Virgin cruise comparison from long time Royal Caribbean sailor

[thrifty99]

Virgin cruise thoughts

 

After just sailing on my first Virgin cruise I thought I’d post my comparison to many years of sailing on Royal Caribbean.

 

Cost:  I will compare 5-night Caribbean cruise costs on Virgin’s Scarlet Lady versus Royal’s Oasis of the Seas. I looked for a date that had low prices for each.

 

Virgin Scarlet Lady 5 night cruise for Nov 2023 is $2,334

Gratuities included

WiFi included

Soda included

All restaurants included

TOTAL = $2,334

 

 

Royal 5 night cruise in Dec 2023 is $1,804 for the base cruise on Oasis of the Seas

Gratuities $14.50 per day per person = $145

Soda & WiFi for 2 = $36 per day (typical sale price)= $180

Unlimited Dining Package = $25 per person per night = $250

TOTAL = $2,379 for comparable services

 

Note: you can do the basic Royal cruise for $1,950 (cruise fare plus gratuities).

 

You can see the cost is about the same if you add in things to Royal’s base price to make it comparable.

 

Now to compare what you get in each.

 

Food:

The Galley is Virgin’s version of a buffet. I wish you could walk up and get everything versus waiting for waiter to take order and then deliver it. I’m guessing they do it this way to make it feel less of a “buffet”.  A few stations were “walk-up” but most you had to order with a waiter. Wait times could get long on a full sailing. It was only about 10 minutes on our 35% filled ship.   The food was was better in The Galley than the Windjammer on Royal but more selections to choose from in Windjammer. I give Virgin the “win” on this for the better food.  Quality wins over quantity.

 

Restaurants:  Virgin’s included restaurants are comparable to Royal’s Specialty restaurants and much better than the standard Royal main dining room. But when you compare with Royal’s Specialty restaurants it is very similar

Virgin only allows you to reserve any restaurant once per cruise. To go a second time you need to do “walk-in” to see if any availability. This will be harder to do a repeat restaurant on Virgin, especially as cruise occupancy increases.

With Royal’s unlimited dining plan you can go to the same restaurant multiple times during the week and even multiple restaurants the same night. If we liked an appetizer or dessert at a certain restaurant we could do appetizers at one, main course at another, and dessert somewhere else.  More flexibility.

Oasis restaurants (included restaurants and those included in Unlimited Dining Package)

• Main Dining Room (included in cruise)
• Izumi Hibachi (cook at your table)
• Chops steakhouse & seafood
• Giovanni’s Italian
• Solarium Bistro seafood & steak (not an up-charge restaurant but has a great dinner menu.
• Portside BBQ - ribs, brisket, pork & sides
• 150 Central Park - higher end menu of fish, venison, duck, beef tenderloin

 

Virgin restaurants

• The Wake steak & seafood
• Pink Agave upscale Mexican
• Razzle Dazzle vegetarian
• The Test Kitchen unique foods similar to Wonderland on some Royal Ships.
• Gunbae Korean (cook at your table)
• Extra Virgin Italian

 

There are pros & cons to all of the above. Virgin had smaller portions of some items but also had some creative dishes I had not seen before.  As stated above, Royal allows more freedom with reservations.

 

They both have complimentary things like snack bars, ice cream, & pizza. Virgin has “small bites” areas like The Dock House where you can get tasty skewers with shrimp, octopus, and steak.  Royal has the DogHouse with several types of hot dogs & sausages.  It also has Park Side Cafe for roast beef sandwiches and salads.  Virgin’s snack food is a little higher end.

 

Cabins:

The Virgin Sea Terrace (balcony) Cabin was pretty similar to Royal’s Ocean View balcony.

Virgin had hammock and rain shower head. Really liked that shower.  Closet space / drawers / shelves seemed less on Virgin but still worked fine for us.

Virgin had nice technology controlled from tablet in room. Can control lighting, temperature, drapes open/close, and TV.

 

In-Cabin entertainment on Virgin is much better for when you need some down time. Nice selections of movies. TV channels very limited on Virgin (news & BBC). My wife missed the Red Bull TV channel that Royal has for extreme sports.

 

Internet:

The basic Wifi is free on Virgin but many apps & websites did not load for me. All of these work fine on Royal’s lower speed WiFi. On Virgin my home cameras did not load so I could not monitor my home. My stock trading app did not work. E:mails with links did not always load or work. I’m not sure if upgrading to the higher speed would have worked. I was able to have a video call but it did freeze and disconnect at times. Royal wins for better WiFi.

