The fact that Virgin Voyages is working on reinventing the wheel for cruises makes them my cruise line of choice.  One of the things that made a huge difference to me is that when I took my very first cruise, I remember kids running the ship alone into the wee hours of the morning!  I remember waiting for the after hours pool deck party and grabbing some ice cream before and seeing a table of kids no older than 12 sitting in the Buffet by themselves being loud somewhat making a mess.  This is something you do NOT have to worry about on the Adult-Only Virgin Voyages.  We are all adults so we all are able to be responsible for ourselves and you don’t have to think where are you parents.  You might think who raised you!  But that is a whole different story!

The Galley is Virgin’s replacement for the buffet on most other cruises.  Don’t ask me how many restaurants they have there I never made it to the back half for food!  The Galley was my first signal that this was going to be very different from past cruises.  The Galley is very similar to a food court at the mall.  Something that we are all familiar with for the most part; but very similar to that, you have the Burger Bar; at the mall it would be McDonald’s or Burger King, or Hot off the Press or a Subway at the mall.  You can either go up to the stall and place your order, or you can have a seat, scan the QR Code on the table, and flip the Ahoy flag up to alert one of the amazing servers that you are wanting to order food. 

They will take your order and serve you at a table, much like they do in the main dining room of other cruises.  The other way that Virgin Voyages treats your food differently is the fact that there is no “Specialty Dining”.  Unlike other Cruise lines; if you want to visit the Steakhouse tonight and decide on Italian food both the Wake and Extra Virgin are included in your base fare.   Now, they both will have add-ons that will cost you extra, such as Tomahawk Steak at the Wake, or the Roasted Porchetta at Extra Virgin.  However, your Filet Mignon or Braised Lamb Shank at Razzle Dazzle are all included in your cruise fare.

The other thing that makes Virgin different is the fact that they have themed parties.  Carnival does AMAZING parties, but Virgin Voyages takes `them to the next level.  From the Pajama Party, which encourages everyone to dance the night away in their fanciest, coolest, and most amazing pajamas to the main event Scarlet Night.  Scarlet Night is the party that most of us see on social media, and I will state my experience with it is that TikTok, Instagram, and even long YouTube videos do not do it justice.  The entire ship turns Scarlet for the night.  They dim the lights on the ship to red, and they have events going on EVERYWHERE, so you cannot miss the celebration.  Just be prepared to be on the Pool Deck (Weather Permitting).  Also, remember to pack something that can get wet for the party, as after a few drinks, you may join others in the pool!

Other parties include Heartbeat, which I describe as a party during elementary school gym class when the parachute came out, and you got to run around underneath it, as well as Disco72, which has circus-style performances, etc.  From my research and details from Virgin, they also have other parties such as #WeFancy, where everyone dresses up in gold and silver and glitter.  Of course this requires a longer sailing than the 4 nights that I was on board the ship!

The last major difference between Virgin and your mainstream cruise lines are the shows.  From the UntitledDancePartyThing to Duel Reality, they are somewhat different than what you would expect on a sailing; and part of that is that they do not need to gear the shows towards a kids being able to understand them just in case they join the audience.  But they also have a more adult flair as well.  Around the World in 80 Minutes with the Diva, and on what other Cruise Ship can you see a Drag Show at Sea?  Outside of an Atlantis or LGBTQ Cruise – None!  Add in some of the shows on the Resilient Lady and Valiant Lady that all do skew a little more adult, such as The Misbehavin Show and others; it’s nice to know that these shows are still entertaining and yet still easy enough to follow.