Valiant Lady Overnight in Ibiza and the Kinda Sea Day | Irresistible Med

Today we are onboard Virgin Voyages sailing their Irresistible Med itinerary, and today is our kinda Sea day and the Valiant Lady overnight in Ibiza. Every sailing from Barcelona with Virgin Voyages includes an overnight in Ibiza. On this day, the ship gets an almost sea day, spending the day at sea and then arriving at Ibiza around 7 pm.

It’s certainly a highlight, having the day to relax and or recover from Scarlet Night, enjoy the ship’s facilities and spend the day enjoying the sun, then hit the vibrant nightlight of Ibiza, or at the least pop into the old town for a walk and to explore the local shops and bars.

I do personally love a sea day. It’s a chance to enjoy the ship guilt-free and with no real rush to get anywhere as you have the day to relax, plus there’s usually more entertainment and activities than you would find on a day when the ship is in port as more people are on the ship looking for things to do.

Usually, when we cruise, we tend to get off the ship at every port; we try and, at the least have a look around and see what’s available in the immediate port area, as we don’t usually book excursions. However, with Valiant being such a beautiful ship, we’ve decided to stay onboard her more than we usually would on this particular sailing; this was our fourth Virgin Voyages sailing by this point, and it always feels like we spend more time off her than on her.

Considering that the Med Itineraries with Virgin Voyages are so port intensive, with a port pretty much every day, that leaves little time to stay and enjoy the mega yacht-inspired ship you are sailing on, which is just as much a part of your holiday as they port you are visiting.

Anyway, back to our day.

Breakfast onbaord Virgin Voyages

We decided to sleep in and have a slow morning since there was no rush to get out of bed today; we eventually decided it was time for food, so we decided to get lunch at our usual spot, outside, at the aft of the ship, watching the world sail on by.

By the time we got there, it was closer to lunch than breakfast, so I had Ramen from the noodle station and some tacos.

Around 1 pm, I could hear Ty The Gamer setting up a game above us in the Athletic Club, so we went to see what that was all about. I couldn’t follow the full rules, but there was some sort of sea horse racing game which certainly looked silly and fun, and people were laughing along. Ty is energetic and always able to get a good crowd for any of the games he runs. This game is one to keep an eye out for on our next sailing, at least.

We took a long walk across the ship to see what else was happening; there were pockets of activity across the ship. Plenty of people relaxing in the sun near the main pool, people grabbing a quiet corner to read a book, and The Social was full of people playing board games and enjoying the air hockey tables.

Afternoon Tea Onboard Virgin Voyages

It wasn’t long until it was time for our afternoon tea which is held in the champagne bar Sip. Virgin offer a wide range of cakes and treats to enjoy, each more beautifully presented than the last. They do try and add their own spin on things, so this isn’t your standard Afternoon Tea you’d find on other lines.

There is an extra charge for it, $19 per person is the standard price, then $35 per person if you would like a class of Moët & Chandon with your afternoon tea.

Shake for Champagne

We decided not to add the champagne option and chose to use Shake for Champagne since we have one included in our Splash of Romance package. This felt like the perfect time to enjoy that.

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We did ask before we dined if there was a Gluten Free option for Phil, and Virgin said yes, and that it would just take a little longer to get it all together as they don’t keep it all standing by ready, which was fine with Phil.

I will say, I have had better Afternoon Tea, it’s not that it’s in any way bad, and for the price, it’s a wonderful experience to break up Sea Day, or relax for a few hours with some bites to eat. But the fact that as I’m writing this, I can’t recall anything I ate, both good or bad, is as good a review as I can give.

Please don’t take that as a bad review; Virgin has created a problem for themselves. Where the food is so good across the ship, it’s hard for them to make moments like this stand out. You can head to The Galley and get some smaller cakes from the Sweet Corner and make your own afternoon tea, which we have done many afternoons after a port day.

Regardless, we had a wonderful evening chatting with new friends we have made on this sailing, and old ones we’ve gotten to know better on this voyage for hours.

