Virgin Voyages Restaurants: How Dining Works, Where to Eat and Our Tips

No buffet. No main dining room. No fixed dinner times. Dining is where Virgin Voyages feels most different from any other cruise line, and after 100+ nights on board it’s still the part of the holiday we look forward to most.

This is our guide to how dining actually works on board: how to book the restaurants you want, what’s different on each ship, what’s included and what isn’t, and the little tips that make it easier. If you just want to see what’s on the menus, head to our Virgin Voyages menus, where we keep every menu we’ve photographed, ship by ship.

Last checked: 22 October 2026. Virgin updates its menus and dining rules regularly, so we update this guide after every sailing.

How dining works on Virgin Voyages

Every Virgin ship has more than 20 places to eat, and all of the food is included in your fare. Instead of a main dining room, there are six restaurants you book a table at, plus a long list of casual spots you can simply wander into.

The six restaurants are:

• The Wake: steak and seafood, with views over the back of the ship
• Extra Virgin: Italian, with pasta made fresh on board
• Pink Agave: modern Mexican
• Gunbae: Korean barbecue, cooked at your table
• The Test Kitchen: a five-course tasting menu
• The Razzle Dazzle space: a different restaurant on each ship (Lucky Lotus, Ariya, Razzle Dazzle or Rojo)

Is it worth it? Honestly, yes. The restaurants feel like proper specialty dining, the kind you’d pay extra for on most other lines, and being able to try a different cuisine every night is a big part of why so many people come back to Virgin. The one thing you do need to do is plan your reservations, which is where most first-timers get caught out.

Booking your restaurants

When do dining reservations open?

It depends on the fare you book. Virgin’s VoyageFair Choices fares, introduced in October 2025, each come with their own dining window. The earlier your window opens, the better your choice of tables and times.

Your fare	Dining reservations open
Base	15 days before sailing
Essential	45 days before sailing
Premium	60 days before sailing
RockStar Quarters	120 days before sailing
Mega RockStar Quarters	120 days before sailing

Booked before 7 October 2025? Virgin extended those bookings to 60 days before sailing for Sea Terraces and below, and 120 days for RockStar Quarters.

Our tip: if you’re in a Sea Terrace or below and you love your food, the Premium fare is worth a look. You get an extra 15 days to book dining, a $15 per Sailor per night Bar Tab, faster Wi-Fi on two devices and more flexibility to change your booking. We’re happy to price up Essential and Premium side by side for you.

How many reservations can you make?

How many restaurant bookings you can make before you sail depends on the length of your voyage, and the app will usually only let you book each restaurant once before you board on a typical week-long sailing. Don’t let that worry you: it isn’t a limit on how often you can eat there. Once you’re on board the app is far more relaxed, and you can add extra bookings as tables come free.

Not every table is released before the cruise, either. In our experience around three-quarters of the tables are booked before sailing, and the rest are kept back for booking on board.

Travelling as a big group? Virgin can arrange one dinner reservation for the whole group per voyage, and you can make individual bookings for up to 12 Sailors in the app. Ask us or Sailor Services well before you sail.

Our top tips for getting the tables you want

• Be ready when your window opens. Book The Wake first, as it’s the most popular, then work back through the rest in order of what you want most.
• Link your bookings if you’re travelling with friends, so you can book tables together.
• Avoid 7pm to 9pm if you can. Those are the hardest times to get. An earlier or later table is much easier to find.
• Use the waitlist. It genuinely works, especially for brunch. You may just have to wait a little while.
• Find the dining team on embarkation day. If you’re missing a booking or want to change one, they’re usually in Sip or Razzle Dazzle. Just ask any crew member to point you to them.
• Keep checking the app. Plans change all the time, and tables pop up right through the cruise.

The restaurants

Five of the six restaurants are on every ship. The sixth, in the Razzle Dazzle space, is different on each Lady, and has its own section below.

The Wake

The Wake is Virgin’s steak and seafood restaurant, set at the very back of the ship with views over the wake (hence the name). It’s the most romantic room on board and the hardest table to get, so it’s the one we always book first. Ask for a window table at sail-away or sunset if you can.

Expect great steaks and seafood, with the option to go surf and turf. The dinner menu was refreshed across the fleet in September 2026, so it’s worth a look even if you’ve eaten here before. The Wake also hosts brunch, which we cover below.

The Wake on Valiant Lady and Resilient Lady

More from The Wake

See the latest Wake menus for every ship.

Extra Virgin

Extra Virgin is the Italian, and the place to go if you love pasta: it’s all made fresh on board. Order a few antipasti to share, then a pasta each. The potato gnocchi and the wagyu beef carpaccio have been favourites of ours for years.

Two things have changed since we first sailed. The complimentary limoncello at the end of the meal has gone, and each ship now has its own exclusive dishes alongside the core menu, sometimes changing by region too. So it’s always worth checking what’s new on your ship’s menu.

Extra Virgin on Resilient Lady

More from Extra Virgin

Pink Agave

Pink Agave is Virgin’s modern Mexican restaurant, with one of the most dramatic entrances on board and cosy booths that suit couples and groups alike. The core menu is the same across the fleet, with specials on top. Our must-orders are the cochinita pibil (slow-cooked pork that falls apart) and the milhojas for dessert.

Pink Agave on Resilient Lady and Valiant Lady

More from Pink Agave

Gunbae

Gunbae is Korean barbecue, grilled at your table and shared between everyone sitting at it. Arrive hungry: the food comes thick and fast. The meal still starts with a drinking game, which is the perfect icebreaker if you’re sharing a table with new friends. Gunbae is pretty much unchanged since launch, and that’s no bad thing. The wings alone are worth the booking.

Gunbae on Resilient Lady

More from Gunbae

The Test Kitchen

The Test Kitchen is Virgin’s food laboratory: a five-course tasting menu where dishes turn up in unexpected ways and the menu lists only the key ingredients. On most other lines this would be a hefty upcharge. Here it’s included.

There are currently three Test Kitchen menus in use across the fleet: Menu A, Menu B and Menu C. From what we’ve been told, every sailing gets Menu A (the one with the venison). Depending on the ship and the length of your cruise, you may get Menu B or Menu C as well. On our 10-night Brilliant Lady sailing we had all three, and on Valiant Lady the menu was changing every two to three days. It isn’t guaranteed, so it’s hard to know in advance which menus you’ll get. Ask the team on your first day and they’ll tell you which menu is running on which dates.

You can add a drinks pairing, with one drink matched to each course. On our most recent sailing the prices were:

Pairing	Price per person
Cocktails, full proof	$45
Cocktails, low proof	$35
Cocktails, proof free	$30
Wine	$45
Beer	$35

Prices include gratuity and were taken from the Valiant Lady menu in August 2026.

The Test Kitchen on Resilient Lady and Valiant Lady

More from The Test Kitchen

Razzle Dazzle: one restaurant, four different ships

The Razzle Dazzle space is where each Virgin ship now has its own personality. When Virgin launched, Razzle Dazzle was a vegetarian-forward restaurant on every ship, and when Resilient Lady launched, the menu added American comfort food across the fleet.

Then the ships started to go their own way. When Scarlet Lady went into dry dock, she became the first ship with a new concept: Lucky Lotus, an elevated Chinese restaurant. Brilliant Lady launched with Rojo, a contemporary Spanish tapas restaurant. Most recently, Valiant Lady came out of her 2026 dry dock with Ariya, serving modern Indian food. Resilient Lady still has Razzle Dazzle with its American comfort menu.

So each of the four ships now has one evening restaurant you won’t find anywhere else in the fleet. Razzle Dazzle still serves brunch in the same space on every ship.

Ship	Evening restaurant	Cuisine	Menus
Scarlet Lady	Lucky Lotus	Elevated Chinese	Scarlet Lady menus
Valiant Lady	Ariya	Modern Indian	Valiant Lady menus
Resilient Lady	Razzle Dazzle	American comfort	Resilient Lady menus
Brilliant Lady	Rojo	Contemporary Spanish tapas	Brilliant Lady menus

Razzle Dazzle on Resilient Lady

Resilient Lady’s Razzle Dazzle keeps the American comfort concept, and it’s still a fun, colourful night out. Our tip: order the chicken. It’s been a highlight in every version of this restaurant we’ve tried. The lamb shank is lovely too.

Resilient Lady is due a dry dock in 2028. We’d expect the room to get a refresh, as the new-look spaces on the other ships have gone down so well. Whether she keeps American comfort or gets a brand-new concept is still to be decided, and we’ll update this guide as soon as we know.

Razzle Dazzle on Resilient Lady

The original Razzle Dazzle, as it looked when Virgin launched

Lucky Lotus on Scarlet Lady

Lucky Lotus is Scarlet Lady’s elevated Chinese restaurant and the first of Virgin’s ship-exclusive concepts. We haven’t eaten there yet ourselves, so rather than guess, we’ve put Virgin’s current menu on our Scarlet Lady menus page. It’s top of our list for our next Scarlet sailing.

Rojo on Brilliant Lady

Rojo is Brilliant Lady’s contemporary Spanish tapas restaurant, and a great one for sharing. Don’t miss the pimentón cheese with crostini, and again, the chicken is a winner. There’s also an optional “treat yourself” dish at extra cost: on our September 2026 sailing it was a Maine lobster paella at $70.

Rojo on Brilliant Lady

Ariya on Valiant Lady

Ariya is Valiant Lady’s modern Indian restaurant, created with celebrity chef Maneet Chauhan. It’s named after Sir Richard Branson’s great-great-grandmother, Ariya, a traveller from Tamil Nadu in southern India, which is a lovely story to hear over dinner.

It’s one of our favourite new restaurants at sea. The Chicken 65 is stunning, a genuine ten out of ten for us, and the lamb shank biryani puts an Indian spin on a dish we already loved in Razzle Dazzle.

Ariya on Valiant Lady

Specials, ship exclusives and seasonal menus

Virgin’s menus aren’t fixed any more. A few things worth knowing:

• Specials in almost every restaurant. All the restaurants except Gunbae and The Test Kitchen now offer specials. They don’t usually appear on the first couple of nights, but by about halfway through your sailing (often sooner) you’ll start to see them. They change with the region and the sailing, so they’re not like the old secret menu items that were always there.
• Ship exclusives. As well as each ship’s own evening restaurant, several menus have dishes you’ll only find on one ship, Extra Virgin’s in particular. Brunch is broadly the same everywhere, with a few ship-only dishes too.
• Seasonal menu updates. Menus are usually refreshed twice a year, around the start and end of the European summer season: late April or early May, and late September or early October, when the ships cross between America and Europe. Some updates are small, some are big.
• Alaska menus. Brilliant Lady’s Alaska season has its own menus. See our Virgin Voyages Alaska menus.

Brunch on Virgin Voyages

Brunch is one of our favourite meals on board, and it’s included. It’s served in Razzle Dazzle and at The Wake. You can now reserve brunch before you sail, at the same time as your dinner bookings, and the waitlist works well here too: we’ve had success with it many times.

Two tips: brunch on embarkation day is a great way to start your holiday, and a sit-down brunch on your last morning beats rushing breakfast before you head home.

Fancy something fizzy? You can order drinks as normal, or add a bottomless brunch. On our latest sailing that was $35 per person for mimosas, sparkling wine, rosé, draught beer and brunch cocktails, with an upgrade to bottomless Moët & Chandon for $75.

Razzle Dazzle brunch on Resilient Lady

For every breakfast option on board, see our guide to where to eat breakfast on Virgin Voyages.

Casual dining: no buffet, but plenty of choice

You don’t need a reservation for any of these, so they’re perfect for lunch, a light bite or a night when you’d rather skip the restaurants.

The Galley

There’s no buffet on Virgin. The Galley is closer to a street-food market: a collection of stations serving everything from made-to-order breakfast burritos and avocado toast to grab-and-go snacks, with a self-service drinks station for soft drinks, juice, tea and coffee.

The Galley now runs specials at several stations too: a burger of the day, and usually something at Diner & Dash, from a carvery to a curry. The beef Wellington is a big favourite. If you decide to skip one of the restaurants, wander up and see what’s on.

The Galley on Resilient Lady and Valiant Lady

More from The Galley

The Dock and The Dock House

The Dock and The Dock House on Deck 7 are Virgin’s Mediterranean lounge and bar, with gorgeous day beds outside and live music in the evenings. In September 2026 the food changed fleetwide to a mezze cart and an open-fire grill, which suits this spot perfectly for a light lunch or a sunset nibble.

The Dock House on Resilient Lady

More from The Dock

Sun Club Café

Sun Club Café is a bit of a hidden gem. It’s tucked away by the Aquatic Club pool at the top of the ship, and plenty of Sailors never find it. It serves light, fresh bites like poke-style bowls around lunchtime, which is exactly what you want on a pool day. Opening hours are limited, so check the app.

Sun Club Café

The Pizza Place

The Pizza Place is Phil’s favourite quick bite on board, and his top cruise pizza for gluten-free. The menu hasn’t changed, but there are now daily specials. It’s open most of the day and late into the night, so it’s perfect after a party, and you can sit outside in the trattoria-style seating or take a pizza back to your cabin for a movie night.

The Pizza Place

Lick Me Till Ice Cream

Possibly the best-named spot on board. The gelato is included, with flavours that rotate through the cruise, and you can have a cone or a cup.

Lick Me Till Ice Cream

The Social

The Social on Deck 7 is the games room, with arcade machines, air hockey and board games, plus snacks like hot dogs, wings, nachos and shakes, and a pick ‘n’ mix counter for a quick sugar hit.

The Social

Grounds Club and coffee

Drip coffee and tea are included, but speciality coffees are an extra cost. You’ll find barista coffee at Grounds Club on Deck 7 and in The Galley, and there are now coffee specials to look out for as well.

If you’ve sailed with Virgin before, check your Sailing Club perks: Blue Extras includes one speciality coffee a day, and Deep Blue Extras includes two.

Grounds Club

Afternoon tea in Sip

Sip, the champagne lounge, also serves a very civilised afternoon tea. These photos are from Brilliant Lady in September 2026. Check the app for when it’s on during your sailing.

Afternoon tea in Sip on Brilliant Lady

Ship Eats (room service)

Room service on Virgin is called Ship Eats, and you order it through the app. The food itself is included, but there’s a small delivery fee. It’s waived if your order includes something chargeable, such as a cocktail or a speciality coffee, and RockStar Quarters get room delivery free. A Ship Eats breakfast on your balcony is a treat worth having at least once.

Ship Eats

Supper clubs: dinner and a show

Each ship has its own supper club, held in The Manor: a dine-in show where the food is part of the entertainment. Because dinner is included in the show, you can treat it as your evening meal and skip a restaurant booking that night.

Ship	Supper club	Cost
Scarlet Lady	LOLz Supper Club (comedy)	Included
Valiant Lady	Ship Show	Included
Resilient Lady	Another Rose	Cover charge (around $50 per person)
Brilliant Lady	Up With a Twist	Cover charge (around $50 per person)

Another Rose and Up With a Twist both come with a cocktail pairing for each course, and we think they’re worth the cover charge. Supper clubs open for booking once you’re on board, and there’s no waitlist, so when they’re sold out, they’re sold out. Book on embarkation day. Read our guide to Another Rose.

Up With a Twist on Brilliant Lady

Food and drink events on board

Beyond the restaurants, there’s a busy programme of food and drink events, with the usual cruise favourites given a Virgin twist. Recent ones have included Plate Snap Eat, a class where you learn to plate food and then photograph it with your phone, a champagne and fried chicken pairing, and whisky tastings. Some are included and some carry a charge, so check the Sailor App for what’s on during your sailing.

The Eat & Drink Festival: Festival of Senses

Once a year Virgin runs its Eat & Drink Festival, now themed Festival of Senses, across a run of sailings on all four ships. Expect special dining events and pop-ups on top of the usual restaurants. In 2026 these included A Feast for the Senses, an immersive event in The Manor, and a Sensory Dinner Series at The Wake.

Dates change each year and are usually announced early in the year, with the festival running on selected late-summer sailings. Our full guide to the Festival of Senses is coming soon.

Festival of Senses on Brilliant Lady, September 2026

Eating at The Beach Club at Bimini

If your Caribbean sailing calls at The Beach Club at Bimini, Virgin’s private beach club in the Bahamas, lunch is included, served from food stations, with drinks available from the bars. A new Beach Club menu is rolling out across the fleet: Resilient Lady from 12 October 2026, Scarlet Lady from 25 October 2026, Brilliant Lady from 15 November 2026 and Valiant Lady from 10 April 2027.

Lunch at The Beach Club at Bimini

Drinks with dinner

Water, soft drinks, juice, drip coffee and tea are included. Alcoholic drinks and speciality coffees are extra.

Virgin doesn’t sell an unlimited drinks package. Instead there’s the Bar Tab: drinks credit you add to your booking before you sail and spend on board, often with bonus credit on top when Virgin is running an offer. The Premium fare includes $15 per Sailor per night of Bar Tab, and RockStar Quarters come with an in-room bar.

Want to know how far a Bar Tab will go? Try our Virgin Voyages drinks prices and Bar Tab calculator, or read our guide to Sailor Loot and the Bar Tab.

Allergies and dietary needs

Virgin used to say that everything was made fresh to order. Most of the food still is, but more of the core components are now made ashore and brought on board, from tortilla chips to some sauce bases. That makes allergies a little harder for the kitchens than it used to be.

Even so, Virgin is still our favourite cruise line for managing allergies. Phil is gluten free, and we can eat more on Virgin than we could before. Tell your server about any allergy at every meal, and add it to your booking before you sail.

Read Phil’s gluten-free guide to Virgin Voyages, plus his ship guides for Brilliant Lady and Resilient Lady.

Is there a dress code?

No. Virgin calls it a “come as you are” dress code, and it means exactly that. There are no formal nights. If you want to come to dinner in shorts and flip-flops, you can, and nobody will bat an eyelid. If you’d rather dress up for a night out, plenty of people do that too. Even Scarlet Night, Virgin’s big red party, is optional. It’s a judgement-free zone, and that’s a big part of the relaxed vibe on board.

More in our guide: is there a dress code on Virgin Voyages?

Video: dining on Virgin Voyages

Our original dining video. It was filmed in 2023, so a few things have changed since (Razzle Dazzle in particular), but it’s a good feel for the restaurants.

More Virgin Voyages food guides

• Virgin Voyages menus: every restaurant, bar and café
• Scarlet Lady menus, Valiant Lady menus, Resilient Lady menus and Brilliant Lady menus
• Virgin Voyages Alaska menus
• Where to eat breakfast on Virgin Voyages
• Virgin Voyages drinks prices and Bar Tab calculator
• Gluten-free on Virgin Voyages
• Virgin Voyages deck plans, to see where each restaurant is
• The Ultimate Guide to Virgin Voyages

Virgin Voyages dining FAQs