 

Activities & Shows:

Royal wins with a much broader selection of entertainment.  You really have to be organized with your planning to see everything.

Royal:

• Broadway show (Cats is on Oasis - not my favorite of their Broadway shows).
• AquaTheater show - unique outside diving and acrobatic show.
• Headliner show (like an ABBA tribute band)
• Ice Skating and Ice Show
• Cirque du Soleil style acrobatic show
• Outdoor Movies on big screens
• Comedy shows
• Game shows, karaoke, trivia
• Zip line (short zip line on ship)
• Flow Rider surf simulator
• Mini golf
• Rock Wall
• Water slides and 10-deck dry slide
• Laser tag
• Escape room

 

Virgin

• Cirque du Soleil style acrobatic show
• Adult Cabaret show
• Ships in the Night - dancing & techno show
• Music entertainment around the ship in small settings
• Karaoke in private rooms and in other areas.
• Game / trivia shows
• Fun free exercise classes (Royal charges for classes)

 

Pools / Whirlpools:

Virgin has smaller pools and whirlpools.  It was fine on our low occupancy cruise but I wonder what it is like on a full cruise.  The main pool has large cushion loungers around the entire pool.  This allows only a small number of people to be sitting pool side.  Virgin also has limited shade on their pool decks. Some umbrellas would be nice.

 

Royal has larger pool areas so more can enjoy being closer to a pool. They also have the Solarium which is an adults only pool for a more quiet pool area.

 

Private Beaches:

Royal Caribbean has Coco Cay and Labadee.  Their beaches have more activities such as the Water Park at Coco Cay and zip lines at Labadee.  But they charge a lot for these activities.  They have beautiful free pool and beach areas.

 

Virgin has Bimini Beach Club which has a great pool area and beautiful beach area.

 

Virgin wins for the adult pool party vibe.  Fun music, entertainers dancing by the DJ booth, fun pool floats thrown in the pool.

 

Royal wins for better lunch food selection and other snack foods to enjoy during the day (love the funnel cakes at Coco Cay).  Virgin has NO food available until lunch at noon.  Then very limited light fare after 3pm.  They need to have some snack food all day long.

 

Other Differences:

Children:  This is the big one!!! Virgin does not allow children to sail.  It was refreshing to have only adults on the ship.  No crying kids at dinners.  No teens sitting on the stairs blocking the stairways.  No kids playing elevator games.

 

Luggage:  Virgin delivers it to your cabin, but you take it off the ship with you.

Royal delivers it and takes it away at end of cruise (if you want).

 

Casino:  Virgin’s casino is smoke free which was nice compared to the smoke filled Royal casino.  I enjoy slot machines and found Virgin’s to not pay out as well.  I spoke with others playing the slot machines and the general consensus was the same.

 

Announcements:  Royal tends to have a lot of announcements over the speakers / in rooms.  Virgin had very few which was nice.

 

Spas: both have nice spas and services available for extra cost.

 

Daily planner - Royal delivers it daily to your room.  Virgin has them available to pick up if you want a paper copy.  Both have the daily activities on their app.

 

Ship design:

Virgin is more of a modern look.  The pool area is industrial looking with metal walls.  My wife commented that the pool areas lacked that fun tropical look to them.  Virgin design emphasizes a lot of smaller, more intimate areas instead of larger, more open spaces.  No multi-deck atriums / promenade areas.  Virgin does have a great variety of unique seating styles around the ship.

 

Royal (especially the Oasis class) has more unique larger areas.  Open air Boardwalk with carousel, shops, food, and AquaTheater.  Open air Central Park to stroll through trees and higher end restaurants.  Multi-story promenade with food & shops.

 

Next Cruise Booking:

Virgin has a nice deal right now if you book your next cruise on the ship.  You save $300 off your next cruise and you get $300 of on board credit for that sailing.  We booked 2 sailings on board.

 

Royal offers a lower deposit and I believe $100 on board credit to book your next cruise while on the ship.  

 

Summary:  We have sailed on many Royal Caribbean ships and very much enjoyed our Virgin cruise experience.  In fact, we reserved 2 more Virgin cruises while on board.  The “adults only” is a nice change of pace to not have children on vacation.  Overall there seemed like fewer activities / less to do on Virgin which can be good or bad depending on what you want.  It is a more laid back cruise on Virgin.  I personally miss the larger spaces of the Royal ships (Central Park, Boardwalk, Promenade atrium) while others dislike all those big spaces.  We will enjoy sailing on both cruise lines.

