Our cruise on Virgin Voyages’ Valiant Lady was one we looked forward to in anticipation as we wanted to see what all of the fuss was about. We did 7 nights out of Barcelona and visited Toulon (France), Marina Di Carrara (Italy), Ajaccio (Corsica), Cagliari (Sardinia) and Ibiza (Spain) where we were in port overnight. The onboard safety is by video in your cabin, which you must first watch before checking in at your musters station. It took just 5 minutes.

On Valiant Lady there are more than 20 eateries, for which, in the majority of cases, there are no surcharges. A few Michelin star chefs are behind a number of the menus and we were looking forward to trying as many as we could. All food is freshly prepared to order via the Virgin Voyages app and each eatery has a bar very close-by! There are no single, large dining rooms and no buffet areas. There is also a 24/7 diner serving BLT’s, pizzas and noodles!

Some eateries are bookable via the app, and I pre-booked an evening dining option for each day that we are on board. Our plan was to try breakfast and lunch as and when because you don’t always know what you might be doing during the day, in addition to there being a great choice from BBQs to an International food market.

Once we had embarked, we fancied a snack and visited The Dock which is situated outside aft on deck 7. It’s a lovely place to relax in the sunshine and take in the views of the ocean and has the identical Mediterranean-Inspired menu as the indoor Dock-House.

To get served you have to raise the flag on the Stand-up menu and someone will come to take your order. We chose from a very modest skewer menu. The grilled shrimp with a garlic yogurt and Aleppo butter is really so tasty but the Hanger steak on a mini flat-bread along with an anchovy and mint salsa is top notch. Opening times Monday to Saturday 11:00am – 10:00pm Sunday 06:00am – 06:00pm

That evening we dined in the Mexican restaurant Pink Agarve. It's quite a busy place where the lighting is quite subdued and the background music...you guessed it....it's Mexican! You can have as many of each dish as you wish. We started with the Aguachile (tuna & avocado), followed by Camaron Amarillo (seared shrimp and new potatoes and for the main we had Pescado (striped bass on a bed of spinach. The service was attentive and with a smile. The food is authentic and, although the portions are small, it is a case of quality and not quantity as it was all very good. For dessert I had the Tacos de chocolate followed by a speciality coffee for which there is a cover charge of $4 USD.

Next day we called at Toulon today and took breakfast in the area called The Galley. I just had smoked salmon followed by a fruit and muesli bento box. Once again the food was good quality and the only criticism was that the tables were not cleared very quickly.

We took the 'Little Tourist Train' onto Toulon ( www.petit-train-toulon.fr ) we spent the morning around the beaches of Toulon (very nice) and came back on board for lunch. We tried the outside Sun Club Café on deck 16 where the views are better than the experience. Nothing really wrong with the food but you can't get a drink, which is disappointing, but perhaps the main reason for the mostly empty tables was the noise from some work taking place close by. We tried the tuna and the chicken, both very tasty but far too much rice.

In the evening we dined in the restaurant aptly called ‘The Wake’ as it is situated at the very back of the ship on deck 7. It is a mixture of cool, nostalgic and sophisticated all rolled into one.

Guests (Virgin call them Sailors) walk down the grand staircase (most) in their best attire and it’s like they’ve just arrived at the Oscars!

We were really fortunate to enjoy an amazing sunset (see photo) as we tucked into a very good filet mignon washed down with an excellent 2015 Bordeaux and followed by a delicious, coconut panna cotta. The atmosphere was relaxed and the service first rate.

Next day was the port of Marina Di Carrara situated in the Italian region of Tuscany.

Marina di Carrara is beautifully positioned between the blue sea, the pine woods, and the spectacular mountains. Carrara is situated 1,000 meters above sea level at the foot of the Apuane Alps and is approximately 7 kilometres from the Tyrrhenian coastline. (Google)

We had breakfast in Razzle Dazzle on deck 5 where we both had a full English which, thankfully, were quite small portions. We chose poached eggs and good English back bacon. The restaurant is all decked out in black and white stripes with lots of red and has quite a peaceful ambience with no clattering of dishes which you can often find. All in all, a nice experience with good service.

The menu is also for the evening dining which is what we chose

Our starters were mushroom tartare (me) and melon salad (Zoë). For main I chose the Razzle Dazzle pasta whilst Zoë went for the crusted salmon. We enjoyed our meal and once again the service was very good.

We were entertained in 'On the Rocks' in the evening by The Slam Allen Blues Band, an excellent trio who were very entertaining as well as being good at what they do, playing the blues. Very enjoyable.

