This is the review of my first ever cruise trip – Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady Barcelona route for 7 nights. I wrote a guide on virgin point redemption and cruise benefits a while ago, and it is finally the exciting time for me to start the journey!
[Before the trip]
Once you’ve made your booking you can download the Virgin Voyages mobile app, as all the cruise details and planning happen in here. Remember to link reservations if you know someone else on the same trip, as you’ll receive a bottle of champagne as a gift.
Although you could make dinner reservations well in advance, only very limited slots are open before sailing so it’s unnecessary. Remember to do online check-in two days in advance, and once you are on board book your dinner and activities as soon as possible.
From this moment on the app only works with onboard wi-fi though, which is inconvenient whilst you are doing shore activities. The app is slow and can crash very often.
[Boarding]
After staying one night at the W Barcelona hotel, we are ready to get on the ship. The cruise terminal is next to the WTO centre.
Virgin promises a VIP boarding lane for Sailing Club members but I didn’t see any. Not that it upsets me in any way, as the boarding is quite swift.
I was handed two wristbands. The red one acts as a key fob which you need throughout your trip. The blue ribbon is a sign of your Sailing Club status – however you really don’t need it, as all your Sailing Club benefits are coded in your fob already.
On the first evening there’s a special social event for all solo passengers. They organise a Whatsapp group where people discuss and organise things to do, so it shouldn’t be too boring even if you are travelling alone.
By my rough estimate – half of the passengers are American, and ~30% are British or Irish.
[The Room]
Each of us four has a room to our own, and we paid 360,000 Virgin points in total. They three are at level 13 and 14, all in the Central Sea View Terrace which is the best room type that’s redeemable with points.
Don’t underestimate the value of being “central”. Valiant Lady is over 300 metres long, and I easily score a few thousand steps simply by moving around the ship for my daily routines. Being close to the centre of the ship saves you a lot of time.
I on the other hand won a bid at £180 for an upgrade to an XL Terrace room, which is 4sqm larger.
The bedroom has very little difference but the bathroom is much more spacious. £180 for seven nights is a fair price to pay in my opinion.
The only downside is, all XL Terrace rooms are located at the front or the rear of the ship. Even worse mine is at the lower eighth level and right above the Red Room which is a theatre / dancing hall – my wall pulsated hard during some performances! Fortunately all events finish at 11pm so it barely bothered me – in fact I slept very well throughout the whole trip.
The balcony is cool.
The satellite TV has a few live channels but reception is poor. There are quite a few movies / dramas though including latest releases, similar to an in-flight IFE.
The gifted champagne and my ice coffee:
Towels are replaced and drinking water is replenished daily by the housekeeping team. They don’t provide complimentary toothpaste or shaving kit.
[Facilities]
Valiant Lady has 17 decks / levels. Guestrooms are between Deck 8 and Deck 14. Restaurants and facilities are mostly on Deck 5, 6, 7 and 15.
Designs are different but they all have the boldness and vibrancy in common which is in the blood of Virgin’s branding.
There are many bars both indoors and outdoors, so you can always find a spot to snack or work easily.
This terrace on Deck 7 is my favourite spot.
The casino, which I assume is a main revenue stream for the cruise company.
Also a few board games to choose from:
Shuffleboard and Power Hockey for the sportives:
Arcades as well with all the classic games installed for the old-fashioned:
[Gym]
There are two larges gyms on Deck 15, where you can find many treadmills, bicycles and other equipment. I tried out some exercise classes: yoga, bike and roller massage.
The yoga class is nothing to write home about. However the view in the classroom is amazing!
It’s worth mentioning that headcount is very limited for these classes, so make your booking as soon as possible.
There’s a 250m track on Deck 16 for running and jogging.
The white Virgin logo, backed by the vivid red painting, adds a big wow factor and personality to the ship.
There are two pools on Deck 15.
As you can see it’s more of a relaxation area, and no one actually swims here. There’s a big pool party on the Scarlet Night which is a lot of fun!
And a basketball court:
[Entertainment]
There are non-stop entertainment programs every day, some of which require pre-booking. On the first night we watched the (slightly underwhelming) magic show:
An acrobatics-blended theatre performance:
Unfortunately The Ship Show was fully booked so we weren’t able to check out this signature program. Other programs include talk shows, Drag, live DJ, dancing party, drawing lessons and makeup lessons.
