- Virgin Voyages maintains a strict 18+ policy, which is a fundamental design choice that ensures a calmer, more adult, and serene onboard environment.
- The ships are designed with a focus on a premium space-to-Sailor ratio, featuring fewer passengers and multiple venues to disperse crowds naturally.
- The ship layout uses a resort-like flow rather than a traditional vertical design, utilizing staggered decks and multiple paths to eliminate congestion points.
- The cruise line eliminated the typical buffet and instead offers over 20 diverse, specialized eateries to improve flow and avoid dining bottlenecks.
Virgin Voyages ships are specifically designed to counteract the common perception of overcrowding in the cruise industry, aiming instead for the feeling of a floating boutique resort. This sense of spaciousness is achieved through several deliberate design choices, including a strict 18+ policy, which eliminates the chaos often associated with family cruising and contributes to a naturally calmer atmosphere.
Architecturally, the ships prioritize flow over maximizing capacity. Virgin Voyages limits its Sailor count to maintain a high space-to-Sailor ratio, ensuring that even when the ship is full, it never feels congested. The layout is designed like a resort, featuring multiple staggered venues, wide-open spaces, and various walking paths that disperse passengers throughout the decks, preventing bottlenecks and high-traffic areas. This is in stark contrast to traditional vertical hotel-style ship designs.
Furthermore, the cruise line intentionally replaces the typical large, traffic-generating buffet with over 20 distinct eateries, eliminating queueing and spreading dining activity across the ship. Expansive and thoughtfully designed outdoor spaces, along with numerous hidden nooks, cabanas, and lounge pockets, provide multiple areas for relaxation and escape. This combination of adult-only tranquility, balanced capacity, and spread-out venues is fundamental to the Virgin Voyages experience, allowing passengers to feel unhurried and ensuring the ship maintains an open, uncrowded energy throughout the sailing.
