Virgin Voyages Reviews 1,307

We had an amazing time with great company and plenty of laughs, but I have to admit, I was disappointed with the overall service on this cruise. It was our first time sailing with Virgin, and unfortunately, it will probably be our last.
Having traveled with other lines before, this was by far the most unfriendly crew we have encountered. A simple “Good morning,” “Good evening,” or “How are you?” goes a long way, yet those moments were few and far between. At times, it honestly felt like some of the crew did not want to be there. We even purchased a Rockstar Seriously Suite, which the wristbands didn't avail us to any elevated hospitality. Upon embarkation we were directed to a lounge where we were supposed to meet our Rockstar Agent. We waited for over an hour and still were not able to meet with her. No one even approached us until 45mins passed. We finally met her in the evening after dinner when returning to our cabin. We also were surprised that they misplaced my luggage. Thankfully I had an apple airtag in my suitcase and saw it was on the ship. Once they returned it the luggage was damaged.
The long wait times to reboard in both Key West and Bimini did not help either, and it is definitely something the hospitality leadership should review. I would suggest they take a page from NCL, Princess, or RCCL on what genuine hospitality really looks like. Another example of poor service was when I went to the upstairs bar at the Manor on Halloween. I asked for two waters with two limes, the bartender plainly said "No" to the two limes, I thought she was joking and I laughed. I asked again and she said "No" again.
That said, the highlight of the trip was without a doubt the people we shared it with. We had a blast together and kept the positive vibes flowing no matter what. Shoutout to The Happenings Crew for doing an awesome job during embarkation and throughout the cruise. They truly stood out.
Sail Date: October 2025

We had really high hopes for this trip, and i wish i could give it a better review, because they did do some stuff really well (ship decor, gym, parties, pools, drinks etc).
The biggest issue is they basically starve you, unless you want to eat disgusting slimy or tasteless buger or eggs. It should be called a Weight Watchers Cruise.
They only have 5 dinner restaurants for 2500 + people. They promise you reservations but dont deliver. We tried to make reservations weeks before our cruise and they were booked. They said you can make them on the ship-which is a lie. They PROMISED on their website and via emails that there are more than enough reservations and dinner restaurants for all guests, which is a big lie. We Tried every night and were on all the waitlists and basically starved every night. There were 50-70+ cabins/couples on the waitlists every night. Also, almost no breakfast options are available on the ship-only like two small food truck type places with a few items. The Room service has only like 5 items on it and it’s absolutely disgusting inedible food. They also say it’s all inclusive-which is also a lie. We planned on buying alcoho of coursel, but they charge you $44 a day in gratuity (not mentioned on most of their website, during booking, after booking, or via emails), plus the coffee and pressed juices and a lot of the food is only available for purchase. We spent like an extra $1500+ on food and alcohol.
The pool service food is the same nasty food as the room service menu, so we ended up starving by the pool also.
The service takes insanely long (room service, food service, and cleaning service). Like im talking 1-2 hours for snacks and water.
Another thing, the beds are extremely uncomfortable. We were both in pain the whole time and barely slept (we had very upgraded suite by the way).
Also beware, because of weather they obviously change a lot of excursions and plans, which is fine. But we have waited 10 days and we still haven’t been refunded over $1000 for excursions they canceled. You have to pay in advance for your excursions, and they charge you right away. if they cancel, they say you will be refunded, but it doesn’t happen anytime soon. It’s already a week plus after our trip ended and we still have not been refunded. And we have contacted them about it.
Another enraging thing that you should absolutely be aware of, is you will spend 240+ dollars on Wi-Fi. What they do not tell you, is you absolutely have to upgrade the Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi that they claim is free, only works for their app, and does not work for the rest of your phone. So you will have to buy an international plan while you are out at sea. Also, their “free” Wi-Fi does not work on the app once you leave the port. They say it’s $160 to upgrade (which is so absurd), but that’s only for one device per cabin, so we ended up having to pay an extra $80 to add my phone to the WiFi ! So we ended up paying $240 for Wi-Fi. Another thing they do not add, is once you pay for the Wi-Fi, it disables the rest of your phone. You have to turn your Wi-Fi off in order to use the rest of your phone, every single time. So not only did we pay $240 in Wi-Fi, we ended up having to pay another $75 for both of our phones to have international plans the whole time. It’s absolutely absurd. They should put it on their website and in the emails that you will be spending an extra 300+ dollars for Wi-Fi and service.
I’ve also never heard of an app disabling the rest of your phone. You’re literally unable to use your phone if it’s on the Wi-Fi. You’re only allowed to use the app.
To top it off, on the last day, everyone had to carry their luggage and suitcases down 5 to 7+ flights of stairs. They don’t have enough elevators for everyone on the ship. So I saw people with canes and elderly people and everyone just lugging 40 to 60 lb suitcases down flights of stairs, sweating. It was a horrible experience, leaving the ship. It blows my mind that they don’t have enough elevators to accommodate everyone on the ship. We struggled with the elevators most of the time, having to wait 5 to 10+ minutes and sometimes just walking multiple flights of stairs instead of taking the elevators. Which would’ve been manageable I suppose, if we wouldn’t have had to lug four suitcases down six flights of stairs. It truly made the experience way way less enjoyable. You’re supposed to leave a vacation feeling happy and somewhat relaxed, and said we were exhausted and sweaty and frustrated.
All in all, unless you’re looking to sweat, work, pay a ton of extra money, not have your phone work, and basically starve the entire time, I don’t suggest using this cruise line.
A lot of these things could definitely be fixed if the cruise line cared enough. Hopefully my feedback will help them change some very important things.

