WHAT SETS VIRGIN VOYAGES APART FROM THE REST?
1. Buffet-free ships are a great move and align with Virgin’s pledge to focus on less wasteful options.
2. The entertainment is amazing, especially the musical Another Rose. It’s a story of doomed love told through music and acrobatics with a touch of sauciness that can only feature on an adults-only cruise. The show was created solely for Virgin by Randy Weiner (of Sleep No More and Queen of the Night fame).
3. Open your Virgin Voyages app, shake your phone and it’ll show bubbles and ‘Bring champagne to me!’ Within 10 minutes, somebody will appear with champagne on ice.
4. Soft drinks (including mocktails) are included in the fare, as well as fitness classes, which include classic 1980s aerobics sessions.
5. Extra touches: The biggest jacuzzi on any cruise ship, a tattoo parlour and the child-free atmosphere. Adults-only is perhaps the biggest point-of-difference and will be, for many, a major drawcard.
Till ... Ice-cream is the perfect spot. With flavours like key-lime pie and strawberry malt, it’s a joyful nod to childhood indulgence.
SLICK BARS AND SUPREMELY SAUCY ENTERTAINMENT
There are multiple bars and lovely places to lounge over a cocktail or two. A regular of mine is SIP, a seductive space to unwind and listen to live music. Richard Kilman, VP of entertainment for Virgin Voyages, says the ship is designed to make the spaces ‘work’ very hard, particularly when it comes to live entertainment and shows. This is evident in The Manor, the signature nightclub designed by
Roman and Williams, inspired by Sir Richard’s first-ever Virgin music studio. “We’ve created a space we call a multiform theatre that actually transforms into different configurations, designed by theatre experts,” Kilman said. “We have a retractable seating system, so the space can be a traditional theatre or it can be a space where the seats are removed and it becomes a stand-up experience, so it’s incredibly versatile.”
As the Resilient Lady cuts through the waves on our return to Melbourne, it becomes unmistakably clear; Virgin Voyages has turned cruising on its head, blending sleek style with some really clever touches. It’s a world away from the usual kid-filled, teen-crazy cruise hustle. For me, this trip is a chill, classy kind of getaway, proving that cruising can be about relaxing in style.
FURTHERINFORMATION virginvoyages.com
The Mekong works hard. Across 4,900 kilometres from Tibet to Vietnam, this river feeds, waters, transports and employs tens of millions. It has many strands, each throbbing with activity and colour, chockfull of vessels from huge barges to narrow sampans. And us, a baker’s dozen of wide-eyed travellers on the boutique Toum Tiou II.
Then the light fades and we have the Mekong seemingly to ourselves, toasting fiery sunsets from TT2’s top deck. It’s the relaxing time, because in daylight hours we, too, are working hard, albeit on-shore, skirting alongside rice paddies, absorbing village life or running the gauntlet of tuk tuks and market vendors in Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City.