruise on Scarlet Lady this July but after reading this thread we are going to skip Virgin.

Curious to know what your concerns are - I sailed in December and had a totally different experience.  It seems like Scarlet had some hiccups during the UK voyages last year, so I'm wondering if Valiant is working through similar kinks.

 

Yes, there are no Broadway shows, newlywed games, or stand-up comics, and you have to "find your own fun" during the daytime.  We went to the gym, spa or hung out at the pool or other deck soft seating most days on the ship.  There were a ton of events in the late afternoon/evenings - trivia, karaoke, games, shows, casino, etc.  We didn't have enough time to do everything we wanted to in 5 nights.

 

It does seem like they have some provisioning issues in the UK, but food was plentiful, fresh and tasty on our voyage out of Miami.  It also seems like wifi has issues in the UK - we didn't have any issues checking emails/browsing the internet on the basic wifi.  You could upgrade, which didn't increase speeds, it just unlocked the streaming ports. 

 

Crew was very helpful and accommodating and definitely made a difference in our experience.

[Zana711]

16 hours ago, _tacocat_ said:

Curious to know what your concerns are - I sailed in December and had a totally different experience.  It seems like Scarlet had some hiccups during the UK voyages last year, so I'm wondering if Valiant is working through similar kinks.

 

Thanks for providing another point of view. I'm booked on the TA in Oct (Barcelona to Miami) and while TA  one-way re-positioning type cruises are rarely full, it does seem from quite a few reviews that the ship can't cope when occupancy is higher. I've read complaints that restaurants are all booked up, virtual queues for restaurant seating not working (so has to continually check with maitre'd by walking up throughout the night) and everything else that is bookable is also booked out. Having heard positive reviews about the food, I would hate to be eating in the Galley for the entire cruise! Hope these are just "new ship launch" kinks that will be worked out by Oct. 

I only paid $130 deposit so far and not decided whether to just ditch the deposit given the very mixed reviews.

[johnnylikely]

23 minutes ago, Zana711 said:

 

Thanks for providing another point of view. I'm booked on the TA in Oct (Barcelona to Miami) and while TA  one-way re-positioning type cruises are rarely full, it does seem from quite a few reviews that the ship can't cope when occupancy is higher. I've read complaints that restaurants are all booked up, virtual queues for restaurant seating not working (so has to continually check with maitre'd by walking up throughout the night) and everything else that is bookable is also booked out. Having heard positive reviews about the food, I would hate to be eating in the Galley for the entire cruise! Hope these are just "new ship launch" kinks that will be worked out by Oct. 

I only paid $130 deposit so far and not decided whether to just ditch the deposit given the very mixed reviews.

I think with enough planning you shouldn't have any problems with things booking out (unless it's a crazy busy sailing which I doubt). But if you book your restaurants as soon as possible- that's what I did. My concern would be what would there be to do to keep me occupied on such a long cruise with VV

[cantgetin]

15 hours ago, Zana711 said:

 

Thanks for providing another point of view. I'm booked on the TA in Oct (Barcelona to Miami) and while TA  one-way re-positioning type cruises are rarely full, it does seem from quite a few reviews that the ship can't cope when occupancy is higher. I've read complaints that restaurants are all booked up, virtual queues for restaurant seating not working (so has to continually check with maitre'd by walking up throughout the night) and everything else that is bookable is also booked out. Having heard positive reviews about the food, I would hate to be eating in the Galley for the entire cruise! Hope these are just "new ship launch" kinks that will be worked out by Oct. 

I only paid $130 deposit so far and not decided whether to just ditch the deposit given the very mixed reviews.

I'm on the same cruise and have no hesitations.  First, they have 2 11 or 12 night cruises to work out the kinks between now and our sailing.  Next, a Virgin rep told me that their target for our cruise is 65% occupancy, or about 1700 people.  They are nowhere near that now. That's busier than they've been, but a long way from capacity. They are anticipating allowing 2 or 3 advance bookings at each restaurant, as well as allowing walk ins.  I haven't heard of any issues with people not getting reservations. The max wait one person reported was 10 minutes.  I really expect that they'll work the bugs out of the system thru the summer and all should be fine by October.  No, I won't be happy if I can't get reservations, but I'm not hearing reports of that being a problem...at least for now.