There are several significant changes coming to Virgin Voyages itineraries and experience. There’s a new restaurant, some updates to which cruise port they use in New York, and a major home port missing from the deployment chart.
New Restaurant on the Valiant Lady
Just a matter of days ago, Virgin Voyages announced that they will be making an update to the Razzle Dazzle restaurant on the Valiant Lady. The fact that they are changing the restaurant isn’t news at this point, since they announced that they would be changing it quite some time ago, but we hadn’t learned what cuisine it would be until now.
The new establishment will be called Ariya and it will feature Indian dishes “reimagined with contemporary flair.” Frankly, I’m a bit clueless as to what that last part means and I’ve worked in food service to know puffery when I see it. Don’t misconstrue this, though, I am very much looking forward to trying the new restaurant.
Virgin Voyages’ New Restaraunt – Ariya
Virgin posted some delicious sounding previews from the menu:
- Golgappa Shot: crisp pani puri, chilled spiced herb water
- Malabar Coconut Crab Cake: golden crab cake, coconut spice, green papaya slaw
- Lamb Shank Biryani: papadum, fragrant saffron basmati
- Eggplant Saag Napoleon: roasted eggplant, creamy spinach saag, crisp papadum
- Gulab Jamun Stuffed Cheesecake: cheesecake, saffron-cardamom donut bites
There will also be a complimentary jaljeera, which they describe as, “a chilled blend of tamarind, cumin, mint, and lemon.” This will be served to greet sailors as they arrive at the restaurant, similar to the beverage served when you dine at Test Kitchen.
It’s long been speculated that Virgin would announce an Indian restaurant to update Razzle Dazzle. Previously they created Lucky Lotus and Rojo, which I wrote about and had very high praise for. The roots of Razzle Dazzle, were in vegan and vegetarian forward dishes, which Indian cuisine is exceptionally good at, making Aryia a wisely chosen successor.
Pier Changes in New York
The inaugural New York season for Virgin Voyages was centered at Pier 90 in Manhattan, where the ship’s departed from and returned to. However, Pier 90 is closed to receive infrastructure updates, creating capacity issues at the Manhattan terminal. Virgin moved their 2026 operations to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal as the capacity issues forced them to move.
Passengers who had booked impacted itineraries have been notified by the cruise line of the changes, but if you’re thinking about taking a New York sailing this Spring or Fall you should know that the departing location has changed. Here’s which sailings are impacted:
April of 2026
- 5-night Sailing: The Big Apple to Bermuda – April 6, 2026
- 5-night Sailing: Virgin Voyages Comedy Fest New York – April 11, 2026
- 9-night Sailing: Bermuda Beauty to East Coast Elegance – April 16, 2026
- 14-night Sailing: New York Transatlantic Crossing to Spain – April 25, 2026
September of 2026:
- 8-night Sailing: Fall Foliage in Canada & New England – September 19, 2026
- 5-night Sailing: The Big Apple to Bermuda – September 27, 2026
October of 2026:
- 5-night Sailing: The Big Apple to Bermuda – October 2, 2026
- 6-night Sailing: New York to Bermuda (& Back) – October 7, 2026
- 6-night Sailing: New York to Bermuda (& Back) – October 13, 2026
- 12-night Sailing: NY to San Juan: Bermuda & Caribbean – October 19, 2026
The difference in leaving from Brooklyn as opposed to Manhattan isn’t that much of an impact – as long as you go to the correct pier.
The Brilliant Lady Docked at Pier 90 in New York City
Having sailed from the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, I can confidently say that, yes, it needs these updates. Literally, whatever they are updating it needs it. The staff handled everything wonderfully and boarding was incredibly smooth, but the infrastructure was obviously in need of refurbishment and replacement. The overhaul is more than replacing carpets and benches, this will be significant.
New York Sailings Disappear
What’s more concerning is that after the fall of 2026, New York appears nowhere on their deployment chart, which is a cruise line’s plan for where their ships will be deployed. That means that for 2027, Virgin Voyages will not be sailing from the Big Apple. The deployment chart that we have goes until March of 2028, so it is possible that New York may be restored in Spring and Summer of that year, but we cannot be sure.
As of writing Virgin has made no public comment on why they are abandoning one of their “home ports.” In 2024, when the Brilliant Lady was announced, Virgin proclaimed, with no small amount of fanfare, that New York would be a new East Coast home for them. The popular New York – Bahamas/Carolinas cruises make a strong seasonal market and the scarlet cruise line wanted a piece of it. It makes their backing out all the more mysterious and disappointing.
Virgin Voyages 2026-Mar 2028 Deploayment Chart
We have reached out to Virgin for comment and will update this piece if we get a response. Until we are told otherwise, however, we can only speculate on why they are pulling out of this market – which is what I shall now do!
I suspect that this has something to do with the cruise terminal overhaul at Pier 90. When cruise companies make their schedules, they are looking 12-24 months out. The updates to Pier 90 are expected to take several years to complete and that is going to crunch the capacity of the New York market for the duration. That could mean that docking fees are rising in the area because of the reduction in capacity. It’s also possible that the availability of docks is incompatible with the other schedules that Virgin has already lined up.
It wouldn’t be the first time that Virgin has been forced to abandon a market due to forces outside their control. When the line launched, Australia and New Zeeland were very popular itineraries for them. They were selling well and people raved about the line in that market. Then, conflict broke out in Yemen and it made traversing the Red Sea quite a bit more dangerous, causing Virgin to cancel Australia and New Zeeland sailings. That conflict has not subsided and, as I’ve written about, the Middle East region hasn’t proven to be safer since then.
Hopefully we’ll see a restoration of the sailings from old New York, since I adored my time on one of them. Until then, there’s plenty of other reasons to visit the city.