Virgin Voyages offer great cruise experiences. Food options are best of other cruise lines I sail. Crew is amazing. They truly love their jobs and are always smiling and friendly. This is a great ALL adult experience.

Food was amazing, staff very polite. However the most of the time the service in the restaurants was a little slow, which seems to be due to being understaffed

It it often took 1.5-2 hours for dinner, which is a long time, sitting solo. One time, I was in and out in 30 min. which was fantastic. However that only happened once and I praised the crew for it.

But you do feel you waste time, when you wait for almost 2 hours for a meal. There's plenty of things you want to do on the ship instead.

VV is always a fun time! The entertainment highlight for me was the band, ‘Undecided Future.’ They were so much fun and had everyone dancing and singing along!

Perhaps at parties and DJ events, have more music and dancing for the sailors and less entertainment by the crew members. We love them, but we’re there to party and have fun 🤩!

The restaurants are nice, but they seem to focus more on fancy than being fulfilling. The pizza place and makers are always a favorite 😍!

I would like to see a little more vegetarian variety and foods like Mac & cheese, baked potatoes, lentil soup, and other options that don’t include meat or eggs. Also, go easy on the salt as many soups and the gravy were too salty.

The crew is awesome, second to none! Overall, I enjoyed ‘the grown folks’ cruise 🥳 and can’t wait until the next one!

This was my very first cruise, so I tried to tune out the noise of friends that cruise all of the time. All of the check points for embarking, getting on and off at various locations and disembarking were easy and hassle free. The food was ok in the beginning, however it got better as the days went on. There were a lot of food options and everything was easily accessible and we knew what items were not included in our package. Staff was friendly, professional and helpful when needed. I loved that it was an adult only cruise. I definitely will be taking another cruise soon. Based off of videos and speaking with experienced cruisers, I wish, I could have experienced some of the secret/exclusive parties or events. Other than that, I had an amazing time!!

The staff, the service, the food, the ship - BRILLIANT LADY IS JUST SUPER BRILLIANT!!!! I am so blessed to have experienced such an incredible cruise ship experience - Virgin is BEST OF THE BEST and I can't imagine attempting another cruise line.

We had an amazing time on our cruise around the Greece Islands. This was our first time on Virgin Voyages. We had a lot of trouble with the app. Which is essential for everything from start to finish. It would not accept our credit card. I eventually managed to sent up a bar tab with my debit card. However this some became an issue with I booked a treatment at the spa. The app would not process the payment and it blocked us from access our bar tab. We visited sailors services on more than one occasion. They assured us I would get off tag shop. But the morning of departure my account was blocked again and I was not able to get off the ship. Had to once again explain this to staff. Thankfully this all happened on the last day of the cruise. All the staff are amazing and the food is fabulous! Five stars for them. But Virgin need to sort out their app and scrap the bar tab system for a drinks package!

We took the cruise line Virgin, our first time cruising with this line for a 13-day cruise. It is a brand-new ship, the Brilliant Lady.
We likely will not take them again for various reasons I will list, but many people love them and continue to book trip after trip with them. Their claim to fame is no children on the cruise. We have never seen more than two or three kids in all our other cruises, but we are often traveling when they are in school. We had heard that this ship was made smaller in order to easily pass through the Panama Canal, in doing so it seemed that they reduced space for its guests. Very limited space made it challenging to get into some of their venues. At one venue the first floor barely seated 100. We were in the overflow on the second floor, unable to see over the first row who were seated, we had to watch it on a TV screen. The nightly entertainment was mostly comedians, one magician, one awesome show with lots of costume changes, and one acrobatic show that was excellent.

