My husband and I are big fans of Virgin Voyages. The food is better than that of any other cruise line we’ve been on, we love the sophisticated-but-cheeky atmosphere, and we adore that it’s strictly 18+.
Virgin Voyages prides itself on being different from other cruise lines.
- The beds convert into couches upon request (the initial plan was for the cabin stewards to switch them back and forth each morning/evening but guests weren’t using the couches much, so now it’s only upon request).
- Guests can control everything in the room with a tablet.
- The vast majority of balcony rooms have hammocks.
- The ship typically stays in port for 10 to 16 hours (as opposed to 6 or 8 for most cruise lines).
- The Scarlett Lady has the first tattoo parlor at sea, called Squid Ink. You can get piercings there, as well. All other Virgin Voyages ships have followed suit with having a tattoo parlor at sea.
- Sailors who are 18 – 21 can drink alcohol while in international waters (Royal Caribbean and Carnival don’t allow this)
- They have over 20 specialty restaurants and other eateries where passengers can dine for no additional cost.
- Juices, soda, tea and drip coffee (I should note: drip coffee that doesn’t suck!) are included in the cruise fare.
- They have no drink packages or “unlimited drinks” option. Instead, they have a system called a “Bar Tab,” which they offer at a discount (and their prices are pretty decent, too!)
- Gratuities are included.
- Internet is included.
- Fitness classes are included.
Virgin Voyages has also been the first cruise line to offer a monthly subscription model, an annual pass, and an opportunity to visit Necker Island (that last one is obvious: “because Virgin”).
The Virgin Voyages app
Virgin Voyages wasn’t the industry’s first to utilize an app, and it certainly isn’t the only one to use one now. Carnival, Celebrity, Disney, Holland America, Hurtigruten, MSC, Norwegian, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Seabourne and Viking all offer apps. However those other cruise lines may or may not use their respective apps as extensively as Virgin Voyages. Frankly, it would be extraordinarily difficult (if not virtually impossible) to do a Virgin Voyages cruise without utilizing the app.
It’s buggy
Unfortunately, the Virgin Voyages app is buggy. Very, very buggy – to the point of being super frustrating at times. After being in the industry for 4 years now, you’d think they’d have fixed the issues – and to a point, it has admittedly improved. But there are still too many times when it just “hangs” and you get the “spinning logo of death.”
That being said, there are a few ways that appear to make the app work, if not 100%, at least better:
The type of phone you use
The app tends to work best with later model phones that are updated with the latest OS and running the newest version of the app.
Memory Usage
The Virgin Voyages app is something of a memory hog. So if you have a bajillion apps running in the background, that increases your chance that the app will be glitchy. Shut down all those unused, unnecessary apps completely.
User-friendliness Issues
The app isn’t super intuitive; make sure you’ve taken the time to learn how to use it, including where to find certain functions. Many people get frustrated trying to do something on the app, simply because they’ve not invested the time to learn how it works.
Check your font
If your default font setting is large, the Virgin Voyages app doesn’t appear to compensate for this, which makes the app’s layout harder to negotiate. Some users have said that the larger font settings may also make it impossible to make meal reservations.
Shut it down
Make sure you shut the Virgin Voyages app down completely every time you use it. Just like The Weather Channel app (which I also give side eye), if you don’t shut it down all the way, it just “hangs,” more often than not, the next time you open it.
Verizon Android Users Beware
If you have Digital Secure on your Verizon Android OS phone, that may cause problems accessing the Virgin Voyages app. Digital Secure is a VPN and, for whatever reason, it blocks the Virgin Voyages app. Try disabling all VPNs in your phone settings, and remove app level protection in Digital Secure in order for the Virgin Voyages app to work.
If all else fails
If all else fails, you can always delete the Virgin Voyages app and reinstall it. That seems to help any of its bugs (unless it’s something going on at their main office).
One particularly annoying bug is if you’ve just completed one Virgin Voyage and have another one “on the books,” the app sometimes (but not always) has problems “letting go” of your recently-completed cruise in its software so you can focus on what needs to be done for your next cruise.
Case in point, my husband and I just got off a Virgin Voyages cruise on February 22nd and have another one scheduled for later this year. Joe’s phone (which, interestingly is 2 years older than mine – we both have iPhones) immediately let him switch to our next cruise. Mine was still stuck on the “Bon Voyage” page.
I tried shutting the app “all the way down.” I even tried shutting my phone all the way off and turning it back on. Didn’t help. But when I deleted the app and reinstalled it, it was good to go.
Hope for the future
Fortunately, there’s hope for the future. Just before we went on this most recent cruise, Joe and I both got invitations to be beta testers for an updated version of their app.
We decided that we wouldn’t both agree to do it. Instead, we said that Joe would agree to be the beta tester and I would not. That way we would still have one app we knew would work for us (bugs and all) during our cruise.
So Joe was granted access to the beta version of the new app. We can’t say anything about our experience using it because “keeping our mouths shut” was part of the terms of being a beta user. So all I will say is that the software team is obviously aware of the issues of the original app and is actively making changes.
And that is definitely a good thing!
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