Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to this week's edition of the Sober Cruise Podcast. As always, I'm joined by Mark. Mark, how are you? I am very well today, Martin. How are you doing? Very good. Thanks, apart from the the miserable weather outside. We're recording this at the end of January, so I think everyone's got miserable weather, haven't they? wait Yes, pretty much, yeah.
Speaker: I'm in the south of Spain and the weather here is terrible today. was talking about the rain in Spain and falling on planes and things like that. Indeed. ah well let's try and think of something a lot more sunny uh and uh and nice and let's talk about the entertainment on board virgin voyages so the sober cruise will be set in sale in august 2026 on board scarlet lady and one of the things that really sets virgin apart from the other cruise lines is of course the entertainment um and so we're going talking about all the different things that you can do whilst on board from the shows to sort of visiting musicians and things like that. So, well, let's crack on really with the, we've got like the the overall kind of theme. I think sometimes people kind of think that because it's Virgin, it's going to be quite in your face, but it's not really like that, is it?
Speaker: No, no, it it is. It's quirky, and but it's not rude in any way. It's not adult material, but it is it is quite different to what you might see on other cruise lines.
Speaker: Yeah, it's not a watered-down version of a Broadway or West End kind of show. it the All the shows have been created just for Virgin Voyages. So let's start off with Persephone, which is one of the ah big shows in the Red Room.
Speaker: Yeah, sure. So there are two big shows, really. yeah You're going to tell us a little bit about books in a minute. But Persephone, I guess, is the the closest thing to a main headline Broadway kind of show.
Speaker: And one of the, and it's really unlike anything you've seen before on a cruise ship. Now, it's in the Red Room, which is the biggest area, and that covers two floors, Deck 6 and Deck 7.
Speaker: Deck 6 normally has seats in it for the theatre shows, but all the seats are removed for Persephone. So when you're watching that, you're standing right in the middle of the action, so the stage effectively...
Speaker: winds its way around the audience and you're standing and the performers are moving around you that's ah now deck seven offers seating so if you're a little if you don't fancy standing for an hour then head to deck seven and you can get a seat probably i'd recommend that you get there around about 15 minutes before the show starts if you want to get a seat or a good place to stand Now what really elevates the show is the music. So it's modern pop songs that you'll recognise, but they're used to drive the story forward.
Speaker: And that's combined with sort of dance, acrobatics and visuals on the screens. So creates something that feels big, you know, mythic almost. And a little strange, but completely captivating. The kind of thing that stays with you long after it ends.
Speaker: Yeah, I think it's it's very, very different, but in a good way. um And there is a one bit, and I won't use the exact words they they they use in the show, but there is one bit where they stop the show and go WTF to basically say, you know, even we don't know what's going on, stay tuned in.
Speaker: yeah Even we don't know what's going on. what's this What's this story? There is stuff going on all around you. i remember standing next to a little podium and then there was dancers up behind me then they'd jump off and then the things would just be going around and then you would just have...
Speaker: these performers all around you. So it's really immersive. When you're standing there, you hear Coke Zero. a little bar over into the corner, isn't there? So it's on Coke Zero and and and and have that. um And then and the singing the singing's all done live as well. So, you know, it's it's not just like people mimey or anything. It's really...
Speaker: a top notch show and this is on a couple of times during the the salience usually sometimes on the first night um persephone sort of like to kick off your your cruise uh to like a big big high to sort of start with um but uh there's ah another show which we'll talk about later on the drag show which is usually also on the first night as well But um it will be repeated a couple of times, usually on a sceny day as well. So you can see it in the afternoon um and then ah maybe in another evening as well. But it depends on on the cruise. Our cruise is an eight-night cruise. Most other cruises use seven nights. So we do have an extra night of entertainment as well. We do, yeah. And of course, on the days that it is on, it's usually on twice in the day. So very often the shows will be on at eight o'clock and then repeated again at 10 o'clock.
Speaker: And the 10 o'clock show tends to be less busy. So if you want to be guaranteed to get a seat, that's that's another idea to go to the later show. Yeah, and then could most other people, they're either finishing off their dinner, maybe if they've got a late dinner, or they're doing other things by by then, or they're just a bit tired.
