My First Time on Virgin Voyages (Valiant Lady Embarkation Day)
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- čas přidán 6. 01. 2024
- It's my first time ever on Virgin Voyages as I embark on Valiant Lady for an 8-night sailing to the Caribbean! I set sail on Virgin Voyages from Miami, Florida on Valiant Lady, the second newest ship in the 3-ship Virgin fleet. In this video, catch me boarding the beautiful Valiant Lady, check out my amazing XL Sea Terrace Stateroom, walk around the open decks, enjoy a delicious lunch in The Galley, and talk about the embarkation day process for Virgin Voyages.
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#virginvoyages #valiantlady #cruisevlog
So glad you gave VV a try, Zak! We have been "traditional" cruisers for years...NCL, Disney, etc. We were on Valiant Lady two weeks ago and are already going back in March b/c Valiant Lady was *by far* our favorite cruise *ever*. Even if you are a middle-aged or older person/couple (like us) and on the fence about Virgin being a "young persons" cruise...do not hesitate to give them a try. Just leave your preconceptions at the door and "go with it." The wonderful crew, the outstanding food, and the admittedly quirky entertainment were a cut above and worth every penny of the somewhat higher fare. And I cannot emphasize enough how special an adult-only cruise is, even if--or especially if--you have kids! (I am not affiliated with VV at all, BTW)
Zach, thank you. You do a really good job with these videos. Let us know about the entertainment, I hear it's loads of fun.
Thanks for watching! More to come.
The biggest difference I see is that all the staff you come across actively engage with you. From the guy you passed as you got on the ship, to all the people working in the food places. I've never seen that on any cruise line review video before. I've seen people smile or give a wave as the reviewer waited in the queue for something, but not just as you walk past. It seems like a very different vibe.
Yes, this is a very good observation! "Ahoy!"
As someone who just disembarked VL two weeks ago, you are spot on in your observation @markfromlodz . The crew is AWESOME, from the cabin stewards to the drag queen! Every single crew member was engaging, genuine, fun and go-out-of-their-way helpful. It is clear Virgin treats them well, relative to other lines. One telling clue is that off-duty crew eat in the same venues, work out in the gym, and hang out at the pool with the sailors (aka passengers). Some old-school cruisers may not like this, but it was great to meet and talk with them and learn about their experiences. They get free wifi and these ships have the highest ratio of single-person cabins for crew of any major cruise line. And the officers wear the same polo-and-trousers uniform as the crew, so you are as likely to be sitting at the bar with the captain as you are a deckhand!
@@rossfortini1856 oh wow. Thanks for the info. Sounds like a great ship (or fleet) to work on.
You are so good at presenting these vlogs. Thank you.
I appreciate that!
I’ve seen a number of Virgin Voyages reviews and they agree that it is very different from the “traditional” cruising experience. But that seems like a good thing. I just wish it sailed to more places. The Caribbean does little for me and its European itineraries don’t seem very exciting.
They currently have Resilient lady in Oz and New Zealand. That ship went from Athens to Santorini to Rhodes to Egypt to Dubai to India to Sri Lanka to Phuket to Singapore to Kuala Lumper to Bali to Oz....so thats pretty much majority of the world outside of Carribbean and Europe. She will return to Athens in April
I was on this same cruise. My second with Virgin. I love them! This cruise was totally sold out and unfortunately there were probably a lot of people who didn’t do their homework on embarkation day. They are very clear about how boarding doesn’t begin until 1:30. My guess is people get kicked out of their hotels so just head straight to the port.
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed as well.
I must say, I really enjoy watching your reviews. Thank you!
You make things so easy to understand.
Thanks for watching! I appreciate the nice feedback.
So glad you're enjoying your first day on a Virgin ship!! Looking forward to more videos on this trip!!
Thank you! Much more to come.
Thanks Zach! We're looking forward to the rest of the series!
Thanks for watching!
Always enjoy the non bias reviews
awesome video! Cant wait for my first virgin cruise!
Going on my first Virgin Cruise in July. Really looking forward to it. Great Video! 👍
Great video. Very informative. We have our first Vigin cruise on the Valient Lady Feb 3. Thanks for the tour and tips.
Have fun!
Interested in seeing this whole cruise. I’ve only been on RC so adults only YAY!!!
I’m so happy you like Virgin!
Loved it!
So glad your trying VV. It’s my favorite cruise line.
Thanks for watching! Loved it.
Excellent review Zach. Truly enjoy all your videos. Now you have got my curiosity up about Virgin.
Thanks for watching! Much more to come on Virgin.
Gosh, that pool is so small
Congratulations on reaching 25K subscribers
Thank you so much 😀
I’ve sailed on both Scarlet and Valiant including on Scarlet while you were on Valiant. 64 and solo and I love Virgin. Not a big party person but Virgin and Celeb are my faves now. Really fun and food is the best …
Thanks for watching! I agree with you.
