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Virgin Voyages Was VERY Different To What I’d Expected. Here’s How
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Jan 28, 2025
Virgin Voyages has had a rush of cruise reviews but there are, in my view, 6 issues that most Virgin Voyages cruise reviews have under-played or glossed over, so in this I talk and show the 6 things that surprised me most about Virgin Voyages having cruised on them, are not the ones that I thought I would have at all - also I think that have not been spoken about enough. I travelled as a guest of Virgin Voyages on a 4-night cruise out of Portsmouth UK. So, in this I also answer if I will be using my own money to cruise with them having experienced Scarlet Lady and these 6 issues that I feel have been underplayed, not discussed enough and reported on. ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 77 cruises I have done to date. BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTs ————————————————- Check out my T-Shirt range: http://bit.ly/TFTStore SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers Make a donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=V9STJGYSEMGLJ Buy my book “Cruise Traveler’s Handbook: USA Amazon https://amzn.to/2YVFmG4 and https://amzn.to/3tzIxBn UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3oXbzYc and https://amzn.to/3qawqIQ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA
View Video Transcript
0:00
when i boarded virgin voyages for my
0:02
trip i was apprehensive i arrived with a
0:05
whole set of preconceptions and
0:07
definitely concerns based on all i had
0:09
heard seen and read but once i was on
0:12
board and cruising those were soon
0:14
forgotten and they were actually
0:16
replaced by a series of totally
0:18
unexpected things that no one had been
0:20
speaking about so i want to share those
0:22
with you as i think you really do need
0:24
to know about them especially if you're
0:26
wondering if cruising with virgin
0:28
voyages is something you should consider
0:30
as i really don't think they've been
0:32
spoken about enough by the way i was
0:34
invited by virgin voyages to go on this
0:36
cruise to see what they're all about and
0:38
so importantly i'm also going to answer
0:40
if i will be back as a paying passenger
0:42
based on all of this that i'm about to
0:45
share with you now before i get into the
0:47
two biggest things that threw me let's
0:49
get the ship out of the way but first of
0:51
all i'm gary bembridge and i'm here to
0:53
make it fun and easy to discover plan
0:56
and enjoy unforgettable cruise vacations
0:58
their ships divide opinion as they look
1:01
so different the shape the gray color
1:03
the swimming pool and the beds we've all
1:05
heard about and the in your face design
1:07
however
1:08
having cruised i found a much more
1:11
dramatic issue that i think you need to
1:13
know about that has been in my view
1:15
totally overlooked now these are pretty
1:17
big ships they hold 2
1:19
770 passengers or sailors as they like
1:22
to call us but instead of the usual big
1:25
showpiece atriums grand theaters and
1:28
mega lounges virgin voyages
1:30
are filled with lots of small venues and
1:33
with lots of nooks and crannies both
1:35
inside and around all the decks so as
1:37
you walk around the ship or out on the
1:39
decks you move from small venue to small
1:42
venue unlike other ships of similar size
1:45
i've been on recently this was a
1:47
dramatic change the venues in size were
1:50
more like being on some of the smaller
1:51
ship lines that i love a kind of small
1:54
ship venues on a big ship experience
1:57
there is no grand and dramatic
1:59
multi-deck atrium packed with bars
2:01
restaurants casinos shops and lounges
2:04
all kind of opening onto it and acting
2:06
as the central focal point of the ship
2:09
the closest is probably the two-deck
2:11
roundabout with a little bit of seating
2:13
the chatroom help desk the vinyl record
2:15
store and on the lower level the on the
2:17
rocks bar but there's no big dramatic
2:19
center point instead you'll find a
2:22
multitude of bars restaurants coffee
2:24
shops lounges
2:26
guest services retail shops tattoo
2:28
parlor ice cream venue and so on and
2:31
these are all dotted across deck six and
2:34
seven and they are all smaller than on
2:36
ships of a similar size they're high on
2:38
themes too so you constantly drift into
2:40
different experiences and different
2:43
vibes this is also true once you're out
2:45
on the decks
2:46
there's a wide full promenade on x7 and
2:49
again it's full of small little spaces
2:52
to sit including the dock at the rear
2:54
which absolutely was one of my favorite
2:56
places to sit
2:57
up on deck 15 and 16 the same is true
3:00
compared to similar sized ships there is
3:02
no vast pool deck but instead there's a
3:05
series of smaller venues to lace about
3:07
in and they're dotted around
3:09
rather than having most of the
3:11
passengers kind of focused around the
3:13
big swimming pool
3:14
so the aquatic club which has two pools
3:17
one which has been much discussed is the
3:19
definitely more plunge poison cooler
3:22
pool than the usual cruise pool to swim
3:25
in and then there's a round pool for
3:27
lolling about in which i saw was really
3:29
