Ad // First Impressions of Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady…and what’s stopping me from booking

Disclosure: I was invited on board Virgin Voyages for the night but was not asked for any content. This article contains affiliate links – this means, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission if you click through the link and make a purchase.

Virgin Voyages has been making promises from the start that it’s going to be groundbreaking and different.

I’ve been excited to explore this ship for months (especially after getting a glimpse of partying Virgin style at Scarlet Night London). That’s why some of the initial reports coming out about the ship honestly left me thinking that this was definitely not going to be a ship for those already avid about cruising…

…I was wrong.

Scarlet Lady’s Cabins

The cabins of Scarlet Lady have been the cause of a lot of chatter and controversy from the start. Their design is undoubtedly minimalist and streamlined, with a modular converting bed leaving some drawing comparisons with Ikea furniture. I mean, it’s unsurprising, seeing as the designer has recently designed a modular sofa for the Swedish furniture giant.

By day, the sofa/bed is set up to be an L shaped seating area, while by night it swivels to become a double bed, or stays in it’s L shape in its own version of a twin bed set up. Admittedly, I’m not sure about this setup, but it wouldn’t be a deal-breaker for me.

Here you can see the different cabin types – thanks to Cruise With Ben & David for these images

I was concerned about the comfort of the bed – it certainly doesn’t look the most inviting on first look but I had SUCH a comfortable night’s sleep. I’ve slept on plenty of cruise ship sofa beds (more sofa beds than normal beds!) and this was definitely more comfortable than a lot of them.

Check out my instagram stories room tour – are we friends on instagram yet? Come and follow me at @glutenfreehorizons

I do think the converting nature of the beds creates a lot of extra work for cabin stewards, and I think I’d go for keeping the set up as a double bed (we often tell our cabin stewards they can skip the evening turndown for us anyway to give them one less task).

It’s also been noted that there is a lack of storage in the cabins, both in the main cabin itself and in the bathroom. On first glance I didn’t see this as a problem however once unpacked and get ready in the cabin I can see that this would be problematic for those that don’t pack particularly lightly. You would have to be extremely disciplined to keep everything tidy enough to cope with the lack of in cabin shelves or drawers. That being said, I can’t help but feel like this may be rectified on Valiant Lady, assuming the same general consensus continues.

Scarlet Lady’s Restaurants

I’d previously written about Scarlet Lady’s menu previews on my blog, and we’ve all seen those impressive artists impressions, so to see the venues in real life was exciting – just a shame I couldn’t eat my way around the ship.

As much as the line has claimed “no boring buffets”, I would argue that The Galley is pretty near to being a buffet, although the completely separated out stations each with their own theme and menu does give more of a food hall feel, with options including bento boxes, burgers, tacos plus baked sweet treats. Admittedly there wasn’t much sign of the usual cruise buffet choices (although we all know they vary in quality anyway – have you SEEN Holland America‘s?!)

As well as waving goodbye to traditional buffets, there’s no traditional MDR to be found on board, but you can choose from eight restaurants. Where these would normally be deemed “specialty restaurants” all are included in the price of your cruise, exciting if you want to experiment a little. Fancy upmarket Italian? Head to Extra Virgin. Steak and seafood? Check out The Wake. Korean BBQ? Get in line for Gunbae.

Our designated evening dining venue was the Test Kitchen, which was really part restaurant part lab! With a rather vague sounding set menu, listing only key ingredients, we weren’t sure what to expect.

The mushroom course was…well, the bigger mushroom wasn’t a mushroom….but mushed up portobello and shinji mushrooms moulded into a shape of a mushroom…. Jacqui’s was served with toast which of course I went without (more on that in a moment).

The second course was served in a smoke filled glass dome, which was lifted away to reveal smoked egg yolk with peas, caviar and roe.

Next up was sea scallops with seaweed, ham and broth, followed by a very Bambi’s Mum-esque serving of Venison with berries.

Rounding off the meal was a blue cheese semi freddo and a chocolate based desserts – here was the only difference we saw for gluten free options, mine being a nut based cake made from coconut and topped with chocolate and dried fruits.

All in all, a delicious and unique evening, though one which I’m sure you’d only partake in once per cruise (the set menu stays the same through the cruise).

For breakfast the next morning we ate in the beautifully themed The Wake, enjoying a starter of poached shrimp (I’ve always said if I could eat nothing but prawn cocktail variations my entire life I would!) and “Egg in the hole” a gluten free vegan option of a yellow pepper “egg”, crispy polenta and spinach. Why more cruise lines don’t go for the fried polenta instead of awful gluten free corn bread on dishes like eggs benedict is beyond me – it was delicious!

I was fully aware that the service on board our preview stay wouldn’t fully reflect the gluten free experience, so managed to catch a couple of words with one of the food managers on board. He informed me that, much like other cruise lines, you would be able to see menus and order meals ahead of time if you found that the gluten free options weren’t to your liking (I’m looking at you Razzle Dazzle cauliflower!) and that once the ship was in full operation there would be things like gluten free bread, pastries and pizza dough available (he admitted they’re currently working on ensuring they have the normal versions right!)

This certainly does seem like a ship for foodies, I’d certainly be down for eating my way around the vessel once she’s fully operational!

Entertainment on Scarlet Lady

The entertainment on Scarlet Lady promises to be very unlike anything else at sea, with drag brunches, impromptu dance parties and acrobatics.

