I Spent 24 Hours on the Newest Cruise Ship in the World: Brilliant Lady!
I spent 24 hours on the newest cruise ship in the world: Brilliant Lady, the 4th cruise ship from Virgin Voyages.
I was invited to board the ship for a ‘Media Preview’ event, where we were invited to tour the ship, spend a day sampling everything that she has to offer, and then even spend an overnight onboard the ship. After this preview event, the ship would cross the Atlantic, ahead of her full launch over in the US, so it was a fantastic opportunity to get onboard the ship before she launched to the public!
Brilliant Lady docked in Portsmouth, U.K. This was my first sighting of the ship!
Throughout this post, I’m going to tell you more about what it’s like to attend a Media Event of this nature, and also give you an insight to Brilliant Lady/the Virgin Voyages experience. If you find this content interesting, please support my content by signing up to my regular FREE email newsletters, and also by subscribing to my YouTube channel.
This is the first Media Preview of a new ship that I’ve ever been invited to, so I was really excited to see how this would all work. Of course, I was also super excited about seeing what this brand new ship brought to the table, too! With it being a Media event, there were lots of events scheduled throughout the day and night, designed to offer a real glimpse into what cruising with Virgin Voyages is like.
Welcome to the Brilliant Lady Tour! These screens were inside the Cruise Terminal before boarding the ship.
Here’s the line-up for our ‘voyage’. There was so much going on throughout our visit!
I’ve been fortunate enough to have cruised on ALL of the other Virgin Voyages ships on a wide range of different itineraries (although this ‘voyage’ would clock up the least nautical miles of all of my cruises so far - we wouldn’t be leaving the dock!), and so I was really looking forward to seeing how Brilliant Lady compared to her fleet-mates. Would she be brilliantly different, or brilliantly similar to the rest? I guess only time would tell…
I’d heard through the grapevine that this ship was going to have some pretty major differences compared to the rest of the fleet and, to be honest, I was excited to see if this would materialise. One of my biggest criticisms of Virgin’s ships in the past is that they’re all ‘more or less’ the same. Now, this isn’t always a bad thing. If you’re a repeat cruiser with Virgin Voyages, the fact the ships are so similar means that you’ll probably not get lost because the layout, venues, and even furniture for the most part, is exactly the same across the ships.
For me, it was my recent cruise on Resilient Lady that highlighted the downside to this level of similarity. With that being my 4th Virgin cruise, I didn’t really feel the real ‘excitement’ of exploring my cruise ship at the start of my cruise, which is a feeling that I usually love. It felt strange to have never cruised on Resilient Lady before, but to know my way around so clearly as soon as I got onboard thanks to having cruised on Scarlet Lady and Valiant Lady previously. We’ll come back to this point a few times throughout this post.
Here’s Resilient Lady docked in the Port of Piraeus, Greece. This was my most recent Virgin Voyages cruise before stepping onboard Brilliant Lady!
While the ship felt very familiar, I’ll never get over the novelty of ‘free bubbles’ at sailaway on a Virgin Voyages cruise ship…
I boarded Brilliant Lady in Portsmouth, England, a port that’s now welcomed all of the ships in the Virgin Voyages fleet. I’ve actually cruised from here before on Valiant Lady back when she launched - it did feel strange to be going through the terminal to board a cruise ship that wouldn’t at any point leave to go anywhere!
I was invited to bring a ‘+1’ with me for this overnight, and so I chose to bring my Mum. We don’t get to spend much time together at home due to the fact that we live a 5-hour drive away from each other, so it was great to have the opportunity to bring her along and show her a very different type of cruise ship to the ones that she’s been used to up until now!
Portsmouth, the first port in the world to have welcomed the entire Virgin Voyages fleet (not all at once, obviously!)!
Once we got onto the ship, we headed straight to our cabin, which was what Virgin call a ‘Sea Terrace’ cabin on Deck 14.
For anyone that’s not overly familiar with Virgin’s terminology, a ‘Sea Terrace’ cabin is what other cruise lines would call a ‘Balcony’ cabin. I’ve cruised in this cabin type before onboard Resilient Lady, but the big difference with sharing this room with my Mum was that the beds were set up in an L-shape. I hadn’t seen this before, but we both really liked it.
Here’s our Sea Terrace cabin with an L-shaped twin bed arrangement.
Here’s the same cabin category, but with a double bed instead of a twin.
Not only did the room feel much bigger due to the fact that one of the beds was running along the wall rather than both protruding into the room, but it also felt more ‘private’ than a standard twin cabin. If you think about it, in a standard twin, one of the first things you see when you wake up in a standard twin room is the other person who’s lying alongside you. In this room though, because I was facing the wall with the TV on it and Mum was facing the far end of the room, you weren’t immediately aware of the other person.
One thing that I really appreciated in this cabin was the curtain that served to hide the ‘wardrobe’ area. I’ve previously criticised my cabins on Virgin ships for having such a thin curtain that meant I would be looking at my clothes every time I entered/left the cabin even with it closed, but not anymore. It such a small, but great, example of this cruise line actively listening and trying to improve, which I’ve got so much respect for. Well done, Virgin Voyages!
