Page 2 of 2 — Valiant Lady Customer Reviews

11 night cruise round Portugal & Canary Islands. Absolute disaster from start to finish, terrible food, cold food, ran out of drink, fresh water machines not working, no WiFi, blocked toilets, no water to wash hands in toilets, awful entertainment, promised an 80’s extravaganza for 11 nights, it was a total of 3 hours. Our booking agent imagine cruising messed up with port bookings/weren’t booked, missed 2 ports. Disembarkation an absolute shambles, ramps too steep people falling with luggage, just the worst holiday ever, spent £7k for the rockstar experience more like FLOPSTAR. Imagine Cruising need to step up and give full refunds but they have washed there hands of over 350 very upset passengers. Virgin staff with covid isolating onboard before we left Portsmouth, 100’s caught covid, this cruise should never have been allowed to embark due to covid, but imagine cruising have put profit before peoples health and wellbeing. Hoping we will be fobbed off with some insulting offer, NO NO NO !! Small claims court here I come, DNATA travel need to step in and sort out Imagine cruising as they own 51% of this terrible company !!! Husband and I still suffering long covid after 6 weeks, after catching covid from the cruise from hell !! Response from Virgin Voyages: We are sorry that you had a disappointing cruise. As we've discussed with everyone who sailed on this voyage this cruise was a charter organised by Imagine Cruising and the cruise was not the quality we would expect to deliver as standard with Virgin Voyages.

Ports cancelled, cruised to nowhere! Entertainment non existent in daytime, very poor in evenings and very repetitive, also shows cancelled. A pool not big enough to to swim in. Wi-Fi constantly breaking up yet you have to use the app on your phone to book everything! Restaurants all fully booked in evenings had to queue & wait to get in. Same menu all 11-nts. All fitness classes fully booked too no availability. Ran out of certain food & drinks. Embarkation and disembarkation absolute chaos no organisation whatsoever, and gang way dangerously steep. 50% of passengers ended up with Covid after cruise. Docked 12-hours late at end of cruise.

This was advertised as an 80s extravaganza cruise which it turned out not to be although the headline acts were excellent they were the only 80s offerings onboard. With one weeks notice we had to obtain a covid test from a preferred supplier who failed to provide the required number of tests causing no little stress and extra expense. We have not been compensated for this despite complaining to all 3 parties involved who simply passed the buck. Portsmouth is only a small ferry port and inadequate for a cruise line. We were bussed to the ship having had to wait in crowded facilities. We were lucky but many people had to search for their luggage. The basic balcony room looks very minimalist, lacks storage and poorly designed. Who wants to manouevre the bed arrangement round every day. The tech mostly worked if you persevered a bit with some staff help. Best thing in the room was the shower. We were upgraded to an XL sea terrace due to excessive noise overnight. Tours were poor and the only one we booked cancelled without explanation. Public areas are cramped, uncomfortable and dark. No swimming pool, deck areas small and cramped. The ship is painted grey which doesn't help. Breakfast was chaotic, there seems at first to be lots of choice but actually there wasn't and it was the same every day. People sometimes waited a long time and food turned up cold. Only a small limited buffet (galley), the restaurants were generally very good with quality food and service but having to use one every day is too much just to have a decent meal. The best meal I had was in Lisbon off ship. Disembarkation was a shambles, people queuing right round the ship, no one seemed to know what was happening. Eventually we just tagged along behind a group that seemed to be getting preference just to get off. Ship docked at 7pm I gather that it was about 10pm before most were off. People were allowed to carry off their own luggage which didn't help at all, no doubt in case they lost it again. A miscommunication between VV and the cruise organisers meant we lost a day in Lisbon we were expecting and in fact due to circumstances outside any ones control we actually only got a few hours. Won't travel with either company involved again.

