Asian cruises have a very small share of the overall cruise market, in fact, Westerners like myself on this cruise were pretty rare, but that just kind of made the whole trip feel a little more exclusive for me.

Ship - Very clean and well maintained, built in Germany in 1999. It looked about new. They did a very good job maximizing the space on this ship, despite its size it felt quite big and had plenty of public area, but felt somewhat confusing at times. The guests weren't really party animals, they all seemed to be in the casinos the whole time. The bars and clubs felt relatively empty. The ship itself was C-O-L-D. I have no idea why they kept the temperature so low. Outside the ship was very hot, encouraging one to wear shorts and short sleeves, but inside the ship, a light jacket and pants were in order. This was very frustrating and lead me to request a set outside on the deck most of the time when eating. At least the rooms had controllable AC.

Value - One compelling reason I chose the Virgo (as opposed to the Libra that left from Singapore) was the high availability of balcony rooms. These were downright cheap, and there were plenty of them. Also, with the vast majority of the crew and passengers being Asian, no one tips, and no one expects a tip. It is a completely foreign concept to them. This was my first cruise, but I cannot imaging one without a balcony it was great. Read more