Find your sea legs on board Virgin’s new, luxury adults-only cruise ship, a floating pleasure palace of entertainment and fine dining. All you need is the sun…

Words Mike Buckley

NOW EAR THIS: Pick up some new tunes in the ship’s record store

PLAY STATIONS: Spin some vinyl on one of the record players

VEG OUT: Razzle Dazzle restaurant is in (ahem) line with the latest food trends

“I’m a cruise virgin”. You hear this a lot on board Scarlet Lady, the new, luxurious super-ship from the Virgin brand, created to appeal to that very market: travellers who’ve previously never contemplated a cruise. But pretty much everyone leaves the ship planning their next voyage – hopefully somewhere with decent weather like the Caribbean and not the English Channel, where we are to have our brief taste of ship life.

“Scarlet Lady and Virgin Voyages have delivered a fresh, exciting and unique experience”

Before boarding for our four-night ‘summer soirée’ sail from Portsmouth up and down the Channel — the result of the ship not being able to sail out of its intended home of Miami due to Covid — my perception of cruise life is a ship full of circuit queens for an Atlantis-style party or that, at 52, I will knock the average age of the passengers down a considerable few notches. I imagine immense dining halls, screaming kids, passengers fighting over buffets and formal dress for an evening on the Captain’s Table. None of which appeals.