- Home
- About Nicole
- Travel Library
-
Journal ▾
- Recent Adventures
- Latest from the Journal
- Destination Guides
- Europe
- Asia
- Cruises
- Family Travel Tips
- Traveling with Kids
Proud affiliate of Favorite Grampy Travels
Virgin
Voyages
the one that will not let your children on board
Let me get the important part out of the way. Virgin Voyages does not take children. Not older children, not teenagers, not for one night. Eighteen and over, full stop. I am putting a cruise line page on a family travel site and the first line is that your kids cannot come, which tells you something about why people still ask me about it.
So why is this here at all
Because parents are people. Because anniversaries happen, and fortieth birthdays happen, and sometimes grandma offers to take the kids for a week and you would be a fool to say no.
And because a lot of my clients spend fifteen years booking family holidays and then have no idea how to book one that is just for them. They have forgotten what they like. Virgin is often the answer to that, and it is a good one.
I also get asked by people who have done a big family cruise, found it loud and full of other people’s children, and quietly wondered whether there was another version. There is. This is it.
What it is actually like
It does not look like a cruise ship inside. There is no atrium with a glass lift and a piano. It looks closer to a boutique hotel that someone stretched, all dark wood and brass and terrazzo, with a tattoo parlour and a record shop and a proper gym.
The tone is casual. No formal night, no dress code beyond common sense, no captain’s table. If the ceremony of traditional cruising is the bit you love, you will find this cold. If the ceremony is the bit you tolerate, you will find it a relief.
The ships are mid-sized. Big enough to have a lot going on, small enough that you learn the layout by day two and stop getting lost, which on a genuinely enormous ship takes most of a week.
The pricing is the actually interesting part
Virgin includes things other lines charge for. Wi-fi, tips, still and sparkling water, group fitness classes, and all of the restaurants. All of them. There is no speciality dining upcharge, which on most ships is where a real chunk of your onboard spend goes.
What is not included is alcohol. They sell a bar tab instead of a package. You load money onto it before you sail and they usually add a bonus on top. That suits moderate drinkers far better than an all-you-can-drink package, because you only pay for what you actually have.
Net of all that, a Virgin fare that looks more expensive than a mainstream line often is not, once you have added tips and wi-fi and two dinners out to the cheaper one. Compare the landed cost. Not the headline.
The food is genuinely good
There is no main dining room and no buffet in the way you are picturing. Instead there are separate restaurants, each with its own kitchen and menu, and you move between them.
The Korean barbecue place, the Mexican place and the steak restaurant get the most attention and they deserve it. The test kitchen is the odd one and I like it for exactly that reason. The casual food, the taco place and the diner, is better than casual ship food has any right to be.
Reserve your restaurants when the booking window opens. This is the one bit of Virgin that rewards planning ahead and people consistently do not do it.
What I would watch out for
The cabins are clever but not large. The bed converts to a sofa, which is a good use of space, but somebody has to convert it and that somebody is a cabin steward you have to be there to let in. Some people love the terrace hammock. Some people never sit in it once.
It is a party ship in the evenings and the marketing leans into that hard. In practice it is much calmer than the adverts suggest and there are plenty of quiet corners, but if the word nightclub makes you tired just reading it, know what you are buying.
And the itineraries are not deep. Caribbean, Mediterranean and a few transatlantics, mostly familiar ports. If you want unusual places, look at the small-ship lines instead.
Who I would book on it
Couples travelling without children, obviously. Adult friend groups. Multigenerational groups where everybody is grown up, which is more common than people think once the kids are in their twenties.
Also first-time cruisers who are certain they will hate cruising. I have sent a surprising number of those and got a surprising number of apologetic messages back.
If you are looking at Virgin for a trip without the kids, tell me what you want out of the week and I will tell you whether it fits or whether one of the small luxury lines would suit you better.
Questions people actually ask
Can children go on Virgin Voyages?
No. Virgin Voyages is exclusively for guests aged eighteen and over. There are no exceptions and no child facilities on board.
What is included in a Virgin Voyages fare?
Wi-fi, gratuities, still and sparkling water, group fitness classes and all restaurants are included. Alcohol is not, and is bought through a prepaid bar tab rather than a drinks package.
Is Virgin Voyages a party ship?
The marketing emphasises nightlife, but the ships are calmer than advertised and offer plenty of quiet space. Evenings are livelier than on traditional lines and the overall tone is casual rather than formal.
Is Virgin Voyages good value?
Often yes, on landed cost. Because gratuities, wi-fi and all speciality restaurants are included, a fare that appears higher than a mainstream line can work out similar or cheaper once extras are added to the cheaper fare.
Do you need to book restaurants in advance on Virgin Voyages?
Yes. Reservations open before sailing and the most popular venues fill quickly. Booking when the window opens makes a noticeable difference to the week.
Everything here is subject to change. Cruise lines rewrite their inclusions, kids club ages, ship deployments and fare structures constantly, and what is true this season may not be true next. Before you book anything, talk to me and I will confirm the current details for your specific ship and sailing date.
More in Ocean Cruising
- Royal CaribbeanThe big-ship benchmark.
- CelebrityGrown-up ships that still take kids.
- DisneyThe one that costs more and earns it.
- NorwegianFreestyle, for better and worse.
- OceaniaFood first, everything else second.
- MSCEuropean feel, sharp pricing.
- PrincessThe comfortable middle.
- Holland AmericaCalmer, older, genuinely lovely.
- CunardAn ocean liner, not a cruise ship.
- Viking OceanNo children, and that is the point.
- SilverseaAll-inclusive, properly.
- Regent Seven SeasEverything really is included.
- AzamaraLonger in port, smaller ships.
- SeabournSmall, quiet, very good.
- Explora JourneysThe new one people keep asking about.
Keep reading
Written and kept current by Nicole Damiano, ASTA Verified Travel Advisor with Adventures We Seek. If something here is out of date, tell me and I will fix it.
Tell me who is coming and how long you have.
That is usually enough to know whether this is a ship, a train, or a car with the windows down. Working with an advisor costs no more than booking direct.