Speaker: it it is similar to most other cruise lines, is it? The evenings do tend to be dinner and a show. So the shows are at 8 o'clock and 10 o'clock, and there tends to be one show in the Red Room and a different show in the Manor.
Speaker: and So if you're particularly keen on shows, you can see two different shows generally in the one night, go to 8 o'clock in the Red Room. and 10 o'clock in the manor or vice versa but one of the great shows that the other the other great shows or the big shows is that the booked show now I've not seen this have you seen it?
Speaker: The Lola's Library? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. is is Is this a new one? It's a prequel to Lola's Library. So as as you said, it's a prequel to Lola's Library. Lola's Library takes place in the Manor, which is a smaller venue. It's like a nightclub sort of cabaret sort of thing, whereas the Red Room is a much bigger place. So see, Lola's Library, the original version was getting...
Speaker: you know, were too busy, they couldn't fit enough people in, and also if you're upstairs in the manor, you can't really see much, can you? um So, I think they wanted to create something which was a ah much bigger um experience, um and then use all the space that they've got in the Red Room. So, with this one, with Persephone, where everything's going on around you, this one is more of a traditional, there's a stage, and there's a little runway um as well, but it is, you're sat down,
Speaker: There's the stage in front of you and the show is on. So, um, ah You saw Lola's Library, didn't you? that you read jamess yet yeahp I did, think it's a good move on the the part of Virgin to move it into the Red Room and because in lo in the manner, as you say, it's it's a lot smaller so they can get fewer people in, but also you were kind of sometimes behind the action so the view that your experience of the show depended very much on where you were sitting, whereas in the Red Room, pretty much everyone's getting the same view of the action. So I think that is a good idea that they moved it into the Red Room.
Speaker: Yeah. um So this one is, as I say, like a it's a prequel um and it's kind of quite similar to the original version um is that it sort of explores different stories.
Speaker: sort of So for example, in the original one, there was like a Snow White section. There was like a, it was like a, an homage to, ah to different ah works of literature. Very, very, very, very, virgin kind of way though is it it you know they don't stand there and read charles dickens out word for word you know there's very muscular people up on the doing the doing the the the silks and the ropes and the climbing up things and that kind of stuff and it's all very you know it's not rude but it's you know you wouldn't be having this on a disney cruise ship would you
Speaker: Yeah, so it's sort of kind of search of sleigh stuff. It's like a combination of dance, acrobatics, music, comedy, and, you know, very entertaining. Yeah, so this sort of goes back to when lo so Lola in the in the Lola's library is a librarian.
Speaker: And in this one, she's a cabaret star. So we're basically watching the cabaret star, which is why she's so flamboyant when she becomes a a librarian.
Speaker: So it's it's it's ah it's kind of how Lola becomes Lola. in a way. So it's that. But if you've seen Lola's Library, expects very sound similar, but on a much grander, bigger scale. think there's like big, over the sort of puppets that they use in this one as well. So is it does look amazing. So it's one of the things i'm looking forward to doing when we fall. It does sound good. Yeah. and one of one of the other things I really like on this ship are what they call the festival stage acts. And one of the great things about these is that these change all the time. So they're never the same on any two sailings.
Speaker: They're anding not the big fix shows that we've talked about are already. It's more a mix of comedians, musicians, magicians, and random surprises that pop up throughout the ship.
Speaker: So one night you might stumble on something funny. The next night you might find something completely different. And what it does is it gives the ship this kind of festival-like energy. where it feels a little bit spontaneous. And and really that that unpredictability of of is part of what makes it so much fun.
Speaker: Yeah, so for example, if you're on deck um six, for example, you can walk through and maybe you've just finished off in the manor and you can walk through to on the rocks and there'd be something going on there. Maybe go upstairs one deck to go to the social club and there might be like a karaoke going on there. But down at the dock house at the back of the ship, there might be, you know, a Spanish guitarist or something. think ah ah Whilst at the same time, there's a rock band. playing in the Red Room. So there's ah lots of different tastes of music um throughout the ship.
