5 Reasons I Love Cruising With Virgin Voyages

I’ve now been on two different Virgin Voyages sailings, on the Scarlet Lady and the Valiant Lady, and I find more and more things to love about the cruise line every time. From the food to the staff to the overall vibes, here are some of the top reasons I love cruising with Virgin Voyages!

The Food Is Top-Tier

I can’t rant enough about how much I love the restaurants onboard Virgin Voyages. While there is no buffet, you’re unlikely to miss it, as you can get the same sort of offerings from The Galley – their version of a food court.

My favorite restaurant by far is their Korean offering, Gunbae. On my last cruise, I ate there three times – I couldn’t get enough of that dakgangjeong (sweet and spicy fried chicken)! Not only is the food at Gunbae absolutely delicious, but you also are sat with other passengers in a round booth as they grill Korean BBQ at your table. And, you get to play a fun Korean drinking game with the group, and your waiter – one shot of soju included free! I never beat the staff at the drinking game, but I sure did try my hardest.

Another fun experience is the Test Kitchen – a lab-themed, experimental eatery with smaller, coursed-out portions in a set menu format. It’s a bit of a novelty and very Instagrammable, and I recommend trying it at least once during your cruise, even if the menu scares you off a bit.

One of the best parts of it all? None of these restaurants are an “extra upgrade cost,” like many cruise lines do. While you need to pre-book each dining in the app, I never really had a problem getting the reservations I wanted, especially if I kept checking on the day of. Pro-tip: many people swap things around and cancel a few hours before, so just check back throughout the day, and you’ll likely get a reservation to wherever you’re looking to dine.

Instead of a Cruise Director, They Have The Happenings Staff

While having a fun cruise director is key to having a good time onboard most cruises, on Virgin Voyages, you instead get the 12 members of The Happenings. And they’re here to be the life of the party! There’s The Diva, The Hostess, The Artist, The Gamer, The Charmer, The Balancer, The Foodie, The Flare, The Spark, The Hyper, The Glow, and The Bounce.

One of my favorite activities I did onboard? A painting class with unlimited champagne. That was one of the few things that actually did have an additional cost, because of the bubbles, but it was so worth it!

I also went to many, many trivia games. And let me say, as a trivia aficionado, that was the best, most relevant trivia I’ve done on a cruise ship ever. Usually, it’s all questions only people 50+ would know the answer to. But here, we even had a round on Harry Potter! Which our team aced and won the whole game with, of course, nabbing ourselves a free round of drinks for our victory.

Oh, and another fun thing! If you befriend these particular staff members, they might gift you a pin. One guy on my last sailing actually became the first in Virgin Voyages history to collect all The Happenings Staff during our cruise. He must have done so many activities! Feels a bit like summer camp, really.