popular for getting in and socializing
3:31
or standing around and socializing so
3:33
instead of that vast pool deck as the
3:35
focal point for sunbathing there are
3:37
many other themed places to sit such as
3:40
the athletic club at the rear
3:43
and it has the famous net there where
3:44
you can lie and look down 15 decks they
3:47
also have very smaller spaces on the
3:49
decks some have covered seats and
3:51
they're dotted all around now those
3:53
people traveling in suites they also on
3:55
top of that have richard's rooftop for
3:57
sunning themselves it feels very
3:59
different and i not appreciated this as
4:01
i think i got caught up in all the buzz
4:04
about the look and the design aspects
4:06
now i did wonder if this multitude of
4:08
different venues is created for a world
4:10
where our tension spans are definitely
4:12
getting shorter this variety makes the
4:14
ship i guess very instagrammable because
4:16
there's so many different venues but
4:18
definitely as you walk about you're
4:19
constantly entering new zones and new
4:21
areas
4:22
probably the biggest venue you ever go
4:24
to is the red room which is the theater
4:27
and then that's not particularly massive
4:29
and the layout constantly changes based
4:31
on the show the manor which is the
4:33
nightclub it's also surprisingly cozy
4:35
considering the numbers on the ship
4:38
again because there are lots of
4:40
alternative places to go so the venues
4:42
are small now i found this actually very
4:44
refreshing and totally unexpected it did
4:47
remind me when i was on board that many
4:49
many lines use exactly the same ships
4:52
and just alter the decor by brand the
4:54
two cruisers i'd been on before virgin
4:56
voyages were on two sister lines in the
4:59
same corporation and they were exactly
5:00
the same ship exactly the same layout
5:02
but with different decor to try and
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reflect the brand so i liked that on
5:07
virgin they have smaller venues more
5:09
intimacy on a big ship it's definitely
5:12
though not for everybody some people i
5:14
spoke to were less keen on the ship they
5:17
missed the classic cruise ship layout
5:19
and what they said is they rarely missed
5:20
the big central atrium because they felt
5:22
there was no focal central buzz and
5:25
energy to the ship then some of course
5:27
missed the larger pool if they want to
5:29
do more of a swim so certainly if those
5:31
things are important to you something
5:33
you should consider if you're thinking
5:34
about virgin voyages
5:36
the next thing that surprised me about
5:37
virgin voyages was the biggest one of
5:39
all and threw me somewhat
5:42
now of course i knew that virgin voyages
5:44
had scrapped the main dining room and
5:45
instead had nine key dining venues where
5:48
you basically booked a time to eat on
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the app and you can only visit each of
5:53
those i knew once
5:54
for dinner so you couldn't go to the
5:56
same menu multiple times i also knew
5:58
certainly that they argued that scrap to
6:00
the buffet restaurant although i'll talk
6:02
a little bit about that because i don't
6:04
think that's strictly true
6:06
i also knew that all the food was
6:08
included so there were no charges for
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any of the restaurants unlike other
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ships with specialty dining charges
6:14
there was one surprise aberration to
6:16
that rule though
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afternoon tea which cost me 19 now as an
6:20
addict of afternoon tea that not being
6:22
included was a little bit disappointing
6:24
and kind of out of character in some
6:25
ways but the biggest surprise than
6:27
having to pay for afternoon tea
6:30
is just how good the food is
6:33
i really hadn't expected that at all i
6:36
thought the food was really good and i
6:38
think that much more should be made of
6:40
this i suspect that's what word of mouth
6:41
by people who've cruised on virgin will
6:44
be saying there are five dining venues
6:46
out of those key nine that were my
6:48
absolute big favorites the first was the
6:50
wake which is the seafood and steak
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restaurant at the rear of the ship i
6:54
felt that was probably the most market
6:56
feeling beautiful venue i also really
7:00
really liked the mexican restaurant now
7:02
this is called pink agave it's also
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where i first came across
7:07
one issue that some passengers do have
7:09
about virgin voyages dining that i will
7:11
come on to shortly thirdly i really like
7:14
the italian which is called extra virgin
7:17
it's exceptional it was a real favor
7:19
with everyone i spoke to anything else
7:20
but anyone who didn't have that as one
7:22
of their favorites
7:23
fourthly i really liked razzle dazzle
7:25
which is the mostly vegetarian
7:27
restaurant although to be honest i did
7:29
have many of their non-vegetarian
7:30
options there but it's a really funky
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kind of venue and i really like that
7:34
fifthly and what was a surprise to me is
7:37
i really loved the galley both from an