Thanks, Zach! Just subscribed. Your video is one of the best videos I've seen about Virgin! I agree with what you said, a lot of them didn't show the beauty of the ship or just filmed poorly. Can't wait to see the rest of this series! I'm a big NCL Solo traveler, so, I can't wait to see more of this ship as I was thinking about trying Virgin.
Thank you so much. :)
@catsrus2890 I am thinking about doing solo traveling and I saw a ad for NCL Solo travelers cabins. have you tried their solo travelers cabins and was a experience of traveling you would recommend.
@@lisagraves5813 Hi Lisa, yes, I am Sapphire with NCL and have done a lot of the solo cabins. I love NCL!! I highly recommend NCL as they cater to the solos. However, I don't know your age, but it's more of an older crowd 40s 50s 60s in the solo meetups. There are some 20s and 30s that hang out with us, but mostly the other range. However, a lot of people just stay in the solo cabins and don't hang out at all. They may just be an extra person from a family or they just don't want to socialize. It varies too depending on the time of year. For holidays, there's more of a mixed age range or if it's a longer 10 to 14 day cruise, it's usually the older crowd. We have our own solo concierge who leads the meetings, special coffee machine with coffee, Espresso and Cappuccino, etc, which is awesome in the solo lounge, breakfast items and cookies, snacks throughout the day. Also, there are solo meetups every night, which is so much fun. We go to dinners and shows together, etc. I have made friends from all over the world.... and we keep in touch on WhatsApp. I highly recommend Escape, one of my favorite ships, or the newer, larger ships. Prima has some major design issues that people are not thrilled about, though. I haven't tried it but I've heard mixed reviews.
I just went on Epic again, large ship, 4,000, for the third time Christmas week, but was disappointed this time, compared to the other years I went, as now it's time to refurb the ship and they're not going to do it until 2025. It's an older ship and has the largest solo cabin they ever made, which is great and the bartender comes in every day between 5 - 7, but I won't go on it again until they refurb it. Getaway and Breakaway also have the bartender coming in between 5 - 7 everyday. The newer ships like Escape, Bliss and Encore don't have the bartender coming in, no bar, but they still have a great meeting space.
If you're going for the first time I recommend one of the larger, newer ships, like Bliss or Escape... which isn't new now, but it's still a fantastic ship. I once went on Pride of America and stayed in one of only six solo cabins on the ship, so that only had them bringing in coffee to this little area... and no one went to the solo meetups on that one because, it was smaller and dedicated to Hawaii and instead, 7 days in Port, so I just met people talking and hanging out.
So lastly, even the ships that don't have the solo cabins and only have the inside cabin, they still have the Solo meetups. I did a European cruise on the Dawn in October with a friend of mine who I originally met from the solos on the Jade for an Aruba trip. Well, we had a blast on that trip and there were about 45 solos from all over the world on that trip, a lot from the UK, 4 other Americans and some other countries.
So definitely try it out, you'll love it. I'm just interested in trying Virgin too because I've heard great things about that too and they have the solo meetups too.
Oh, and Escape has the changing lights in the solo cabins, which is so cool, not all of them have that... You can let it cycle through the lights or stop on the color or just have it white light. It's great!
Didn't mean to write a book but wanted to give you the full picture.😂
Enjoy! 🚢😎🍹🍸
@@catsrus2890 Wow, thank you very much, Sapphire in appreciate your breakdown of the solo trips on different ships. I am in the 50’s age group. Happy to be in that group too. lol. I have been watching different Vlogs about different ships on all the lines. I saw one vlog where I think it was NCL Encore where the shore and the toilet were on different sides of the room, seem crazy. I really am interested in Virgin Atlantic Cruises. I recently did RCL the food was sad. My family lived off the bread at dinner. Loads of it. lol. Plus we didn’t do too many stops. We loved leaving from Puerto Rico which allowed for a stop everyday at a different port. But, it seems very hard now to find a cruise leaving from PR. I am just nervous about which ship and traveling solo. You have given me wonderful information, and I do appreciate your help. Hope if I have questions I could DM you again.
