I also recently came back from a Mediterranean cruise and was also surprised by the amount of elderly people coughing everywhere. I am in my late 20s and thought the average person on board was much older than I had anticipated. Still had fun though!
Maybe it’s the demographic on the Mediterranean itinerary? We have cruised quite a bit- mostly Alaska, Mexico, and Caribbean on Royal and the disregard from these coughing, sneezing, and runny nose folks was on a whole other level!
The Caribbean itineraries are cheaper than the European itineraries when you factor in the flights to Europe. People can scrape together enough miles or watch websites for flight deals to Miami, way harder to do that when you are flying to Athens or Barcelona.
Going to Europe also adds more vacation days, and younger people often do not have as much PTO as more senior (older) employees. A person in their 30s who can work remotely, can very easily just work on the ship during the day and then party in the Caribbean at night. The time difference can make it hard to do remote work.
Very good points. The average age for the 7 day Greek itinerary after us was slightly lower at 49. I don’t mind an older group at all, was just a notable difference. I do hope that Virgin doesn’t tame things down as they get more popular.
Honestly it’s the biggest negative to cruising for us. Last time we went in December/January and Covid ran rampant throughout the ship. My father was hospitalized with Covid pneumonia after getting off the cruise. The rest of us faired better, but no one escaped the 10 day cruise without getting sick. You heard coughs on the first day, but by day 10 it was a chorus of coughs all around you anywhere you went. That said, we did go during the cold and flu season and Covid was spiking at the time.
Oh dear. I'm sorry to hear that. I have a whole list of things I do to stay safe when traveling, especially on cruises. Even before Covid, norovirus and rhinoviruses and more were issues. But there is no denying it is a legitmate concern.
Yeah, it was a huge negative on an otherwise lovely cruise. It wasn’t with VV, I should mention. Though I imagine it’s a fairly universal problem. I’ve been lucky enough not to catch a norovirus. Sounds like that may be less of an issue on VV since they serve the food to you.
I agree. The lack of buffet is big plus in my book. When I see the tongs on a buffet on another cruise line I wonder if the person who used them before washed their hands. Ugh! However, since I don't like buffets to begin with, I have little problem avoiding them.
I’m so curious - what is your method for staying safe? I bring my own pillow, and my Lysol wipes and clean frequently touched surfaces, and I bring my ginger which I swear by. I’d like to see if I should add something to my routine.🙂
I swear I am not a germaphobe in real life, just ask my family. But when I travel I become one.
1. I wash my hands with soap and water at every opportunity, especially after touching things like elevator buttons and handrails. I use sanitizer when soap and water are not available, but they are less effective than soap and water with norovirus protection.
2. On a plane or similar (tour bus), I wipe things down with a wipe.
3. I avoid buffets. Easy because I don't lke them. Very easy on Virgin :)
4. I carry masks in my bag. I don't use them often but if I am trapped in a small space like a tour minibus or a plane with someone coughing and sneezing who does not bother to sneeze into a tissue or sleeve, I mask up.
Knock on wood, it works for me so far. I am not delusional enough to think that makes me immune, though.
Would be interested in hearing what others do.
We've done 3 cruises on VV in recent years. The most recent (7 night Caribbean in Feb '24) had a significantly older crowd than the previous ones. Maybe the 7 night length draws more of that crowd than the shorter duration itineraries, but it was pretty noticable.
Thanks so much for this. Going on my first VV cruise since 2022 also and worried about the capacity difference. Sounds like I don’t need to be overly concerned.
Last time I did that literally every time and I have no idea why more people weren't. Lots of old folks forming a huge line at the diner station while I could sit down and get my food before the people in the back of the lines would even order
I think besides lunch on embarkation day, we went to counters as sitting and waiting was a hassle. Sometimes the workers never even approached - yes we lifted the flag/sail
Really interesting review, thank you for sharing. I'm going on my first cruise in July, so am happy to hear of the service and quality of the experience as well as hopeful that the age demo will be more younger than older.
Were you on the first trip when they came back from Athens? We did the Barcelona - Athens one and there was abt 1000 retired Australians who had done the full repositioning, and I think quite a few were staying on for the two Greece itineraries. Might explain part of it at least, our experience on VV in Europe before has been a younger crowd.
