To be honest we've never really considered ourselves to be "cruise people", not because we have anything against cruises but because there were simply so many other trips we wanted to take first. However, while searching for a last minute, low-stress couple’s break we couldn’t help but be intrigued by the Adults-only (18+) Virgin Voyages Cruise Line and decided to give it a go.
We booked the 4-day Fire & Sunset Soirèes cruise with stops in Key West, FL and Bimini, Bahamas. We arrived in Miami with a little trepidation but it did not take us long to be full converts to the unique Virgin Voyages way. Any assumptions you might have about ‘traditional cruises’ need to be thrown overboard, because Virgin Voyages are changing the game in some really cool ways.
Below is our Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady honest review of our experience.
What to know before you go:
- Remember Virgin Voyages cruises are Adults-only (18+).
- Download the Virgin Voyages App before your cruise. You can reserve tables and book excursions up to 45 days in advance (60 days in advance for RockStar suite guests) using the app.
- What’s included? Food including gratuities, non-alcoholic beverages, basic WiFi, and complimentary fitness and yoga classes.
- What’s not included? Alcoholic Beverages, ‘Shore Things’ excursions, certain menu upgrades and a select number of activities on-board.
Jump to:
Embarkation
Embarking the Valiant Lady was very smooth. We had a 2:00pm slot and we arrived at the port a little before our check-in time. A porter took our bags to the room. We stood in a line for our slot and then at 2:00pm they brought us inside for check-in. The whole process took less than an hour. The good vibes start almost immediately as you step on board with a warm greetings from the crew members.
Wristbands
At check-in you will receive a Virgin Voyages wrist band. You use these wrist bands for everything such as open cabin room doors and paying for drinks. A few passengers we spoke to said they didn’t like them as they are a bit finicky and awkward to tighten. We actually didn’t mind them at all. They're really convenient and it was nice you could take them off in your room.
The Ship
The Valiant Lady looks fantastic. It has a sleek, modern look which set it apart from the other cruise ships in the Miami port. Once on board this boat really continues to impress. Every inch of the ship has been thought out and immaculately maintained. The Valiant Lady is only a couple years old so it should look like a new ship. But we were still incredibly impressed with the efforts of the staff to keep it clean during the voyage.
The layout of the ship is relatively easy to navigate. While it’s a pretty huge structure, it feels a lot smaller when walking about on board.
Cabins
Our cabin was on floor 13 right next to the elevator which was incredibly convenient. The inside of the cabin is in a modern, minimalist style with a few quirky and funky amenities (we never tired of playing about with the mood lighting settings). There is an iPad in the room which you can use to operate lights, curtains, order room service/extra towels etc. We found the room to fairly spacious by cruise ship standards. The bathroom was clean and new. The shower had a rain shower head with a handheld head as well, and the temperature and pressure was great. The towels were good quality, nice and fluffy.
We had a Sea Terrace Cabin which included a private balcony with two chairs and table looking out on the ocean along with the iconic red Virgin Voyages hammock. These hammocks are just surprisingly very comfortable and live up to the hype (you can actually purchase one onboard if you feel you can no longer live without it). The TV is high quality with a large selection of movies and shows on offer.
One thing to be aware of is that you are not able to stream music with the standard Wi-Fi . There were also no music options in the room entertainment system. If you want to listen to music in your room while getting ready etc. bring a portable speaker and prepare to pay extra for the premium Wi-Fi.
The Pools
The swimming pools on Virgin Voyages have definitely garnered some mix feedback from its guests. The main pool is considerably smaller than pools on other cruise ships of this size. A large portion of the pool is only about 11 inches deep. Which is great for dancing on Scarlet night, less so if you actually want to swim. To be honest this wasn't really a problem for us. There are plenty of sun-beds. And we really enjoyed relaxing on the pool deck. But I imagine if the weather is particularly warm or the ship was especially full it could seem over crowded pretty quickly.
On the other side of the boat is the Wellness pool. This pool has a juice bar and is also pretty darn small, with underwater seating and jets throughout. There were also two hot tubs on either side, which were definitely more lukewarm than hot and could get pretty crowded during certain times in the day.
As a side note, the pool deck does get extremely hot under the sun, so you will definitely need sandals to walk about.
Dining
We will be doing a Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady honest review dedicated entirely to food, but we will say here that the food is where this cruise ship truly shines. Forget about those stuffy, mediocre cruise ships buffets. The Valiant Lady has so many incredible eateries. People online make a big deal out of the food so we expected above average quality, but we were truly blown away.
Each unique restaurant has its own theme and menu and we loved getting to try them all. Some of our favorites were Pink Agave, Gunbae and and Extra Virgin. But honestly we loved our meal at the Wake and really enjoyed the whole Test Kitchen experience. The only one we weren't in love with was Razzle Dazzle, but I wouldn't call it a bad meal.
Beyond the headline restaurants there was also quick service pizza and an ice cream bar that were both truly exceptional. The Galley, which is like an upmarket food court, had a vast selection of food, including tacos, ramen, sushi. All the food was ready to grab at an instant. It is almost impossible to be hungry while on board this ship, and something delicious is always available.
Entertainment
Another area where the Valiant Lady excels is the entertainment. There is some kind of entertainment on offer almost 24/7 but it's nice that you don't feel any pressure to participate if you just want to chill. The staff behind all the entertainment will just pop up at different places in different outfits throughout the day, and they all seem to be having a great time doing it. All the trivia events are great fun, mostly compered by Big Lew The Gamer, a host with endless energy. He made sure that everyone had a great time. (Don’t want to brag, but we were the champions of ‘Risky Quizness’ and ‘Great Minds’ trivia games). We took part in a karaoke night, and there is also a casino, and even a tattoo parlor on board.