7:40
area to eat but also in the food options
7:42
now the galley is their reinvented
7:44
buffet
7:45
it's more like a food hall i guess you
7:47
know that sort of concept that's become
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trendy particularly in the big
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metropolitan cities at the moment now
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the concept is there's stations and
7:54
small almost concessions offering things
7:56
like mexican noodle sushis burgers
7:59
paninis and so on it's close i guess to
8:02
a traditional cruise ship buffet but
8:04
it's done slightly differently now i
8:06
really liked it and i don't think i've
8:08
ever said i loved a buffet on any other
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ship there were a couple of other
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restaurants of course like the test
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kitchen which had a six-course tasting
8:16
menu concept and gumbai korean bbq now
8:19
these were both very popular but they
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are much more experiential kind of
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dining venues so i thought they were
8:25
best visited if you're traveling as a
8:27
couple or perhaps with friends now as a
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solo traveler i actually preferred the
8:31
others i found those actually just
8:32
better for me so overall the dining on
8:34
virgin is a bit like going specially
8:37
dining every single night on a cruise
8:39
but it's included in your fare so you
8:41
basically don't have to worry about any
8:42
of the on costs now it worked for me as
8:44
i hardly
8:46
ever use the main dining room on most
8:48
cruises and so i really like this
8:50
concept a lot
8:52
now for some people i spoke to they were
8:54
actually less keen on it the reason
8:56
which i hadn't really thought about
8:59
but became obvious when they mention it
9:01
is for people who like simple plain food
9:05
they don't want lots of kind of exotic
9:07
food if you like now they told me they
9:08
missed the main dining room because
9:10
there they can more easily and more
9:12
consistently find more of the basics and
9:14
the classics rather than italian mexican
9:17
and so on and then having to every night
9:19
navigate a very different concert in a
9:21
different venues menu so that kind of
9:23
made sense for people who like that
9:25
approach to dining now some people of
9:27
course also said they prefer having a
9:29
set dining time and another bunch of
9:31
people said you know they really like
9:32
having their own table and the same
9:34
serving staff every evening
9:36
so again if those things are important
9:38
to you again something to consider if
9:40
you're thinking of virgin voyages now
9:43
definitely
9:44
the biggest surprise of everything on
9:46
virgin voyages for me was the quality of
9:48
the food i hadn't even thought about it
9:51
nor expected that that would be one of
9:53
the things the line would do well i
9:55
guess so much got caught up in the
9:57
things they were doing a little bit that
9:58
would was different a little bit wacky a
10:00
little bit unusual or quirky and so i
10:03
hadn't thought about them getting
10:05
perhaps one of the basics of cruising
10:07
really good food as one of the things
10:09
that they would do really well so that
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was a really big surprise this leads me
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to my next surprise again it's kind of a
10:16
core activity that hadn't crossed my
10:19
mind because all the lines i've been on
10:22
have pretty much the same approach
10:24
and i guess i kind of expected that to
10:26
be the same
10:27
on virgin voyages 2. everyone i spoke to
10:30
spontaneously mentioned this one by the
10:33
way
10:33
and that is around
10:36
the crew
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what was interesting to me on virgin
10:38
voyages which i thought was visibly
10:41
different
10:42
is the crew appears to be
10:43
quite distinct and different to that on
10:46
other cruise lines they've recruited
10:48
what appears to be a younger trendier
10:50
and more diverse crew and definitely
10:52
seem to allow more individualism and
10:54
personality to be shown so for example
10:56
you'll see visible tattoos even perhaps
10:58
a couple of piercings that would
11:00
definitely have to be hidden on other
11:02
lines you know on some of the crews not
11:04
that all of them are like that just
11:05
there was definitely that was allowed so
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much more there's lots of eastern
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europeans there's lots of continental
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europeans south americans british south
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africans
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americans and of course there's still
11:16
representation from asia particularly
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you know the philippines indonesia and
11:20
so on where a lot of crew come from but
11:22