We got a preview of the latter catching part of Duel Reality, a fast-paced retelling of Romeo and Juliet with an elaborate circus twist. Basically Prokofiev mixed with Street Fighter plus pole dancing. It was great! The performance space was very unusual for a ship, with seating either side of a traverse stage.

I’m very intrigued by the sound of Another Rose and Scarlet Night, produced for Virgin Voyages by Randy Weiner, who produced Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More (aka that show that I talk about at any opportunity and tell everyone to catch in New York…I really need to get a blog post written up at some point). Another Rose is set to be a seductively mysterious dinner party performance, where audience members are invited to join The Chanteuse, your hostess for the evening, as she guides you through a tale of love, lust and a life lived without inhibitions.

Then there’s Scarlet Night, one of the culminating parties of the Virgin Voyages experience. Scarlet Night is set to be a full ship event designed to be unique for each Sailor.

“We’ve designed an experience where Sailors can navigate their own path and the most adventurous will have every opportunity to Stray the Course.””

Pepper Lohr, Senior Manager of Shows and Parties for Virgin Voyages

You might start by relaxing with a long drink at The Dock, then somehow find yourself in a sunset pool floatie parade that you can’t help but dance your way through. As the night ramps up, everything comes to a head on the pool deck before dispersing into a select number of venues, with options for any Sailor.

Virgin Voyages is, of course, an adults only cruise line, which is why they can get away with shows like Never Sleep Alone, is a highly interactive show featuring relationship evangelist Dr. Alex Schiller, who’ll be selecting volunteers from the audience to get involved in blind dates, group demonstrations and hilarious games. Those intimacy kits on the room service menu might come in handy!

I love immersive theatrical experiences, and there’s certainly plenty onboard – another reason I’d be drawn to the line.

The Outdoor space on Scarlet Lady

I’ll be honest, it was Liverpool, there was rain and hail, a lot of pieces were still under wraps and some sections of the outdoor space not quite finished, so it would be unfair to pass a lot of comment. The outdoor spaces however really are drastically different to anything I’ve seen before, so to be honest I struggled to envision how they’d feel at full capacity. I’m one for avoiding outdoor deckchair spaces, avoiding those towel gremlins that reserve a group of 8 sunchairs at 6 am (no really, I’ve seen it happen).

A lot of fuss has been made about the not very big swimming pool – it has to be said the giant hot tub in the detox/retox area did seem bigger than the ‘main’ pool. That being said though, I’ve done 16 cruises at this stage and can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve actually got in the pool rather than just sat with my feet dangling in the water. I much preferred the look of the outdoor bar areas like Gym and Tonic and The Dock.

The bars on Scarlet Lady

The only bar we spent a significant amount of time in was in the corner of the Roundabout (that’s the Atrium), though we got to explore some of the others – my favourite by far was Loose Cannon, designed to look like one of the sailing ships of old, with beams overhead as if you were in the belly of the hull.

I also loved the rose gold aesthetic in Sip, the ship’s champagne bar. One feature seen across the ship is the use of large porthole windows, each themed to complement the bar or restaurant (the portholes in the casino resembled a James Bond style gun barrel!)

Jamie from Explore with Ed has put together an amazing ship tour video giving you a glimpse into the whole ship!

So….here’s my main concern

All in all, I wasn’t expecting to like this ship as much as I did! Sure, the cabins have some minor flaws, and some aspects like ease of booking tables for dinner, ability to get a deckchair, will remain to be seen. Honestly though, none of these would put me off cruising with Virgin. The entertainment alone makes me want to experience a voyage, so if a good deal came up, I’d like to give it a go. And here comes my biggest problem with the line.

I witter incessantly about cruising trying to convert anyone my age that will listen, but what puts off the under 35 age group that I’ve spoken to about cruising is pricing.

I would think we might see prices drop a little as the fleet grows (is it a fleet? I feel like they’re probably calling the lady ships the “squad”) but for now, sailors will need to literally pay the price for sailing on Scarlet Lady.

How much does a Virgin Voyage cost?

A 3 night “Sneak-A-Peek” sailing from Miami to The Beach Club at Bimini and back has a whopping starting price of £760pp based on 2 sharing an Insider cabin, with special sailings like the 4 night cruise for Richard’s Birthday Bash, going from Miami to Key West and The Beach Club at Bimini setting you back a whopping £1305pp. Perhaps the American market will be willing to pay those prices, but when you have to take into account the cost of flights, not to mention having to spend an entire day flying just for a 5 day cruise…

Having cruised a lot, experiencing some lovely ships (albeit many a lot more old fashioned), I can’t help but feel the prices are a little too steep, particularly as it’s not actually all inclusive.

For the British market, Marella Cruises is probably the closest thing you can get in terms of the casual atmosphere and parties, although it does have the more traditional features like the MDR and “dress to impress” formal nights – here you can see how you could get a 7 night cruise from £130pp more, only all inclusive and including flights from the UK!

I’m off on a Nineties vs Naughties themed party cruise on Marella Explorer 2 in September – this is only 3 nights, but is all-inclusive in terms of drinks, and I’ve booked a balcony cabin with my mum for just over £500 each and that still isn’t cheap!

I do hope the pricing flattens out a little, as Virgin Voyages is 110% a cruise line I’d love to try – fingers crossed for the future.

Would you book a cruise on Scarlet Lady? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Facebook or Twitter.