royal caribbean versus virgin voyages how do these two cruise lines stack
up and compare to each other in terms of something that's not talked about enough
price as well as food entertainment and so much more coming up
i've had so much fun sailing with both of these cruise lines and if you're new here yo i'm
christine l0zada with where in the world is cl and i make travel videos every week to help you get up
get out and go travel so if you like to travel consider subscribing i really thought i was set
on sailing with virgin voyages for the rest of my life but i just recently got off yet another royal
caribbean cruise and i'm feeling very differently let's start with the first thing to compare which
is a big part of everybody's decision on travel which is price let me give you the two numbers
for each of the ships it was four hundred and ninety dollars per night for two people
on royal caribbean and six hundred and ninety dollars per night for two people on virgin voyages
i tried my absolute best to create an apples to apples comparison for you so let's talk about
wait wait hold on i'm sure you have some questions right so let's talk about what goes into each of
those prices the first thing to keep in mind is dining so on royal caribbean i got the unlimited
specialty dining package and on virgin voyages there's no such thing you can just eat at all of
the specialty restaurants and so that is apples to apples the next thing what about drinking drinking
on royal caribbean i had the unlimited booze cruise beverage package so i had that on royal
caribbean and i was paying per drink on virgin voyages right they don't have a drink package
on virgin voyages and i did i'll admit i drank a whole lot of moet so that racked up a bill so that
was another thing next on the list is internet on royal caribbean i paid for the voom internet and
on virgin voyages internet is included but i did pay additional to have the upgraded internet for
streaming well for zoom calls if i'm honest but there are two other things that really affect the
price one is season like when are you cruising and when i cruised with royal caribbean it was
in a low season in other words i went to the caribbean in the months in which there tends
to be more weather and so i got a better price so that definitely drove the price down again
we're looking at 490 versus 690 or a 40 difference you're paying 40 percent more for virgin voyages
the other last thing that was different was the room type on virgin voyages the majority of rooms
have a balcony on royal caribbean a much bigger ship a lot of different options i it's actually
an accident at the end of the day i talk about this in the other video but i had an inside cabin
so that had a huge effect on the price and so i want you to take these two prices and know that
there are these caveats around them and know that it is possible to get really great deals on both
of these cruises but this is what i paid and make sure you check out my other video on six helpful
tips on how to save money when you're booking a cruise including the wave if you don't know about
it let's talk about the food because the food is such a huge part of your cruise experience and
let's be honest let's put this out there in the first place the average person will gain
this amount of weight when they are on a cruise so it's just known that you normally will gorge
yourself when you're on a cruise me included and when i sailed with virgin voyages the first time
i was sold i was like wow this dining experience is phenomenal and the thing that you will hear in
these stories is one virgin voyages has a bit of a more sophisticated dining experience and it's a
little bit more cutting edge again you're sailing the virgin way it's just supposed to be different
the other thing that you'll hear a lot in these stories is how the existence or non-existence
of there being buffets really changes the experience and it kind of ties back to
feeling like it's a little bit more sophisticated when you don't have the choice here is an example
in virgin voyages even in the food hall where there's lots of stalls some of them open 24 hours
you are encouraged to sit down and order from a menu at some of the stalls yeah you can walk up
you can grab the food right there they'll serve it to you you're not serving yourself again no
buffet but you are mostly encouraged to sit down and order from a menu versus in royal caribbean
yeah we all know the wind jammer and when the wind jammer is open it jammed with people and their
plates are jam-packed with food like i you're walking around the windjammer watching people like
balancing as many plates as possible right that's a very common thing on royal caribbean they're
catering to the masses and it's not uncommon to seeing people really gorging themselves on a royal
caribbean cruise it's not a bash it's a me too right we're all filling our plates full of food
and it's just different on virgin voyages wow they will encourage you to order more or do you want
another round of that or do you want another side or you can order as much as you want but it's not
a serve yourself buffet experience you are sat and you are ordering and it's just different the other
thing about the food is the specialty dining so on virgin voyages the specialty dining restaurants
really go all out in the decor for being more modern more edgy more it feels like you're dining
in the cities that i used to live in feels like i'm back in manhattan in new york city
it feels like i'm in san francisco it's beautiful spaces and really beautifully served food
but the food is a little bit more cutting edge so you'll see more forward flavors or more trending
flavors or you'll just see things on a menu that you would see in a city versus
when you're on royal caribbean these are the flavors that really appeal to the masses
royal caribbean has it down pat to be able to serve lots of people ongoing all the time again
the size of the ship is significantly more we'll talk about that more in a second but when i for
example go to chop's grill it's steak and potatoes it's exactly what i expected a jamie's italian
it's your pizza and your pasta it's exactly what i would expect out of a traditional
restaurant on a traditional cruise on that same note though if you're wondering well
christine which one do you prefer i really i really came on to royal caribbean thinking
ah the food's not gonna be nearly as good and you know what it was to die for it was so good on
royal caribbean but it's just a different dining experience it's your traditional dining experience
i mean on virgin voyages you have your waiter at gun bay helping you to play drinking games
with the strangers that you were sitting at this table with and sharing a family style meal yes
royal caribbean might have the tepen tables right you might be able to sit around and be served in
that traditional setting but it's not it's just not the same vibe by the way if you're getting
some value out of this video share that like button consider subscribing and this is one of
many videos about both of these cruise lines so check the links in the description below for
the rest of the playlist and if you're wondering what the heck is up with her lighting right now
