Travel Gossip reporter Louisa Woolf and her friend joined a Virgin Voyages solar eclipse sailing onboard Scarlet Lady for an adventure around the Med to see if cruises are good for the youngest millennials.
A cruise has never been on my radar. The only person I knew who loved them was my grandad, so although I travel a lot, I just didn’t think they were for my generation. My preconceptions of cruising weren’t great either… I imagined an older crowd, boring buffet food, and dated interiors, or even worse, full of kids, garish waterslides and naff entertainment.
With one month left of my twenties and an open mind, I joined Scarlet Lady for the 12-night ‘Solar Eclipse: Barcelona to Rome’ sailing to see if I could be convinced otherwise. Friends in the industry told me: if anyone can do it, it’s Virgin.
First impressions
Immediately, it stands out that on Virgin that there are no children allowed, which is reflected in the slick, open-span spaces as you walk onboard. Despite launching in 2021, the ship feels bright and modern with no garish playgrounds, and nicely styled bars and lounges, like the Sip Lounge and On the Rocks, that make you forget you’re at sea.
I was lucky enough to bring my best friend onboard and, both as 20-something cruise newbies, we got stuck straight in.
We headed straight to our cabin, passing a number of very friendly crew who waved us onto the boat, helped us onto the Wifi and pointed us in the right direction. Even though the average age was probably 20 years our senior, we were pleased to see a lot of other sailors embarking who looked a similar age to us.
We were also pleasantly surprised by the spaciousness of our Sea Terrace cabin, which had been arranged with two single beds in an L-shape, a TV on the wall, a fridge, safe, desk/dressing table, a generous wardrobe with plenty of hangers and drawer space, a small but decent-sized bathroom with a large shower and lots of storage, plus plenty of room under the beds for the extreme amount of shoes and bags we’d packed.
We loved the big windows and sliding door to the balcony, with two chairs, a little table and the red hammock that we’d end up fighting over.
The housekeeping service was exceptional. Ketut arrived almost immediately to introduce himself and make sure we had everything we needed. Throughout the sailing, he came to clean the room and restock everything, including beach towels, daily, always remembering our names and what we’d been up to that day.
Within the first five, overexcited hours, we’d enjoyed happy hour on the top deck, joined the sailaway party, been to a stand-up show, done an eclipse photography class, seen a 90s rock band, had a Korean BBQ with six other sailors and played my first ever game of blackjack in the casino.
As first-timers, we were a little overwhelmed initially by the Virgin Voyages app and the amount of bookable activities, so we sat down to plan our time onboard. It’s worth encouraging clients to get restaurants, fitness classes and excursions booked as early as possible, as by the time we got onboard, lots of the things we wanted to do were already full.
Happily, we realised we could get into most things on a walk-in basis and nab cancellation slots, but better-planned travellers will be able to make the most of their time onboard with the app.
Food
Another pleasant surprise was the range and quality of food onboard. On Virgin, there is no traditional buffet and the main eating area, the Galley, feels more like a food market, with lots of little outlets serving you.
The six bookable speciality restaurants, which are all included in the fare, were well worth reserving for dinners, although I always got a walk-in slot by joining the waitlist via the app. The food in all of them was a step up from the Galley offering, and each restaurant had its own distinct feel.
Standouts for me were the sushi bar, serving fresh rolls at almost any time of the day, and the tuna tartare (pictured below) and filet mignon at The Wake, which I was impressed to see included on the menu for no extra charge.
Extra Virgin, the ship’s Italian speciality was another highlight, which I came back to three times, with my friend on our first night, on my own to dine at the bar, and with a group of seven newly made friends on the last night. Their service was always impeccable, and the quality of their food was impressive, especially the charcuterie board (pictured above).
After 12 nights, I was expecting to feel bored of the food, but that didn’t happen — there was enough variety to keep things interesting, and lots of the restaurants I wanted to go back to.
Fitness and space
With 12 nights of all-inclusive cheese platters, freshly rolled sushi and gelato on offer, I was grateful that one of the things Scarlet Lady does particularly well is fitness. I didn’t think about this aspect beforehand, but the sports facilities became one of my favourite parts of the cruise.
The facilities onboard felt surprisingly modern and high quality, with three gyms, a spin studio, a yoga studio, an outside deck and other sports equipment dotted around the ship.
I loved starting my morning with laps of The Runway (pictured below), a running track suspended above the sea as the sun rose and we sailed into a new destination. The HIIT classes were particularly popular, always booked to capacity in the Training Camp, with excellent kit, great instructors, a fun vibe, and a good way to meet fellow sailors.
For me, the best place on the ship was the cycle studio, which was empty every single time I used it. Sitting on the bike against the window, looking out at by far the best view of any spin studio I’ve ever been in, was amazing.
For someone sporty and outdoorsy like me, I’d felt nervous about feeling cooped up on board, but there was no chance of this. In fact, in 12 days I could hardly fit in all the activities I wanted to try. We played basketball on the outdoor courts, did a line-dancing class, a guided meditation workshop and boxed on the punch bags on deck.
I also worried that after 12 days I might start to feel claustrophobic, but that was never really a problem since there always seemed to be an empty deck to find to do yoga, read my book or stare at the sea, away from the 2,519 other guests.
