Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Sober Cruise Podcast. My name is Martin and i am joined by Mark. How are you today, Mark? I'm very well, Martin. How are you today? very good thank you very much now on the last episode we were talking about food on bull virgin voyages and we talked about the test kitchen pink algarve and extra virgin and today we're going be carrying on talking about food and we're talking about uh the other three uh restaurants that you can make reservations for and those are the wake razzle dazzle and gum bay um
Speaker: The great thing about the Wake Inn and Razzle Dazzle is it's not only for dinner, they also do a brunch as well. So we'll be talking about those. um So let's start off um with Razzle Dazzle, shall we?
Speaker: Yes, so Razzle Dazzle is a great restaurant. it' I would say off the all the ones on the ship, it's the most fun. So it's the most fun. It reminds me like almost a bit like an um a sort of posh American diner.
Speaker: and The decor is kind of very buzzy. and And the food's very good, of course. for with With the razzle-dazzle, as you say, you get two restaurants for the price of one because it's razzle-dazzle during the day and then becomes look Lucky Lotus ah in the evening. So people are mostly doing brunch in razzle-dazzle in the daytime. so it kind of starts like eight o'clock maybe even a little bit earlier but goes all the way all the way through to about half past one two o'clock but the the food there is very very good uh my particular favorite was i think we've talked about this before was they do this thing with the melon they kind of cut the cut a cut a disc of melon and then they put some tofu cream on top of it and then they put some um granola on top of the cream and then they put frozen berries on top of the granola And I have say I had that four or five times. It's really, really good. Very, very tasty.
Speaker: And, you know, pretty healthy, really. It's from pretty low in calories. and So that was really, really nice. In fact, i like I can't really, I had that. And then they had kind of a fratassa thing, which was like a bit like a Spanish omelette. And that was pretty much all I had that they that when I was there. But, but you know, what sort of stuff did you have?
Speaker: Well, at the brunch, there's a couple of things that I really like at the brunch. So they do a, I'm going to go into a slight rant, but they yeah they do a jalapeno croissant. Now, it's not shaped like a croissant. It's shaped like a pan au chocolat. So if you tell the French person that it's a croissant, they'll tell you no.
Speaker: It's a different kind of pastry. Anyway, it's a pan au jalapeno. Yep. ah hao jalapeno yet Um, so it's a spicy one. It's got bit of a jalapeno and bit of cheese inside. It's really nice It's not too spicy, but it's little bit a kick, especially, you know, if you're having it 10, 11 o'clock in the morning, people wake up kind of thing. Now I like to get that.
Speaker: And then the impossible meat sausage patty. I like to get one of those as a side. and then cut open the jalapeno, put that inside, and then make this very strange jalapeno cause impossible burger setup sausage patty thing. And it's a really, really, really nice, really, really kind ah ah tasty thing to have.
Speaker: And of course, the thing about the impossible sausage patty thing is that it's not sausage, that it's vegetarian, isn't it? It is, yes. Yeah, yeah. so that Because Razzle Dazzle is a vegetarian, forward-thinking restaurant. they do have more vegetarian and vegan things than the normal kind of menu.
Speaker: They do also have beets as well. So you're not forced to have that. But I really like the ah Impossible Patty, the sausage meat one. I think it's really, really nice. um You can get bacon as well. They're proper bacon, not Impossible Bacon. It's candied. ba Did you try the candied bacon? I didn't. It looked very good. It was very popular. and Very, very popular. i Yeah, no, I didn't try that. though Yeah, that would but that is really nice. So um I had the, as one of my main ones, I had the the fried chicken burger.
Speaker: Now, what i would say is it's served in one of those very fashionable nowadays to serve things in in colored buns. So this one's a ah ah ah black bun. So I think it's like squid ink or something. I can't how they can't change it. What I would say is that um you get a reminder a couple of days later or a day later or later in the day that you've had it. So, um you know, I generally avoid these buns that have been colored because I'll be reminded of it.
Speaker: i a point So I have that. I had the chicken without the bun and the fries are really nice as well. So have that and then add the bacon um ah with it as well. So that was really, really good. It is great fried chicken. There's not really anywhere else to get fried chicken on the ship as well, considering it's A lot of other cruise ships, it it's something you'd probably get because they've families on board. they you know They've got got the chicken tenders and chicken nuggets things. There isn't really much of a sort of fried chicken around the the ship. We'll talk about Gun Bay later, but they do have fried chicken in that. Yeah, yeah. And we're talking a lot about some meat dishes, but it is important to just say, as you said earlier on, is that this is the the vast majority of the food in here is going to be vegetarian. you know that now on the On the main courses, I think there was like only one of the main courses that had meat in it. And so you know of it's like what you had, it's fruit-based. It's doing stuff with fruits. I've had but the... um
Speaker: It's like a g granola kind of bowl or something, isn't there? There is. That's nice. And again, you kind of think, you know what? I've had something pretty healthy. You know, I didn't go for the candied bacon that time. I went for the granola bowl. you do come out thinking, oh, you know, that's quite well. And then you can then go and have ah the cookies afterwards.