Speaker: um And those bands, you know, the ones that go into the Red Room, they have been chosen for a reason. that They are really, really good. It's not, you a working man's club. No, these are all top level performers. Yeah. And of course, most of these performers you'll find in the and in the app, and we'll talk about the app little bit more later on, but they also do have these pop-up performances that they don't list. So as you say, you could just be walking from the front of the ship to the back of the ship and then suck just stumble across a magician or or or ah um you a guitar player or whatever. So it it is fun. You know, it's fun sort of not knowing what's going to happen next.
Speaker: But those are the main shows. And now we do then have some other like cabaret shows as well, don't we? with this because So there's the two main ones there, the Lights Camera Drag, which I think you've seen already. And then there's Lola's Supper Club. So tell us a bit about Lights Camera Drag.
Speaker: So Lights, Camera, Drag, so each show and sorry each ship has their own, ah the the Diva, which is the drag queen on um on on each ship, and she has her own show. Now, depending on the skill set, it might be a different show on each one. So it does kind of change. So, for example, the original drag show,
Speaker: i actually which I saw on um oh on Valiant Lady. and And um we actually we actually knew the ah ah the drag herself, and she actually worked with the Virgin's creative team to actually create the show. And that was different to the show that um is on Scarlet Lady because the drags that are on there can't necessarily do the same thing.
Speaker: the So the the original one I saw had like silk work where they're kind of climbing up the silks and things like that. the drag that was on Scarlet Lady last year would not be able to to do that. So it's kind of very different, but it's a, um all all of these shows are um taking ah the best bits of drag and then putting them into um ah ah a show. and So, for example, with Lights, Camera, Drag, there's a vague story and all these stories are kind of a bit kind of
Speaker: as if it were drag they're a bit cheesy aren't they um and then it's an excuse basically for the diva to to sing a load of songs that you that you know and that they can sing really really well um and then There'll be times where they get people up onto the stage and and yeah and there always is a chance for them to interact with the audience, which I think is one of the reasons why they put it on the first night as well is it gets you off to a red start and you've seen the diva up at the sail away party.
Speaker: And then this is your chance to actually, you know, you might be questioned or dragged up on to the stage. Were you really? Yeah, it was just quite funny. but to I say drags. I was invited up onto stage to come and do it. And it was really, it's really fun. And like all these kind of like audience kind of things where you get someone who is naturally quick-witted,
Speaker: ah it's great, kind of like, because you can go and see the show a couple of times, and it is going to be different depending on who they, and generally, know, there is always one that they pull up someone who looks like they've been dragged along by their other half, who doesn't really want to be there, and that person you usually get fit on, Is that where you were? Is that where you were dragging? No, I wasn't. I wasn't.
Speaker: ah Actually, I think Amy pointed at me, ah and that's why I got a got taken up. But yeah, it was it is really fun. um All the drag queens across the all the fleet, all the ones I've seen, are absolutely amazing, really hardworking. You'll see them do other things as well. where they So they have their actual... sort big choreographed show, but they also do things where they do, where they perform, and like, love songs, um just ah in like in the On the Rocks kind of area, so that's just them set up set up and just performing songs as well, so you can see the, and the diva also tends to host a lot quizzes as well, so you can also see them, and there's also, did you see, ah ah this court it's called Scoop, there it is, I think, it's an ice cream based quiz.
Speaker: oh you know I didn't see that, no. Oh, it's really good. the You're basically the winning team. The winning person gets to name the the um the the ice cream sundae for the day.
Speaker: and And they get to app. And that's definitely a price worth having. Oh, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. And so the next thing we'd like to talk about is a thing called the Laws Supper Club. So this is kind of interesting. One way it's interesting is that is it's one of the very few things that you need to book.
Speaker: Now in the, when Virgin Voyages started, you needed to reserve all your shows on the app, but that's kind of changed a couple of years ago. Now for most of the shows, it's first come, first served. But for this one you do have to book and one of the reasons you have to book is that it's not just a show, it's a dinner and a show. So it's it's stand-up comics but you're having and dinner at the same time.