Both The Charmer and The Diva popped by to say hello and chat with sailors, so all in all we had a wonderful, relaxed evening filled with food and champagne; honestly, what’s not to love?

Dinner in Extra Virgin

We headed back to our room to freshen up for dinner and got to enjoy watching the ship sailing into Ibiza as the sun was setting, which no matter how many times I’ve done this, it’s still a fantastic experience and a highlight of the sailings from Barcelona.

Tonight we dined in Extra Virgin, one of my favourite places to dine onboard Virgin Voyages. With a fantastic range of dishes to choose from, I don’t think there’s a single dish on the menu that I don’t enjoy. I opted for the Calimari and the steak, it’s becoming ship chatter that the steak is better in Extra Virgin and Razzle Dazzle than The Wake, and it’s hard to disagree.

Usually, the affogato dessert is the highlight for me, but I’ve hit that point of the sailing where I’ve overindulged and chosen to skip courses… The food is so good, and I know this decision will haunt me for months after I’m having cravings again.

I need to be better at spacing my meals when I’m onboard and not eat every 2 hours to make sure I’m hungry by the time we get to our evening meals, but with so much choice, I think it’s hard to ever go hungry onboard.

Heading into Ibiza for our overnight stay

After relaxing in the room for a few hours with a film, personally, I caught up on some videos on YouTube from the hammock, which was bliss; we decided to get off the ship for a few hours and explore Ibiza.

This is becoming a Virgin Voyages overnight in Ibiza tradition; we say we are only “popping out” as we were not big fans of the Ibiza big club scene, and being the tail end of the season, a lot of the bars were closed, so we had no plans to stay out late and party all night.

However, we made friends on this sailing from the USA, and the Happenings Cast gave us a few suggestions for places to get cheap drinks off the main strip.

Cut to returning to the ship at 4 am and heading to The Galley for breakfast, again.

The same happened last time we were here, we popped off for a few drinks, and when we were heading back to the coach pick-up location, we bumped into our favourite mixologist, and ended up spending the night drinking with him till 5 in the morning.

Valiant Lady Overnight in Ibiza

It’s part of the beauty of the overnight in Ibiza, no rush to head back, and you can let the night take you however you like.

The crew suggested a place called Tiki Taco, it’s a short walk from the location where the complimentary shuttle bus drops you off, and had margaritas for around €5, and if you arrive earlier than we did, Tacos from €1. Hardly the cultural highlight of the island, but if you want some cheap drinks and food, you can’t beat it.

Following another recommendation, we walked to another bar the crew recommended, again VERY cheap drinks, but nobody spoke English. It was evident it was a locals bar for local people, a great atmosphere, and nobody was unfriendly, quite the opposite to be honest, but it was clear it’s not a frequented tourist trap.

Turned out that the bar the crew head to was next door… a bar called El Swing Ibiza, and we were in… well a bar that I can’t even find on Google, so how we found it is still a mystery to me.

Needless to say, another fantastic, if unplanned, night in Ibiza.

Our last day onboard

The following day was a slow day for us, so I’m going to add the write it up here as I’m not convinced there’s enough to fill a whole separate post; not that we had a bad day, just we didn’t do much other than eat and drink.

Unsurprisingly we didn’t get up early. I sat in the hammock for a bit, watching the world go by before we decided to head to The Wake for Brunch. We opted for the Bottomless Brunch, which is $25 per person and includes two hours of alcoholic drinks.

I will say the crew aren’t the most aggressive with topping your glass up; I do believe this is intentional to stop people coming away totalled for their $25, but I think in that case, I’d prefer them to say its X number of drinks so I know the pace.

That said, if you ask, they will top you up, but I want to be honest and upfront with you, if you are opting for bottomless and looking to get drunk cheaply, it’s designed to be a few drinks with your brunch.

The food was great, and I actually think The Wake is better for brunch than in the evenings. You can appreciate the view more as it’s daylight, and the menu is just as good. I always opt for The Wake Benedict.

