When Virgin Voyages splashed onto the cruise scene in 2020, it promised to shake up the business. Richard Branson’s cruise line appeared prefer it was filled with sizzling air, however once I sailed, I used to be pleasantly shocked to find that it lives as much as the hype, particularly with regards to Virgin Voyages’ meals choices and eating places on board.
Virgin Voyages’ eating is in a category of its personal. It is uncommon {that a} non-luxury (learn: not all-inclusive) cruise line has such a variety of complimentary meals. Actually, passengers can dine at each single onboard restaurant without spending a dime — one thing you will not discover on different mainstream ships. (The one exception is a dinner theater-style eating expertise, which takes place within the nightclub on Resilient Girl.)
One other eating ingredient that makes Virgin distinctive is that its ships haven’t got buffets. As a substitute, they’ve meals court docket areas that home a number of counters and kiosks. Some are walk-up-and-order choices, whereas others will ship waiters to your desk to ask what you would like.
The range can also be spectacular. Virgin Voyages’ restaurant menus characteristic a variety of cuisines, together with Italian, Mexican and Korean, plus vegan choices and even a little bit of molecular gastronomy. And do not even get me began on high quality; it rivals what you’d discover at any upscale shoreside restaurant that requires you to “know a man” with the intention to snag a reservation.
This is all the pieces that you must find out about every place the place you may seize a chunk on board.
Observe: Eating in any respect eating places is included in Virgin Voyages’ cruise fares until in any other case famous. There are extra-fee “Deal with Your self” menu objects out there at most eating places; objects and costs fluctuate. Specialty espresso, tea and alcohol additionally value further. Virgin operates on a bar tab system for drinks, slightly than providing drink packages. All eating places can be found on the entire line’s ships until in any other case famous.
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Eating places on Virgin Voyages
Razzle Dazzle
Brunch and dinner
Vegetarians, rejoice. Razzle Dazzle — named for the complicated black-and-white paint fashion discovered on World Struggle I ships — is the veggie-forward brainchild of Eric Kim Haugen, a decide on Meals Community’s “Huge Restaurant Wager.” Providing brunch and dinner, the restaurant options menus with inventive decisions for cruisers who steer clear of meat.
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For brunch, strive the avocado toast with sriracha, watermelon radish, finger lime and toasted seeds; the nutty gazpacho with cucumbers, peppers, marcona almonds and roasted garlic croutons; and the Unimaginable burger with poblano salsa, paprika veganaise, avocado and fries. (You possibly can substitute a salad, however the fries are scrumptious and cutely served in a vessel designed to seem like a crushed black Solo cup.)
For dinner, discover choices like avocado inexperienced goddess salad, and fried inexperienced tomatoes and okra with chili-lime spice and chili-herb sauce as starters. Think about Nashville sizzling cauliflower with plant-based ranch sauce and beet-stuffed pierogi as mains. There are additionally not-so-secret meat and fish dishes on the menu, together with snapper, slow-cooked lamb shank and an extra-charge seafood boil for $50.
Pink Agave
Dinner solely
What would a classy ship be with no Mexican restaurant? You enter Pink Agave via a lit-glass archway to discover a darkish and swanky house that feels a bit like one thing out of outdated Miami. The eatery presents upscale Mexican fare with a mezcal-heavy drink menu, all designed by famed chef and Phoenix meals scene legend Silvana Salcido Esparza of the Barrio Cafe.
The alternatives are divided into three sizes: small plates, medium plates and enormous plates. Begin easy, and take a look at the completely out-of-this-world guacamole. Then, transfer on to the black bean soup and hen enchiladas whilst you look forward to the cochinita pibil (marinated smoked pork with bitter orange habanero pico de gallo).
Or, as a substitute, go for dishes like grilled corn with spicy aioli and lime, seared shrimp with mole and new potatoes, a vegan roasted corn- and russet potato-stuffed poblano pepper or roasted duck with mole and smoked yam puree.
Further Virgin
Dinner solely
Further Virgin, Resilient Girl’s Italian restaurant, is a comfy house with a barely upscale really feel. Ensure to point out up hungry as a result of, in true Italian fashion, there are 5 programs: antipasto, affettati misti (an Italian cured meat platter), secondo, pasta and dessert.
You will not need to miss the braised miniature meatballs; they’re pleasant, complemented by smoked mozzarella, tomato sauce and pancetta. Comply with them up with the affettati misti cheese board of Parmesan, Romano and Gorgonzola and an order of vegetarian Brussels sprouts with polenta, chiles and hazelnuts. The potato gnocchi with mushrooms, spinach and truffle butter sauce is just magical.
For dessert, waiters deliver an affogato cart to every desk, providing ice cream topped with espresso. There’s additionally an in depth drink record with numerous wines and cocktails, together with the ever-popular Aperol spritz.