It is an adult-only cruise, in other words a haven free of screaming and run-around kids!
[Dining]
Virgin Voyages is an all-inclusive cruise (food and soft drinks are complimentary), and I guarantee that you won’t be disappointed. Speaking of “all-inclusive”, we are not talking about mediocre buffets, instead you’ll sit down for a fine dining experience.
Pink Agave
Mexican restaurant which is generally regarded as the best one out of the six. The design is probably inspired by submarines.
I can’t speak highly enough of the prawns, salmon, seabass, duck and steaks that we’ve ordered! This is the only restaurant that we visited twice – not that the other restaurants were bad, but we just didn’t have enough time.
Extra Virgin
This is an Italian restaurant. To be honest I’m not a big fan of Italian and suggested to skip it, but I’m very grateful that we didn’t!
The steak is simply incredible and even better than that of Pink Agave’s, and I’ll place it side by side with the steaks I had in Argentina. The creamy Spaghetti is also very impressive.
We ordered so much here making it look like a buffet, and we were a little bit embarrassed. The waitress was super professional and polite, always wearing a nice smile.
The Test Kitchen
The Test Kitchen has a very interesting concept which provides experimental cuisine. The restaurant’s layout resembles that of a laboratory.
There’s one set menu of five or six courses for everyone. The portion is quite small, which is expected as it’s more something for you to taste.
The cuisine here might not be the best, but it’s a unique experience that you don’t buy easily elsewhere. They are also the only restaurant which changes the menu mid-week.
Razzle Dazzle
British pub food mostly, so nothing exciting here.
It is however one of the only two restaurants that make breakfast, and the quality is awesome. I especially like the rainbow churros.
Gunbae
Korean barbeque – Gunbae means “cheers” in Korean (very similar to Chinese and Japanese). Service here is the best, food on the other hand is worse than an average barbeque restaurant you find in London.
The rule here is they gather six people at the same table and play games. If you want to socialise with strangers you might like it.
The Wake
Seafood steakhouse, least memorable out of the six in terms of service and food.
One party can only make one lunch or dinner reservation per day. Don’t worry though, as there are many other eateries available. The Galley takes half of Deck 15 and is open 24 hours.
Breakfast is more or less what you expect at an European hotel restaurant, and I think they should add an international flavour to it.
Lunch / dinner is much better. There are food stalls for ramen and tacos.
The pizza restaurant on Deck 7 is yummy.
They have Spanish tapas and Greek mezzes served in the bar restaurant, but we didn’t get the chance to try this time.
Each restaurant has some premium dishes that require a surcharge. My friend who came last year ordered some and was underwhelmed, so we didn’t pay for anything this time.
Based on London’s prices, you can easily consume £100 worth of food and drinks a day, which earns you back that 80,000 points in a week already – even better if you come in a pair.
[Sailing Club]
It turned out to be a very wise move to match to Sailing Club beforehand. All benefits (barring the non-existent Priority Boarding) are very handy:
- Premium wi-fi: powered by Starlink and fast enough for video streaming. Upgrade from free wi-fi costs $30 a day.
- $100 bar tab credit: alcohol pricing is very reasonable (beer $6.6 / cocktail $10 – $20), and we struggled to use up the credit
- $10 daily coffee credit: enough for two barista coffees (filter coffee is free)
- Laundry: one (large) bag
- Exclusive cocktail event: on Day 2 all Sailing Club members are invited to the event on Deck 17 for cocktails and live music performance
I’m proud to say, besides the £180 for cabin upgrade, I didn’t spend a penny on the cruise!
[Shore Activities]
Our trip had four stops, each for one day except for Ibiza where the ship parked overnight.
Toulon:
La Spezia:
Ajaccio:
Ibiza:
That’s my first-ever cruise experience with Virgin’s Valiant Lady. With the full capacity at 2,500, our trip has a comfortable load of 1,700 people but I was informed that the next one has 2,200! I wouldn’t hesitate to return next year, but if the occupancy remains high I’m not sure if they’ll open up point redemption again.
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