Most Virgin Voyages reviews come from somebody the cruise line was built for. This one comes from my mother, who is 67, does not drink, is conservative, avoids the party scene, and has sailed with more than 16 cruise lines.
She went in expecting not to fit in. She rated almost every part of it a 9 or a 10, and she booked her next sailing before she got home.
This was my ninth sailing and her first, five nights of Dominican Days, and I dragged her through every single thing this ship offers so she could judge all of it.
Here is what she loved, what she genuinely did not like, and the one question everybody actually wants answered: whether a 67 year old who does not drink has any business on this ship.
Why My Mom’s Opinion Is Worth More Than Mine
I love Virgin Voyages. That is exactly why I am not the person to ask.
My mom has cruised with more than 16 lines. She started on Carnival the way most people do, and these days she sails Royal Caribbean most, where she holds their highest status. Add Holland America, Costa, Norwegian, Princess, and Viking river cruises to that.
She is a serious cruiser with fixed habits, and that was the problem. When you have sailed that much, you know exactly what a cruise is supposed to be, and Virgin Voyages is built to break that.
For scale on how seriously she takes this: she came to me straight off a Royal Caribbean Panama Canal sailing, and got on a Princess ship to Alaska after. She is permanently on a boat somewhere.
She is also 4 foot 11 and 98 pounds, which becomes relevant in about thirty seconds.
The Food: A 10 Out of 10
She reads cruise news, so she arrived knowing Virgin Voyages has won awards for food, and with high expectations because of it. She gave it a 10.
There are over 20 food experiences on board. I got her to 19 of them in five nights, and then she ate the popcorn at the Social Club, so call it all of them.
This is the 98-pound woman who is careful about nutrition and portion sizes. She out-ate me at every single meal.
Her favourite was Test Kitchen, which surprised me, because it is the most polarising restaurant on the ship. Her words: they take a medium steak and make it taste like filet mignon. It is experimental, coursed out and beautifully presented, and plenty of people bounce off it.
Her second was The Wake, the classic steak and seafood restaurant. What struck her was that it felt exactly like the specialty restaurants she pays extra for on other lines, and here it was simply included.
My tip, and I used it on her: The Wake is one of the hardest restaurants to get into, so I booked it for our first night. Book the ones you really want first, before the week fills up.
There are six dinner restaurants and we had five nights, so we doubled up. One evening we did the solo sailor dinner at Razzle Dazzle and then went to The Wake. That is how you get through a ship this size on a short sailing.
One thing she noticed that I had stopped noticing: in several restaurants the food arrives all at once, the way it does in a proper restaurant rather than a cruise dining room. She had not seen that on other lines.
Where the Food Did Not Blow Her Away
A review that is all praise is a brochure, so here is the honest half.
My parents live in Southern California, where the Asian food is exceptional. So when she had the tonkotsu ramen at Noodle Around, her verdict was measured: lovely if it is your first time, and not the real thing if you have had broth that was actually cooked for hours.
The same applies at Gunbae, the Korean barbecue. I sailed with a solo sailor called Joe who is Korean, and I told him before he went that he was going to be underwhelmed. He was.
This is not a criticism so much as a calibration. Both are a genuinely good first experience of a cuisine. Neither is the best version of that cuisine you will ever eat, and you should not book expecting it to be.
She also made a comparison worth repeating. Against an older Royal Caribbean ship, Virgin Voyages won comfortably. Against a newer one with a celebrity chef restaurant on board, she called it on par. The difference here is the room, the service and the way it is all presented, not that the cooking is in another league.
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The Entertainment: A 9 Out of 10
She gave entertainment a 9, and she gave one single act a 25.
First, the practical bit that catches people out: shows are no longer booked in advance. It is first come, first served. We lined up 15 to 20 minutes early for most things and a full 30 when I wanted her in the front row.
When you are 4 foot 11, the front row is not a preference, it is the difference between seeing the show and seeing the back of somebody’s head.