Gunbae
Dinner solely
Gunbae is a Korean barbecue restaurant created by famend New York Metropolis chef Sohui Kim. Tables can accommodate six to eight folks with seating in round cubicles, every of which surrounds a central grill the place waiters cook dinner your meals proper in entrance of you.
Choices embrace small bites like nori rice crisps, seaweed salad, kimchi and mung bean pancakes, and a combined seafood corn canine; bowls that characteristic rice or noodles combined with greens or kimchi stew with pork stomach; and mains that include grilled objects like a mushroom and seasonal veggie combo, squid and octopus with shrimp, marinated beef quick ribs and a chef’s combo of quick ribs, pork stomach and shrimp.
Delicate serve in sikhye (a candy taste made with malt and rice) and black sesame varieties can also be supplied with black sesame granola, miniature marshmallows and miso caramel for dessert.
Whilst you get pleasure from your starters — a sequence of small bowls of seaweed-style salad that everybody receives — your waiter will lead you in ingesting video games, full with complimentary sake. Different specialty drinks can be found for a payment. You may also pay to buy elevated objects, similar to wagyu beef, which is scrumptious and comes with a $45 surcharge.
Associated: Order Champagne on Virgin Voyages ships by shaking your telephone
Check Kitchen
Dinner solely
Check Kitchen is a lablike restaurant that focuses on presentation with some molecular gastronomy components combined in. The 2 menus, which alternate to supply totally different experiences on every voyage, had been designed by chef Matt Lambert of New York Metropolis’s The Musket Room.
Menus include only a few easy objects like corn, salmon, beetroot, alternative of shrimp or lamb, asparagus and strawberry — with a dish ready round every. Examples embrace cornbread with spreadable garlic and onion-corn custard; sugar-marinated salmon with cucumbers; beetroot ravioli with pesto and cashews; lamb and eggplant with zucchini or shrimp tagliatelle pasta with jumbo shrimp and tomatoes in lobster broth; asparagus sorbet with a sauce fabricated from egg yolk, cream and Champagne, topped with ginger; and a strawberry dessert.
Vegetarian substitutions are additionally out there.
The Wake
Brunch and dinner
For seasoned cruisers lacking a extra conventional fundamental eating room expertise, The Wake hits closest to the mark, providing a Sixties steakhouse vibe. Meat and seafood are on the menus for each brunch and dinner, though some dishes carry an additional cost.
For brunch, try the brioche French toast with caramelized bananas, toasted pecans and whipped creme fraiche, in addition to the avocado Benedict. Different menu choices may embrace clam chowder, fennel and citrus salad, poached shrimp, steak and eggs, and different Benedicts that includes soft-shell crab and crispy pork stomach.
For dinner, count on dishes like clam chowder, corn custard and black bean salad, and roasted bone marrow as starters; crispy polenta, shrimp and grits, roasted salmon, hen, filet mignon and lamb chops for mains; and sides of roasted mushrooms with butter, asparagus, creamed spinach, french fries and extra.
For an additional payment, cruisers also can buy a tomahawk steak for $75 or objects from the restaurant’s uncooked bar.
The Galley
Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Should you’re searching for different informal choices or grab-and-go fare, The Galley is for you. Designed to imitate a meals court docket, The Galley is the closest factor Virgin’s ships should a buffet, minus the self-serve setup (excluding the prepackaged grab-and-go objects). You will both stomach as much as certainly one of a number of counters getting ready alternatives like sushi from Bento Child, salads from The Each day Combine and tacos from Let’s Taco Bout It or sit down so a member of the waitstaff can come to you to take your order.
Need breakfast all day? Your go-to will probably be Diner & Sprint, which is able to cook dinner up made-to-order eggs and omelets with bacon and different trimmings. Craving a noodle bowl, burgers, a panini, a for-fee specialty espresso or a dessert that is as beautiful as it’s delectable? You will discover all of that, respectively, in The Galley’s Noodle Round, Burger Bar, Scorching Off the Press, Grounds Membership Too and The Candy Facet.
Room service
$5 per supply; breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks
For a nominal per-delivery payment, room service may be ordered to your cabin 24 hours a day by way of the Virgin Voyages app or by calling the ship’s room service quantity out of your in-room telephone.
Breakfast is obtainable each day from 5 to 11 a.m. and contains objects like scrambled eggs, frittatas, stuffed French toast, fruit, cereal, baked items and yogurt.
The remainder of the time (11 to five a.m.), passengers can select from a variety of starters, mains, desserts and snacks which may embrace hen noodle soup, beet hummus, a charcuterie and cheese plate, roasted cauliflower steak, a cheddar cheeseburger, roasted bass, roasted hen breast, grilled New York strip, cake pops, cheesecake, popcorn, gummy bears and chocolate-covered pretzels.
Drinks are additionally out there, they usually’re charged on the identical costs as they’re elsewhere on board.