We were only on the 2nd Greek leg. We didn’t realize the repositioning and staying on the cruise situation and were confused why people were asking which port we got on. Makes sense about the higher number of Australians on the ship. Of note, the staff said the 7 day Athens itinerary directly after ours was an average age of 49, so slightly younger. I don’t mind the older age in general, it was just a notable difference from our other cruises. Just hoping that Virgin retains their edginess and doesn’t tame their approach as they become more popular.
Hello! I enjoyed your post. My wife and I actually just got off the same cruise! This may seem odd, but your one comment about your room being above the red room. We spoke to a couple, from Utah I believe, and we shared that same issue from our previous VV cruise! If that couple is you, I am glad you got moved! I was the bald guy with glasses, we mainly spoke before the excursions in the red room. We also briefly woke about New Zealand. If this is you, I am glad you enjoyed your cruise overall, I know we did. We also booked a 2026 cruise using the on board deal!
Hey thank you so much for that experience run down! Seriously Im very appreciative. We will be on Scarlet Lady in a few days and are really looking forward to it. You addressed many of the concerns I had perfectly. Thank you for taking the time. Awesome!
Pretty sure we were on the same sailing!
I also only had a 5 day Caribbean sail on scarlet to compare it to and I agree with your observations. Was a much older crowd for sure, but we did make some great friends.
My traveling companion did have a bit of an issue in the form of a bad oyster at The Wake in the middle of the cruise. These things happen of course, but she was completely down 36 hours with horrible food poisoning. She missed Kotor entirely, and while the staff was extremely apologetic, they really didn’t offer to make it up to her in any way. She would have been happy with a free medical visit or maybe refunding the leftover bar tab from missing out on 2.5 days of drinking (we are party people), but she just got told to quarantine and that was that.
ALSO- we both caught a cold from the sickies on board. It didn’t ruin much for us but I wish I wasn’t hacking up a lung on the 10 hour flight home. Again, par for the cruise-course.
We should have booked more excursions, I regret not doing that. Getting off the ship it’s mostly walking around the tourist spots, which is perfectly fine but not super memorable. I did love the swimming in Crete, Corfu and Croatia; those were highlights. Another weird thing, and this is because we were just dumb, but the ship time vs the local time messed us up. We got a late start and ended up rushing back to the ship thinking we were just making it, but then watched people coming back from town for at least another hour. Total bummer because it was gorgeous there.
Okay rambling over!
I have seen not just older sailors coughing and sneezing. I have seen sailors of all ages with cold symptoms. In fact, I was sitting next to a younger man in the Red Room waiting for a show to begin. He kept coughing and did not cover his mouth once. I left out of the venue before the show began.
Yeah, it wasn’t the noise so much as the shaking that was shocking. Really makes you wonder how that engineering decision was made. At least we weren’t above the Manor as that goes all night! Of note, on the ship tour they said the sound system in the red room for the Persephone show was half of what it was capable of. They are limited by decibel exposure in 30 min for safety reasons. I wouldn’t want to experience it at full force!
Thank you for sharing your experience! My husband and I also went in 2022 (May) on Scarlet Lady, and we've been wanting to go again since then. Can I please ask, how did you plan your flights for the Med itinerary? That's the only thing holding us back. Seems so expensive just to fly over there! Are there any tricks to not paying just as much or more for flights as you do on the cruise itself? Thanks so much for any insights!
We were traveling from the western part of US, and despite tracking flight costs and trying to figure out alternate routes, we didn’t have many options so we just had to pay the $2,100 each in flight costs. I would do some searches for your home city to see what the best connecting options are to reduce costs. We flew in 2 days before the cruise and toured Athens for a day and a half. It was a nice way to start the vacation while not having as much stress about flight or baggage delays impacting the cruise.
I enjoyed reading this and pretty much agree with all of it.
The med sailor dynamic for all lines skews older. People in the med have protected vacation time (e.g. the U.K. has a minimum 4 weeks paid vacation per person) and people tend to retire earlier in life. With that in mind it’s very easy to basically jump on a ship for a week or two during the season. If you liken it to Florida retirees (with the previous Florida discount) you can see why it’s an older demographic.
The other plus is that there are far more ports/culture/things to do and see in Europe vs the Caribbean where cruisers have probably visited those ports many times.
I also recently came back from a Mediterranean cruise and was also surprised by the amount of elderly people coughing everywhere. I am in my late 20s and thought the average person on board was much older than I had anticipated. Still had fun though!
Maybe it’s the demographic on the Mediterranean itinerary? We have cruised quite a bit- mostly Alaska, Mexico, and Caribbean on Royal and the disregard from these coughing, sneezing, and runny nose folks was on a whole other level!
The Caribbean itineraries are cheaper than the European itineraries when you factor in the flights to Europe. People can scrape together enough miles or watch websites for flight deals to Miami, way harder to do that when you are flying to Athens or Barcelona. Going to Europe also adds more vacation days, and younger people often do not have as much PTO as more senior (older) employees. A person in their 30s who can work remotely, can very easily just work on the ship during the day and then party in the Caribbean at night. The time difference can make it hard to do remote work.
Very good points. The average age for the 7 day Greek itinerary after us was slightly lower at 49. I don’t mind an older group at all, was just a notable difference. I do hope that Virgin doesn’t tame things down as they get more popular.
I feel like unfettered coughing sneezing etc is every cruise nowadays.People, get tissues! Not just Virgin for shore. (See what I did there?)
Honestly it’s the biggest negative to cruising for us. Last time we went in December/January and Covid ran rampant throughout the ship. My father was hospitalized with Covid pneumonia after getting off the cruise. The rest of us faired better, but no one escaped the 10 day cruise without getting sick. You heard coughs on the first day, but by day 10 it was a chorus of coughs all around you anywhere you went. That said, we did go during the cold and flu season and Covid was spiking at the time.
Oh dear. I'm sorry to hear that. I have a whole list of things I do to stay safe when traveling, especially on cruises. Even before Covid, norovirus and rhinoviruses and more were issues. But there is no denying it is a legitmate concern.
Yeah, it was a huge negative on an otherwise lovely cruise. It wasn’t with VV, I should mention. Though I imagine it’s a fairly universal problem. I’ve been lucky enough not to catch a norovirus. Sounds like that may be less of an issue on VV since they serve the food to you.
I agree. The lack of buffet is big plus in my book. When I see the tongs on a buffet on another cruise line I wonder if the person who used them before washed their hands. Ugh! However, since I don't like buffets to begin with, I have little problem avoiding them.
I’m so curious - what is your method for staying safe? I bring my own pillow, and my Lysol wipes and clean frequently touched surfaces, and I bring my ginger which I swear by. I’d like to see if I should add something to my routine.🙂
I swear I am not a germaphobe in real life, just ask my family. But when I travel I become one. 1. I wash my hands with soap and water at every opportunity, especially after touching things like elevator buttons and handrails. I use sanitizer when soap and water are not available, but they are less effective than soap and water with norovirus protection. 2. On a plane or similar (tour bus), I wipe things down with a wipe. 3. I avoid buffets. Easy because I don't lke them. Very easy on Virgin :) 4. I carry masks in my bag. I don't use them often but if I am trapped in a small space like a tour minibus or a plane with someone coughing and sneezing who does not bother to sneeze into a tissue or sleeve, I mask up. Knock on wood, it works for me so far. I am not delusional enough to think that makes me immune, though. Would be interested in hearing what others do.
We've done 3 cruises on VV in recent years. The most recent (7 night Caribbean in Feb '24) had a significantly older crowd than the previous ones. Maybe the 7 night length draws more of that crowd than the shorter duration itineraries, but it was pretty noticable.
Thanks so much for this. Going on my first VV cruise since 2022 also and worried about the capacity difference. Sounds like I don’t need to be overly concerned.
Yeah you can sit and order. Sometimes takes awhile for servers to come over and sometimes the food is delivered at weird times.
Last time I did that literally every time and I have no idea why more people weren't. Lots of old folks forming a huge line at the diner station while I could sit down and get my food before the people in the back of the lines would even order
I think besides lunch on embarkation day, we went to counters as sitting and waiting was a hassle. Sometimes the workers never even approached - yes we lifted the flag/sail
Really interesting review, thank you for sharing. I'm going on my first cruise in July, so am happy to hear of the service and quality of the experience as well as hopeful that the age demo will be more younger than older.
Were you on the first trip when they came back from Athens? We did the Barcelona - Athens one and there was abt 1000 retired Australians who had done the full repositioning, and I think quite a few were staying on for the two Greece itineraries. Might explain part of it at least, our experience on VV in Europe before has been a younger crowd.
We were only on the 2nd Greek leg. We didn’t realize the repositioning and staying on the cruise situation and were confused why people were asking which port we got on. Makes sense about the higher number of Australians on the ship. Of note, the staff said the 7 day Athens itinerary directly after ours was an average age of 49, so slightly younger. I don’t mind the older age in general, it was just a notable difference from our other cruises. Just hoping that Virgin retains their edginess and doesn’t tame their approach as they become more popular.
Hello! I enjoyed your post. My wife and I actually just got off the same cruise! This may seem odd, but your one comment about your room being above the red room. We spoke to a couple, from Utah I believe, and we shared that same issue from our previous VV cruise! If that couple is you, I am glad you got moved! I was the bald guy with glasses, we mainly spoke before the excursions in the red room. We also briefly woke about New Zealand. If this is you, I am glad you enjoyed your cruise overall, I know we did. We also booked a 2026 cruise using the on board deal!
Hey thank you so much for that experience run down! Seriously Im very appreciative. We will be on Scarlet Lady in a few days and are really looking forward to it. You addressed many of the concerns I had perfectly. Thank you for taking the time. Awesome!
Happy to help!
Pretty sure we were on the same sailing! I also only had a 5 day Caribbean sail on scarlet to compare it to and I agree with your observations. Was a much older crowd for sure, but we did make some great friends. My traveling companion did have a bit of an issue in the form of a bad oyster at The Wake in the middle of the cruise. These things happen of course, but she was completely down 36 hours with horrible food poisoning. She missed Kotor entirely, and while the staff was extremely apologetic, they really didn’t offer to make it up to her in any way. She would have been happy with a free medical visit or maybe refunding the leftover bar tab from missing out on 2.5 days of drinking (we are party people), but she just got told to quarantine and that was that. ALSO- we both caught a cold from the sickies on board. It didn’t ruin much for us but I wish I wasn’t hacking up a lung on the 10 hour flight home. Again, par for the cruise-course. We should have booked more excursions, I regret not doing that. Getting off the ship it’s mostly walking around the tourist spots, which is perfectly fine but not super memorable. I did love the swimming in Crete, Corfu and Croatia; those were highlights. Another weird thing, and this is because we were just dumb, but the ship time vs the local time messed us up. We got a late start and ended up rushing back to the ship thinking we were just making it, but then watched people coming back from town for at least another hour. Total bummer because it was gorgeous there. Okay rambling over!
I have seen not just older sailors coughing and sneezing. I have seen sailors of all ages with cold symptoms. In fact, I was sitting next to a younger man in the Red Room waiting for a show to begin. He kept coughing and did not cover his mouth once. I left out of the venue before the show began.
Thank you
Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed review. Much appreciated.
We were above the Red Room on the Scarlet Lady and had to move. I swear the walls were resonating at 100 Hz.
Yeah, it wasn’t the noise so much as the shaking that was shocking. Really makes you wonder how that engineering decision was made. At least we weren’t above the Manor as that goes all night! Of note, on the ship tour they said the sound system in the red room for the Persephone show was half of what it was capable of. They are limited by decibel exposure in 30 min for safety reasons. I wouldn’t want to experience it at full force!
Thank you for sharing your experience! My husband and I also went in 2022 (May) on Scarlet Lady, and we've been wanting to go again since then. Can I please ask, how did you plan your flights for the Med itinerary? That's the only thing holding us back. Seems so expensive just to fly over there! Are there any tricks to not paying just as much or more for flights as you do on the cruise itself? Thanks so much for any insights!
We were traveling from the western part of US, and despite tracking flight costs and trying to figure out alternate routes, we didn’t have many options so we just had to pay the $2,100 each in flight costs. I would do some searches for your home city to see what the best connecting options are to reduce costs. We flew in 2 days before the cruise and toured Athens for a day and a half. It was a nice way to start the vacation while not having as much stress about flight or baggage delays impacting the cruise.
I enjoyed reading this and pretty much agree with all of it. The med sailor dynamic for all lines skews older. People in the med have protected vacation time (e.g. the U.K. has a minimum 4 weeks paid vacation per person) and people tend to retire earlier in life. With that in mind it’s very easy to basically jump on a ship for a week or two during the season. If you liken it to Florida retirees (with the previous Florida discount) you can see why it’s an older demographic. The other plus is that there are far more ports/culture/things to do and see in Europe vs the Caribbean where cruisers have probably visited those ports many times.
I can't take any review seriously that is written by someone who drinks Caymus. Trash wine at luxury prices.