We booked onto the cruise via Imagine Cruising. We were promised "80's Extravaganza". Having been on an 80s themed cruise a couple of years ago with Royal Caribbean we were really excited. The cruise was mis sold to us as there were only 3 80s concerts on an 11 day cruise and a few DJ sets. Although the acts were brilliant there was no other eighties themed entertainment leaving passengers to organise their own. The port of Madeira was cancelled a month before we went. We found later that Virgin had never even booked that port. An extra day in Lisbon was advertised but that was changed too. Prior to travel the information about Covid testing was confused. We had to do a test recommended by VV. The code did not work and the cruise Facebook group had to work it out between them. It would have been easy to cheat the test. Covid measures on board were practically non existent and many people caught covid on-board. Both embarkation and disembarkation were chaotic. For the safety drill you watch a pop video style safety advice video in your cabin. Then you meet at a muster station which was also chaotic. No real checks taken. The Valiant Lady is a new ship. Our room was comfortable but not a lot of storage. Everything works on an app which often does not work.You have to book meals in restaurants and shows via the app. Restaurant bookings and shows were frequently cancelled. If you use VV book everything asap. Although ship was just over half full it was often difficult to get restaurant times or shows you wanted. Lounge and deck space was limited. Pool was tiny. I don't know what it would be like at full capacity. The speciality restaurants are free and were excellent. However the Galley was not. We used it for most breakfast and lunch. Although it looks good in theory with noodle bar, taco stand etc., everything is pre-made so you can't customise your sandwich and there are the 3 same choices everyday. Staff were lovely but service was disorganised in The Galley and it took up to 40 minutes for them to bring your order. They ran out of breakfast tea, orange juice, certain wines and beers ( then offering more expensive choices) Daytime entertainment is mainly gym based or crafting. Evening entertainment is lacking and there were long periods with nothing going on such as bands or shows. The VV show we did see was good but we had our booking cancelled several times. We did not manage to get bookings for other shows. It was so bad and there were so many complaints that captain offered a free cruise. The downside is that we would have to pay for air fair and port taxes, plus we can't take any more time off this year. Valiant Lady style over substance. Some good ideas but not well executed. VV do want to offer something different to a traditional cruise but they are confused as to who their target market is. I believe it is aimed at 20 to 35 year olds but how many of them could afford their prices. Imagine Cruising had taken over most of the cabins as VV had not managed to fill them. The passengers on 80s cruise were mostly late forties to early sixties. No liaison regarding entertainment between IMC and VV There were so many disappointed passengers that we are now working together to get some money back. This was my 29th cruise and I would rank it as 29th in my favourite cruise list

The most awful cruise ever. Ports missed, running out of food/drink - when arrived was cold. The safety drill was a shambles as was disembarkation- many of us caught Covid onboard and had to be taken to a separate deck and cabin. Poor shows, no announcements, nothing to do most sea days, sunbeds taken and in close proximity to each other. I’d never sail Virgin again. Shame as staff nice but no management and very disorganised

A long weekend to Bruges on Valiant Lady. The food in the restaurants was very good, the Galley food was OK but nothing spectacular and there was no variety (unlike other ship's buffets). Service in Razzle Dazzle felt a little rushed, service in The Wake was good, service in The Galley was hit and miss. Unable to see the shows available - managed to book one but it was cancelled due to technical difficulties; other shows were fully booked. If you like a game of bingo you have to try it on Virgin Voyages - unlike any other bingo game you will have been to - very entertaining. Crew around the ship were always pleasant and smiley and happy to help where needed. Inside single cabin was compact, but had everything that I needed; shower was one of the best I have had on a ship. Nightlife is very 'adult' orientated although you can sit in a more 'non-participative' area. The excursion to Bruges was really good, we had a very knowledgeable guide, a good walk round the town, a canal boat ride and time to do some shopping. Embarkation and disembarkation both went smoothly. Worth knowing that for your disembarkation time, you book this on the app as an excursion!

I have seen Virgin Voyages described as 'good for a weeks party cruise with dad paying' and that is pretty close. The programme onboard is based around the idea that you sleep in the day and disco at night. The ship design is unusual, with no scenic lounges but lots of bars, no conventional dining but a shopping mall type food court and a range of speciality restaurants. Everything has to be booked in advance using the Virgin smartphone app - so it was a shame that the onboard wifi was not working on our trip... If you enjoy the comfort of 'conventional' cruising I would think carefully before booking.