The three things to order at Ariya, the new Indian restaurant on Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady, are the silky whipped paneer dip, the Chicken 65, and the tandoori shrimp moilee. Everything on the dinner menu is included in your cruise fare except one dish, the Tiffin Surf and Turf, which costs $60.
I ate the entire Ariya menu across four visits on one sailing. Every starter, every main, every dessert, and the Treat Yourself menu item (dish with upcharge).
This is not a menu reprint. It is what actually arrived at the table, what was worth ordering again, and the two dishes I would not order a second time.
One thing to get straight before you book anything: brunch is not Ariya. That trips up more sailors than any other detail about this restaurant, and I will show you the menu that proves it.
What Is Ariya on Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady?
Ariya is a modern Indian restaurant on Deck 5 of Valiant Lady, and it is included in your cruise fare. It opened in May 2026 after the ship’s drydock in Palermo, Sicily.
It is the same room as Razzle Dazzle, running a different service. Razzle Dazzle serves breakfast and brunch. At dinner the room becomes Ariya.
This is the third Razzle Dazzle transformation across the fleet. Scarlet Lady got Lucky Lotus, Brilliant Lady got Rojo, and Valiant Lady got Ariya. You cannot get Ariya on any other ship.
The name is a real person. Ariya was Sir Richard Branson’s great great grandmother, from Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu.
There is not a single curry on the menu, and that is deliberate. The restaurant is built on chaat, Indian street food, rather than the curry house format most people expect.
The Ariya Dinner Menu, What Is Actually On It
Seven starters, five mains, five desserts, and one dish that costs extra. Here is the whole thing, photographed at the table.
Everything on that card is included except the Tiffin Surf and Turf at the bottom, listed under Treat Yourself at $60.
The drinks are a separate card and they are not included, same as everywhere else on the ship. Cocktails run $11 to $15.
Two details worth catching on that card if you are avoiding alcohol. Seventh Leaf at $11 is the only genuinely zero-proof cocktail on the list.
Bombay Bitter at $13 reads as a soft option but it is low alcohol, not alcohol free. It has Campari and vermouth in it.
Every table also gets a complimentary jaljeera to start, served in brass cups. It is chilled tamarind, cumin, mint, and lemon, and it is not on the menu.
What to Order at Ariya If You Only Eat Here Once
Most sailors get one dinner at Ariya. If that is you, this is the order.
- Silky whipped paneer dip, to start. Order it first.
- Chicken 65. The dish that wins over anyone nervous about Indian food.
- Goan curried mussels, if you eat seafood.
- Tandoori shrimp moilee for your main.
- Gulab jamun stuffed cheesecake for dessert.
That order is deliberately different from the one you will hear on board. Sailors kept stopping me to say order the lamb shank biryani. It is a very good dish, and it is not my pick.
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Four Things to Know Before You Order at Ariya
Nothing here is spicy. The menu reads spicy, with habanero aioli and vindaloo jus and curry leaf all over it, and none of it comes at you.
I am genuinely bad with heat. If you want actual heat, you have to ask for it.
The food is heavy. It is rich and creamy across almost every dish, so pace yourself and do not order as if these are light plates.
The plates are meant to be passed. The menu says so itself, and the portions back it up. Order across the table rather than one dish each.
You can order more than one of anything. If you love a dish, ask for another. Nobody will hold you back.
Book it early. This is the hardest reservation on Valiant Lady right now. If you did not get the time you wanted, more slots open the moment you board, and the reservations team near the restaurant can help you all week.
Every Ariya Starter, and What They Are Really Like
The starters are the strongest part of the savoury menu, and the section where ordering more than one pays off.
Silky whipped paneer dip is the must-order. It arrives with garlicky naan and, unlisted on the menu, a pile of sliced carrots that give it the crunch the soft bread does not.
Chicken 65 is the crowd pleaser. Crispy fried chicken bites with curry leaf and habanero aioli, a generous portion, and not spicy despite the description.
Goan curried mussels surprised almost everyone I spoke to on board. The coconut masala sauce and the grilled sourdough are the reason to order it.
The portion looks enormous, and it is a little bit of an illusion, the way pistachios are. A lot of what is in the bowl is shell.
Sunchoke and cauliflower tandoori kebab is the one I ordered twice. It is a small portion, nicely roasted, and it comes with mint chutney and pickled red onion.
Gol guppa shot is the most fun thing on the menu. Crisp pani puri shells you fill yourself with chilled spiced herb water.
Pour it and eat it immediately. If it sits, the shell goes soggy fast.
Two starters did not land for me. The Malabar coconut crab cake was dense and a little dry, though the green papaya slaw with it was genuinely good.
The puffed rice avocado chaat I would not order again. Before the sauce goes on, it eats like cereal that needs milk, and even after, it was the one dish on the table I kept not reaching for.
The Ariya Mains, and the One Everybody Recommends
Tandoori shrimp moilee is my pick for the best main. Roasted shrimp in a creamy coconut curry over parmesan farina grits, which is essentially shrimp and grits rebuilt as an Indian dish.
It is heavy. Delicious, but not a light plate, so plan the rest of your order around it.
Lamb shank biryani is the one sailors recommend on the way in, and I understand why. It is a huge portion, cooked long enough that you eat it with a fork and never reach for a knife.
The sauce soaking into the saffron basmati underneath is the best part. The coloured fryums on top are decorative and I would leave them.
Pistachio-crusted snapper is the one I did not expect to like. It arrived crisp on top, cooked properly through, and heavier than most fish on this ship because of the fenugreek potatoes underneath.
Eggplant saag napoleon is a real dish rather than a vegetarian afterthought. It is vegan and gluten free at dinner, which is rare on Valiant Lady, and I ate far more of it than I planned to.
