[ad_1]
With regards to vacationing, I sometimes at all times select a cruise with Royal Caribbean. I actually benefit from the ships, the leisure and actions onboard, in addition to the itineraries they provide.
I had been intrigued by all the advertising I’ve seen round Virgin Voyages, however was initially postpone of the upper costs. My husband and I don’t have any children, and the thought of an adults-only cruise was undoubtedly interesting. Whereas we haven’t run into many points the place children have been a nuisance on our previous cruises, there was one time the place a tour group of youngsters onboard one in every of our sailings made the thought of an adults-only cruise sound like a dream.
I had at all times figured that I may sail on one in every of my favourite Royal ships for a lot lower than a Virgin crusing, and stored going again to what I knew. Nonetheless, I didn’t understand that Virgin Voyages affords a extra all-inclusive sort of pricing, particularly when in comparison with Royal Caribbean.
The fare for an inside cabin on Virgin Voyages for a 4-night Key West and Bahamas crusing was $1734, for 2 cruisers. Comparatively, throughout the final 2 years I’ve sailed on 3-5 evening sailings on Royal Caribbean with our cabin, even together with a Junior Suite, costing lower than $1000. What I had failed to comprehend was simply how a lot was included in Virgin’s base fare.
They’ve what they name “All the time Included Luxurious” for his or her sailings, which incorporates not solely the cabin fare, but additionally gratuities, group exercises, all meals, important drinks resembling waters, juices, sodas and low stations, and even WiFi. We discovered which you could most of the time discover a reserving promotion that may also rating you a “bar tab” which is a set amount of cash that goes in the direction of alcoholic drinks, mocktails, and specialty coffees.
Once we sail with Royal, we now have so as to add within the computerized gratuities, we virtually at all times purchase a WiFi bundle for two gadgets, and earlier than getting Diamond standing we’d at all times buy a beverage bundle. Having these included in our fare actually saved us tons of of {dollars}. With this information, we determined to go forward and e-book the cruise, and check out a brand new (to us) cruise line.
After spending 4 nights onboard a Virgin Voyages cruise, right here is how I’d evaluate the expertise to Royal Caribbean.
We have been each overwhelmed and underwhelmed by the planning course of.
Whereas reserving the cruise itself was simple, what got here subsequent fully threw us off. We’re used to reserving our cruise, and heading straight to the Cruise Planner to make sure that we now have all the add-ons we get pleasure from whereas cruising, and it was actually refreshing to not have so as to add something on to get pleasure from our Virgin crusing.
Nonetheless, that’s to not say that I didn’t miss the Cruise Planner when getting ready for our Virgin crusing. Opposite to Royal Caribbean, the place you will get your whole pre-cruise planning executed from the pc or their app, Virgin requires you to do the whole lot by their app. In a fast look within the App Retailer, you’ll see that Virgin’s app scores a measly 1.6 stars, whereas Royal’s scores 4.8 stars. This instantly set the tone for a way the starting stage would go for our cruise.
The app was not intuitive, and I continuously felt misplaced on which web page I used to be on and which web page I wanted to get to. It additionally was continuously crashing, and I skilled plenty of delays when issues have been loading. Since you might be required to fill out your whole private data previous to crusing on it, I needed to robust it out, nevertheless it actually made me miss the choice of with the ability to fill out this data on a pc like Royal Caribbean permits.
You additionally need to make the most of the app to pre e-book your complimentary eating reservations, which have been fully crammed by the point I booked my cruise about 45 days out from crusing. This left me scrambling looking for out precisely the place and what we’d be capable to eat as soon as onboard. Every time I went to examine if a restaurant had a reservation accessible, I had to return to the house display screen and navigate again to the eating part to examine a brand new restaurant.
I’m additionally used to getting cruise paperwork previous to crusing, which usually embody your sea go and baggage tags. Virgin doesn’t require both of these, and doesn’t offer you any documentation, so I arrived on the port feeling barely helpless, with out figuring out what was precisely wanted from me, and hoping I had what was wanted to get on the ship.
The boarding course of set the tone for our cruise.
Fortunately, the boarding course of was extraordinarily simple, and I truly obtained onboard within the quickest period of time of any of my cruises. After parking, we approached a porter and came upon that if you happen to don’t need to carry in your baggage, they may present the baggage tags for you on the port entrance and take your luggage at the moment. We have been simply in a position to drop our luggage and head inside to check-in.
The port itself was properly laid-out, and we have been effectively ushered in the direction of an open check-in desk. Right here we got our bracelets, which acted as our sea go and room key at some stage in our cruise. This was an enormous enchancment over having to hold a bodily card round, particularly seeing as most of my clothes doesn’t have pockets, and I’ve undoubtedly misplaced a sea go or two on my sailings earlier than. The bracelet was skinny sufficient that it wasn’t bothersome, and it felt like one much less factor for me to fret about as soon as onboard. All-in-all, from dropping our luggage off to setting foot on the ship took us lower than quarter-hour.