Our room was nice and large but had limited drawer space. We chose a balcony and really enjoyed it as 1/2 of the days on ship were at sea. The weather was cold for our trip, so it was nice to look out through the slider. A nice touch on the balconies was a hammock.

Because of the cold weather, people were not using the outside seating, so it was crowded and difficult to find a place to sit in the interior of the ship. The hot tubs were lukewarm and no jets, so they didn't help with fatigue from walking in the ports. The exercise venues were usually booked up as again they only had limited space for a dozen sailors. I was able to attend one outside and it was excellent except quite cold. Because of that, they moved it back inside and then it was filled up or sold out so I couldn't attend again. The sailors aboard ship were mostly physically active, and so because of the space allowed they could not participate in most activities. Only one pickle ball court with people lined up frustrated at not getting to play. Their dance exercise classes were great, but very crowded in the space which made it difficult to move.

They do not have any buffets, instead, walk-in eateries. It was extremely difficult to find seats when one went to eat at peak hours. Instead of having a main dining room, we had access to all 5 restaurants on board at no extra charge. You had to make reservations ahead of time. It being our first time we had no clue that one had to make their reservation at midnight when they first made them available a month prior. So, most of the time we had our evening meal after 9:00 p.m. Many people we talked with also had this problem and sometimes the Virgin AP didn't work properly. They advised us to go to sailor services, and they were able to book 2 brunches and 2 restaurants dinners that we had not been able to get into at all. The dinner times were still after 8:30. Also, Virgin requested that their sailors only eat at each restaurant once for a 7-day cruise or twice for a longer cruise.

We are plant-based eaters and although they did have some vegan options on their menu it still was quite a challenge. Other cruise lines fine dining allowed us to place our order the night before and then the chef would make it vegan. Virgin really didn't accommodate us like others have, many of their items were premade. Finding vegetables on the ship was almost nonexistent and when they did have them, they were overcooked and swimming in oil. In the restaurants their menu said there were veggies, but when the plate arrived, they were in a puree as a decoration. There was a nice assortment of fruit on the ship.

The Test Kitchen was our favorite! Exotic food with flavors that burst in your mouth, decorated and cooked to perfection. They had great vegan options. Ariel, our server who we requested after the first time, made a dining experience that was fun. He was experienced and was diligent to every sailor in his care. He became family and was hard to say Goodbye to.

Their employees were awesome, many were new as the ship, but they gave their all into making us feel special.

Perfect cruise company to have a vacation with! Huge selection of food, including all restaurants for free with a different type of food. Good program with evening shows. Plenty of sport and entertainment activities. Huge rooms with balconies. Definitely recommend!

This was our first virgin cruise and it was just ok. As a group traveling together we felt disconnected with our rooms being far apart, the entertainment was ok, Lola’s Library was good, long but good and I heard Persephone was also good, but other than that it was meh. I felt like most entertainment was catered to certain types of audiences not necessarily me and my husband.

The food was decent, but interestingly enough the ramen restaurant and tacos would close by 3. I spoke to one of the managers who told me they don’t want waste so they don’t open late. That they only get about ten people ordering in the evening when they used to have it open. That was weird because I heard and spoke to at least 15 other folks looking for something like tacos or ramen late night.

I don’t know this was different. I’ll stick to RCL, Holland, Norwegian and Celebrity.

I love it. We are taking our third cruise in Jan 2026. The food is excellent, the entertainment is great and the cruises they offer, along with the excursions are excellent. My only issue (and it's been an issue since we started sailing with Virgin) is the darn app. It's glitchy. They just overhauled it and required us to move to a new app. No better. My husband can't even get in..... But it doesn't ruin the fact that for 7 days I am in paradise on a boat with no children running around screaming.

My husband and I recently returned from a cruise that promised a true crime themed adventure, and while there were many highlights, some aspects left me a bit disappointed.

The ship itself was clean, modern, and well-maintained. The crew truly made for a wonderful experience; they were always friendly, approachable, and went out of their way to help, which really enhanced the overall atmosphere onboard.