The tandoori grilled ribeye is the one main I would skip. It is thinly cut, and I like a thicker, fattier steak.
It is also the one dish that loses to its own upcharge version, because the steak in the Tiffin is better.
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Is the $60 Tiffin Surf and Turf Worth It?
The Tiffin Surf and Turf is the only dish at Ariya that costs extra. It is $60 and it is lobster moilee, a gunpowder petite filet, morel biryani and truffle naan.
It arrives as stacked copper tiffin boxes and the crew unpacks it at your table. It is the best presentation in the restaurant.
Here is my honest answer, and I know it is not the one people expect. The rice is what makes it worth $60.
Morels are wild mushrooms and genuinely expensive, and that morel biryani is where the money in this dish actually sits.
The steak is very good, and better than the ribeye on the regular menu. Its sauce is also the most overpowering thing on the table, and it works far better spooned over the rice than eaten on its own.
The lobster comes in about five large pieces, already prepared, in a much more mellow sauce than the steak.
Who should order it: not on your first night. Order it if you love steak or lobster, or if two of you will share it alongside starters.
It is not a small dish. It is for one very hungry person, or two people sharing.
The Ariya Desserts Are the Strongest Course
Five desserts, all included in your fare. Teas are $6, coffee runs $4 to $6, and a Red Bull is $7.
The gulab jamun stuffed cheesecake is the one to order. From the side it reads as an ordinary cheesecake, which is exactly why it surprises you.
The saffron cardamom donut bites are baked inside it. Gulab jamun are the classic syrup-soaked dough balls, rebuilt here as a cheesecake filling.
Read that one carefully if you are planning around it, because it is a dinner dessert only. It is not on the brunch menu.
Garam masala dark chocolate cake is the other standout. It is a fudgy dark chocolate cake that still tastes properly sweet rather than healthy, with warm spices and a boondi crunch on top.
Tapioca coconut pudding is the only vegan and gluten-free dessert at dinner. It works if you already like tapioca and coconut, and the coconut lime sorbet with it is brighter than I expected.
Sticky toffee jackfruit cake will be more popular than the tapioca. It is a small cake with brown butter pecan ice cream melting into it, and that combination is hard to argue with at the end of dinner.
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Ariya Brunch vs Dinner: What Actually Carries Over
This is the part sailors get wrong most often. Brunch is not Ariya. Brunch is still Razzle Dazzle, with a few Ariya items dropped into it.
That is the brunch menu, and it is the Razzle Dazzle menu. Waffles, acai bowls, eggs, the Naughty section, the bacon that has always been good in that room.
Four Ariya items carry over: the sunchoke and cauliflower tandoori kebab, the eggplant saag napoleon, the sticky toffee jackfruit cake and the tapioca coconut pudding.
The eggplant is not the same dish at brunch. At dinner it is roasted mushrooms and creamy spinach saag and it is vegan. At brunch it is lemon curry rice and papadum, and it is vegetarian rather than vegan.
There is one Ariya item that exists only at brunch, and it is my pick off that menu. The naanzanella citrus salad is naan croutons, grilled sweet corn, blood orange and mint mango chutney.
The name is a pun. Panzanella is the Tuscan bread salad, and they swapped in naan.
Brunch also has its own drinks. The Ariya lassi is $7 in mango, rose and cardamom, or saffron honey, and you can add a shot of a spirit to sip alongside.
Now the part that matters most. The gulab jamun stuffed cheesecake is not on the brunch menu.
The brunch dessert list runs to a blueberry green tea cheesecake instead. So if you booked brunch specifically for the cheesecake everybody is talking about, you booked the wrong meal.
If you are going for the Indian food, go at dinner.
What I Would Skip at Ariya
Three things, and I want to be straight about them rather than tell you every dish was perfect.
The Malabar coconut crab cake was dense and dry the night I had it. That could have been that night, and the slaw alongside it was good.
The tandoori grilled ribeye is thinly cut and it is the weakest main on the menu. If you came for steak, the one in the Tiffin is the better version.
The puffed rice avocado chaat is the only dish I actively would not reorder. I am glad I tried it and I would not order it a second time.
Smaller thing: the crisps on top of the lamb and the eggplant are not for me. They are easy to set aside and they take nothing away from either dish.
Ariya FAQ
Is Ariya included in your Virgin Voyages fare?
Yes. Every starter, main and dessert is included. The only exception is the Tiffin Surf and Turf at $60. Drinks are separate, the same as everywhere else on the ship.
Is the food at Ariya spicy?
No. The menu reads spicy and the food is not. If you want real heat, you have to ask the crew for it.
Which Virgin Voyages ships have Ariya?
Only Valiant Lady. Scarlet Lady has Lucky Lotus, and Brilliant Lady has Rojo in the equivalent space.
Can you eat Ariya food at brunch?
Only four dishes, plus the lassi and the chai. Brunch is the Razzle Dazzle menu with a few Ariya items added, and the gulab jamun cheesecake is not one of them.
Do you need a reservation for Ariya?
Yes, and book it as early as you can. More slots are released when you board, and the reservations team can help you throughout your sailing.
Is Ariya good for vegans and gluten-free sailors?
It is one of the better rooms on the ship for both. There are four vegan items at dinner, two of them also gluten-free, plus a vegan and gluten-free dessert.
So, What Should You Order at Ariya?
Start with the silky whipped paneer dip and the Chicken 65, take the tandoori shrimp moilee as your main, and finish with the gulab jamun stuffed cheesecake. That is the order I would place if I only got one night.
Go more than once if your sailing allows it. There is too much menu here for one dinner, and the starters in particular reward a second visit.
And book it the day bookings open. Ariya is the hardest reservation on Valiant Lady, and it is the one restaurant on this ship you cannot get anywhere else in the fleet.
