Athens and Resilient Lady Cruise Adriatic Sea and Greek Gems

We opted for a night in Athens before our cruise, to enjoy a chilled evening with good food and just relaxing before our cruise the following day. I prefer to do this as I love to avoid any stress when traveling. We stayed in the Athens21 Hotel, it’s a good base. Clean and friendly hotel the acropolis of Athens and all the main archaeological sites Acropolis Museum the Ancient Agora are within walking distance. Plaka, Athens picturesque district & Psirri with its bustling atmosphere are steps from the hotel. Really was a great base, we decided to stay around Plaka and Syntagma area for the evening and had some gorgeous homemade Moussaka and Gyros. In this are you are spoiled for choice for good restaurants and bars, we were pleasantly surprised how cheap it was to eat out in Athens. 9 euros a meal with reasonable portion sizes, excellent value for 2023 and of course great Greek hospitality. The best part of it was no transport was needed, easy walk from our hotel to the nightlife. The following morning after checking out, we had a little wonder around the nearby archaeological sites on foot that were free to visit. Then headed to a couple of rooftop bars with stunning acropolis views. The MS Roof Garden is at the end of the street and has the acropolis views. It was easy to get a taxi to the port Piraeus as they are easy to stop in the street, Piraeus is under half an hour away and around 15 euros. Port Check-in to get on board Resilient Lady is super easy, so many staff. From arriving at the port to getting on the ship took no more than 10-15 minutes. So now was time to enjoy 5* Adult only cruising. The beauty of completing the checks on the app before arriving. Virgin Voyages noticeably has the most unique crew at sea, with the crew’s personality being able to shine. From the best uniform at sea (in my opinion), to the happiness that shines through each crew member. You can tell the crew love being on board and want you to have the best time, I have found the crew to be the most friendly and fun out of any cruise line I’ve ever been on. This instantly impacts your cruise in a good way. They also know how they can improve service and look after you, it was a pleasure to sail with the crew on board as they do an excellent job. We stayed in a Sea Terrace room; you get an iPad which is interactive. From the iPad you can open the curtains, turn on TV, pick movies, play music, change mood lighting. I get asked a lot about the shower, was it any good and yes, I can certainly approve. The room was modern with a hammock on our balcony, to add a splash of the Virgin Red to the cabin. Virgin Voyages have no preassigned seating for meals, and you have a choice of relaxed casual dining to menus curated by Michelin star chefs to choose from. When you eat is easy, as you have the app to book in advance to plan around what your plans are around the ship. You can easily make changes on the day. No buffets as they don’t like waste so if you want something casual you head to the Galley and use your QR code to tell the server what you want or can go to the counter while they take an order from you and a server will bring it over, from Tacos, burgers, all day breakfast, noodles, there is loads here for the casual diner with masses of choice, made freshly per order. If food is your thing the restaurant choices are outstanding, and all included. Our favourite is the Wake restaurant which is the Steak restaurant at the back of the ship with gorgeous views and food is very impressive. You also have Italian, Mexican and much more on a week’s cruise you can dine differently each evening easily. Food is a huge part of cruising and VV have got it right as the food did not disappoint. On the cruise you get Essential drinks, we opted to be naughty and have a bar tab and if you prepay you get an added bar tab. We even shook for Champagne from the app and had it bought to the cabin to enjoy on the balcony on a relaxing sea day. You can keep track of your tab in the app. No annoying announcements onboard Virgin Voyages make it quiet and no photographers trying to sell you things. Refreshing to see. WIFI included in the fare. TIPS, all included so nothing to pay. Pleasure to know it is included in your Virgin Voyage. What is there to do onboard. Plenty of shows and entertainment that is fun are available, you just check the daily planner in the app. Plenty of bar areas, entertainment from live music to shows, spa, board games, casino. Many quiet spots if you wish to grab a book or one of the many free board games available on board. There is even an arcade room. My favourite spot was deck 15 at the aft where you have the plush red comfy loungers and quiet. Pools are quite small on board, this had no negative impact for us but if you are used to having a larger pool at sea its worth knowing this in advance. Virgin Voyages APP – This has a huge impact on the cruise the more you use the app, the more memorable your cruise will be, as it has everything in there. From entertainment to food, bar tab, shore things, spa, tattoo parlour and much more. So, what about the land part, we got to cruise the most incredible spots in Croatia Montenegro and Greece. Each port was brilliant. Split, roman ruins medieval streets. Dubrovnik Old town and incredible views really reminded me of the Amalfi coast as had superb views from capri that seemed so familiar. Kotor gem of the balkas, museums, churches, and incredible views. Corfu emerald capped mountains, historical monuments, bustling streets and a 20km bike ride to enjoy the views. All in all, my 3rd sailing was excellent with Virgin Voyages and I look forward to returning again on Resilient Lady this September.