To Alaska and back again: a first-time cruiser’s adventure on the Brilliant Lady, traveling through the Inside Passage.
Part 1 of ?
This article is the first in a series is for:
- people who never imagined themselves taking a cruise
- people preparing for their first cruise
- people interested in Virgin Voyages
- people interested in an Alaskan cruise
Who Even Wants to Go on a Cruise?
The plan was Glacier National Park.
I spent hours researching, planning, and working through decisions. Too many decisions. Time was running short, and things weren't lining up the way I wanted. My frustration was building when I saw an ad for the Virgin Voyages Alaskan cruise.
Never have I ever wanted to go on a cruise, but Alaska was on my short list of places to see. Suddenly, it became clear. I could spend more time actually on vacation than planning.
Not to mention visiting multiple locations without hauling luggage on planes, trains, and automobiles. With Alaska in particular, there are few roads and a lot of impassable wilderness between places, and frankly, only so much to do in any one place.
Why Virgin Voyages?
Choosing a cruise line is just as important as the destination. Virgin Voyages' come-as-you-are vibe and no-kids policy were a major attraction. I love kids, but sometimes it's really nice not to have any around. Not having to deal with other people's children is priceless. You can also be freer and more relaxed in your own behavior. The come-as-you-are vibe means you can dress nicer if you want, or just be comfy and not worry about pomp and circumstance.
The cruise was very accommodating to solo travelers. There were frequent meetups, including a nightly event where the crew arranges reservations at the ship's high-end restaurants. You get last-minute reservations and meet interesting people. I highly recommend this early in the voyage.
One more thing about the crowd: Virgin Voyages is LGBTQ+ friendly, including organized meetup events targeted to this group of sailors. I'm not sure whether there were proportionally more queer folk on the cruise, or whether they were more visible because they felt free to be themselves in that environment. Either way, if you're not cool with that, you've got some soul-searching to do before you think about getting on a boat.
Finally, it didn't hurt that the ship, the Brilliant Lady, was less than a year old, and, admitting my bias here, I'm a fan of the Virgin brand in general. Richard Branson seems to be a pretty decent guy, for a billionaire. One of my best experiences as an employee was at a company spun out of the Virgin brand and still operated under his ethos.
