Why We Liked the Virgin Cruise Ship - Scarlet Night, Gunbae Drinking Game and No Fee Photos

Prior to our cruise holiday and while deciding on which cruise company we would choose, we were not sure if going to the Virgin cruise would be worth it as it was more expensive than the other cruise companies. However, now that we are on it, we are glad that we chose Virgin this time we have noticed that Virgin does things a little differently from its counterpart cruises. There were a few things we really like about the Virgin cruise; 1. Scarlet Night - Tonight was Scarlet Night when sailors ( passengers) were supposed to dress in red. We learned about the Scarlet night from the Virgin website and were prepared for it. We looked so nice all dressed up in red. Everyone felt happy and were excited about Scarlet Night. Our son even went and bought red glassed for all of us to wear for tonight's event. Many sailors were taking pictures with each other. We had some nice pictures taken and were very happy about that. 2. No professional photogrpahers on board - One particular thing we noticed different about the Virgin Cruise was that there were no photo booths set up on the ship where professional photogrpahers would be waiting and pouncing on passengers to have their pictures taken at an expensive fees. Instead, There was a nice place set up with a silver background and anyone could just go and have their pictures taken there with their friends or families for free. How cool was that! We did just that and took some nice pictures at the beautiful setting. Taken by us, these pictures turned out very nice and we could use them as our CHristmas pictures for our friends and families. We also could take our time at the DIY photo setting and had a lot of fun taking our pictures there.

3. Gunbae Restaurant - After our one day port visit to Puerto Plata, we looked forwward to our dinner back on the cruise ship. Our dinner reservation was at 9pm at the Gunbae Restaurnant serving Korean bbq food. Not wanting to having dinner so late in the evening, we arrived to the restaurant at 8pm. Thank goodness, we were able to get in at an earlier time! There were no indiviual seats or seats for two at this restaurant. Each table could accommodate between 6 to 8 people at a time therefore guests would be required to share the table with other diners. Seated beside two ladies of Indian decent, we had a fantastic time learning the Gunbae drinking game from our server. Gunbae means drinking to the bottom of the glass. The game started with everyone at the table with a glass of saki. Then each diner at the table would start counting. Whenever you came to the number 3 or multiple of 3 or a number containing the number 3, instead of saying the number out loud, you just clap at the number 3. Whoever made a mistake would finishing drinking his/ her glass to the last drop. Every diner partipicated in this drinking game with enthusiasm and we could hear clapping, laughing and screaming all through the restaurant. We started the game and the game went around a few times but I was the second one to be kicked out of the game while E. was the winner. Everyone had a great time as it was a very fun dinner! This was our very first interactive dinner on a cruise ever! Really enjoyed it and we had a good conversation with our fellow diners at the table. After dinner, there was a late pool party beginning at 10;45pm, too late for us. We met two of E.'s new friends and we went to our cabin and called it a day! We had tons of fun at our port excursion and at dinner and so did our son! We thank God for a super fun day! RT, On board the Vurgin Cruise 24122023