We have been to see if the meals lived as much as the hype.
One of many issues I used to be most excited to expertise was the meals. That is one thing that Virgin Voyages is thought for, as they famously don’t have a primary eating room or buffet on any of their ships. As an alternative, they’ve over 20 included eateries onboard, with 6 reservation sit-down eating places, a made-to-order pizza place, contemporary scooped ice cream, and loads of different choices for each cruiser.
Now, I’m somebody who truly enjoys the principle eating room and buffet when crusing on Royal Caribbean. I get pleasure from figuring out what to anticipate in relation to the meals, and attending to know the waitstaff all through your cruise. I additionally respect the convenience and quickness of consuming at a buffet, as there are particular instances I simply need to seize a fast chunk and never take care of a full sit down type service.
I used to be to see not solely how the venues labored onboard Scarlet Girl, but additionally how good the meals was, as there weren’t any up-charge specialty eating places. At first look, when downloading the app and instantly realizing all the 6 reservation-required eating places had no availability, I used to be anxious.
I imply, if you happen to needed a sit down eating expertise onboard, these have been your solely choice, and I couldn’t get a reservation earlier than 10 PM for any of the nights. I did a fast search on-line and located some boards from earlier cruisers that they saved plenty of the seating availability for when you have been onboard and linked to the WiFi. Fortunately, that was the case for us, and we have been in a position to get the eating reservations on the instances we needed, however we have been undoubtedly pressured main as much as the cruise.
Our first cease onboard was The Pizza Place, which featured made-to-order private pizzas. You positioned your order on the counter, got a buzzer, and waited just some minutes till your pizza was prepared. As a Sorrento’s fan, I’ve to confess that this pizza blew Sorrento’s out of the water. Not solely may you customise what you needed in your pizza, however additionally they had loads of distinctive choices on their menu to select from, and also you rapidly had a contemporary pizza to get pleasure from.
For our dinners, we ended up consuming at their Italian, Mexican and steakhouse eating places. I discovered these to be on par with Royal Caribbean’s specialty eating places, which was wonderful as they didn’t price us any additional. The meals was undoubtedly a bit extra adventurous than I’m used to on a cruise, however the attraction is there for foodies and people trying to attempt new issues. I used to be at all times capable of finding one thing that I loved.
For breakfasts and lunches, we principally ate at The Galley. This meals corridor idea consists of 8 completely different meals venues, a specialty espresso counter, and loads of drink stations all through. This undoubtedly was the closest space to a buffet, nonetheless as a substitute of going and serving your self, you had the choice of discovering a desk and ordering by a server, from any of the venues, or standing in line to seize one thing your self. These completely different meals venues ranged from bento bins, to sandwiches, salads, pastries, burgers, and extra. There was completely one thing for everybody right here, and it was an ideal fast meal.
One other factor that we appreciated is that across the ship you might discover varied grab-and-go stations, primarily consisting of salads, wraps and sandwiches that could possibly be loved wherever on the ship. General, the meals lived as much as the hype and is unquestionably a promoting level for Virgin Voyages.
Our cabin was impressively thought out
In fact, one other extraordinarily vital facet of cruising is your stateroom. We opted to go for an inside cabin on our crusing, and I wasn’t anticipating a lot. I’ve stayed in inside rooms on varied Royal Caribbean ships many instances, and I have a tendency to think about it as only a place to sleep, bathe and alter, and nothing extra.
Nonetheless, that is one other space that Virgin Voyages has gained us over in. Instantly upon coming into our stateroom, we have been impressed with how massive it appeared. Despite the fact that it was solely 177-square-feet, it had sufficient room for a desk, seating space, and we have been in a position to stroll round either side of the mattress. For 2 individuals, we by no means felt cramped or that we have been getting in one another’s method when shifting across the cabin.
One other promoting level for me was the quantity of shops within the room. Not solely have been their a number of shops across the room, however all of them included USB shops along with the usual American plugs. This was useful for us, as we’re used to at least one measly outlet on Royal Caribbean, and needing to deliver an additional outlet adapter simply to cost all of our electronics.
Most likely one in every of my favourite options of the room was that the lights and TV have been managed by a pill. When you’ve stayed in an inside room, you recognize simply how darkish they are often as soon as the lights are turned off. With utilizing a pill I used to be in a position to flip them on and off from mattress, and didn’t need to stumble throughout the cabin in the dead of night.
Additionally they had quite a lot of preset “moods” so that you can select from, which might change the room to completely different colours and hues, resembling a Hangover setting with decrease lights. One thing else that we weren’t used to, was having a big number of well-liked films and reveals to select from. On Royal Caribbean, we’re caught with the 30–ish channels, that appear to by some means be virtually all information or sports activities. This was an effective way to make sure that if you happen to needed to spend a while in your cabin, you’d have one thing to look at.