The thin curtains that I’ve critiqued before are a thing of the past - hooray!
I loved the novelty of being the first people to spend the night in this cabin. The room felt exactly like my similar one of the same grade on Resilient Lady, but one place where I did notice how ‘new’ it was was the bathroom. When I used the shower before heading to dinner, it took me quite a few pumps to get any shampoo, conditioner or body wash out of the dispensers - such a novelty, but this really tickled me!
Our cabin had a balcony outside. We knew that we wouldn’t be spending a huge amount of time out here because we had a busy day ahead. It had two metal chairs, a small metal table (big enough for a coffee, but not dinner out there) and a trademark Virgin Voyages hammock. You’ll need to see our video on YouTube if you’d like to see the proof that we did indeed try it out! It would be rude not to, wouldn’t it?!
Look closely - can you see all of the red hammocks on the balconies?!
Did you know that we’ve put together a full review of this experience for YouTube? Here’s the link, and you’ll find it again at the end of this post, incase you’d like to keep reading!
The first event on our itinerary after we’d checked out our ‘home from home’ for the night was the Manor, which is a multi-use venue down on Deck 6 of the ship. At night, this place turns into the nightclub, but during the day it’s used for different styles of entertainment. We were there to see ‘Murder in the Manor’ - a new show that’s been designed specifically for Virgin Voyages. I won’t give anything away from the storyline of this incase you’re planning to go and see it for yourself, but what I will tell you is that it was absolutely fantastic.
It was dubbed as an ‘immersive show’, which usually terrifies me - I hate the thought of being picked out of the audience to be taken on stage. However, this didn’t happen during this show, which was a relief!
What impressed me most with this show was how clear it was that it had been designed with the specific venue of the Manor in mind. I guess this is another benefit to the venues across the Virgin Voyages fleet being the same - they can even focus on individual spaces to theme and refine the shows better than they could if each theatre was different. There were so many different elements of the venue being used to deliver such a strong experience. I’ll show you more from this show over on YouTube in my full review!
After the show, we headed to see some of the different cabin categories available on Brilliant Lady. There were 12 different grades of cabin available for viewing while we were onboard, including the Rockstar Suites, which is a completely different world compared to the rooms that I usually book when I cruise on these ships.
I knew exactly which room type I wanted to go to see first - one that I’d NEVER thought I’d ever get inside… The Massive Suite!
I couldn’t believe this suite was open for viewing. One day, maybe I’ll be able to cruise in here…!
The Massive Suite comes with two bedrooms. Here’s the Master, with the window on the left looking into the bathroom and the windows on the right looking out to the terrace…
Here’s the bathroom, with the window you’ve just seen from the other side. If this doesn’t make you think ‘WOW’, I’m not sure what will!
If you need a second bedroom, here it is. Okay, it’s not as glamorous as the master bedroom by any stretch, but it’ll serve as somewhere to crash out!
This suite is, as the name suggests, MASSIVE!
It’s got 830 sq feet of space inside and 1,317 sq ft of space outside on the incredible outdoor terrace. Out there, you’ve got hammocks, sun loungers, a day bed, your own hot tub with outdoor shower, and even a dining table with a staircase going up one side - presumably for ‘dancing on the tables’…?!
Here’s the private terrace that comes with the Massive Suite!
Yes, there’s even a hot tub with an outdoor shower out here!
Leaving the Rockstar world behind, we also got to see a cabin that’s completely new for Virgin Voyages - no other ship in the fleet has these cabins. If you’d like to see this cabin for yourself, I’ve put together a full overview for you - just click here to see the Sea Terrace: (Slightly) Smaller Balcony Cabin for yourself.
Why does Brilliant Lady have cabins that none of the other Virgin Voyages ships have?
The answer to this is really simple - this ship’s been designed to be slightly thinner than the rest of the fleet. The primary reason for this is that she needs to be thin enough to be able to transit the Panama Canal. Due to her itineraries covering places like the Caribbean and also Alaska, the ability to pass through the canal is really important - after all, the alternative shipping route is LONG! This has resulted in the lifeboats being housed in a slightly different way to on the rest of the fleet, and that’s impacted the space on some of the balconies down on Deck 8 of the ship.
Those cabins aren’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but they were great to see!
After seeing all of the rooms, we headed back to the room for the quickest change before heading out for dinner. We opted to change into something red - we were on a Virgin Voyages ship, after all!
Here’s what we wore for our evening onboard. This was us right before we enjoyed dinner at the Manor.
Tonight, we had 2 options for dinner. Option 1 was a meal at Rojo, the brand new Spanish inspired restaurant down on Deck 5. I really liked the look of this place, and thought it looked much more premium than the old ‘Razzle Dazzle’ black and white design that I’d seen on the other ships.
There was still a nice nod to the past Razzle Dazzle decor through the two-tone floor, walls in parts, and also some black and white details on the furniture, cushions and place settings around the room.
Option 2 was ‘Up with a Twist’, a dinner show in the Manor, which is what we chose. The Manor had been completely transformed from what we saw earlier into what felt like a totally different venue. ‘Up With a Twist’ immerses you into the Emporium of Excess, a supper club like none other you’ve seen before.