Edited May 19, 2022 by thrifty99

[cantgetin]

I think you missed the memo about how to have Virgin take your luggage off the ship for you.  You book it on the app, then put it in the hall on the last night same as on every other line I've cruised.  I also wonder if you missed the many locations that have snacks available--many of the bar type locations have assortments of snacks throughout the day and evening. Pizza has extended hours as has the poki bowl place, etc.  24 hour "breakfast" is available at the Galley,    In addition, there are "grab and go" boxes available in the Galley.   The pizza place serves salads as well as pizza. Virgin does not have a single snack outlet during the day in the same sense as Bacchio on Celebrity, Cove Cafe on Disney, or International Cafe on Princess.  Rather different snack items are available at different locations around the ship.  I so agree that longer afternoon hours in The Galley would be nice, and worry about what it will be like on a more full ship.  When you said "no food available until lunch at noon," you obviously weren't including the breakfast and brunch selections that are available in multiple locations.

 

Overall a great comparison, and I'm not trying to be "that person," only to point out some of the differences between your report and other experiences.  

Edited May 19, 2022 by cantgetin

[rebeccac]

43 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

  When you said "no food available until lunch at noon," you obviously weren't including the breakfast and brunch selections that are available in multiple locations.

 

I believe this statement by the OP was only referring to the Bimini beach club and not the entire ship.

[thrifty99]

1 hour ago, cantgetin said:

I think you missed the memo about how to have Virgin take your luggage off the ship for you.  You book it on the app, then put it in the hall on the last night same as on every other line I've cruised.  I also wonder if you missed the many locations that have snacks available--many of the bar type locations have assortments of snacks throughout the day and evening.

Thanks - yes, we didn’t see anything about the luggage. Good to know. That was one thing many we met said… they don’t communicate very well and your first trip with them is a bigger learning curve than other cruises. 
 

The “no snacks” reference was about Bimini Bay, not the ship. 
 

Feel free to point out any other differences / things I missed. The ship is a bit of a maze and I’m sure I missed some things.  
 

[Jasukkie]

I'm very experienced with Royal too and loved my Virgin cruise. Kid free is a wonderful thing. Those who need a constant activity schedule may prefer to stick with Royal but when you're over that and want more down time and higher quality food and beverage service VV is a great choice.

[alex_drew]

Thank you so much, thrifty!  Really appreciated the review as I've been intrigued by Virgin.  Also was happy to see cantgetin's note that you don't have to haul your luggage off the ship as that would have been a deal-breaker for this old lady! 🤣

[jspitz1]

Thanks for your comprehensive comparison.  We have an Oasis class ship and Virgin ship booked over the next 2yrs and both look great in different ways.  

[gingersvp]

I've sailed both and I'd say you have a pretty accurate and thorough review. 

 

I find that you have to be organized and scheduled on the Oasis and I loved that there was a lot more of a "go with the flow" atmosphere on Virgin. The entertainment is more spontaneous and you sort of have to just be out and about and willing to pivot. Since I don't really love being scheduled, this works for me. 

 

I do love that Oasis has some interesting neighborhoods but my biggest complaint about the ship is that everything opens inwards. Unless you have a balcony, the there are very few ocean views on the ship. Scarlet Lady has a lot more ocean view spaces. 

 

Like you, I'll sail them both! I have kids so it's Royal when we travel as a family and Virgin when my husband and I get to escape. 

[shoptom]

21 hours ago, thrifty99 said:

Daily planner - Royal delivers it daily to your room.  Virgin has them available to pick up if you want a paper copy.  Both have the daily activities on their app.

 

 

I've been on both this year and neither provided the daily to your room.  Pick up or use the app.  The Virgin app is actually updated during your trip if anything changes plus things like "your room service is on its way" messages made it very nice.

[thrifty99]

5 minutes ago, shoptom said:

 

 

I've been on both this year and neither provided the daily to your room.  Pick up or use the app.  The Virgin app is actually updated during your trip if anything changes plus things like "your room service is on its way" messages made it very nice.

We were on Navigator out of LA in February and had the cruise planner in our room. 

[Fogcityca13]

Just sailed on Navigator last weekend and no daily planner. It was a three day so maybe they’re not providing them on the short cruise?

 

Great comparison. We’ll continue to sail multiple lines. I like that every line has their own pros and cons to provide a unique experience.