Overgrown schoolboy’s dream? How Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Lady shapes up after her ‘glow-up’

Words by Nick Dalton

Scarlet Lady took to the seas in 2021, the first Virgin Voyages ship, since joined by Valiant Lady and Resilient Lady – and, from September 2025, Brilliant Lady. Now she’s had a delicate yet decisive revamp – the new face of cruising putting on some posh new make-up.

Scarlet Lady was – and still is – very different from just about anything on the seven seas. An unmissable silver-grey livery paint job with Virgin’s trademark red is only the outward sign of standing out in the crowd. Inside, it’s a world of bars, restaurants, accommodation and entertainment that break the cruising mould, whether the RockStar cabins to the fact that there’s no main dining room to shows that are curiously off-kilter.

Scarlet Lady was in dry dock in late 2024 for some changes – but far from changes that mean a change of direction. Starting at the front, the famed mermaid was repainted, more elegantly and voluptuously, perhaps, but not so the uninitiated would recognise – and that’s largely how it is throughout the Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady ship.

The biggest upgrade is 24 new Seriously Suite RockStar Quarters, doubling the number of the cabins that are a big return draw for guests – think private yacht meets overgrown schoolboy’s dream – with outrageous furnishings, turntable with LPs to play and the use of the open-air Richard’s Rooftop with daily pre-dinner free cocktail hour.

The most obvious change for guests is that the ship’s long list of included eateries now gets a Chinese restaurant with brightly vivid vegetarian spot Razzle Dazzle becoming Lucky Lotus By Razzle Dazzle, a darker, more sophisticated place, while still opening for a broader breakfast service. This adds another dimension to the food onboard, widely praised in Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady reviews.

At the entrance to the Galley, the food hall that replaces the traditional buffet, Grounds Club Too coffee shop is redesigned in its own lounge space with counter seating and sofas – and turns into a full bar for the evenings.

Other changes… six new white-curtained rental cabanas with day beds on deck looking down over the pool; a heady display of top-end wines at The Wake steak/seafood restaurant; extra slot machines in the casino; and a second couples’ treatment room in the Redemption Spa.

– READ MORE: Virgin reveals new itineraries, entertainment & dining for 2025 –

Virgin Voyages set about attracting a new cruise clientele with an adults-only ship that might not cater for children but looks after grown-ups who have a childlike enthusiasm for food, drink, music and all-round fun. The Scarlet Lady Virgin Voyages concept is still novel.

The Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady capacity of 2,770 guests might not all be hip, slim and elegant but there are many more younger folk than on other companies’ ships. Particularly on a Caribbean cruise – traditionally the getaway to sun-drenched frolics rather than a cathedral-rich Med itinerary – there’s a colourful, theatrical style to many onboard – ‘sailors’ as Virgin terms them.

The Scarlet Night, an evening of ship-wide partying, from the pool deck to early hours dancing in the Manor club, brings out an ostentatiousness that theme nights elsewhere can’t equal.

– READ MORE: Virgin Voyages introduces unlimited holidays annual pass –

The original pinnacle was, and still is, Duel Reality, for which seats in the Red Room theatre slide back to open up a gym-like space. This is a breathtaking gymnastic take on the West Side Story of gang warfare and forbidden love, a couple of dozen youngish people who look like they should be down the pub, instead climbing, flinging, bouncing and somersaulting in a death-defying manner – just one standout element of Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady entertainment.

At the other end of the spectrum is real music – a regular visitor, who was on my recent Caribbean cruise, is veteran US bluesman Slam Allen, a virtuoso guitarist and singer with his trio from home. In between on my sailing were solo, duo and trio acts, everything from acoustic singer-guitarist to floating Spanish-Mexican pop.

Mainstream shows included Ships In The Night, a mesmerising tale of finding oneself with cross-dressing and soul music, while elsewhere, including the Manor nightclub, a drag queen, comedians, DJs and rock singalongs fill the evening.

– READ MORE: Full list of new ships launching in 2025 –

Excitingly different. Unlike most cruise ships where main dining is included then an ever-expanding array of speciality (or, as the Americans would have it, ‘specialty’) restaurants tempt the palate if not the wallet, here every restaurant is a speciality spot, at no charge. First come, first served. Bookings are taken but there’s generally space later on as Americans tend to eat at teatime.

Options include The Wake (steak and seafood, arguably the ship’s gourmet pinnacle looking out over the ship’s wake), Extra Virgin (stylish Italian), Lucky Lotus (inventive Chinese), Pink Agave (out-of-the-ordinary Mexican), Test Kitchen (out-on-the-edge menus – we had eel for starters), Gunbae (Korean tabletop barbecue) and the Galley, a food hall with separate counters serving burgers, tacos, ramen, toasties, bento boxes and all-day fry-ups.

There’s also the casual Pizza Place with daily specials, the on-deck Sun Club Café (bowls such as salmon poke with black and white rice, wasabi and lotus root), the Dock, a deck bar at the ship’s rear with small plates such as open-fire grilled octopus, shrimp and steak. And no matter how many Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady restaurants you visit you’re sure to find another around the corner.

– READ MORE: Sailawaze’s favourite foodie destinations around the world –

Virgin Voyages differs from most cruise companies in that it doesn’t sell drinks packages but it also differs in that it doesn’t charge service (elsewhere generally 18 percent) for each bar transaction, and costs are more aligned to the high street, albeit a posh high street.

There are more than a dozen bars the length of the ship, indoors and out, both quiet places to socialise (the laid-back Dock and Aquatic Club) and livelier spots (the On The Rocks cocktail bar and Sip for champagne), plus plenty more. On this Virgin Voyages Scarlet Lady cruise ship, you’ll never go thirsty.

– READ MORE: Virgin’s Brilliant Lady will soon sail from New York… –

Cabins (Virgin doesn’t go for the notion of calling them staterooms) are contemporary and smart, whether Insider (windowless), Sea View (window) or Sea Terrace (balcony). Next step up are Seriously Suites, the first level of playful RockStar Quarters, created by designer Tom Dixon.

Above that there are almost 20 bigger options including a handful of Cheeky Corner suites with wraparound balconies and Sweet Aft suites with views to the rear. Top of the pile and right at the front are two Massive suites, with two bedrooms, commanding views from the vast balcony with hot tub, music room with guitars and (along with the other suites) a fully-stocked bar.

All suite guests get access to Richard’s Rooftop – named, of course, after Richard Branson – a private sundeck with loungers, hot tubs and a bar with the daily happy hour and its free champers and cocktails. RockStar guests also get early check-in.

 SCARLET LADY SPA

Redemption Spa is gorgeous, dark and sultry with a row of giant portholes letting the sun drift across the hot pool, cold plunge pools, sauna, steam room, salt room and steam room. Seventeen treatment rooms offer curiously different massages involving warm bamboo stalks, quartz crystals and salt stones as well as cryotherapy skin tightening and acupuncture. A glass-walled gym has views over both sides of the ship and plenty of classes… spin, bungee, yoga.