Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady Sea Terrace Review
The Sea Terrace cabin on both the Scarlet Lady and Valiant Lady (and I can assume on the upcoming new ships as well) is the most common cabin type even though it is an upgrade. Nearly 90% of cabins on Virgin Voyages first two ships are Sea Terrace cabins.
The first two categories of cabins are the Insider (no windows) and the Sea View (window but no balcony). Then the Sea Terrace and Sea Terrace XL. Finally the suites: RockStar Quarters and Mega RockStar Quarters.
The Sea Terrace cabins are 185 sq ft. For one person, it was plenty of space. Two might find it tight. I can’t imagine trying to fit three or four adults in one of the cabins.
The rooms come in two slightly different configurations. The location of the bathroom dictates if the bed is closer to bathroom or closer to the balcony. In my opinion, the better configuration is the one that I had, and will be referring to in this post, with the bed closer to the balcony.
I was assigned to room 13-186A on deck 13. This is just two floors down from The Galley and pool deck so stairs are your best bet. Most of the other restaurants and activities are on deck 6 and 7 and the elevator makes sense for visiting those levels.
The cabin placard acts as door bell, bracelet scanner, and notification for housekeeping. To unlock your door, you hold your bracelet against the placard and the door unlocks. Just inside the room (kind of hiding in the closet) is a button to notify housekeeping. Red means “Do Not Disturb” while blue means “Service”.
As you enter the room, the closet space is on the left and bathroom is on the right.
The closet has an open section that can be hidden with a curtain in addition to an enclosed closet. The open section has area to hang clothing as well as some baskets to hold clothes or dirty laundry.
The enclosed part has life jackets, beach towels, hair dryer, safe, and four shallow drawers. The door has a full length mirror.
For one person, this was enough space but for two or more, it would be tight. My international carry on size suitcase fit under the bed which gave me more space work with.
Across from the closet on the wall is the temperature control. I like to keep my room cold and I never had any issue with the room temperature.
Next to the closet is the desk with a small stool, two cubbies, mini fridge and water and ice bucket. The sextant you see is actually a corkscrew and bottle opener.
Sparkling and still water is provided in your cabin and is refilled every day. If you run out, you can always request more through the tablet or app.
The app sits on a shelf above the desk outlets (US, usb, and international). The tablet charges wirelessly and is used to control the TV, curtains, lights (including various light settings like “zen”) and can request various housekeeping services. The tablet goes off after a couple of hours if not used. There is also a button on the side to put it in sleep mode; which you will want to do when you are ready for lights out. Otherwise, it emits a glow while you are trying to fall asleep.
The different light settings are really cool and useful. There is various LED backlighting that can change colors or can be put on bright white if you want a bright room.
The TV is mounted across from the bed. The first thing you have to do when in your cabin is watch a safety video that follows the “rock star” theme.
The movie selection was quite good with some new releases as well as a ton of older options and TV shows. But on a five night cruise it was hard to find time to watch any movies.
Opposite the wall with the desk and TV is a chair and the bed.
Virgin Voyages originally planned to have the bed convert into a couch during the day. That is why you see the large flat section next to the bed. The bed is actually two pieces and one half swivels making an L-shaped couch. However, they found that most people preferred to always have the option for a bed (hello naps!) and it was a lot of work for housekeeping to change each day. So now it mostly remains a bed unless you specifically ask to have it changed to a couch.
The problem I found was that the bed felt more like a couch then a bed. It was really hard. I heard later in my cruise you could request a mattress topper to make it softer. I think that should just come standard. The linens were all very high quality. As set up you get just the duvet and fitted sheet. Again, I understand that if you want a top sheet they will provide one.
I think a good fix for Virgin Voyages would be to add a cushion to the white, flat area so that you always have the bed and a small couch. And it would be a pretty cheap change.
The glass sliding door really takes up the entire back wall. Sheer curtains can be opened and closed by hand. The blackout curtain is controlled by a button by the window or by the tablet.
The balcony is larger than I thought it would be. Most people know about the hammock — it really is comfortable. I never used the metal chairs but if I was traveling with someone else, I might have played a game out on the balcony.
My only complaint about the balcony is that there is a light on all night that can’t be turned off. It leaks light into the room. I don’t know if it is a safety issue (so other ships can see the boat) but it prevented the room from being pitch black. There is even a light switch in the cabin by the sliding door that seems like it would control the outside light but it does nothing. It may be that the captain has the ability to allow guests to control their balcony light. However on my voyage, that was never the case.
Bathroom
The bathroom in the Sea Terrace cabin is small but functional. When you open the door, there is a step up into the bathroom. The light switch is on the outside.
The toilet is connected to the side wall and is flushed with a small push button.
The sink takes up half of the counter. For one person there was enough counter space. A rack has some storage as well as two glasses. There is also storage in a small cubby as well as under the counter.
The shower has a glass door (no shower curtains!) that has a tight seal. I never had any water leak out of the shower stall. The shower has both an overhead rain shower head as well as a hand held wand. The water pressure was fantastic — better than 99% of hotels I’ve stayed in. They sacrificed some space in the rest of the bathroom to have a roomier shower and I think it was a great decision.
The bath products are Red Flower brand and are wall mounted. Only one bar of soap was provided and that was for the sink.
The towels are high quality though I didn’t love the hand towels. One side was more of a linen feel and the other side was terrycloth.
Housekeeping comes once a day to do a basic clean up and replacing towels. I don’t believe sheets were changed during my 5 night cruise though I could be wrong.
Sound was never an issue in my room; but that could have been because I only had a neighbor on one side of me.
Overall I loved the Sea Terrace cabin. Everything just worked well and how I would have hoped it would; with the exception of the bed. For one person it was perfect. I like the modern, minimalist design. They make good use of technology and lighting in a way that is completely functional and not just tech for the sake of tech. I wish more hotel rooms were like the Sea Terrace.
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My 5 Night Cruise on Virgin Voyage’s Scarlet Lady
Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady Sea Terrace Review
Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady Dining Review
Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady Entertainment Review
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