We then relaxed for a bit around the ship, taking in the atmosphere and people watching; we had our version of Afternoon Tea by grabbing Coffee and some desserts from The Galley.

Dining in Razzle Dazzle

We had early dinner in Razzle Dazzle, which the more I dine here, the more it grows on me, it’s certainly in the top half of our favourite list, the food is more inventive than you will find in most places, with some great options. Phil had the Half Chicken from the Secret Menu, which was available Gluten free, and I had the Fried Chicken, which was beautiful and came with a Cholula hot sauce, full of flavour.

I was torn for my dessert options between the Razzle Cake, which has great feedback online, and getting the Rainbow Churros with Ube ice cream, which is one of my favourites on the menus on the ship. So the waiter offered to get me a small slice of the cake and a single Churro so I could get my fix one last time.

Seeing as all the food is made fresh, it’s easier for them to make these minor tweaks, and I love that they can offer this level of service.

We in no way rushed our meal, knowing we didn’t have plans this evening. So after leaving completely stuffed decided to take a long walk across the upper deck areas and enjoy golden hour, perhaps one of the best moments anywhere, especially on a cruise ship.

We ended up in On The Rocks, a lounge in The Roundabout, the heart of the ship. Whitney the Hostess was signing, and we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss her performance as she is such an incredible talent.

Whitney the Hostess

We had one more shake for Champagne to use as part of our Loyalty status for being members of the Sailing Club, so we decided to use that tonight to celebrate another fantastic voyage with Virgin.

Whitney’s performance was stripped back, just her and some backing track, but it really allowed her vocal talent to shine. She has so much warmth to her voice, and I could listen to her for hours.

She’s also a wonderful soul too; we’ve spent some time over the last two sailings chatting with her and getting to know her more, so following her performance, she came and sat with us for almost an hour just chatting about life, how it is working onboard, and how well Virgin Voyages look after both her, and the rest of the crew by paying them a decent wage and giving them access to facilities most lines do not include, even simple things like Wifi, which crew have to pay to use on other cruise lines.

We then headed to Sip for another drink and bumped into our Sales Managers from Virgin Voyages, who were also on the sailing hosting another group, we’d spent time with them throughout the week, but it was nice to catch up with them one last time, and hear from their boss how much they appreciate the support we have given to Virgin Voyages.

But it’s also a two-way street, Virgin are a great brand to work with as they really do support us as travel agents, if you think the ships are fun, working with Virgin Voyage is just as much fun too.

Studio 72 in The Manor

We then headed into the Manor for the last time of the sailing. It was Studio 72, which isnt one of my favourites, but others may enjoy it. At its heart, its a 70/80’s party, so others may love it, but I think it’s an odd choice for the last night of your cruise. Perhaps on another night, I would enjoy it, but as a final goodbye blowout party, its a bit flat compared to the other nights in the manor. So we often skip it, probably a good thing as I don’t think I could face disembarkation with a hangover.

It starts with a cabaret-style collection of circus performances, which I do enjoy. So at the least head to The Manor at the start of the event to see these performances. There are some fantastic performers onboard from the cast of Dual Reality. Then, dance the night away, depending on whether you enjoy a bit of 70/80s.

We were in bed by 1 am however, which isn’t a bad night out by any means.

We’ve had a wonderful week onboard Valiant Lady; it was nice to spend more time on the ship and enjoy her spaces more than usual.

The one thing I always say to my customers about Virgin Voyages is it’s whatever you want it to be, you can party all day and all night, better than on most ships, but you can also reset and recharge too, with plenty of ways to keep fit and active, but also take on wellbeing and mindfulness.

I often feel the ship gets pigeonholed as a party cruise, which she totally can be, but she is also oozing with talented performers and entertainers and offers a multitude of ways to relax and discover some incredible food and wellness.

She also sails to some beautiful destinations offering you the chance to explore the world from the comfort of your very own superyacht. She really can be whatever you want her to be.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading along. Im sure it won’t be long before we are reunited with one of Virgin’s beautiful Lady Ships again soon.