Sea Terrace: Slightly Smaller Balcony cabin - Look Inside!

Brilliant Lady joined the Virgin Voyages fleet in 2025, bringing with her some interesting changes. While most of those changes have been met with unanimous applause, one that’s been met with intrigue is the new cabin grade being offered onboard: a ‘Sea Terrace: (Slightly) Smaller Balcony’ cabin.

In this post, I’m going to share with you what this new grade of cabin looks like and offer you my review, in order to hopefully help you decide if this is one that you might consider booking for one of your future cruises, or one that you’d rather avoid.

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Ok, let’s get started…

Brilliant Lady is the newest ship to join the Virgin Voyages fleet, bringing the total number of ships to 4. Here she is in Portsmouth, England.

Why do these cabins exist on Brilliant Lady?

From the point of her launch, Brilliant Lady will be offering very different cruise itineraries to any of the other ships in the fleet. In her first year alone, she’s going to be covering both the East and West Coasts of the USA, the Caribbean, Canada and also Alaska. For this reason, something had to be considered that wasn’t as critical with Scarlet Lady, Valiant Lady or Resilient Lady: the Panama Canal.

In order to allow Brilliant Lady to transit the Panama Canal, the width of the ship had to be looked at. The design team opted to change how the lifeboats are housed onboard, and you’ll find these slightly further in on Brilliant Lady versus the other ships as a result. This means that some of the balcony cabins (or ‘Sea Terrace’ cabins, in Virgin-speak) have been affected, as the lifeboats take up some of their space.

Rather than selling these cabins as Oceanviews (rooms with windows), Virgin Voyages have opted to present them as ‘Sea Terrace: (Slightly) Smaller Balcony’ cabins - interesting, isn’t it? So, let’s take a look inside…

How different is the interior compared to a regular Sea Terrace cabin?

Here’s the inside of the cabin - nothing’s changed in here!

In the photograph above, you can see the interior of one of these new cabins. I was really surprised and impressed to see that the size of the actual cabin has remained the same here - this cabin was exactly the same as the regular Sea Terrace cabin that I was staying in on Deck 14 of the ship.

Infact, even the bathroom remains entirely unchanged - take a look…

The bathroom in a ‘Sea Terrace: (Slightly) Smaller Balcony cabin is exactly the same as in its’ regular Sea Terrace alternative.

The shower cubicle is also the same, featuring both rainfall and detachable shower heads.

How small is the balcony in these rooms?

If you’re considering booking one of these cabins, there’s a fair chance that this is currently your primary concern - will you have any time to move around out there, or will it just be too tight?

In all honesty, the balcony in these cabins is a lot smaller than the regular Sea Terraces. A typical Sea Terrace balcony is usually around 40 square feet, and this new variety comes in between 9 and 11 square feet. This means that there isn’t enough room for chairs out there, but Virgin Voyages have compensated by offering two hammocks instead - a fair offer, in my opinion. I guess these are offered instead as they don’t take up any space at all really - they’re just ropes, at the end of the day!

You also get a small metal table out there, so it is still possible to sit out on the balcony with a coffee (or something a little stronger) - you’ll just be swaying a little in the process due to the fact that you’re on a hammock!

Here’s a closer look at the balcony - you can see that the two hammocks face each other, instead of facing diagonally outwards in the regular Sea Terraces. Pay particular attention to the size of the small table - that should help you visualise the size of the balcony if you’re unsure.

Here’s one side of the balcony, with the first of two hammocks.

Here’s the other side. Here, you can see the other hammock, and also the small table offered with this room type.

To help you visualise the difference between these pictures and a typical Sea Terrace cabin, here’s a photo from my Sea Terrace balcony on my last Virgin Voyages cruise.

The balconies on the ‘Sea Terrace’ cabins are much larger - here’s mine onboard Resilient Lady!

Where are these cabins located on Brilliant Lady?

All of these cabins with the smaller balconies are found on Deck 8. From the deck plans, there are blocks of them in both the forward and aft sections of the ship, and you’ll find them around the stairwell areas. For total clarity, you should consult the official deck plan on the Virgin Voyages website - they’re really clearly labelled on there.

What else is important when considering this cabin type?

We’ve spent a lot of time in this post analysing the size of the balcony. There are two additional considerations that I’d propose you make if you’re seriously thinking about cruising in one of these rooms. First, the door that takes you out there, and second the degree of obstruction as a result of the cabin location. Let’s start by talking about that balcony door…

Do you notice anything different about this door?

The doors in these cabins don’t slide like they do in most of the other cabins. Instead, they open outwards, meaning that you’re unable to have the door open unless you’re holding it (or unless you jam something there to keep it open, which isn’t a good idea). This means that you might struggle to have those relaxing book-reading sessions lying on your bed listening to the waves outside.

For most people, this won’t be a huge issue, but I know some could struggle with this one.

Second, the obstruction.

A ‘Sea Terrace: (Slightly) Smaller Balcony’ cabin features an obstructed view from the balcony.

Whatever angle you look at it from, this cabin grade does come with an obstructed view. You' won’t be able to look directly down into the ocean from here, which is something that you may want to think about.

Would I consider any of these aspects a deal-breaker for me? Truth be told, no. From my point of view, if the price was right, and this room was being offered with a significant cost-saving versus a typical Sea Terrace, I’d book it in a heartbeat. I do wonder if, further down the line, Virgin Voyages might offer some of these rooms as ‘Solo Balconies’ or something similar. Time will tell on that one!

That’s it - a quick photo tour of a ‘Sea Terrace: (Slightly) Smaller Balcony’ cabin onboard Brilliant Lady. If you’ve enjoyed this post, you can see more of my Virgin Voyages content by clicking here.

Alternatively, why not come and see what it’s like to take a cruise with Virgin Voyages in the below video. In this one, I take a 4-night cruise from Miami onboard Scarlet Lady - I hope you enjoy!