Speaker: This one, the Laws Supper Club is free but there are a number of other options where they have dinner shows and and they tend to be chargeable and they tend to be about $50 pop. Now, the reason people will pay for them because you think, well, why am I paying for me dinner there when I can get it free everywhere else is that they include a lot of alcoholic drinks for free.
Speaker: So for people on our cruise, this is probably not going to be good value. Although obviously they will offer non-alcoholic alternatives. and But the Laws Supper Club one, completely free, stand-up comics, full dinner, you know, it's it's it's a good option for for one of the nights.
Speaker: Do you know, I was speaking to some people on the last cruise, and I didn't do it, um but they were saying to me that they had seen the stand-up comedians um in the Red Room, and then they'd seen them at the Lowell Supper Club, and they said they were much better, actually, in the Supper Club. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: because it's a smaller kind of it's in the mouse it's a smaller kind of venue. They can interact with people a lot kind of easier and better. They don't do the same material as they do in the Red Room. And they said that it almost kind of feels like they've saved their best material for for the for the dinner club as a race through the Red Room. But that is just an anecdotal ah ah story, so who knows if it's actually true. I think suppose it's down to the comics to decide what they're going to on each night. But also, I think it's because there's a few of them, they don't have... It's a bit comedy club sort of style, is they don't have...
Speaker: Whereas when they're in the Red Room, they're 45 minutes up on stage. This is 15, 20 minutes and then on to the next one. So maybe they didn't pick their best stuff from similar clubs that they do back in the UK.
Speaker: Yeah. They do tend to come from the UK mostly. Most of them are from the UK. Yeah, they were very funny, most of But I did speak to some American people who thought that the humour was quite quite close to the bone. ah but Well, yeah. it's ah It was good.
Speaker: So we've talked about the big shows. We've talked about the cabaret. The other main area that we we need to maybe talk about are the parties. Now, before I got on my first Virgin Voyages cruise, I had this impression that Virgin was party central.
Speaker: But actually it's not really like that. It's that the parties tend to start about 11 o'clock. So it tends to be dinner, show, then party. So what what I found a couple of times was that I was coming out of the um the red room, say at 11 o'clock, because I'd been to the 10 o'clock show, and then there would be a long line of people outside the manor waiting for the party.
Speaker: So on the PJ party night, there was a long line of maybe 200 people standing in their pyjamas. ah PJ Party Night was inside for because of the weather, but it is usually up on the top deck at the Athletic Club, depending on the weather. So it's usually up there and outside. um I mean, I did it when we were when I sailed from Portsmouth um two years ago, and we were still outside. so Yeah, but i but the but the point is that the you know that the the parties do send to be tend to be a little bit separate. you know that They start, so you can kind if you don't want to engage with the parties, it's as if they'll have to stay in the film.
Speaker: So there are there are other ones like the Club Caliente, which is kind a Latin American themed one. There's the 80s one with the club Rubik's, with the giant Rubik's cubes. And then there's like a year 2000 party, which is kind of fuck fancy dress. That one is actually in the Red Room.
Speaker: So the... So most of the parties, happen in the manor. And what it will be is, you know, the DJ will play... So, for example, Club Rub... The Rubik's Cube one, the 80s party, basically. The DJ will play some 80s music, and then every maybe 15, 20 minutes, the Happenings cast will come out, and the, you know, the hostess might do a song, and they do a little performance, and then they go back, and then they do that sort of, you know, four or five times... So it's not just an 80s night of just dancing on the dance floor yourself. There is a little show that goes on as well. The Y2K party is in the Red Room and it's set up for... So they've got the stage, but then the rest of it is a dance floor. And it's basically a countdown to... So we're in... It's the 31st of December, 1999. And we've got one hour until the ball drops in Town Square. And it's just basically recreating that kind of thing. And they had the dance team up on the stage as well sort performing. So there's, again, it's...
Speaker: a bigger version of the 80s one is you know they play a few songs yeah songs that are around at that sort of time and then they have a bit of a stage show and then they go back to dancing everything and then obviously the ball drops ah that kind of thing there are um like they have bits where they kind of like like a camera and they're roving around the audience and there are people have a What's your message for the people in the year 2000? The 26th it is now? Yeah. Okay. There's one party that everyone will want to join, which I can see smiling at the thought of it, is Scarlet Knight. Tell us about Scarlet Knight.
