The Ultimate Guide to cruising solo with Virgin Voyages!

If you've found this post, you're probably either considering a solo cruise with Virgin Voyages, or you'd just like some more information.

Whichever of these is correct, I'm glad you're here. In this post, I'm going to share with you my recent experiences of cruising solo with Virgin Voyages, as they do things a little differently to most other cruise lines out there!

First off, what do I mean by 'cruising solo'? Well, believe it or not, I don't just mean those cruising with no friends on the ship. Lots of people identify as a 'solo cruiser' even when travelling with a group, as they perhaps want to join the other solo travellers to make connections or new friends while onboard. 'Solo' travellers can come in so many different forms - remember that!

If you've followed me for a while, you'll know that I tend to take most of my cruises as a solo passenger. I've cruised with most of the mainstream cruise lines in the market, and I used my YouTube channel to vlog my experiences, to help you to decide which could be the 'right cruise line' for you. To support my channel, please do come over and subscribe today - I'd love to see you over there - just click here to go there now!

So, what is the solo experience like on a Virgin cruise?

To be honest, my answer to this has massively changed since my first Virgin cruise. I was onboard Valiant Lady for her launch, and I was really shocked and disappointed by the lack of effort put into solo engagement from Virgin. Sure, solo's should never depend purely on the cruise line to help them meet people, but it really does help! On that cruise, there were no solo meet ups, which led to a really surreal situation where I met solo travellers on the last day who had spent the whole cruise trying to make friends - d'oh - come on, Virgin!

However, I'm delighted to report that things are now VERY different, and I’m hopefully going to use this post to tell you about what you can expect from cruising solo with Virgin Voyages.

Will there be solo meet ups on my Virgin Voyages cruise?

Yes! On all of my recent Virgin cruises, there have been excellent numbers of solo meet ups. You can expect a meet up on day 1 of your cruise, usually ahead of dining opening on the first night. This will usually take the form of a drinks reception, and I've seen this take place in ‘Sip’, the onboard champagne bar (there are a few photos of this venue below to give you a feel for the place). This allows solo travellers to meet, in a 'hosted' environment, which often helps to really break the ice!

Before we move on, what do I mean by a 'hosted' environment? Well, I've cruised with so many cruise lines who assume that just putting a 'solo drinks at 5pm' event on the daily schedule is enough, but Virgin have gone one step further. They appoint a member of the crew to assist at this event, which allows the conversation to be stirred where it might be quiet, and they can help people to mingle. I've seen this work fantastically well on my recent cruises - well done, Virgin! The host can also work with the solo group to run a few ice breakers to get everyone engaging and, from what I’ve seen, it works really well!

This applied to the first solo meet up of the cruise, but then there were (usually unhosted) drinks meet ups on the daily schedule for the cruise for every single day. You'd usually find a slot in the morning for solo passengers to meet up (presumably over morning coffee), and then another early evening (usually around 5pm) for pre-dinner drinks. Again, it's really great to see this - I recently cruised from Barcelona and couldn't attend solo drinks on day 1, so it was super easy for me to just join in later in the cruise!

Is there anything special to think about from a dining point of view for solo passengers on a Virgin cruise ship?

Not only do Virgin offer drinks meet ups throughout the cruise, they also kick things off with a group dining option on the first evening of the cruise. From my experience, this isn't available every night of the cruise - only night 1. A table is usually reserved at Razzle Dazzle, one of the onboard restaurants, specifically for solo travellers. If you'd like to dine with other solo passengers, there's no need to book a table on the first evening - just turn up to the restaurant and ask the host at the door to show you to the solo table - easy peasy!

This venue works really well for this type of event, as there are a number of long tables, which can easily be reserved by a crew member onboard. You’ll find details of the solo dining slot either in your Daily Schedule (on your app), or just speak with the host at the welcome reception I mentioned above!

Remember - this isn't a nightly event, so be sure to either try to make some connections over this dinner, or head to pre-dinner drinks the following night to meet your next dining buddies if you’d like company over your mealtimes - the table isn't reserved every night at Razzle Dazzle!

How can I keep in touch with other solo passengers when I cruise with Virgin?

Don't worry - keeping in touch with fellow passengers on a Virgin cruise is super easy, mostly due to the fact that basic wi-fi is included for everyone, regardless of cabin grade or booking type etc - simple! The basic internet package will allow you access to a good number of apps and a healthy range of features, including WhatsApp. On my recent cruise, the 'host' at the drinks meet up on the first evening of the cruise coordinated the creation of a WhatsApp group for solo travellers, which then served as a great tool to keep in contact with others as the cruise progressed.

The WhatsApp group then became a really useful way for solo's to notify others of their plans, incase others wanted to join. For example, if I wanted to find someone to share my dinner table that evening, I could just pop a message into the group chat - a great idea!

I've never seen this done by a cruise line before, but I love it! I guess the element that would limit this with so many other cruise lines is the availability of internet - this is usually an added cost for everyone onboard, and so I often find people who choose not to purchase the packages on offer.

Is a Virgin cruise ship just full of young solo cruisers? What's the age range on a Virgin cruise?

If you're asking this, don't worry - I was also a little worried that the solo group on my Virgin cruise would be full of 'young people'. I feel strange typing that as someone in his early 30's, but the reality is that some of my best friends that I've met on cruises are in their 50's/60's (and often higher too), so I love a wide age range of fellow solo's when I take a cruise.

I'm delighted to report that this was exactly the case on Virgin. I befriended a few people in their 20's/30’s, but I found that most of my fellow solo's were probably somewhere in the 40-65 age bracket. In short, don't worry about booking a Virgin cruise and thinking you might be too young, or too old - there's usually a really nice mix on there, so just get onboard and embrace it!

Would I recommend the solo cruise experience with Virgin Voyages?

Oh, my answer here is easy. Yes, yes, yes! If you'd like to see more from my trips with Virgin Voyages, then come over to my YouTube channel and I can show you so much more - either search 'Fraser at Sea' on YouTube, CLICK HERE, or jump into the below video - I've got so much to show you!

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