Thank you,
Lisa
@@lisagraves5813 You're welcome, Lisa! Oh, and sorry, my name is not Sapphire, I meant I have Sapphire status on NCL. I have sailed a lot of nights with NCL. 😃 You're in the perfect age range for the solo groups. I think you'd really enjoy it, like I said. I don't know anything about Encore I haven't sailed on it, but you can also always call NCL, the 800#, and talk to any rep and get assigned a rep and they'll answer any questions you have about any of the ships. Yes, and you can always ask me questions again too. I know there are several cruises on NCL and RCL out of Puerto Rico. I've seen them on NCL's website. I've never sailed RCL but I've heard from a few other people that it wasn't that great lately either. So, one of my solo cruise friends, who I had sent him this video, just told me that he has another friend who is on Virgin right now and she loves her Hammock too, like Zach was saying in this video. So, I definitely want to try Virgin sometime. Also, as you know, there are tons of videos on every ship and every cruise line on YT, which is really awesome to decide what ship you want to do. Cheers! 😎
I've always wanted to try them
I know lots of folk say these rooms are bigger than standard but jeez it still seems small to me. The cabins are what puts me off doing a cruise. To get anywhere near a decent size room for a week it always seems $$$
It was great going in and around with you Zach. I really got a sense of what it is like. Not for me I think but I wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t seen your video. I look forward to the others as I have also heard the food is very good. Cheers.
I understand. Thank you for the nice comment.
Great video Zach, thanks for posting. First impression of the room is that it looks like a UK Holiday Inn Express 😮
Thanks for watching! 😊
Headed out on this ship with the wife in May! Thanks for the video!
Hope you enjoy it!
Finally got to watch all that. So far I like what I see. I love 'ready to eat food. That alone would make me want to book the cruise. Can't wait to see the rest.
It was a fantastic experience all around. I'm ready for my next Virgin Voyage!
Just shared it to my cruise groups. 😉
@kennywalker4091 thank you!! 👊🏻
Very enjoyable review. No fluff, no fake overplayed excitedness and very immersive.Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great review, thank you! I do have to say that im not a fan of the style/look/ feel of the ship, but that said iv heard so many rave reviews of the whole experience. I think they are reaching for a different generation of cruisers, certainly. Definitely some real great ideas that are different from other cruise lines. Very cool. Thanks!
Thanks for watching!
Great video
Thanks!
Virgin is awesome! We are going on our 2nd one on Scarlet Lady in 16 days!!
Thanks for watching! Have a great cruise.
Happy New Year Zach! Following along on your Virgin odyssey! When all is said and done, will be interested in your overall take on Virgin as opposed to Celebrity. I know you are a huge Celebrity fan, as are we. It is nice Virgin is adults only, but as senior cruisers, I'm thinking, maybe not for us. However, I'm excited to see your total vlog on Virgin, always fun to get a new perspective! Happy cruising, fair winds and following seas, your senior couple from Ontario, Canada 🍁 🍁!
Happy New Year! Much more to come that will hopefully help you make that comparison. All the best to you in 2024.
I’m kind of like you; travel solo from now on and enjoy it! Virgin seems too much for me; I’m a quiet person who doesn’t stay up late! But I enjoy your vlogs!
Thanks for watching!
I still can't believe I missed you by a matter of days on this one - SO annoying! I'm glad you splashed out on a Sea Terrace - I was so tired of my solo by the time I left the ship!
I’m still so sad bout that. And good to know about the solo room. With these prices tho, that’s likely all I’ll be sailing in from here on out haha.
The semi buffet restaurant feels like a big airport terminal grab and go.
Great vlog. Was on VV in Nov and liked it overall. Loved the food, staff, service and other sailors. The low hard bed and low deck seating was difficult for me. Tiny bathroom and app glitched a lot. I loved the all inclusiveness and free bar tab. Had $ leftover. Booked 2 more.
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for watching!
Great video. I did see someone else's & she said it was the worst ever.
After cruising with RC and Celebrity, I felt cruising was just not for me. We booked a Virgin cruise on a whim as part of a 3 week holiday in Greece. I loved it! I think it’s the perfect cruise line for those who don’t like cruises. No buffet, no MDR, no kids, long days and overnights in port, great food and amazing crew and entertainment and it’s all inclusive. If you are in anyway ‘traditional’ this is not a cruise for you. We booked our next cruise while onboard, that’s saying something.
I would be eating soooo much food
I really liked seeing the details like the letters left in the cabin. That personal attention is really different from my experience on NCL, for example. Is the little octopus and sextant special gifts? Even if everyone doesn't get them, I'm still curious and was wondering if they do anything or are decorative only? Great video.
They are available for purchase. Not free unfortunately.
Surprise! Your local Target store is now a cruise ship!
How did you get them to match your status from other cruise 🚢 lines?
My husband and I will be selling valiant lady in February 2024. Sailed with Royal Caribbean eight times so far but ready to try something new.
Have a great time, I’m sure you will.
Hi! I’m not sure if someone has already mentioned this but Virgin Voyages stopped honoring the status of the other cruise lines. I called twice just to confirm. They stopped it on December 31,2023 😢
Can't wait to see more.... but I have to say... I'm already comparing this to the Edge Class in my mind and I'm not impressed yet. Can't wait to see the rest of the ship though
Thanks for the video and the only thing that I like about Virgin is that’s adults only besides that I didn’t like the buffet set up at all and all the seating around the open decks is not for senior friendly . Bottom line Virgin is not for me but I appreciate your videos always ! Thanks !