the power has been out for four and a half hours and to be honest i'm really sweaty
because the air conditioning is also out but your girl is working hard for you so if you have
any helpful tips that might help other cruisers add them in the comments below we're all community
and i'm going to share an honest story really quick which is when i was on virgin voyages i
was literally whatsapping my mom telling her like you gotta come on this ship like you've gotta
cruise with us on virgin voyages and then after i got off royal caribbean i was like whoa no way my
mom should never go on virgin voyages it's not for everybody and i have a video about how it's
not for everybody but i know that my parents will be so much happier on royal caribbean and
one of the primary reasons is the entertainment so let's talk about that the first thing to start
with is let's not forget that virgin voyages is an adult's only cruise and that completely changes
the vibe and the types of jokes that are told in the entertainment and also the type of
entertainment so let's give a couple examples the first thing let's just let's talk about the comedy
shows for example on royal caribbean you have your expected seller like comedy show with great
comedians telling super funny jokes very clean before 10 p.m but even at that after 10 p.m show
they're still being careful about who's in the crowd right versus on virgin voyages you don't
have a comedy show you have a hilarious drag show and it's oh it's over the top um if you have not
watched a drag comedy show i encourage you too but another example is for a reason it's called
not your grandma's bingo because on virgin voyages it's drag bingo with yes we are for real playing
bingo and for money but it is in a funny and fun drag style show with entertainment throughout
the bingo experience versus on royal caribbean i mean people are lined up for their cards hours in
advance and it is serious bingo business on royal caribbean still super fun i'd love to participate
and the other thing some of the shows on virgin voyages are just sexy i mean think about oh man
one of you guys in the comments below recently told me that the cirque du soleil show x that used
to be in vegas it was the adult show doesn't exist anymore oh it's not called x it's called zumanity
it doesn't exist anymore that reminds me of virgin voyages because some of the shows want for example
one of the main characters he's wearing half a tux and half a gown and for the most part showing his
chest the whole time or in never sleep alone and you can get a taste of this by listening to the
podcast it's hilarious i will link it in the description below but it's a very hilariously
sexual podcast and i want to talk about one of the misperceptions around virgin voyages
people just think it's a millennial cruise and i'm only speaking from my experience on two sailings
but i didn't meet a single person in their twenties there were probably 40 people or
so celebrating their 40s but for the most part it's an older it's an older group of
people which is what i expected and it's if you look at all the pr that virgin voyages puts out
it's also who they're catering to but again it's an adult experience with adult humor and it's just
different and the more i think about it as i was sitting on royal caribbean in all of
their very entertaining but very non-sexy shows watching the guy walk the tight rope
watching them do flips over the water all kinds of great entertainment singing grease it's such
great family fun and those are the shows i want to be sitting next to my mom with and maybe yeah
maybe not the drag shows i think she would find them really funny though my dad i don't know you'd
be a game time decision let's talk about size because the size of the ship really changes both
the vibe and the experience that you have so i've sailed with royal caribbean many times but i was
most recently on the harmony of the seas look at that that's a lot of passengers that it can hold
versus on virgin voyages on scarlet lady it's a much smaller sailing experience and so the spaces
just feel a little bit more intimate there's a lot more going into the decor and again it's an adult
only cruise so it ain't child proof when you're walking around the spaces of virgin voyages
and the size of the cruise also affects how much there is going on all the time
and this is one of the top reasons why i think my mom would prefer royal caribbean she
loves the paper the piece of paper that comes into your stateroom each night in which you can
look at the five million things happening all the time around the ship whether it's the things that
are on sale or the giveaways or the show that's happening or the music or the film like there's
just so much going on all the time and on virgin voyages it's just different well for one you
have to use the app for everything royal caribbean also has an amazing app but on virgin voyages it's
actually hard to find the paper itinerary you have to go to a specific place on the ship to anyway
it's not like that there yes there's plenty of things going on but it's not at the same scale
right it's not as big of a boat so it's not like they're going to have the rock climbing wall open
and the slide and the water slides and the wave runner thing and right it's not as many things on
the ship and so i if i'm honest with myself my mom and dad would get bored on virgin voyages because
there isn't enough entertainment on the ship and things to do around the ship even just changing
spaces i mean i have my favorite places to hang out on on scarlet lady but on harmony of the seas
on royal caribbean it's such a huge ship not only does it easy to get super lost but there's just
so many places to explore i recently sailed with them for significantly longer than i'm used to
i was on that ship for seven nights and i still didn't see everything and i've been on that boat
three times now so the size of the ship really changes the experience and it also means that
there will be varying amounts of things to do and one of the things about virgin voyages right it's
a really big focus on really great food but a lot of fitness and so they're all about that detox to
re-tox mentality and so a lot of the stuff that they have going on is around fitness classes and
fitness activities and so actually my parents are really into that but if you're not into that
you might find yourself with a lack of things to do ooh in my video about things i hate about
virgin voyages i i really really missed one of my most favorite things to do on a cruise ship
which is watch the live reggae bands i love live oh i love all live music but reggae music
oh by the pool when you're in the caribbean oh man royal caribbean winning all day on that front
royal caribbean virgin voyages i'm so curious where you are on the spectrum
and who you think you would sail with or if you've sailed with both of them who you prefer
let us know because your opinion matters and it helps people to make the right travel decisions
we're all a community let's help each other out look the power is back on yes i'm gonna go
i'm gonna go edit this if you found some value in it shares that like button
lots of videos in the description below and i'll see you in the next one ciao