Associated: Why there are not any drink packages on Virgin Voyages ships
‘One other Rose’
$50 per particular person; dinner solely
Resilient Girl’s solely for-fee eating choice is a dinner theater present referred to as “One other Rose,” which takes up residence in The Manor nightclub on a few nights every cruise. For $50 per particular person, passengers can select from certainly one of three seating choices: balcony, ground or ground close to the stage. For that worth, they obtain a 90-minute present that unfolds throughout them as they bask in a four-course set meal (together with three drinks).
The menu presents cruisers two appetizers (candy potato chaat with tamarind, cilantro-mint chutney, yogurt and pomegranate seeds; and a tuna bomb with avocado inexperienced goddess dressing, spicy soy and semolina puri), a fundamental course (a alternative of pan-roasted sea bass with moilee sauce, basmati rice grit and roasted okra; or braised quick rib with Kashmir chili-coconut sauce, basmati rice grit and scallions) and a dessert — the world’s tiniest piece of cheesecake.
There’s additionally a vegetarian menu out there.
The Pizza Place
Lunch and dinner
This late-night hang-out is ideal for ordering a pie or two after some dancing and drinks. The pies are barely bigger than a private dimension, they usually are available varieties like a basic model with tomato sauce and mozzarella, hen pesto with pink onions and recent tomatoes, a white pie with three sorts of cheese, pepperoni and a vegan choice with “cheese,” black pepper and arugula.
Nonetheless, one of the best by a mile is the white truffle with egg — a pie with mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, cracked black pepper and truffle oil topped with a runny egg.
The Social Membership
Lunch, dinner and snacks
The Social Membership, discovered close to the ships’ board sport space and arcade, doles out free popcorn, gentle pretzels, sizzling canines, fudge, cake pops, cereal bars, Swedish fish, gummy bears, saltwater taffy and different sweet that is sufficient to maintain you on a sugar excessive for days.
The environment is a bit diner-esque, evoking the setting of a highschool date. It is an amazing place to order your self a milkshake, with or with out alcohol. (The latter prices further.)
The Dock Home and The Dock
Lunch and dinner
Different nice choices for a lightweight meal or between-meal snacks embrace small plates or grab-and-go sandwiches and salads from The Dock Home and The Dock. At evening, snag a drink and complimentary night mezze plates right here.
Solar Membership Cafe
Lunch and dinner
This out of doors walk-up window overlooking the pool deck presents yummy bowls with a base of cauliflower rice or combined greens and a alternative of hen, salmon poke and tuna. Diners also can go for oyster mushroom or barbecue beef rib bao bun sandwiches or dips like maple carrot.
Grounds Membership
Snacks
The Grounds Membership is primarily a espresso store the place cruisers should purchase extra-fee specialty espresso drinks and teas. Nonetheless, the cafe additionally serves free finger meals and pastries like cookies and muffins all through the day.
Associated: Each bar on Virgin Voyages ships, ranked
Lick Me Until … Ice Cream
Snacks
The ship’s cheekily named Lick Me Until … Ice Cream presents free scoops in flavors like espresso chip, butter pecan, key lime pie, raspberry beet and, after all, vanilla. Cones embrace basic, in addition to chocolate and pink velvet choices.
Is all meals on Virgin Voyages free?
All meals on Virgin Voyages’ ships is free, with two exceptions. The primary are “Deal with Your self” objects, which present up on most restaurant menus and fluctuate in worth. The second is “One other Rose,” a for-fee dinner theater expertise in The Manor nightclub on Resilient Girl; the fee is $50 per particular person. In any other case, all meals — even the road’s scrumptious ice cream — is included within the worth of the cruise fare.
Do the menus change on Virgin Voyages?
Menus don’t change each day within the eating places on Virgin Voyages’ ships. Nonetheless, Check Kitchen does have two menus that alternate all through every crusing, so you possibly can eat there twice and never repeat a meal.
In any other case, all menu objects keep the identical, however there are sufficient eating places and sufficient selection to cater to cruisers whose palates are simply bored.
Is there a buffet on Virgin Voyages?
Virgin Voyages does not have a buffet in a standard sense. What it does have is a buffetlike meals court docket space that is divided up into a number of totally different eating places that provide counter service. Both stroll up and choose one thing premade like boxed sushi, salads or desserts, or place an order for diner fare, burgers, noodle bowls, paninis and extra.
What’s attention-grabbing is that, for a number of the eateries, you select a desk and order from a menu when a member of the waitstaff seems. At others, you may sidle proper as much as the counter and place your order your self.
Do I would like reservations for Virgin Voyages eating places?
Should you’re planning to eat at Razzle Dazzle, Pink Agave, Further Virgin, Gunbae, Check Kitchen or The Wake, you may must make reservations on the cruise line’s app to ensure a seat. Reservations are additionally required for “One other Rose.”
Have extra cruise questions? TPG has solutions:
