Is Virgin Voyages Rock Star Worth It? Our Honest Review

We've just come back from nine nights on Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady in a Rock Star Brilliant Suite, and we want to give you the honest answer to the question we had before we booked.

Is it actually worth it?

https://youtu.be/a_PPJ4zqYl4

We've put together a full video review on our YouTube channel covering everything — the cabin, the Rock Star Agent, Richard's Rooftop, the drinks situation, priority boarding, and how it all stacks up against the alternatives. But if you'd rather read first, here's our full take.

What Is Rock Star?

On most cruise lines, the top cabin tier is called a suite or a penthouse. On Virgin Voyages, it's Rock Star. It sits above the Sea Terrace (their standard balcony cabin) and comes with a range of extras designed to make the experience feel different — not just a bigger room, but a different level of service and access.

There are several Rock Star categories. We were in a Brilliant Suite, one of the larger options. Prices vary significantly depending on the sailing, route, and how far ahead you book.

The Cabin

Walk into a Brilliant Suite and it doesn't feel like a cruise ship cabin. There's a sofa, a coffee table, proper space to sit up away from the bed — and for us, that matters on a longer sailing. The bed is in the same room but the layout means you don't feel on top of it.

The balcony has a hammock, the bathroom is impressive with a large walk-in shower, and the storage is genuinely excellent — wardrobe, drawers, under-bed space. Plenty of room for two people to properly unpack. The cabin also arrives stocked with spirits and alcohol, which we'll come back to.

One design choice worth knowing about: there's a window from the bathroom into the cabin. Not for everyone, but it's there.

It genuinely felt like a hotel room. That's harder to achieve at sea than it sounds.

The Rock Star Agent

Every Rock Star booking includes a dedicated Rock Star Agent — Virgin's equivalent of a butler. Ours was Karina, and she was brilliant.

She came to the cabin on arrival, introduced herself, walked us through everything and asked what spirits we'd like stocked. After that, she messaged every day with recommendations — what was on around the ship, excursions if we were in port, anything worth knowing. When we needed last-minute dining reservations or wanted to change plans, she sorted it without any fuss.

It never felt intrusive. It felt like having someone genuinely looking out for you. If you like having plans in place, the Rock Star Agent is one of the best parts of the package.

Drinks — What's Actually Included

This varies depending on which Rock Star level you book, so it's worth being specific.

At Brilliant Suite level, there's no bar tab. What you get is a daily happy hour from 5pm to 6pm, where you can order from a selected drinks menu. We enjoyed it — the frozen cocktails were particularly good. On several days it moved from Richard's Rooftop down to the Sip Lounge due to the weather, which changes the atmosphere a bit.

The other perk is the stocked cabin bar on arrival. You can order mixers from room service — so vodka and Coke, gin and tonic, that sort of thing — without bar prices or leaving the cabin. The key thing to know: once it's gone, it isn't replenished.

If drinks are a big priority, the Mega Rock Star level includes a bottomless in-room bar and a daily bar tab. For the Brilliant Suite, you're working with the happy hour and whatever you use from the cabin.

Richard's Rooftop

This is the headline exclusive perk for Rock Star guests, and it's genuinely worth knowing about before you sail.

Richard's Rooftop is a private area at the top of the ship — no other guests can access it, and you wouldn't stumble across it if you didn't know it was there. There's an outdoor deck with seating and sun loungers, and some enclosed birdcage-style lounger pods that we really liked. Comfortable, sheltered, and a nice alternative to the main pool deck.

A couple of honest points. Our sailing wasn't the sunniest, and the wind limited how much we used the outdoor areas. On several days it wasn't the obvious choice. The music was also a bit of a miss — Richard's Rooftop plays fairly generic lounge music, and on warmer days you could hear the much livelier DJ sets drifting up from the pool deck below. On a hot sailing it might feel quite different.

When we did use it, there was always space. It never felt crowded.

Priority Boarding

On our particular sailing, this went from a pleasant bonus to something genuinely valuable.

We departed from Brooklyn Cruise Port, which had been changed at the last minute from the original Manhattan departure. The port clearly wasn't set up for the volume of passengers that day. Queues were long, things felt disorganised, and non-Rock Star guests waited a considerable amount of time.

We skipped through. There was a small lounge with drinks for suite guests — we were moved through fairly quickly as boarding was already underway — but we were on the ship well ahead of most other passengers.

On a smooth embarkation day, priority boarding is a nice touch. On a day like ours, it was worth having.

How It Felt Day to Day

Here's the honest version.

The baseline on Virgin Voyages is already good. The food is included, the restaurants are excellent, and the ship is well-run. Rock Star adds a layer on top of something that already works — it isn't rescuing you from a mediocre cruise.

But it's also not the same as being in a separate world. Unlike MSC Yacht Club, where suite guests have their own private section of the ship, Rock Star doesn't segment you off. You're on the same ship as everyone else, using the same restaurants, bars and public spaces. Richard's Rooftop is the only area that's genuinely exclusive to you.

That's fine if you know it going in. The dining on Virgin Voyages is one of the real highlights and you don't lose anything by sharing it. But if you're hoping for a ship-within-a-ship experience, Rock Star doesn't deliver that.

The Verdict — And A Comparison Worth Knowing About

The cabin is excellent. The Rock Star Agent is one of the best things about the booking. The stocked bar and room service mixers are more practical than they might sound. And priority boarding proved its value on our sailing.

Richard's Rooftop is a genuinely nice space, though how much you use it will depend on the weather and whether the atmosphere works for you.

Now for the comparison.

We paid just under £5,000 for our Rock Star Brilliant Suite. We found a comparable sailing in MSC Yacht Club would have cost around £3,758 — over £1,200 less, including a full premium drinks package and a private dining room.

MSC Yacht Club is a true ship-within-a-ship. Private restaurant, private lounge and bar, an exclusive outdoor deck with its own pool, hot tubs and bar, priority excursion disembarkation, and a butler service very similar to the Rock Star Agent. The Yacht Club area is physically separate from the rest of the ship.

If the VIP, fully-exclusive feel is what you're after, MSC Yacht Club delivers it more completely and costs less. That's just the truth.

That said, Virgin Voyages is a genuinely different product. Adults-only, inclusive dining, a distinctive atmosphere — none of that is replicated on MSC. If you love the Virgin experience and want the best cabin on the ship, Rock Star is worth it. Just know what it is: an excellent suite with real perks, rather than a private enclave.

And if you want to see how MSC Yacht Club compares, our video 10 Things We Loved In MSC Yacht Club is on the channel now.