Her favourite was Duel Reality, the acrobatic show, right up until the acapella group on the festival stage in The Manor took the title off it. That was the 25.
We then ran into one of the Irish singers getting his coffee, and I told him my mother was in love with him and asked for a photo. She was mortified and she framed it, because women of her generation still make Shutterfly albums and I respect it.
Worth knowing for repeat sailors: the standard shows change depending on which performers are on board, so the same show can run differently from one sailing to the next. I have seen Untitled Dance Show Party Thing performed in a completely different order. Even back to back sailings are not identical.
The Shows She Genuinely Did Not Like
Two of them, and both for the same reason.
Untitled Dance Show Party Thing went straight over her head. I turned to her partway through and asked whether she had any idea what was happening, and she said no. Same with Misbehave.
I had warned her. Some of the entertainment here is genuinely odd by cruise standards, and it asks you to sit with not understanding it. That is fun if you are in the mood and irritating if you are not.
If that sounds like a dealbreaker, it should not be. She still rated the category a 9, because the shows that landed more than covered the two that did not.
The Music Changed, and It Is Why She Danced
This is the change I did not expect to matter and it turned out to matter most.
On my first sailings, the music was all house and European club. It has shifted. There is now a lot of 70s and 80s, remixed with newer production, and it is aimed squarely at people who did not come here for a nightclub.
My mother danced. A lot. If you have been told this ship is one long party you are too old for, this is the detail that quietly answers it.
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The Cabin: Another 10, and the Beds Split
We shared a Sea Terrace, and this is the question I get most from people sailing with a parent or a friend.
The beds split. Tell your room attendant and it is done in minutes. Her words were that she felt like she was sleeping by herself, which is exactly the point.
What she rated the 10 for: clean, modern, fresh, and she liked the colours. She noticed the small things, including the charcoal hand soap and the fact that the shower has an actual door, which older ships often do not.
Storage surprised her. We both brought suitcases roughly the size of ourselves and there were enough shelves and hidden nooks to absorb all of it.
Her one honest caveat: the bathroom may feel small if you are used to bigger ships.
The balcony is what she would not give up. Being able to step outside, check the weather, see where you are docked and get a breath of fresh air is what she described as the calming part of the whole room.
One piece of budgeting reality: the jump from a balcony cabin to a RockStar suite roughly doubles the price of the voyage. It buys real perks, and it is not a small upgrade.
Fitness: A 9, and It Is All Included
Fitness is a big part of her life, and this is where the value argument got very concrete.
On the Royal Caribbean sailing she had just come off, a yoga or spin class was an extra $20 each. Here the group classes are included, so she took as many as she wanted. One day she did three.
Over five nights she did Zumba, spin, a foam roller class, evening yoga out on deck, a high-intensity class, a bungee class, and a Richard Simmons-style VHS aerobics class that she loved because the music was from her era.
She is not a good dancer. She never once went the right direction in Zumba. She had the best time of anyone in the room.
Her worry beforehand was that the classes would be full of people half her age lifting things she could not lift. They were not, and everybody works at their own level. A shout-out to AJ from the Happenings Cast, who ran several of those classes and made them.
Why a 9 and not a 10: it depends on your instructor. She had one high-intensity class that ended with no stretching at all. I was a fitness instructor for over 20 years and I agree with her, the instruction is the variable part.
What a Sailing Is Like If You Do Not Drink
She does not drink at all, and this is the single biggest hesitation I hear from people her age about this cruise line.
It was a non-issue. Mocktails are everywhere, and any bar will build you the alcohol-free version of whatever is on the menu.
She lived at Juicy, the juice bar, and became a convert to beet and ginger, which she swears by both when the ship is moving and after you have eaten too much.
Be aware that the juices and smoothies are not included. They ran about $10 each on our sailing, so a daily juice habit is a real line on your bill rather than a freebie.
At Gunbae you sit with strangers and play a drinking game, and a lot of people assume you have to drink to take part. You do not. They filled her glass with water and she played the whole thing.