Speaker: Yes. Yeah. And of course they're sort of fitting in with the fitness side of it. There was a, like a large range of kind of and green smoothies and ginger shots, et cetera. But they do come at an additional cost.
Speaker: Yes, so they've got you can have those. And then you've for dessert, you've got things like there's the ah the the blueberry green tea cheesecake. um You've got the razzle cake.
Speaker: And then you've got the rainbow churros, which I think people... yeah It's very Instagrammable to have those. So it's churros and they've got rainbow-coloured sprinkles and sugar on top.
Speaker: and that Very, very sweet. Really nice, but i you know they they bring about four of them. i think probably one or two is totally adequate, especially you had just had candied bacon.
Speaker: and so I think you need those. um they do i think i think it's off-menu, but they do have a selection of cookies as well. um And I think um if you ask nicely, they might be able to get you a cookie from somewhere. And the cookies are good.
Speaker: can get cookies up in the galley in the evening. um um But these are ah ah really nice as well. So we're talking about the brunch menu. But ah in the evening... um the the ship takes a turn to the east doesn't it so we end up ah in Lucky Lotus which is sort of Asian Chinese kind of food now you haven't been to this one because I've not actually so time tell us about it Yeah, so um what a Scarlet Lady, which is the ship we'll be sailing on, ah went for a refurb a couple of years ago. And one of the things they did was they changed the evening menu in Razzle Dazzle over to Lucky Lotus to get a bit more variety. And you know people were saying yeah there isn't a huge amount of Asian food on board, especially in the evening. So what a bit of variety. Now, I've only been there once.
Speaker: The server we had, she was absolutely amazing. She was so brilliant. And we saw a couple of times around the ship and she was absolutely lovely. um Now, obviously, if you don't like Asia, this is probably going be the place for you. And there were some things that I tried and I liked and some things I went and not too sure about ah about it. So I had the dumplings, for example, when I went. of people had the soup.
Speaker: and the the duck bale buns as well, and they went down really well. The sriracha sticky ribs as well, they went down extremely well with um ah were with everyone.
Speaker: On to the mains, and you've got the vegetarian ones, you've got the Buddha's Delight, which is so tofu and asparagus, um and then there's a fish dish. Now, me tell you about the fish, okay? Now,
Speaker: Um, I knew what it was going to look like when it came out. Cause I'd seen it before. And someone had told me about it beforehand, but basically you get a fish and then it's like a batter cover fish and the other stuff with it. And it's cut open so that you, you, you, you go straight into, and you can get the meat out straight away.
Speaker: But this they put a tail and a head at the end. Now, they are detached, so whether they're kind of like not the plastic or whatever they are. But if you don't like looking at what your food actually was, yes it's a big grade. Now, everyone who had it absolutely loved this, and it was one of the best things they had on board. But just be warned that is going to come out, and it is going to look like yeah it's quite shake That's what they do with China. It comes out and it looks like, well, it was before. It's going come out and it is going to look like a fish when it comes out. So, um yeah.
Speaker: I don't eat fish. and maybe Will you be trying this when we go on board? know Now that you've talked about it, I will, yes. I quite like fish. It's not something I would ever cook at home. So I do sometimes like to have it and when I go out.
Speaker: And of course, there's a steak as well, because it wouldn't be a Virgin restaurant without a steak. It would not, no. There's steak in the evening. um The desserts, um there's like a traditional sort of egg tart in there. There's like a banana ricotta and a mango pudding as well. So they're not particularly kind of heavy. Remember, I had the ah the egg tart and it was kind of quite light as well. So...
Speaker: Again, it's one of those places you can eat reasonably light. It's not like the extra virgin, where it's it's purely carbs. 100 kilograms are heavier. You can come out of this one yeah reasonably reasonably light, depending on if you have the steak or not, or if you've eaten an entire fish, I suppose. um But great atmosphere um ah inside. um Something kind of different as well, because I think a lot of people, you know, if you said, oh it's a Chinese restaurant, they're thinking of yeah the the takeaway that you're going to get. Sweet and sour chicken balls and that kind of stuff. Whereas this is more authentic kind of um ah food ah to have. And we will be having one of our group dinners in here.
Speaker: ah So hopefully everyone likes ah the food that's available, but I can kind of talk you through the things. If you're not as quite as adventurous, talk you through the different things that actually, you know, you can have without kind of trying to adventurous.
Speaker: No, I'm really looking forward to that. It sounds it does sound very good. Yeah, excellent. And then ah so sticking with the sort of the the Asian kind of vibe, we're going to go upstairs and go to South Korea now and then off to Gun Bay. Gun Bay. Yes, that was a great experience, wasn't it? So it's right it's right behind the galley.
Speaker: ah So it's easy to get to. And of course, just a little insider tip is that it's it's open during the day as well. So if you go to the galley, And it's full or you want a little bit of peace and quiet. You can actually go and eat in Gombe during the day with your galley food.
Speaker: But it's very, a lot of people who've done cruises before will be sort of familiar with the idea of the teppanyaki where you sit around a big table and the chef cooks for you. And Gombe is,
Speaker: is like that, but but it's it's a little more intimate because the tables are smaller and and they're circular. So they ah you have eight people around the table and then the chef the the chef comes and and prepares it all for you.
Speaker: But what did you think of it? I love Gumbo. I think it's brilliant. i think it's a very sociable restaurant because you play a game. ah You play a counting game, traditional game that they play um in South Korea.
Speaker: So you've got that. You've got the you got the the server actually cooking the food in front of you. So your starters will come from the kitchen. And whilst you're eating your starters, the server is cooking your mains on there.
Speaker: ah And so you know you're looking at It's fresh. They're cooking it right in front of you. um it's really really nice um now again most people that when we went most people hadn't been there before and i said we need to order chicken as one of the starters the chicken is really good but there's so much different things to did you have the the rice um the the the crisps the rice crisps and have to be honest and tell you that I'm not sure what I had. I think what was... But we had wine cakes, probably. They just kept bringing food I ate what was put in front of me. So it's not one of these places where you kind of order a starter, main and a dessert. It's basically that they just keep bringing food and it was all delicious.
Speaker: Yeah. So there's there's things like there's pancakes, there's see-through pancakes. um You've got like the little rolls, the shrimp rolls. It's like a cucumber avocado little thing as well. You've got that. that So the the main thing that I have is the, I absolutely love is the um the the chicken.
Speaker: The chicken. No, it was very spicy, the chicken. It was lovely. it was for but it was said no you don't like If you don't like spices, maybe you'd avoid the chicken. Yeah, but it was really good. And then there's things like um noodles and rice that you can have. And I think everyone was a bit like, oh, I'm not too sure about having the rice, but the rice was really good. They've got different kinds of rices to have um with that. Then just at the very, very start, you've got little things like the the little kimchi and stuff just to sauce just to try whilst you're waiting for your starters to come out. And that was also kind of quite quite a nice little way of starting.
Speaker: food and then on to the main event and again the live are just kind of like you know if if you don't eat seafood they won't bring out the seafood option and i but if not they'll go around and say is everyone okay with everything and they'll break they bring out vegetables so they're cooking vegetables on there there's squid and octopus and scallops the strips of beef and that's the hair that's very very good like because it's marinated beef and it it's uh really really nice and there's like a vegetarian kind of option um as well the pork belly was also really delicious as well wasn't it i remember thinking i can't really eat much more but the pork belly is now ready i need to eat the pork belly because it's It's really good. That's what I said.
Speaker: Ian, don't go to this restaurant. It's a lot of protein. Don't go to this restaurant um and and eat beforehand. Go to this restaurant um if you're hungry.
Speaker: Yes. It's just going to come out. It is surprisingly filling. it doesn't so When it's coming, it doesn't look like a huge amount of food, but by that by the time you've finished, you have had your fill. Yeah, and then you look at it and you go, it's not cooking that much on the grill, and then but even for eight people, but the time it's gone round everyone, and they'll always go and get more as well. if you I think we ended up having more beef one time. or so I think he brought more beef out at some point. um And then it's on to dessert now.
Speaker: the The dessert, did you have the ice cream? I think I did, yes. that um I don't remember the dessert as being very remarkable. and it's It's nice enough. It's it's um it's like a...
Speaker: Like a black sesame um ice cream flavor. And the thing is you can get ice cream down li meoo ice cream downstairs anyway. And they've got eight different flavors down there. So yeah if you want to get up, because I kind of find if I sat down for too long and my legs start to go a bit sleepy and a bit numb, I want to get up yes golf wolf for a walk. So sometimes you know you can go and get your ice cream from downstairs and then go and take it for a walk, go outside. You can, or or of course as you're leaving the Gumby you do go straight past the dessert section in the galley.
Speaker: what's just a figure That's what we did one time, we admit. Yeah, okay, yeah. So we did that, so um you've got the game, ah the the the county game, so you can hear people when they when they get it wrong, that's where everyone shouts Gumby, and then when it is you come in, and everyone shouts Gumby to welcome everyone, so i think sometimes people are bit put off because it can be a bit loud, but it's really sociable A lot of fun. You can get involved if you want to. You don't have to get involved. You don't have to shut down, baby. You don't want to. It's entirely up to you. But ah yeah, i I really, really like it. But what I would say is it's a restaurant to go on one of the first few nights when you've still got a lot of energy. You see...
Speaker: yes yeah short and night and that but I would say probably night two or three is like a good time to go um if you go like have it as a like a last night kind of thing you might be a bit tired from the more the excitement ah also quite good to do on a sea day as well yes look because you've had the day to sort chill out and relax whereas if you've been in the port all day and you've been you know hiking up a mountain or something then maybe you don't have clear the energy to be sociable Yes, yes. So might be, as you say, it might be a good thing for a sea day. and as And of course, we'll all be going as a group.
Speaker: Now, obviously, the group, the size of the group is we'll need to take two or three tables. as But we yeah we will take care to organize it on ah on a good day for Gombe. Absolutely, have on yeah. And then ah on to probably one of our favorite restaurants. Well, the amount of times we went there anyway. Yes, it would certainly be my favorite restaurant, yeah. Yes. And Matty, well, tell us all about the lake.
Speaker: So the wake is, I would say, the most traditional restaurant on and on Virgin Voyages. So it's it's at the back of the ship. You are seeing the wake behind the ship. So the the venue, i think it's probably my favorite venue.
Speaker: It's traditional in terms of the the tables are set in a very traditional way with the linen tablecloths and the very nice cutlery, et cetera. And the food is kind of traditional cruise food, but at a very high standard.
Speaker: Now, like Razzle Dazzle, it's open for brunch and and for dinner. So i'll I'll talk a little bit about the brunch and then you can tell us about the dinner. So the the the brunch starts again early in the morning, but, and I keep telling this as being my my favorite insider tip,
Speaker: is that at 12 o'clock exactly, filet minion goes on the um on the menu. So we tended to make reservations. Well, I did before i I got on the ship, many weeks before I got on the ship, I made a reservation effectively for 12.15 for every single day in the week, apart from a couple where booked rassle-dassle.
Speaker: And and it and it just it's just a lovely lunch, you know, a bit of salad, a very, very nice steak and a bit of dessert, or even maybe not the dessert, and go go for the ice cream, you know, go up to deck seven for ice cream. and But the food, very, very high standard. Now, in terms of the breakfast food, there's a lot of kind of...
Speaker: and eggs benedicts and steak and eggs and french toast that kind of thing um but i think in you know on on our cruise we went on there was maybe 14 nights i say had 10 lunches in there i'm sure and i had the they the the same every day the the salad the wedge salads the filet mignon and then uh up to there was a very nice light panna cotta And then up to the ice cream. The only thing i would say, all the places we went, the only food that I was disappointed in, it was in the wake. There's this thing they call the crepe cake.
Speaker: And it looks absolutely amazing. It's like, ah it's kind of milfious, it's this very thin pastry and it just looks fabulous, but it didn't really taste of anything.
Speaker: No, it looks really good. Yeah, I mean, so it's just layers of crepes with cream on, but whole yet together in that and there's a bit of a coulis as well, but it's, um yeah, there isn't much there isn't really any flavour to it. there's Yeah, it was tasty. It just wasn't worth the calories, if you know what I mean. it wasn' It looked as if it had like 10,000 calories in it, but it didn't have the taste to justify it.
Speaker: That's very true. I've tried the the the Benedicts. I had the the Wake Eggs Benedicts. from there which is pork belly and then you get your egg and and muffin and that kind of stuff and you can have that as you get two of those and then I ask for um for a side each time so like a ah like some fries or something else to kind of go with or they had ah like like a potato rosteer I think you had a few times here I had a few few times I had the potato rusty to add on. So if you see something on another bit of the menu, you think, actually, that looks really good, then you can say, can I have that with a side of whatever's on the wrist? Yeah, and of course, that's not just from the sides. That's literally if you see something on another dish.