The Valiant Lady also has a selection of shows. We caught ‘Love, Love, Love’ which was great fun and successfully walked the line of being a little raunchy yet tasteful. We planned to see ‘Dual Reality’ but ended up taking too long at dinner, but we spoke to several sailors who said it was breathtaking.
Scarlet Night
Each night there was a themed night but the ‘Scarlet Night’ was definitely the main event. It was quite a spectacle and the atmosphere was great. At another time in our lives we would have been partying with everyone in the middle of the deck in the peculiar ankle-deep pool, but instead we left at about 10.30pm, grabbed pizza from The Pizza Place, and watched a movie in our cabin. Still it was really fun to see almost everyone on ship dressed in red and I'm glad that we got to experience it. Definitely not something to be missed even if you don't plan to party until the wee hours of the night!
Dress Code
There is no real dress code on board the ship with no events that require traditional formal wear. Smart casual is what most people go for. Each night there was a themed party. The themed nights were ‘Pajama party’, ‘We Fancy’ and ‘Scarlet Night’ (which means wear Red). There's absolutely no pressure for you to dress on theme for most of the nights if you don't want to. But we would recommend wearing something red on Scarlett night as pretty much everyone on board does. Honestly you would stand out if you weren’t wearing red. Other than that though there are great "you do you" vibes.
Excursions and Shore Things
We have to be honest…we could pretend that we did all the 'Shore Things' activities on shore and write up completely made-up accounts of how we went snorkeling with dolphins off the coast of Bimini, or explored the mangroves by kayak in Key West. But this is a Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady 'Honest Review.' And the honest truth is we did none of these things. When the ship was boarded at Key West we spent 3 hours on board in the spa (Tip: Actually a great time to hit the spa as most of the sailors have disembarked so it’s not so busy). We then got off the boat for about an hour to wander into Key West, enough time for two cocktails from a tiki bar, a slice of key lime pie, and for Tom to buy a hat.
The next day when the boat docked at Bimini we got off and spent about 3 hours sunbathing and reading on the beach. We did fork out $65.00 to have private beach beds slightly away from the main ‘Beach Club’ which was well worth it.
The Shore Things excursions look epic. Sorry we’re not able to review them. We have no regrets.
Health, Wellness and the Redemption Spa
The Valiant Lady caters strongly to health and wellness. There is a wellness bar on the pool deck where you can get juices and healthy drinks. And in general we felt like all of the food was good quality and well sourced. You can definitely get indulgent options but I don't feel like anything we ate would be considered "junk".
There are a huge variety of fitness classes available, and there is a large gym. Elizabeth took a 30 minute sunrise yoga class and really enjoyed it. We heard some of the classes can book up quickly though so be sure to reserve a spot on the app!
As mentioned above we booked to a spot in the Redemption Spa while the board docked at Key West. The Thermal Suite Pass gives you access to all the amenities including sauna, steam room, mud room, hydrotherapy pool. The sauna was probably the hottest sauna we’ve ever been in, a little too hot to be honest. It also had a salt room which was a bit different, and the hot marbles were so nice to lay down on. Tom even did his first ever cold plunge which was…a thing that happened. The spa also offers a full array of treatments including massages, facials, and acupuncture but these treatments are a bit pricey.
We had a great time at the spa and would probably go again but it definitely had some quirks. The space itself is beautiful but it might be a case of aesthetic over functionality. The hot tubs and cold plunge pools are pretty small, really only 1-2 people can fit in each at a time. They key to making the most of your time at Redemption Spa is probably going to be visiting it when it's the least busy.
Upgrades? RockStar and MegaRockStar Quarters
For those looking to splash out for a special occasion you can upgrade to a RockStar or MegaRockStar Quarters. We didn’t pay for one of these rooms ourselves, but we made friends with a lovely couple from North Carolina at dinner one of the nights. They invited us back for drinks at their RockStar suite. The suite was very luxurious with so much space and a huge balcony. They had a butler service who seemingly was able to bring whatever they wanted at any hour of the day. It had a classic rock style (it had even had a pretty expensive Taylor acoustic guitar in the room that Tom had to give a strum). We were impressed, and our North Carolinian friends definitely felt like they were getting their money’s worth.
Conclusion
What we loved:
- The Food: Just all of the food. So many options. We love how all the restaurants are included without any upcharge.
- Adults Only: No offense to every child under the age of 18 but your absence helped us have a wonderful time.
- The staff: The entertainment staff were the life of the party throughout the trip and legitimately seemed to be having a great time entertaining everybody on board. All the service staff gave excellent customer service. Several servers we spoke to said they’d worked on various cruise liners, but Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady was by far their favorite. When the staff seem happy it only adds to the feel-good vibes on board.
- Included Gratuities: Honestly this is great perk of this cruise line. Not having to calculate gratuities on every meal and bar tab really makes for a more enjoyable experience.
What we didn’t love:
- The swimming pools: We didn't dislike the pools per say we just feel like they could have been a lot bigger for the size of the ship.
- Wi-fi: The standard Wi-fi wasn’t great so we weren’t able to stream music from our phones, and there was no music stations provided in the cabin. You could pay extra to get a stronger Wi-fi signal.
This is our Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady honest review. Reading back we wouldn't be surprised if some readers feel like this post was a bit too glowing to be a truly honest review. But it's just the truth, we were so impressed with the attention to detail to all aspects of our experience. Like any vacation not everything was perfect as we've explained in the article. But overall the good vibes we felt when we stepped on board continued throughout the trip and stayed with us when we stepped back into reality. We are already planning our next Virgin Voyages trip. I guess we are "cruise people" now!