She did try soju once, at the end, purely for the experience. She hated it. Her review was a facial expression rather than a sentence.
For context on the other side of it: there is no drink package here, drinks are priced individually, and on that sailing, I averaged about $32 a day. Wine was $8 or $9 a glass. You can also get Dom Perignon by the glass for $65 if that is your week.
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The Real Question: Did She Fit In?
This was her actual fear, and she said it out loud before we sailed. She thought she might not fit in, might not like the messaging, and might not get on with a ship of smaller spaces and lower ceilings after years of big ones.
By the evening of the first day, she was fine, and it was other sailors who did it. She clocked a woman in her 80s playing bingo and relaxed on the spot.
I also took her to the solo and social sailor dinner on the first night, which is the single best thing you can do with a nervous first-timer. We deliberately did not sit together. She met people from Zimbabwe, Morocco and all over the United States, and we ran into them all week.
She went to the thermal suite to read her book and relax. She did not read the book. She spent the whole time talking to people in the sauna.
The moment that got her was at On The Rocks, watching The Lee Boys, a blues and funk band. A woman came in on a walker, let go of it, and started dancing. Her friends joined her.
My mother cried. Her read on it was that in that woman’s head she was young again, and the room let her be.
That is the honest answer to “am I too old for Virgin Voyages.” The crowd is broader than the marketing suggests, and nobody is checking.
Nobody Is Getting Bored Here
The most common worry about this cruise line is that there will not be enough to do. Her answer was immediate: you will not be bored, never.
The evidence is what we did not manage to do. There is a hall full of board games, puzzles and cards that we never once reached. She brought Phase 10 from home specifically to play with me and we never opened it.
I gave her one job for the week, which was to read a friend’s book. She got to page 30.
My two most-used phrases all week were “five-minute warning” and “keep up.” On a five-night sailing, there is genuinely not enough time, and that is the real complaint.
The night that surprised me most: I assumed we would be in bed early every evening. Instead, we watched The Lee Boys until they shut the room down at 2am, then went and ate late-night pizza.
Virgin Voyages Review FAQ
Am I too old for Virgin Voyages?
No. My 67 year old mother rated nearly everything a 9 or a 10 and booked again before she got home. The crowd spans a wide range of ages, and she met sailors in their 80s on board.
Is Virgin Voyages good if you do not drink?
Yes. Mocktails are available everywhere, the Gunbae drinking game can be played with water, and there is a juice bar. Note that juices and smoothies cost extra, around $10 each.
Can you split the beds in a Virgin Voyages cabin?
Yes. Ask your room attendant and it takes minutes. We shared a Sea Terrace with split beds and it felt like sleeping in separate rooms.
Are fitness classes included on Virgin Voyages?
Yes, group classes are included. On the Royal Caribbean sailing my mom came off immediately before, yoga and spin were $20 each.
Do you have to book shows on Virgin Voyages?
Not anymore. Entertainment is first come, first served. Arrive 15 to 20 minutes early, or 30 if you want the front row.
Is the food on Virgin Voyages actually better than other cruise lines?
Better than an older ship comfortably, and on par with a newer ship that has a celebrity chef restaurant. The difference is that here it is included rather than an upcharge.
Will I get bored on a Virgin Voyages sailing?
The opposite. On a five-night sailing, we never reached the games room, never played the card game she brought, and she got 30 pages into a book. The problem is fitting it in.
So, Is Virgin Voyages Worth It?
The person best placed to answer that is not me. It is a 67 year old who does not drink, does not party, has sailed 16 other cruise lines, and arrived expecting not to fit in.
She gave the food a 10, the cabin a 10, the entertainment a 9 and the fitness a 9. She disliked exactly two shows. She booked her next sailing before we got home, and my father, who is significantly harder to please, is sailing too.
If you are weighing this up for yourself or for somebody you are bringing along, that is the conversation we have with sailors every day, and we will tell you honestly if we think it is not for you. It costs nothing to ask.
