Bless Your Heart

Ahoy! This morning we woke up at 6 am to get dressed and get breakfast up in the Galley. Then we went back to our cabin to get our luggage. We decided to take our own luggage off the ship since we have such a long drive home, so we wouldn’t have to take time to find our luggage in the terminal. Debarkation was FAST, and v organized, and easy! We went from our cabin to our car in like 15 minutes. V nice! There was a recycle bin on the way out of the terminal for our bracelets, or you could keep them as a souvenir.

FULL DISCLOSURE- I didn’t want to end our recap of our first Virgin Voyage without mentioning how we came to go on this cruise. I am a Vacation Consultant for Expedia Cruises and back in May of this year I went to a Virgin Voyages roadshow presentation. Then I booked quite a few Virgin Voyages for clients. A couple of months later I received an email saying that because I attended the roadshow then booked at least 3 Virgin Voyages, I was entered into a contest to win a Virgin Voyage, and I WON!!! I could pick any cruise I wanted as long at is sailed in 2025. I immediately called CSP and we figured out when he could get off work that matched up with a sailing, and we chose this one. We had to pay taxes and fees, but that was a small price to pay to experience this fabulous cruise line! We are endlessly grateful to Virgin and my BDM Tracy for this cruise!!!

I also wanted to make sure to leave our review of our stateroom. We were in 13126Z, which was a central Sea Terrace stateroom.

First of all, I love that there’s a doorbell (no more wondering if that knocking noise is for us or the people next door). There are also buttons on the wall in the closet, next to the stateroom door for Do Not Disturb and Spill (just in case you make a mess that needs immediate attention).

The closet is spacious, but there aren’t enough hangers. That’s easily remedied by asking your room attendant for extras. We had plenty in no time flat! There are lots of drawers and shelves and 2 baskets. We couldn’t fill up all the space we had for our clothes.

It’s so nice to have fresh water in your room daily. You have the choice of still or sparkling or both.

The vanity is a good size and comes with 2 little shelves/cubbies. I would love it if it had 2 drawers, then it would be perfect. I pack all my toiletries in zipper pouches so it was easy enough to put them in the cubbies, and I just kept my makeup in my cosmetics bag.

There are a TON of electrical outlets in the room. This made us V V happy as both CSP and I use CPAP machines. There is an outlet on each side of the bed so no need for extension cords like on other cruise lines. Plus each outlet has USB ports. NICE!

I looked everywhere, but could not find a hairdryer, although Virgin does provide a hot tools mat for your flat iron. So be sure to pack a hair dryer.

LOVE the C shaped table you can move around the room. V handy. And love having a full length mirror right there in the room.

The cabin is mostly v quiet unless someone slams a door. Otherwise, you’d think you’re the only people on the ship.

Bathroom- good amount of counter space. Also, there are glasses in the bathroom as well as on the vanity, so no shortage there. The shower is large for a cruise ship. You have the rain shower head and a handheld. This shower has the BEST water pressure of any shower I’ve ever taken! CSP too! Virgin provides shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. Plus there’s hand soap by the sink. There were only 2 bath towels and 1 bath mat, so we asked for more towels and got them v quickly. They provided makeup cloths and wash cloths. The lighting in the bathroom is really good.

The lighting in the cabin was not nearly bright enough to do hair and makeup at the vanity, so I was v glad I brought my lighted travel makeup mirror. There are light switches by both sides of the bed too. V convenient. The bed was really comfortable. Four pillows, plus a couple throw pillows. There’s a huge drawer in the low table by my side of the bed where I kept my packing cubes. The low table also had a tray (I saw a couple people on the cruise carrying food back to their room on their trays).

There’s a tablet on the vanity that controls everything in your room from opening and closing the curtains, to the lighting, to the tv.

The balcony features two metal (but comfy) chairs, a small table, and the famous Virgin hammock. It’s v comfy and easy to get in and out of. CSP spent a LOT of this cruise in that hammock! Also, our balcony had an overhang so it stayed dry when it was raining in port. The hammocks are hand made by women in Thailand.

Overall we loved our spacious, comfortable, modern stateroom!

As for our thoughts on our first Virgin Voyage overall, we LOVED it! We can’t wait to take another Virgin Voyage! The food was excellent. The entertainment was great- you could always find something to do or you could always find a place to lounge and do nothing. The ship is modern and clean and beautiful. The crew are so friendly and helpful, plus they seem really happy and to really like each other. The app has a lot of room for improvement, and we told Virgin this in our post cruise survey. But overall the app was more helpful than not, and you can still get paper daily newsletters at the coffee shops or sailor services.

Virgin is so innovative and dedicated to sustainability and the environment and that’s wonderful in our opinions. The overall vibe on the ship is relaxed and laid back. There aren’t a bunch of announcements throughout the day like on other cruises. You don’t get bombarded with sales pitches for gold by the inch etc. And we had wondered if we’d be too old, if it was going to be a party ship since there are no kids. There ARE bars and clubs and parties- but if you want to skip them you can and there’s still plenty to do. Also, having the wearable, waterproof bracelet instead of a cruise card is SO handy and freeing. No forgetting your key card in the room and locking yourself out! No digging a card out of your wallet or pocket. No having to wear a lanyard. It’s great!

If you’d like to take a Virgin Voyage, let me know- I’d love to help you plan an amazing cruise with Virgin! And watch this space…we’ll be taking another Virgin Voyage before long!!!