We felt that the onboard actions and leisure have been missing
Whereas at this level we have been blown away by the meals and the room, we quickly came upon precisely the place Virgin Voyages was missing. We made our method as much as the pool deck to see what it appeared like, and have been shocked to search out simply two very small swimming pools for the complete cruise ship.
These swimming pools appeared like they may comfortably match not more than 20 individuals every, and it made me curious how that might work on our sea day. Spoiler – on our sea day I counted 45 individuals crammed within the pool at one level.
This was extraordinarily disappointing to us, as we like to spend our sea days by and within the pool. Royal Caribbean has executed an ideal job in guaranteeing that there’s a lot of house on their pool decks, and particularly with their newer ships, having sufficient swimming pools to suit the wants of their crowds.
After realizing there was no method we’d be combating for a spot within the pool, we packed up our stuff and headed inside for the rest of our pool day. I wasn’t all that shocked to see that many different individuals had the identical thought, and have been additionally searching for issues to do inside and away from the pool decks.
Simply one other one of many areas that I really feel Royal Caribbean shines in, is having actions going all day lengthy, with a number of decisions to suit each cruiser in some unspecified time in the future. I discovered myself lacking the lineup that Royal Caribbean affords each by the day and into the night. Whereas the reveals that Virgin Voyages did have have been wonderful, they typically repeated all through the cruise, and by the second evening we had seen the one two reveals we have been desirous about.
Although, to their credit score Virgin Voyages did supply some distinctive areas that we weren’t anticipating to see on an adults-only ship. They’d an arcade that was full with retro video games, and had the additional benefit of not being sticky and gross from the shortage of youngsters. Additionally they had seesaws and swings across the outside decks, in addition to loads of hammocks and sizzling tubs scattered round for individuals to get pleasure from.
Virgin’s The Seaside Membership, at Bimini Bahamas provided a extra upscale expertise in comparison with Royal Caribbean’s Excellent Day at CocoCay
One of many issues that I used to be most excited for on this crusing, was visiting Virgin’s seaside membership, the Seaside Membership at Bimini, Bahamas. This non-public seaside membership, whereas not on a non-public island, is one in every of their signature stops on their Caribbean and Bahamas itineraries.
I’m an enormous fan of Excellent Day at CocoCay, as I benefit from the all-inclusiveness of the island, and never having to e-book an tour to have a good time. I hoped that this could be the identical for The Seaside Membership, and we didn’t e-book any excursions for our day there.
Instantly upon coming into The Seaside Membership, it jogged my memory of Coco Seaside Membership on CocoCay. Nonetheless, not like Coco Seaside Membership, Virgin’s seaside membership is included in your cruise fare. Upon coming into, we have been comfortable to see that there was loads of seating across the pool space, with and with out umbrellas.
There have been two swimming pools, one with a DJ sales space and one with a volleyball internet. Each had loads of in-water loungers for individuals to get pleasure from as properly. Making our method all the way down to the seaside, once more we noticed rows upon rows of complimentary seating, and a number of the bluest water I’ve ever seen. This Seaside Membership really felt like we should always have paid some huge cash to entry.
Like different cruise line non-public locations, the lunch was additionally included. Nonetheless, you weren’t going to search out your typical island buffet right here. As an alternative, you have been in a position to order from a small menu that includes island-inspired dishes. Whereas I can admit that these have been on par with their meals onboard, as a pickier eater I used to be left with not many decisions to eat. I do know that almost all cruisers would favor any such meals, however personally, I’ve at all times been pleased with the meals at CocoCay, and the wide range that ensures that everybody can discover one thing suited to their style buds.
Except for the meals, the remainder of our day at this non-public vacation spot was wonderful. We obtained to benefit from the pool float celebration, the place they threw about 50 inflatables into the pool for individuals to get pleasure from whereas the DJ kicked off the afternoon, in addition to the attractive seaside.
We left The Seaside Membership agreeing that we’d choose a future itinerary solely due to a cease right here. We felt the worth we acquired was properly above what you obtain at different non-public islands, for not paying something additional.
My husband and I each agreed that we’d sail with Virgin Voyages once more.
Whereas we’re lifelong Royal Caribbean followers, we each left this crusing agreeing that we’d be comfortable to cruise Virgin Voyages once more. We might be desirous about attempting one in every of their different ships, and a distinct itinerary to check experiences. We agreed that if our buddy group obtained collectively to sail once more, we’d urge them to decide on Virgin crusing, as we noticed plenty of teams having enjoyable on our cruise.
Nonetheless, if the costs between a Royal Caribbean crusing and a Virgin Voyages crusing have been comparable, after the add-ons I would want to think about with Royal, I’d most likely e-book with Royal first. I are usually a creature of behavior, and love figuring out precisely what to anticipate with Royal. I additionally contemplate the ship a part of the vacation spot, and need to be certain that I can spend my sea days with enjoyable issues to do, and I do know that I’ll discover that on a Royal Caribbean ship.
Our crusing on Virgin Voyages opened up our eyes to attempting out completely different cruise strains, and broadening our horizons.
[ad_2]