The food during the trip was generally excellent, offering a range of delicious options that satisfied almost every palate. However, there were a few hiccups when it came to dining logistics. At times, it proved difficult to locate food because the galley restaurants had limited hours, some closing before dinner. Moreover, securing reservations at the ship’s restaurants was challenging, which was frustrating during busy periods. We also appreciated that tips were included in the cruise fare, and we are concerned that the recent changes will affect pricing.

One of the main reasons many of us booked this cruise was for its true crime themed experience. Unfortunately, the theme seemed more like an afterthought than a fully integrated part of the journey. Not only did the theme feel underdeveloped, but the additional expenses associated with themed events and activities were disappointing, especially since we were drawn to the cruise primarily because of its advertised theme.

In conclusion, while the cruise offered fantastic service, a clean ship, and tasty food; however, the dining logistics and the underwhelming execution of the theme detracted from what could have been an unforgettable adventure. If these issues are addressed for future voyages, this cruise has the potential to be truly exceptional.

We will cruise with Virgin Voyages again.

I guess I would best describe the ship as “kitchie.” Nothing luxurious about this ship, but it’s cute. At 60 though, not really looking for cute. The food was mediocre at best. If you don’t book the specialty restaurants, there are very limited options, and the restaurants were just so-so. It feels like there’s 1 million people on the cruise because there aren’t enough spaces for everyone. For instance, there’s a rock band playing in a venue that has 20 seats, on a ship with 3000 guests. There’s a lot of nice activities planned but also very crowded. They’ll schedule a stretch class in a room that holds 25 at most, then squeeze 50 in, and leave 25+ standing in the hallway, wishing they could get in. The beds were hard as rocks and there were very limited electrical outlets in the room so it was hard to charge all of your electronics. You have to blow dry your hair in the living space rather than in the bathroom where there are no electrical outlets. 2 bright spots were the Social Club counter where you can get milkshakes, candy, pretzels, popcorn, etc. and the poke bowls on the 16th deck. Will not sail with them again unless the venue is so fantastic that I can’t say no and the prices are so cheap that I would be foolish to pass it up.

Ahoy! The Resilience Lady is sad, very sad that the staff on this ship would/could not smile. Being on so many cruise ships over the past 30 years, I have never seen such an unhappy crew on a ship. And I would not blame the staff. It only means they were treated unwell!

One example, when I opened my cabin door one day to see my room attendant outside. I smiled and said Hi. She did not have any expression and asked if I needed anything.

When I was dining in the so called “Extra Virgin” Italian restaurant, they played Spanish music the whole time. When it’s time to order dessert, the waitress told us they don’t have tiramisu. When asked why, the answer was “if we offer tiramisu, everyone will want to order it”. So if customers like it so much, they will avoid it?!!

The entertainment was pathetic. Other than profanities, they even make jokes of Royal Caribbeans and Carnival.

During shore times, we pass security check pints to get on and off the ship. No smiles as usual. And they would tell me to take off my hat. When I did, they didn’t even look at me and I just walked away. What’s the point?

In conclusion, sad ladies of Virgin Voyages will not see me again. And I would not recommend it to anyone. Don’t tell me you are not warned about the cruise pit if you are planning on a cruise trip.

This was our 1st experience with 13 day Virgin Brilliant Lady headed to Nova Scotia. We had a Sea View room w/Balcony. Unfortunately, I was not impressed!! 1st of all, accommodations on the ship, rooms and baths were fit better for midgets. One could barely move around in the bath and shower. Elevators were very small squeezing as many in as possible. Restrooms on each main floor were few and well hidden! Restaurants varied with many different foods that were mostly indigestible!! Most of all...having to wait in lines up to an hour or MORE to see any shows, that were really not worth seeing...(UNLESS(you were a Rock Star paying much more for your room)!! Bad comparison to ships such as Royal Caribbean and others! Last but not least, we had to switch rooms because of noise to an identical room on different floor and had to pay an UPGRADE of $275. Will NEVER sail with Virgin again!!

Virgin was an exceptional experience. The quality of the ship, food, and service was top notch everywhere we went! Our room was great - I have never been on a cruise with as much technology and capability. The food is almost too good - some of the best I've had outside of Michelin star restaurants in NYC.

The staff were helpful and the amenities on the ship were great. We also enjoyed the entertainment - there's something for everyone.