Speaker: So Scarlet Knight is ship-wide, and it is a really cool experience because you don't really get this on any other kind of ship. You don't get... me yeah it's It's their version of a formal knight, but you know it's thrown formality out the window. is every you know Most people are dressed in some kind of red.
Speaker: Some people really... On my cruise before the last one, there was a guy who was not the smallest guy in the world, and he was dressed like little red riding wood, not wearing a lot.
Speaker: So I think just of us that, but there's stuff going on all over the ship. So you've got in the Red Room, you've got the of that the hostess will will so do a little ah um singing bit about the the history of Scarlet Knight and where it came from and about the moon and the octopus and all this kind of stuff. And she's the moon goddess and this octopus and it's kind of like mythology behind it. And then there's stuff going on around the ship. So around the the roundabout, that it by On the Rocks, you'll have um of quirky kind of fun things. So they have, again, best dressed kind of thing. They'll have like a little fashion parade. And then there'll be like games and that kind of stuff. And then the magician will come out and they'll hear dudes and tricks. And then there's a little dance that goes on as well.
Speaker: And then it all culminates, hopefully, depending on the weather, upstairs around the... because oh ah Well, unfortunately, because of the tights and stuff, on our last one was in Daz, wasn't it? But we'll be ah upstairs around the pool. So you've got the two decks around there. And it's basically... you They do like a five, six-minute...
Speaker: show where the dancers are on the edge of the pool and so the happenings cast and then the hostess will come out and sing a song um which you'll end up hearing either six or seven times across scarlet night and then if you want to if the weather's good enough you jump in the pool because that's what everyone does philly boat jumps in the pool and i've done this most of there's only twice i won because it was downstairs two because it was going out of portsmouth and i didn't fancy going into the pool It is tremendous fun. It is a lustful one, yeah, yeah. So we've been talking a lot about the Happenings cast. Now, they're about like 12 people. Most cruisers have what they call the cruise director who kind of appears at the beginning of the show and introduces the show and tells us where we'll be coming the next day. But Virgin don't have that. You know, they have these 12 different people, generally young people, young, diverse set of people.
Speaker: And they... are much more involved in the entertainment across the entire ship, aren't they? So they'll be doing the quizzes and they'll be and leadingate leading various bits of mischief around the ship.
Speaker: Yeah. And it's it's much more effective. It's much more effective and ah than just the cruise director. The quizzes are in a different, and a completely different level to the quizzes on other ships. They ah really are good fun and they're events in themselves. It's not just someone reading questions off a piece of paper.
Speaker: ah So the happening cast is a very, very successful idea, I think. Yeah, i think they're really good. and they said There's 12 of them. So you've got the hostess and she does the singing kind of mainly. And then you've got the diva. Obviously, he is a diva. You've got the the gamer. You've got some other ones which are kind of like, I don't want to lower level, but the the hype and the bounce and things. So they're the ones that basically there to get the energy up and get the party going. Yeah.
Speaker: i said There's the the gamer who does like a lot of like the quizzes and things like that as well. um There's the balance, which is the sporty kind of one. So she does or he does a lot of the ah like the yoga classes and that kind of stuff. And like the pickleball that organizes that. um And then there's also an artist and a magician on board as well, which is quite cool, isn't it?
Speaker: It is. And of course, it's it's worth getting to know the happenings cast. What sometimes happens if you kind of get chatting to them is that they can give you invitations to secret parties. Yeah. ah Now, i I didn't get invited to any of these, but some of the some of the fellows who we had dinner with were invited to like a a secret party. And they said it was tremendous fun. ro at the javier would tell us about and they're really really so I've been to to the Twice. You go backstage, you go into the crew-owning area, you go to the crew bar, um ah ah in the right in the front of the ship, and it's really kind of and you have to put your phone into a you have to put your phone away into like ah a locks thing and you get it back at the end. But the magician does a show, and there's only about 15 of you in there.
