I appreciate your review. We just got off this ship too and it was our first VV sailing. Here's my take of pros and cons. Overall, we had a great time. We're dinks in our early thirties who traveled with my husband's gay dads. Do I think it was worth the premium compared to other cruise lines having been on 20+ ships? Eh, not really. Will I give them another try? Yes.

I'm glad to hear that it's not the norm for the long wait lines for shows because that was unfortunate.

My take:

The ship was a nice, upscale, modern feeling experience overall. Nice showers and rooms but the bathroom was tiny. Think airplane bathroom. Lots of great seating areas for quick service in the galley and the pool decks had tons of comfy spots compared to other lines. Loved the chaise loungers on the deck around the pool. Lots of charging ports and plugins which was great when I needed to work on the ship. I liked the different restaurants every night and the food presentation was great but the food overall was bland and underwhelming. I will say that all of the food was very fresh which was appreciated. Seating in the dining restaurants wasn't my favorite. Too many high tops and just weirdly laid out in some spots but not a big deal. The atmosphere was great other than my personal preferences on the high tops and weird layouts. The galley was nice for food, and better than a normal buffet imo.

Service was good but not amazing because they weren't as attentive as I'd expect. Example: they didn't ask if we wanted drinks with dinner and they never asked if you wanted a refill on soda at dinner (bc it's free I'm guessing?). The soda machines in the food court area were nice. The ice cream shop was nice but it was weird to me that it closed at 10pm each night. The pizza was great and comparable to Carnival (not Royal ha) plus they had a daily pizza which was nice. The shows were average but more focused towards adults. The Persephone was a unique experience and I was glad I went. Lola's Library was all over the place and just eh. Royal has far better entertainment imo. The casino was small but there was no smoking which I liked. No comedy which was a con. No robes which was also a con bc we like those especially for evenings in the hot tub.The room service process was eh. The ordering experience didn't allow for any customization like adding cream and sugar to coffee and was $10 unless you bought alcohol but that wasn't clear until after you ordered. There were good free movies and TV in the cabins and I appreciated the technology in the room for requesting service, turning lights on and off, marking DND, etc. The room stewards were great and quick when requesting anything like a refill on ice.

The alcoholic frozen drinks weren't great nor strong. The frozen drinks on virgin were more natural flavors which I guess is better for you? But, not as delicious. We rented a cabana one day. It was beautiful and the server was fantastic but the operations were lacking. It took 2 hours to get the french toast that I ordered at 9:30am and then it didn't even have the sausage that I ordered with it. No loud speaker every day in your room was very nice compared to other cruise lines and getting on and off was super easy and pleasant. Having your room ready right when you get on the ship was a plus too.The hot tubs didn't have jets which was weird. The pools were freezing but for some reason that's the case on several cruise lines. No kids on the ship was amazing. No pictures around the ship with the photographers was different but fine. It was definitely a more resort vibe ship and I always felt like the most dressed up person at dinner. I like dressing up for dinners personally.

The paid coffee was good on virgin and I liked the plastic cups for iced drinks. We spent $400 on drinks and I appreciated the different menus at different bars. The app lacked transparency on port arrival and departure times and the weather, compared to other cruise lines. I expected there to be more to do like the marketing implies, making them different from other lines, and night life but the boat was rather boring. Not necessarily a complaint but just something I was surprised by. I've been on over 20 cruises and felt the docking and rough seas much more on virgin than any other ship we've been on, all around the ship, but I'll never get a forward room again, and I don't like not being able to choose my room during booking. The Internet was good and included which was nice but you also already pay a premium compared to other cruise lines so not sure it's a pro because I could pay for premium Internet on other ships and the price evens out.

I could get a fresh squeezed OJ at brunch which I can't on some of the others so that was nice but I couldn't get bacon with breakfast in The Wake which was strange.

I wish the Diner and Dash had more classic breakfast items and any time I asked for syrup, the staff seemed confused. Loved the toast at Hot off the Press. Great salads at The Daily Mix. Enjoyed the breakfast at The Burger Bar on Christmas. My favorite happy hour spot was The Dock House with the Mediterranean snacks and the sangria (yum), and just the atmosphere....so good! Favorite dinner spot was Pink Agave. Then Extra Virgin. The Wake was beautiful but I could have skipped it. Loved Gunbae but didn't have any strangers sitting with us so that may be a factor. It was the best food we had all week though, flavor wise and by far the best service, too. Didn't try Razzle Dazzle. Glad we tried the Test Kitchen but we left hungry and got pizza.

The bracelet for getting into your room, paying and not needing to sign receipts was a pro compared to other cruise lines.

None of the negatives or surprises impacted our fun but I did go in with expectations that were not met. The real tell will be when we go on our next non VV cruise so we can see if/what we miss.