Virgin Voyages has gone out of its way to make everything related to cruising new and unique. The cabins are no exception. They are a cross between a funky hotel room and a modern ship cabin.
Here’s the low down on what to expect from the most common cabin type, the Virgin Voyages / Valiant Lady Sea Terrace Balcony Cabin (this particular information is from the Valiant Lady, however, their ships are all almost identical)
Using the chip wristband to open the door, you enter a “scene” where the lights come on and the motorized blinds open automatically, a nice “welcome home” for the first time entering your cabin.
The tablet & tech in the cabin
Each cabin is equipped with a tablet that controls lighting scenes, on/off, as well as TV channels, movies, and ship information on the television. This works great until it breaks. On our third day, the tablet became unresponsive and it took a full day to get anyone to “reset our room” so we could use the tablet to control lights and television stations. It’s good to know that in the closet, there are manual switches to turn lights on and off if the tablet is unresponsive. There are also manual open and close switches for the motorized blinds.
What can you do with the in-room tablet:
- Open & close the motorized blinds
- Control lights in the room
- Set predefined “scenes” and mood lighting
- Tune to one of 4 TV stations
- Launch movies from an entertainment section on the tablet
- Contacting the steward for various things including making up the room, ordering towels, changing the bed configuration, request for ice & water, and getting your laundry picked up.
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The Cabin Overview (Sea Terrace on Valiant Lady):
The size of the room is what you’d expect from a modern cruise ship. It’s not huge but it’s functional. At about 185 sq feet. The decor is minimalist but well done. Without the heavy wood and dated carpet styles found in many cruise ship cabins (even modern ships), the cabin is modern yet cozy, a difficult design to accomplish. Each cabin has a convertible bed (more on that below), a side table, a TV tray-style side table, an armchair, a small desk with a stool which is the only place you’ll be able to use the hair dryer, and the most convenient place to plug in devices to charge.
While the cabin has two other outlets on either side of the bed, they aren’t terribly convenient to use. It’s a bit of a surprise that the only European plug is at the desk, so those on European itineraries should consider bringing USA to EU converters. (PICS OF OUTLETS COMING)
A nicety is that each plug station also has USB ports for charging devices. However, with the evolution of charging cables and device requirements, this will become less useful over time.
360 Degree Virtual Tour – Valiant Lady Sea Terrace
Storage in the Sea Terrace cabins:
The only storage in the room is a small cubby space upon entering each cabin and normally has 10 or fewer hangers. Oddly, the design choice made by Virgin Voyages was to separate the closet from the main space with just a curtain rather than doors. I thought this was odd initially, but it’s tastefully done. On a traditional cruise ship, this is where a door with a closet would exist. More hangers are available by asking the room steward, but do it fast & on the first day so they don’t run out. I was told by our steward that they sometimes run out of extra hangers on the first day.
There are 4 shallow drawers good for socks, t-shirts, etc. but they aren’t very spacious. Other cubbies in the closet space are used for the safe, life jackets, and towels, but those items can be rearranged to free up one larger cubby.
Finally, a couple of baskets are available which are convenient for dirty laundry.
Good to note is if you bring more than a couple of pieces of luggage, while there is room on the floor of the closet space, it’s not large enough to accommodate more than a couple of pieces of normal-sized luggage.
The Sea Terrace Bathroom:
A big surprise (or should I say a LITTLE surprise) is how tight and small the bathroom feels for a modern cruise ship. It’s rare to get a large cabin at sea, much less a large bathroom, but the bathrooms seem exceptionally small and tight on the Valiant Lady. Another surprise in the bathroom is the lack of plugs for shavers or a hair dryer. So if you are an electric shaver person, you’ll be doing your shave at the desk in the cabin.
A real plus of the Valiant Lady cabin bathrooms is the showers. While tight, they have an amazing rain shower head and hand shower. Additionally, products like body wash, shampoo, and conditioner are quite good. Since many ships and hotels have gone to the wall-mounted refillable bottles, the quality of the product can be no-name and unappealing, however, the brand Red Flower which supplies the product to Virgin for the showers is quite good!
The Bed – Converting to a sofa:
The bed is surprisingly comfortable, however, the pillows are not.
Unique to Virgin Voyages staterooms is the ability to convert the bed into a full sofa which is quite comfortable and makes the space feel so much larger. This is great when you’re trying to get some work done in the cabin or plan on having travel buddies over before dinner to chat. It does make the cabin feel more like a living space and is a great alternative to only having the bed to use for seating, sleeping, watching tv, etc.
The caveat to this cool feature is the effort it takes to convert (for the steward). While our steward was happy to make the conversion, she did sort of make it known that it took time and was a pain in the ass. She requested to do it during the morning service and would then convert it back to a bed before their final 7:30 PM turn down.
One side of the bed acts as the arm of the sofa when converted but is stationary so the person sleeping on that side of the bed will always have the arm of the sofa by their head. A nice touch is an overarm tray that is on the sofa for overnight water glass or a place to put your phone but bumping into it during the night made for an interrupted sleep some nights.
Traveling Solo, ask for this cabin configuration
The great thing about the Virgin Voyages cabins are the flexibility to arrange the seating and beds in various ways. If you’re traveling solo, ask for this configuration and you’ll have comfortable seating every day without having to worry about converting the bed / sofa.
The balcony, (Sea Terrace) and hammock
The star of the cabins on the Valiant Lady (and other Virgin Voyages ships) is the hammocks on nearly all balconies. There’s something special about being suspended and slowly rocking away while viewing the ocean from your private space. However, to some people this may be a hammock, to others it’s a sling – so I’ve been well informed. This makes using it questionable for someone like me with real germaphobic tendencies. It’s a novelty and it really is a nice relaxing hammock if you can get past the fact that these aren’t likely NOT cleaned frequently.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady Cabins
Is there a hairdryer in the cabin
Yes! It’s actually pretty good too!
Is there an iron in the cabin / is it available
No, unfortunately. And access to an iron does not seem to be available.
Is there a phone in the cabin?
There is!
Can you buy a hammock like the one on Virgin Voyages ships?
Definitely! They sell them on board (two versions), but I understand they often run out. But they’re available (not in red) directly from the manufacturer Yellow Leaf (here)
What brands of hair products are on Virgin Voyages?
Red Flower brand products are the brand choice of Virgin Voyages