Speaker: And the the magicians are all really good. You are kind of going, I'm sat right next to you. I can't see what you've done. So good. And there was another one where we had a random party in the test kitchen at like midnight.
Speaker: um And we got invited to that. And that was really cool because they had like fried chicken and like cans of Coke Zero and that kind of stuff. But what they did was they pretended they were breaking in.
Speaker: God. sort of And then at the end, to get rid of everyone, they pretended that security were on their way. We all had to get out. So it was really fun. like There was about four people from the Happenings cast there. And then, you know, we're basically just... Everyone was just chatting. And there was like they had like a boombox thing to play music on. Booty speaker, suppose, now. um ah to do that and you have like nibbles and stuff but it was just like a nice vibe it was only about 20 odd people there so and you did kind of feel quite special that you've been invited to go along to this kind of cool little thing we were you literally eating fried chicken that you can get anywhere instead of
Speaker: Aye, so hope we've demonstrated that there is plenty of entertainment on board, here you add that there's something to do all through the day, every day, um and people are not going to get bored on this ship.
Speaker: No, absolutely. I think if you get bored, then you maybe you haven't used the app. So speaking about the app, it's basically where a few things you need to book in advance, but most of them you just turn up. But what you'll do is you'll put the – if you see something on the agenda – you can then add that to your own personal sort of diary so what you would do is you would just say you know add that to my agenda and it would then add it to your day so then you could see now it'll also tell you for example if you've got a restaurant reservation at six o'clock and you're trying to book in a quiz at 6 15 it won't stop you from doing it but it will just remind you that don't forget you've got a restaurant reservation and you go oh yeah i won't be able to do this quiz that time
Speaker: So I think you're not going to find nothing to do. You're not going to be bored. If anything, he's actually trying to find, narrow it down on exactly what you want to do because you go, oh, there's an 80s quiz on in the social club. But at the same time, there's that comedian on again. Oh, there's something else going on. So they're actually trying to work out.
Speaker: ah Which is why I think a lot of people like to have lunch or dinner early now, don't they? To get it out of the way so they can then start... and start doing the entertainment? Yes, yes. So most people are going to be sort of timing their dinner to suit with the entertainment. So either going early so that they can get to the 8 o'clock show or and going to the 8 o'clock show and then eating after it.
Speaker: and I think my preference these days would be to eat around 6, 6.30 so that you're getting out and then you can go to the show, the 8 o'clock show. And then if you want to, then go for, go hell us have a coffee and then go to the 10 o'clock show as well.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. there they said There's plenty of things to do. ah With the shows that are in the Red Room and and the Manor, with the Manor, it has more limited capacity, so you kind of need to get there a bit earlier. But with the Red Room, you can kind of, like, I've just popped in. Whilst there's been, like, an act playing and stuff, I've popped in for half an hour and then they'd gone out because it's been lunch or something. thick So, um yeah, there's plenty of a of opportunities to be entertained.
Speaker: Excellent. Okay, so that's the entertainment sorted. So what are we going to be talking about next time? Well, after you've done all this entertainment, then you need somewhere to sleep, really, don't you? That's a good segue, Martin. Next time we'll be talking all about the cabins. So um there's various are in cabins are on Bull Virgin Voyages. ah Most people that are doing the Subur Cruise have got Central Sea Terrace Cabins, so we'll be explaining all about that. But there are other different types of cabins as well. So we should be telling you all about those on the next episode.
Speaker: Glove light. So ah make sure that you ah hit the subscribe button so you don't miss any more of episodes. And if you want to find out more about the Sober Cruise, please visit thesobercruise.com. That's thesobercruise.com where you find out all the information about ah not only this sailing, but also future sailings as well. You can keep in touch with us by ah registering your interest and we'll keep you updated with more things. That's where also you can book in a call with us as well to have a little chat about what life's like on board the cruise. And any we can answer any questions that you have too. So um yeah, ah to just check out thesobercruise.com. And Mark, we should see everyone on the next episode. Yes, lovely, Mark. Have a great day.
Speaker: Thanks, you too. Let's bike.