Throughout the show, the cast compete for your vote, which you place towards the end of the performance using the table lamps in the middle of the table. Each act is allocated a colour, and it’s up to them to persuade you to vote for them, in order to allow them to win and essentially ‘take over’ the Emporium.
Welcome to the Emporium of Excess, a supper club like none other you’ve seen before.
We were shown to seats right beside the stage, which ended up being SUCH a great view!
The performers in this show were SO talented - I’ve never seen performers doing some of what was in this show on cruise ships before!
This show was absolutely incredible! If you’re cruising with Virgin Voyages and thinking about booking to see this show, then this one does come with an additional charge, so you’ll need to pay a little extra on top of your standard cruise fare. For the extra cost, you’re getting the show alongside a menu of 5 courses of food and 6 drinks, so it’s actually pretty good value in my opinion. I believe that, at the point of writing this post, the cover charge to add this to your cruise is $50, which seems pretty decent value even just thinking about the 6 included drinks!
After the show, Mum and I went exploring the outside deck spaces before it got fully dark out there. Here’s a few photos to give you a feel for the spaces out there - if you’ve been on any other Virgin Voyages cruise ship, these areas will probably feel pretty familiar to you!
The Dock, at the back of Deck 7, is one of my favourite spaces onboard any Virgin Voyages cruise ship, so I was delighted to find it on Brilliant Lady.
Imagine sitting here, with a cocktail on the table and your favourite book in hand, watching or listening to the ocean for a couple of hours!
Here’s the swimming pool area up on Deck 15 - I love this space in the evening!
The top deck spaces are, generally speaking, the same as the rest of the Virgin fleet. There is one venue with some pretty major changes, but I’ll come back to that shortly.
Towards the end of our evening onboard, we decided to check out the Manor again, this time to see what the ‘nightclub’ looked like in there. This is never my ‘scene’, so we didn’t spend too long in there, but it was great to see so many people having what looked to be a great time!
The Manor is a venue onboard the Virgin Voyages cruise ships that just keeps on giving!
There’s also an upstairs in here, if you’d rather relax and people-watch with your drink of choice!
It was soon time to turn in for the night, ahead of a relatively early rise the following morning to capture the final few parts of the ship before disembarking after breakfast.
I had 2 venues on my agenda this morning: the Athletic Club and Richard’s Rooftop.
First, let me show you around Richard’s Rooftop. This is a private sundeck at the very front of the ship, reserved for those with ‘Rockstar’ status. In other words, if you’re booked into one of the top suites onboard, then you can look forward to sunbathing and relaxing in here. I’ve never been in here before on any of my past cruises, as I’ve never stayed in a suite before. Spoiler alert - I was really impressed!
Welcome to Richard’s Rooftop, the private sun deck on the top deck of Brilliant Lady!
This area provides a more intimate and exclusive hideaway than the open deck spaces of the ship.
There are even hot tubs in here, so you don’t need to go to the other side of the ‘private’ door to take a quick dip (or enjoy a longer soak)!
After having a look around the Suite-only area, I went to the Athletic Club, which is one of the venues that has changed on Brilliant Lady compared to the rest of the fleet. You’ll find this right at the back of the ship on Deck 16. While the overall layout is the same, some simple but really important and noticeable alterations have been made.
There are now sun shades above some of the day beds, allowing you to relax out on deck while staying out of the direct sun. The sun beds all around the outside of this deck have also been turned around, and the wall behind them has been turned into glass. On the other ships, everyone lies facing inward, but it feels SO MUCH BETTER to have everyone facing outward.
Here’s the new shades directly above the day beds, providing some much needed shade from the direct sun out on deck!
All of these beds have been rotated round to face outward, and what used to be a solid wall is now glass!
Don’t worry - the hot tubs are still back here, too!
These changes are good examples of changes that have taken place on Brilliant Lady due to the ‘scenic’ nature of her itineraries, but I’d love to see changes like this getting rolled out across the whole fleet. After all, the whole fleet are going to beautiful places - not just this one ship!
I’ll show you more of the changes I spotted on board over on YouTube.
So, Brilliant Lady - did I think she’s really all that Brilliant, or wholly predictable? In all honesty, this ship’s absolutely beautiful. Yes, I’ve said that it would be nice to see Virgin bring something totally innovative and new to the market, but you need to remember that’s exactly what they did in the relatively recent past - their first ship (Scarlet Lady) only took her first cruise in 2021.
What I think is absolutely excellent to see is that Virgin Voyages are obviously listening to, and responding to, passenger feedback. From tiny little touches like the new curtain in my cabin to the larger changes like the Athletic Club, it’s clear that Virgin are taking feedback onboard. I see so many cruise lines shrugging feedback off, so I really respect seeing this from Virgin.
I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing a glimpse into life onboard a Virgin Voyages cruise, and also seeing what a ‘Media Preview’ looks like! If you did enjoy, then why not come and check out another of my posts? Click here for more of my Virgin Voyages content!
Over on YouTube, we’ll show you so much more from onboard Brilliant Lady - here’s our full overview of our experience!