Speaker: Yes. Like, for example, there's some spinach in one of the dishes. So some days I said, may I have my steak with some spinach? And and they were perfectly happy to do that. A lot of iron in your diet. LAUGHTER
Speaker: well And then we're moving on to the evening, and the evening has a has a fuller menu. there's more variety of steaks that you can have. Obviously, there's just vegetarian options, and and there's also a fish option as well.
Speaker: Starches are pretty similar um to to what you have at lunch, but there's also a clam chowder, and there's also like a rhubarb-y kind of thing, and a roasted bone marrow.
Speaker: um But I pretty much always have the wedge salad whenever I go, God. It is really, really good. Really sort tasty. I do like blue cheese. I know not everyone likes blue cheese, but I do really like blue cheese.
Speaker: um Did you have any different starters when you were in the evening or did you have the same thing? I think I had the, there was like a black bean salad thing with a corn custard. I had that a couple of times. It was very nice.
Speaker: Yeah, and if you like oysters, they do um like they they have the what they call the raw bar. which This is one of those things you have to pay extra for. So on Virgin, 99.9% of all your food is included, and there's a few things in the treat-yourself menu where you pay extra for those, and that would be like the raw bar, so you can get things where it's got lobster and oysters and that kind of stuff.
Speaker: All stuff I don't eat, so what I'd travel from there. I wouldn't need that either, but I have seen it on YouTube. They have like ah a little plateau and a big plateau and the the the big plateau looks absolutely magnificent. And think it has like a whole lobster on it, as well as shrimp and mussels and all that sort of stuff. But it is, it is, you know, like nearly $90. And so it's good value for what you're guessing, but it is, it is a little bit more than you would normally expect to pay.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, as you said, it is a treat-yourself thing. So this is, for example, a special occasion, maybe an anniversary or a birthday, yes on that and you really are, into you really like lobster, then treat yourself, go on, have something nice from there.
Speaker: And then if not, I think... pretty much always went for steak when we went for, just to make a change, had the steak. There's more variety. So there's like a hanger steak that's on there as well. One of the New York strip steaks as well. So a bit more variety than what you get at brunch.
Speaker: Yeah. So one evening I think I did have the roast chicken, which was very good. Yeah. It was steak. Yeah. You did have the chicken um one day. what What was it like being in in the wake and not having a steak? Well, it's like a little holiday in itself.
Speaker: And then the desserts are ah kind of similar to the ones you get at lunchtime. can't remember if i had a dessert when we went the last time. But again, the desserts are really nice as well. But um I think probably went for ice cream after because ah yeah the steaks are big.
Speaker: And so you might not be able to fit a cake kind of thing on top. But as you said, it is more... the the the theme is um like a New York steakhouse kind of thing at sea. So it is really nicely done. You know, people do dress up to go.
Speaker: I said about the dress code, haven't we? There is not really a dress code. Obviously, you know, you to what you can't put Gobby in wearing swimming costumes and things like that. But ah I wore flip-flops pretty much the entire time. while They were Virgin Vyaches branded ones. Oh, good to know.
Speaker: They were there. there But, um you know, um I think most people, the wake, that's one those ones that people will dress up a little bit more for. They will kind of, ah you know, ladies wear a na nice dress and men will might wear like a shirt something like that because it is a bit more of a nicer going out kind of jazz. as ah The gum bay is bit more, you know, more sociable. So you don't have to necessarily get too dressed up for it. But don't think you have to get dressed up. No one's going to go, why are you wearing a Garfield T-shirt at the wake?
Speaker: That's absolutely fine. Yes, absolutely. And one of the nice things about the cruise is that the dress code wasn't really very formal. It was just very relaxed and it was just wear what you want.
Speaker: So that's The Wake, Razzle Dazzle and Gumby. And on the previous podcast, we covered the Test Kitchen, Pink Algarve and Extra Virgin. And our next podcast, we'll be talking about all the amazing little places you can go and eat at the galley. So the galley is what ah Virgin Voyages calls the buffet, but it's done completely differently to how normal buffets run. It is a lot nicer, lot better kind of food quality, I think, and just so much different.
Speaker: to be different things that you can have there um that just kind of makes it sort of stand out so we'll be talking about on the next podcast um if you want to get in touch to find out more about the sober cruise maybe booking a call and have a little chat with one of us uh then just visit the sobercruise.co.uk and we'll be uh happy to talk to you about our little trip uh this one's going uh in august 2026 on board virgin voyages scarlet lady uh but we've also got other cruises that we can also talk to you a little bit more about as well so uh for now thank you much mark for joining us yep thanks very much for your time martin let i'll see on the next broadcast let'll see you on the next podcast