it was definitely a younger
11:25
hippie-trendier crew
11:28
it was also impossible to tell rank
11:30
because everybody wears the same casual
11:33
uniform even the senior officers so that
11:35
was a kind of a different approach
11:36
there's no kind of sense of hierarchy
11:38
the service in my view was really good i
11:41
thought it was actually quite remarkable
11:43
i found crew were prepared to go out of
11:46
their way and right across the ship
11:48
remembered my likes they like my
11:49
remember my preferences even in venues
11:51
like the galley you know the kind of the
11:53
non-buffet buffet the bar made in the
11:55
manor only went to
11:57
occasionally but she remembered i don't
11:59
drink alcohol she would produce a fruit
12:01
punch even before i ordered it there was
12:03
a guy called ravi on the help desk that
12:05
sort out an issue when i boarded with my
12:07
app he would then come up to me around
12:10
the ship whenever i saw him it checked
12:12
it all was working okay he'd give me
12:14
tips on things to do
12:16
so that kind of service was just kind of
12:18
unexpected for me i felt it was closer
12:21
to what i've actually had on kind of
12:23
smaller ultra luxury ships than you
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normally see on premium large ships that
12:28
virgin voyages kind of really operates
12:31
within
12:33
now i hadn't really expected service to
12:35
be of that level and as i said it wasn't
12:38
just me everybody i spoke to both people
12:40
i i didn't know to start chatting to and
12:42
people that i knew from the channel this
12:44
was the one thing
12:46
that i think everybody commented on as
12:48
well so that was kind of interesting
12:50
wasn't just me the next area that
12:52
surprised me was one that i should have
12:54
expected but once i was on board
12:57
i
12:58
realized i hadn't appreciated the degree
13:00
that virgin voyages have committed to
13:02
this whole area and that was in the area
13:04
of fitness and wellness now if you are
13:06
big into fitness and wellness then
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virgin voyages will cater for you
13:11
massively many areas around the ship are
13:13
taken up with fitness and wellness and a
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big chunk of the daily program is taken
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up with that too on average day for
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example there were between 10 and 13
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fitness classes
13:26
yoga spin classes high impact training
13:28
and so on they even ran kind of retro
13:30
workout classes out on deck and in the
13:33
manner which i think were called vhs or
13:35
something like that they were then
13:37
between four and six seminars around
13:39
wellness and fitness every day and that
13:41
could be anything from posture
13:44
nutrition massage to skin and hair of
13:47
course then they had a lot of facilities
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the obvious thing of course is the spa
13:51
but then on deck 15 there were two huge
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fitness rooms known as the bee complex
13:58
one is burn and bike which is the cardio
14:00
area
14:01
and the other
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is build and balance which is the
14:04
strength training side up on deck 16
14:07
there's the training club which is where
14:09
they would run things like the circa
14:11
class high impact training a big wow
14:13
factor was the 250 meter running track
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which is elevated right up above deck
14:18
16. part of the athletic club that i
14:20
mentioned earlier has a whole outdoor
14:22
workout area along the deck i just
14:25
hadn't
14:26
really appreciated how much virgin
14:28
voyages have committed to the whole
14:31
fitness and wellness thing the downside
14:33
is people who are not into fitness and
14:34
wellness did tell me they felt there was
14:36
less organized activities and things for
14:39
them to do across the day especially on
14:41
sea days there were various non-fitness
14:43
and wellness activities but i think
14:45
there probably were fewer than on other
14:47
lines certainly anyway on my cruise so
14:50
there were for example
14:52
a number of gaming sessions and quizzes
14:54
held often in the evening in the social
14:57
club which also had games games table
15:00
and a small arcade available there was
15:03
also a foodie based quiz held in the
15:06
roundabout area on most days
15:08
outside there was a quite a fun seahorse
15:11
racing event held in the athletic club
15:14
there was adult painting classes and
15:16
adult painting of a mural but i think it
15:18
is fair to say there was less organized
15:20
non-fitness and wellness activities than
15:22
on many other lines certainly on my
15:24
cruise anyway so that is something to
15:26
consider if that's important to you and
15:29
want to check in with kind of recent
15:30
daily programs to see how that's evolved
15:33
so that was something i hadn't expected
15:35
there was one thing that i had expected
15:37
that didn't happen at all to the degree
15:40
that i thought it would one of my really