Solo travel
By the end of the first week, my cabin mate sadly had to disembark and go home. I was slightly nervous about being left alone for the final seven nights, but the ship is set up well for solo travellers, with meet-ups peppered throughout the schedule, and easy ways to share contact details on the app.
I found my tribe at the daily pub quizzes, where I met a fun group, who were all in their 30s, and hung with them regularly throughout the remaining days for more trivia sessions, dinners and drinks in the hot tub.
For someone who enjoys solo travel like myself, the cruise was the perfect combination of a stacked schedule of social events in the evenings and on sea days, and space to discover new places on my own on port days. I found that mix worked really well for me, as I was able to choose when to socialise and when I wanted to explore on my own.
Excursions
The stops on this particular itinerary included bucket-list destinations like Mallorca, Ibiza, Cannes, Corsica, Cinque Terre, Amalfi and Sicily. For the mostly American sailors onboard, who tended to have spent less time in Europe, I felt this itinerary really showed off some of the most iconic places in the Med. For travellers with limited annual leave looking to really maximise their time off, I can 100% see the appeal of falling asleep and waking up in a new location each day.
I joined a hiking tour one day and spotted two girls sitting alone on the coach picking us up from the port in Ajaccio, Corsica’s capital. They were both in their twenties, one a seasoned cruiser who had already sailed around the Greek islands and multiple Caribbean itineraries solo, while the other was travelling with her family but had joined the excursion alone because, unlike them, she fancied doing something active.
As the coach wound its way up the spectacular roads into the Vizzavona mountains, we quickly became a trio. Following our guide, we walked through the old pine forests, scrambled over rocks and plunged into an icy waterfall for a swim at the end of our hike.
Afterwards, we were taken to a local French restaurant for a glass of rosé and a traditional Corsican charcuterie board, made with the island’s Nustrale pig, a local breed fed on chestnuts and acorns in the mountain forests we’d just come from.
I stayed in touch with the girls and joined them a few more times on the ship, including dancing in the nightclub, The Manor, at Y2K night, where us and our fellow millennial Sailors [guests] danced to throwbacks from our childhood.
We had a generous amount of time in each port. I think nine hours was our shortest stop, which gave us a great chance to explore each place.
On less social days, I peeled away from the crowds at the port and used public transport to explore on my own. In Cinque Terre, I took a local bus into the mountains behind La Spezia and found a trail to Monesteroli. The tiny, ancient rural village can only be accessed by sea or the famous staircase, an arduous 1,200 step descent, which takes you down to a hidden beach with not a single person on it, despite being less than 5km from the busy, world-famous villages of Cinque Terre.
In addition to the already impressive itinerary, Captain Bram periodically came on the ship’s tannoy to announce a series of surprises, which turned out to be some genuinely unforgettable moments.
We had a firework show overlooking the Cannes Riviera one night (pictured above), a view of an erupting volcano as we sailed past Stromboli, and an earlier port call in Ibiza, allowing us an unexpected eight hours extra to enjoy the island’s club scene. Hard to say what was better: the surprise night out in Ibiza or coming back in the (not so) early hours to an all-inclusive dining room.
The Eclipse
The standout moment, of course, was the solar eclipse (pictured below), for which we sailed straight into the path of totality, positioned in the middle of the Balearic Sea between Mallorca and Ibiza.
On the morning of the event, eclipse fever was building onboard, with lots of passengers wearing custom-made eclipse T-shirts to breakfast and a real buzz around the ship. Talking to my fellow sailors, lots were eclipse-chasers, having booked the cruise specifically to watch the event from a prime position. Many had witnessed eclipses elsewhere in the world and booked this cruise more than a year in advance to secure the best viewing spot.
For others, like me, this would be their first eclipse and a happy addition to an otherwise impressive itinerary.
In the evening, all 1,360 guests onboard, as well as most of the crew, headed to the starboard side of the top decks with their Virgin Voyages eclipse glasses in hand.
Watching the sun begin to set over the ocean, and then witnessing the eclipse, was genuinely exceptional. People gasped audibly when the sky eerily turned black, and cheered when the sun came back out again. I’d never seen anything like it, and it didn’t feel like a normal holiday experience. I can see why people get addicted to chasing these moments, and watching it over the sea made it even more memorable.
The itinerary reflected the eclipse cruise, with various space-themed activities. Dara O’Briain’s stand-up-meets-science show was a highlight, when he mixed his palpable fascination with space with a good-humoured stand-up routine, poking fun at the largely American crowd as they struggled to keep up with his thick accent and fast speaking.
I also saw a fascinating lecture on space with astrophysicist Hakeem Oluyesi, went to a space-themed pub quiz, heard a NASA astronaut speak and did a stargazing session at midnight on the back deck.
So, is cruising actually good for young millennials?
My biggest takeaway was that there are so many different cruise experiences you can have on board. I saw people get tattoos and others get married.
One day I went for a relaxing facial, an aromatherapy workshop, did three different fitness classes and fell asleep reading my book to the sound of the sea by 9pm. Another day I went back-to-back from a comedy show to a pool party, to a dance class, to the club.
For a millennial who wants to see a lot of Europe without sacrificing good food, fitness, nightlife or the freedom to do their own thing, I can absolutely see the appeal of a cruise. With a schedule as packed and varied as Virgin’s, the cruise can suit any kind of traveller, including one in their twenties.
Louisa was a guest of Virgin Voyages.
