I love the Virgin brand and the virgin culture. I was really looking forward to my cruise on 24th (not 23rd) April 2022. The ship was great, the staff superb, tech and cabins amazing and the food outstanding. I have seriously never eaten better food at sea. However, I am a male solo traveller with 12 previous cruises under my belt and I am a musician with a penchant for great entertainment. I am also a long standing employee of a virgin company and very loyal to the brand. Whilst there were many great things about this cruise, they do things the ‘virgin way’ aka young,fresh, ethical and dynamic. No traditional shows and of course no big dining halls.

From an entertainment perspective, yes it’s different. So different in fact the if you are expecting traditional entertainment you will be disappointed. There are no real song and dance shows and the theatre, as they proudly point out is a multi-functional arena. Basically a sports hall with pull out tiered seating. It makes it flexible but the big night out (Scarlett night) saw acrobats and impromptu acts in the atrium and had us all led in by the red pied piper into a rave! There were only two ‘shows’ which were performed very well indeed but not as a theatre show but in the sumptuous ’Mansion’ night club. One was a sex themed show called ‘never sleep alone’ at which I felt extremely isolated, but was produced really well. The other was a drag act. There were a heck of a lot of same sex couples which made me feel more isolated although was assured that it was not advertised as a gay cruise. Not that I would have minded of course but it did influence the entertainment. For clarity I am a very open minded heterosexual man, love adult entertainment and embrace diversity (Virgin is leading the world in all areas of diversity). The house band was excellent and I built a good rapport with the musicians and though they worked hard, they were the only other entertainment on board apart from a solo guitarist who had a couple of slots and a singer who only got one slot.

Dinner as I mention was an amazing experience at all the various restaurants but as they were simply that, restaurants, singles like me were sat alone at a single table. There was no opportunity to socialise. Read more