US cruise for first timers. Virgin or Royal Caribean?

[fiddleydiddleydoo]

The Virgin one is 5 nights (on Valliant), and there are two RC ones that fit our date / departure requirements and they are 3 nights (Voyager) and 4 nights (Utopia).

DH is very keen to try a cruise, me less so but I'm willing to give it a go.

Looking at reviews on line, there doesn't seem much to choose between them.

🤔

Never sailed with Virgin because we have dc, but from what I gather, they have a more all-inclusive pricing system. I think that even the base fare includes tips, all food and even WiFi.

Thank you
That is definitely something to consider.

Royal Caribbean is a traditional cruise line which is great for families and will have options of traditional and free style dining. Virgin is adults only and quite quirky rather than traditional.

The ships that you are considering are very different! Utopia was launched last year and I think she might be the largest cruise ship currently. Voyager was launched in 1998 and holds just over half the amount of passengers.

Many of the 3-4 day sailings from the USA are treated as booze cruises, especially those during the spring break period.

If it was me I’d be leaning towards Virgin

Aren’t the Virgin ones basically orgies?

Thanks Jellifer

HermioneWeasley, I hope not 😛

Were you joking?
I’m getting a tad worried you were being serious.

The food on Virgin is very poor in my experience , and it is a fight to get a reservation in the restaurants, which leaves just the food court (like a shopping centre food court) if you’re unlucky. RC has a main dining room (silver service restaurant) plus speciality restaurants, so you have the best of both worlds. You will pay a top up for some of the speciality restaurants , but the mDR is free. In addition there are free burger bars, pizza, ice cream etc

I’d go RC

Cruise with Ben and David on you tube have tons of videos of RC and Virgin. They’re very watchable and you’ll be able to see what suits you best. From what I’ve seen personally I’d pick RC over Virgin. Generally seems like there’s more to do and the ships are bigger.

Thank you, pigeonqueen
And apologies for the late thanks. I somehow managed to miss your post.

Definitely not the shorter ones as they sold for a really cheap price in the US and I’d also say check out Celebrity Cruises.