15:42
big concerns coming on board was that
15:44
this was going to be a party ship and it
15:46
was just going to be party party party
15:49
party party everywhere and people were
15:52
going to be you know going crazy
15:54
all around the ship but what i realized
15:56
having been on board is if you want to
15:58
party you can party but like with
16:00
fitness if it's not your thing then it
16:02
will not take over your cruise i did
16:05
notice that venues are open much later
16:07
than on many other ships and every night
16:09
usually after 10 or 11 there was some
16:11
sort of party often out on the pool deck
16:13
area or in the manor
16:15
themed ones like say a pyjama party or a
16:18
retro party or something like that but
16:19
in the earlier evenings there would be
16:21
live music in the bars there'd be
16:23
cabaret and there would be shows in the
16:25
theater there was some great cabaret i
16:27
went to including kind of a cocktail
16:29
cabaret evenings one with abby the
16:31
hostess which i guess
16:32
is the closest it comes to a cruise
16:35
director and there was another cabaret
16:37
with circus acts they also had a sex and
16:39
relationship therapist dr alex schiller
16:42
who did a cabaret show never sleep alone
16:44
which definitely was a bit close to the
16:46
bone
16:47
out there and definitely not for
16:48
everyone in the red room they had the
16:51
shows these were unlike
16:54
other lions review production show
16:57
kind of shows and they included things
17:00
like the amazing romeo and julie
17:02
inspired jewel reality with kind of
17:04
acrobats i was not surprised by the
17:06
different approach to shows
17:08
because virgin voyages have made much of
17:10
this so certainly if you want to party
17:12
you can but actually it was very
17:14
specific venues and it wasn't that the
17:16
whole ship was just one big party ship
17:20
except possibly on skull at night it
17:22
becomes a little bit more party-like
17:25
where what they have is a series of
17:26
themed events and various pop-up events
17:29
around the ship i did expect virgin
17:31
voyages to be full-on go for it parting
17:33
and that wasn't the case so that was a
17:35
good surprise to me as i'm definitely
17:37
not a party animal and headed off to bed
17:39
as the parties were starting late in the
17:42
evening as a note if you are not a party
17:44
animal like me i would choose a cabin
17:46
that is not underneath the pool area as
17:48
i do wonder if kind of the music and
17:50
sound would travel now i don't know that
17:53
for certain and i certainly couldn't
17:54
hear it in my cabin
17:56
and i was on the same deck as the pool
17:58
parties but in the fall i couldn't
18:00
really hear the parties but something to
18:02
consider again the other thing that did
18:03
not surprise me but did some was the mix
18:06
of people on board i will cover that in
18:08
another episode in much more detail but
18:11
as you would have seen through this
18:13
fellow passengers were quite diverse and
18:16
of course all over 18
18:18
because this is an adult only line but
18:20
this is not just a young person line as
18:23
many think or certainly thought it is on
18:25
my cruise i would say the average age
18:26
was likely 45 to 60 that was the bulk of
18:30
people which also makes sense as this is
18:32
a premium line and these make up the
18:34
bulk of the kids free or kids left home
18:37
groups that are able to come cruising on
18:39
an adult only line and of course we'll
18:40
see over time how that evolves so now
18:43
the big question
18:45
is will i come back on virgin voyages
18:47
will i cough up my own money to come and
18:50
cruise on one of their ships
18:52
whether that's scarlet lady
18:55
valiant lady resilient lady or any of
18:57
the other ships that are coming along
19:00
and the answer to that
19:01
is as follows when i'm going on a warm
19:04
climate cruise the caribbean the
19:06
mediterranean i will definitely come on
19:09
virgin voyages again i think this is a
19:12
ship this is a line that's very much
19:14
designed for warm climates i like the
19:17
different interpretation of cruising as
19:20
you know i hadn't heard i really like
19:21
the food i like the service i like the
19:23
focus on fitness i like the approach to
19:26
entertainment
19:27
and for me it's a line that i now
19:30
absolutely have on my list for warm
19:32
climate cruising however
19:35
it's definitely not for everyone the
19:37
people i spoke to probably split into
19:39
two camps people who basically craved
19:42
and wanted to go back to a more classic
19:44
cruise experience and classic cruise
19:47
layouts
19:48
i like that too and i will of course
19:50
keep doing those lines
19:52
but for some people who really like that
19:55
this was not for them but then there
19:56
were those people who relished this
19:58
different interpretation of cruising
20:00
they liked the layout they liked it
20:02
being kind of familiar but a lot of
20:04
things having changed now if you want to
20:06
know more about virgin and other things
20:08
that i discovered and found out about
20:11
click and watch this video now and i'll
20:13
see you over there where i talk about in
20:15
more detail the things that really
20:18
concerned me and how they addressed them
#Cruises & Charters