My wife and I just got off the 13 day Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona to Rome. Apparently I can’t copy my original review that I sent to Virgin on their feedback request, My wife and I are both in our mid 50’s, we planned to spend 3 months in Europe and include this 13 day cruise as part of our 90 days traveling abroad, we are from Dallas, TX and also own a Villa in Southern Italy. We planned to spend a month in Spain, then leave on the cruise out of Barcelona, tour parts of Southern France then end back in Italy to stay for the remainder time. My wife and I were under the impression that Virgin Voyages would be far superior over the other cruise carriers, finer cuisine and dining options, upscale clientele, exceptional service, fabulous entertainment, great workout facilities, and carefully curated worthwhile excursions at each country we visited. Without a doubly this was the worst let down and complete waste of time out of vacation. The food and dining was the biggest let down, nothing we ate was good, mostly over cooked and always we were rushed through our meals, the quality of food is buffet quality as in the cooking, tThis was also in their best restaurant The Wake seafood and steakhouse, we tried another restaurant Lucky Lotus as well we were not lucky in this night as well, rushed through dinner again, food was cold and over cooked. We cancelled our remaining night reservations as we were so discouraged and food was not good at all. We filled out three online surveys when asked how we are doing sailor’s? I put this exact feedback and Never heard back from anyone ever! I can go on and on but trust the Galley or their version of a upscale food court was nothing more than a buffet, same desserts daily and the worst Taco, salad, Ramon, and Hamburger bars.

The service was Ok but spotty depending who helped you, most seem friendly but we got the feeling many didn’t want to be there? Many employees occupy the gym equipment, they can’t figure out how to re-rack dumbbells and the gym attendant never did anything to keep the gym tidy and weights put back in the proper spot.

We spent 13 days on the ship and never was able to ever sit in a Jacuzzi not even once, the same usual suspects occupied them every day and never got out except to eat.

The entertainment was Not good and we didn’t enjoy any of it, it was like they missed the mark on who their audience was. The ship had 40-75 year olds so pajama party’s, 80’s dress up themed nights and their Scarlet Red party which we didn’t get at all were all flops and many didn’t attend, how do we know because we saw them all in the Galley each night bored juts eating. The singers and musicians were not great yet Karaoke singers in the bar some had better vocals than the actual entertainers. We were ready to get off this cruise by day 5 and staying all 13 days was a huge chore to keep from going stir crazy. We enjoyed Cannes and Naples but the other stops were huge tourist traps or not worth the time to drive hous.

We wouldn’t recommend this cruise and we know for a fact entertainment on other cruise lines are far better. This was a huge miss for us and regret we even lost valuable vacation time. Do your homework, do not listen to travel agents who get commission, read the fine print especially on excursions, see how long transportation round trip is for each excursion and what real time you actually have to see what you think you want to do I.e. in Florence it was a 5 hour round trip shuttle to only get three hours in Florence, wasn’t worth it! They try to push excursions on you but don’t really explain much until the night before your actual excursion. They also try to push out notice after notice on your apps while onboard to get you to sign up for the other cruises, again not with it!

We really had high hopes but we left feeling disgusted and disappointed, nobody took the time to ever get to know us or offer to make rectify any of our food issues and we filled out nightly onboard surveys so they were notified but we never heard from nobody. The morning we arrived in Rome, it was bitter sweat like we got the feeling thanks for your money now leave the ship!

We met many others onboard that expressed the same feelings and sentiment’s that we had, honestly we thought about figuring a way to just get off and head back to Spain or Italy and just write the whole experience off. If your the type of person that doesn’t care about quality food, like all you can eat buffets, beer is Heineken or Corona as your only beer of choice, drink sub par coffee or espresso, just want to sit at the pool or Jacuzzi all day and not move or dress up, then this would be cruise, Virgin this was a huge disappointment and we still never heard back from anyone on all the reviews you asked of us.

Ship was nice and crew were great! Rooms were nice with lots of storage. Food
was overall good, but quite limited. The wrist band and app process was very confusing — no one ever had a full view of the room account balance. The app was being revamped and was confusing as to when we needed to be in the new app vs the old. Drinks were very expensive and weak. We were told by the onboard sailor services that the sailor loot remaining on our room (not the non-refundable bucket but the other one) would be put back on our credit card post disembarkment (we specifically went the night before disembarkation and asked about the process). Virgin home office declined doing that and kept our money. These experiences outweighed the good crew and clean ship, resulting in my rating (which we believe is a generous rating to be honest…no one likes to feel taken advantage of and stolen from, regardless of the amount). Overall, disappointed.

Everything was great had a fantastic time