This afternoon, Brilliant Lady sailed to Hubbard Glacier. Unfortunately, weather conditions made viewing the glacier difficult due to fog, low clouds and rain. Whale watching and/or glacier gazing reveals the weakness of Virgin’s Lady ships’ design. These are ships designed for warm weather cruising, not cold weather sightseeing. There is no observation lounge and even the spaces on Deck 7 which have nice large windows, suffer from obstructions.

One option is The Galley on Deck 15 as it does have unobstructed views through large windows, but it gets so crowded with diners. Casual sightseers would not want to take up space at a table intended for guests who are eating. This means guests who want to see whales or view a glacier must brave the elements, which today includes cold and rain, after all, it is Alaska.

*Rickee does her best to see Hubbard Glacier in the rain on Deck 7*

Of course, most guests have a private balcony in their stateroom, but the Captain did not rotate the ship 360 degrees. Therefore, if you are on the port side and the glacier is visible from starboard (as was the case for us), you see nothing from your balcony. We did overhear other guests who took a glacier watching excursion on a smaller tour boat say that it was amazing. I don’t think we have ever had to take an excursion to view a glacier in Alaska. We have always been able to see them from the ship.

Fortunately, Brilliant Lady’s Happenings Cast conduct a variety of games and activities such as trivia. Today, Elise conducted a team trivia that was well attended. In fact, I can’t remember the last time this many people were playing trivia on a cruise ship.

*Elise conducts trivia in The Social Club*

Before dinner this evening, we stop by On The Rocks an Deck 6 for a pre-dinner cocktail. Peach & Bourbon are performing as we enjoy our drink. The musical talent of the lounge acts on Virgin is unrivaled.

*Peach & Bourbon perform at On The Rocks*

Rickee ordered her traditional Lemon Drop Martini which she said was just OK. My Crown Royal was served in a rocks glass and was a more generous pour than I received at The Dock House a couple of days ago.

Tonight we had dinner reservations at Extra Virgin, Virgin Voyages Italian specialty restaurant. We have been looking forward to this since this was one of our favorite restaurants on Scarlet Lady. Well, I am sorry to say that our experience this evening was just not as good as we remembered. First, they have changed the menu, and eliminated some of our favorite items.

Gone is the fried calamari starter than was amazing. They also removed the Beef Carpaccio from the menu which was one of Rickee’s favorite starters. They also took another swipe at Rickee’s tastebud by removing the spatchcock chicken from the menu, which she claimed to be one of the best chicken dishes she had ever had. There was really nothing on this new menu that appealed to Rickee at all.

The Affetatti Misti platter is still on the menu and has not changed, it is still good. They have also kept the meatballs, which I ordered again and interestingly, was the only dish to arrive at our table hot. Every other dish we tried arrived luke warm or room temp. This seems to be a recurring problem on this sailing at all of the restaurants.

For her main, Rickee ordered the Ricotta Nudi, which quite honestly, had no flavor. I am not even sure it qualifies as a pasta. Certainly not any pasta I have ever had. I had the Braised Pork Cheek, which I assume replaced the Braised Pork Neck that I had on Scarlet Lady. It was served warm and was fall apart tender, but lacked the depth of flavor I remember from the previous dish.

I also ordered a side of the Mushroom Fettuccini because I had seen such good reviews of it on other YouTube channels. And, as far as flavor, it was good, and the pasta was nicely cooked al dente, but it arrived at the table cold. It was like it had been plated 30 minutes earlier and sat at the pass under a heat lamp. I could literally put a fork in it and lift the entire pasta dish of the place since the noodles had all become stuck together.

Another difference in our dining experience this time was in our table location. We were seated at a table for two that was just a few inches from another table for two. On our Scarlet Lady visit, there was at least 12-14” between the two top tables where we were seated. Nit-picky? Perhaps, but that’s our review. As with The Wake, we cancelled our second reservation at Extra Virgin.

I will cover more in my dining review video. For now, please tell me if you have sailed on Virgin Voyages lately. Have you noticed a downturn in the dining experience? So far, on this cruise, our only standout dining experience has been at Rojo. We will be dining at Gunbae on the last night of the cruise. We loved Gunbae on Scarlet Lady. Fingers crossed that it is still good.

Tomorrow, we will be in Sitka, Alaska.

Day 5 - Hubbard Glacier, Alaska

Day 4 - Icy Strait Point, Alaska