There are no sea days on this itinerary. So next day we were in Ajaccio, Corsica. Breakfast in the Galley. Morning oats with a large plate of fresh pineapple and melon.

Corsica, a mountainous Mediterranean island, presents a mix of stylish coastal towns, dense forest and craggy peaks (Monte Cinto is the highest). Nearly half the island falls within a park whose hiking trails include the challenging GR 20. Its beaches range from busy Pietracorbara to remote Saleccia and Rondinara. It's been part of France since 1768, but retains a distinct Italian culture. Corsica is famous as being the birthplace of Napoleon ― Google

We booked dinner in the Test Kitchen on Deck 6 mid-ship.

This venue takes your Virgin cruise dining experience to a different level and is supposed to help you learn some new cooking skills at the same time, after which you can recreate your new found skills in your own kitchen. Test Kitchen is part restaurant and part cooking school which is designed to introduce you to a world of flavours, spices, and new cooking skills. However, we were not offered the opportunity to do any of this and, as we chose to sit on stools, all we did was watch the food being plated... all a bit bizzarre!!  That also goes for the opportunity to learn how to cocktail shake!

You can view what we chose to eat on our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/GoCruiseClub with lots of photographs!

Opening times: Every evening 06:00pm – 10:00pm

Next port of call was Calgliari which is the capital city of the Italian island of Sardinia. It’s known for the hilltop Castello, a medieval walled quarter situated high over the rest of the town. Architectural highlights include the 13th-century Cagliari Cathedral. Housed in a former arsenal, the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Cagliari displays bronze objects, Roman ceramics and artifacts from the Nuragic age to the Byzantine era. ― Google

The evening was (what Virgin call) 'Scarlet night' where the colour red is the theme of the evening. Similarly to 'black tie' not all participate. We dined in the (Italian) Extra Virgin restaurant. For starters (antipasto) I had fried squid accompanied by a spicy lemon chilli dip. This was followed by a (Affattati misti) and we chose a platter of cured meats and cheese. Disappointingly they did not have any chianti on board (quite unbelievable in an Italian restaurant) so we chose a bottle of 2017 Sant Emillion Bordeaux which was very good though at £78 it should be! For mains I chose the New York strip steak whilst Zoë had the sea bass. For dessert we both had the Ricotta Bomboloni. This venue, overall, is a nice place to dine.

Ibiza was our next port of call where the ship stayed in port overnight but we decided to stay on board. Many guests did go out to the clubs and bars ‘til late but they tended to be the younger generation (I know my limits)!

For dinner we ate in the Korean restaurant Gumbae on Deck 15 aft. It is the first Korean BBQ at sea. It is quite noisy and especially when everyone shouts hwan-yeonghada which means “welcome” in Korean. The dining area is separated into individual booths which each seat 6 people. We shared our table with two nice couples. Waiters will involve guests to soju (type of vodka) shots drinking to get things going but we abstained!

Served up was a variety of rice and noodle dishes as well as stews. This was followed by a large selection of meats, which were cooked on flameless grills in the middle of the lava stone table. Every dish was really tasty and overall, this was our best food experience of the week.

As we had stayed on board Valiant Lady we thought we go and try ‘The Groupie’ which is the Karaoke area housing several Karaoke booths. This was a whole lot of fun and you can sing to absolutely any song you choose to.

As the final day of our cruise on board Valiant Lady was in conference with other cruise lines (organised by The Advantage Travel Partnership) our last night was spent enjoying drinks outside at the Dock-house before dining, once again, in The Pink Agave with other delegates. This time we had numerous food plated to share from succulent rib-eye steak to mouth-watering (and spicy) pork fillet. It must have been enjoyable as we were at our table for 3 hours!!

Next day we disembarked in the port of Barcelona.

Summary

To summarise. The Virgin Voyage experience was interesting to say the least. Although it is an adults-only cruise (18+) we were surprised at how many 60+ 'sailors' there were on board. We spoke to a few 'older' passengers who told us that it was their first cruise experience and that they thoroughly enjoyed it. For one such couples it was their second time on Valiant Lady. There is so much happening on board but of course it's quite impossible to list everything so I have attached a list of 'daily events' that guests can expect which gives a better idea of what is actually available. If you want to relax, you can, if you want to party around the pool, you can, if you like to keep fit, you can, if you want to socialise, you can, and if you want to try numerous different food types, you can. The list is endless and there's absolutely something for everyone on Virgin. It’s different but well worth a try!