Thanks for watching!
@catsrus2890 I also was thinking about Carnival Cruise, but with all the craziness I see now online I am not sure. Lol
Carnival is a great cruise line. I’ve had the best experiences on carnival. Don’t believe all the negative things. Great food, fun and entertainment.
A and Z are Virgin Voyage lingo for port and starboard. So it’s which side of the ship ur on
I adore your cruise content please keep up the good work! Also pissed that RCL is screwing solo cruisers.
I heard that the perks matching was going to change on 12/31/24... do you know what it's changing to? A new program?
I heard that as well but not sure what they are doing. They are supposed to be rolling out their own loyalty program but that hasn't happened yet.
Hi Zach, you mention a match of other cruise lines loyalty perks and I wonder what matches Gold and Platinum of NCL latitudes.
Does Gold get any Virgin perks? I am Platinum and I'm interested in knowing what I would get if I take a cruise with them.
Hi there, I’m not sure of the exact levels but I know they match with NCL. It would be worth checking on their website! Happy New Year!
Hi Zachary, new subscriber here. We love cruising and never been on virgin before. Your tour is amazing and can’t wait for the rest.
Two questions please, I am disabled and in a wheelchair, did you happen to notice many wheelchairs around? Did it look like a decent boat for disabled people? Also what was the average age of people, it looks like 40’s or so. Thanks so much. Maybe 3 questions. Lol
Hi there, thank you for watching and subscribing! I didn't notice many wheelchairs onboard so unfortunately am not the best to speak to the accessibility of the ship. The average age was probably in the 40s range. A much younger demographic than other lines.
65+, fluffy, solo travel friendly? Nice to see they have a solo meet up/ dining. Did you check any of that out?
I was on this same sailing as a solo. 50 years old and female. The first night they have two solo meet ups : a cocktail party and a dinner. Went to the dinner and met lots of great people of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities and ages. We would often find each other at the different parties and shows. Great cruise line for solos, and plenty of room options without the solo supplement.
I didn’t check any of those out unfortunately.
I enjoyed watching your review like always because you give your honest opinion. I love to watch videos of most cruise lines but I have seen enough about Virgin to make me never want to cruise with them. We like a more relaxed style and not having to be glued to our phones so we don't miss out on the secret invite events. The language is too much, food in a mall court doesn't appeal to me and the prices are too high.
Thank you for this very nice comment. I’m glad you enjoyed the video even if not so much on the line/ship.
Deep Blue Extras status match ended Dec 31 2023
When were you on?
December 2nd
For how long?
8 days
Were there a lot of solo travelers? Interested due to the news recently about celebrity charging more for solo than for 2 staying in a room which is ridiculous
Now that was ridiculous! I’m not over that news yet. But yes there were several solos that I met. They have solo staterooms on Virgin, too!
@@ZachtheTravelingMan great news. I’m not the most extroverted solo traveler so it seemed like a little much but maybe I’ll try it. The rooms didn’t seem as nice as celebritys either
Virgin is geared toward the younger crowd and the LBG… community. Food was good, not much as far as entertainment. No kids, but was not happy and will not cruise on them again. One more thing, you cannot book shows until you board and it is 1st on board get to book. We did not go to any shows, they were all booked by the time we got on!
I am not a fan of those wrist bands!!!
Are all of the public restrooms “all gender”?
No just the ones I showed really. And it was a one person bathroom.
Thanks for sharing your experience with Virgin. I must say I wasn’t as impressed. 20 minute wait for service is ridiculous. Deck chairs look uncomfortable and don’t see older adults getting in and out of them. Embarkation seemed erratic and confusing as you mentioned. Room seemed very narrow and uncomfortable. Don’t see the attraction but I am comparing to my favorite Celebrity.
Thanks for watching!
Zach as a gay man do you find Virgin more accepting than another cruise brands?
Did not like the room. Bed that makes into sofa. Closet without doors . Small shower. Take away food. Looks like a kids dorm.
This ship basically has no pools. Not for me!
I wouldn't really call cruising with any cruise line an "adventure."
Virgin, is no kids??
Yep!
They hands down do not have the best food at sea!! In my opinion they are towards the bottom as far as food. My wife and I hated everything about virgin other than our suite!! Will not be going back!!!
THERE'S NOTHING LIKE CRUISING WITH REGENT SEVEN SEAS..IF YOU WANT WORLD CLASS CURSING AN ALWAYS BE TREATED LIKE A KING OR QUEEN THEN FORGET ALL THESE OTHER LINES THAT CHARGE YOU CRAZY ASS PRICES.....YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR...