FFMilesJunkie

Atlas is no Silversea or Seabourn, but it's still very nice and a great value.  If you are comparing to ocean cruises, Atlas is more like Oceania compared to the 6 star lines. In fact a lot of the management of Atlas came from Oceania. 

The main difference between the 9 and 11 nights voyages is that the 11 night voyage is scheduled to cross the Antarctic Circle while the 9 night does not typically make it that far south. 

The hotel in B.A. is typically the Hilton downtown.  The charter flights typically depart from the city airport (Early in morning).  The bus leaves the hotel around 4-5am to catch the flight to Ushuaia.  The return flight to B.A. departs Ushuaia around noon and arrives at EZE around 4pm so that you can take late night departures home from EZE.  If you stay in B.A. after the cruise, no transfers are included unless you sign up for a post cruise extension. 

In essence the 3 ships are identical, although there are slight differences that some have picked up on that are not worth nitpicking about. For the most part you can't tell the difference. 

Horizon vs Veranda.  If you are not a big fan of the Balcony, then definitely go with the Horizon.  The extra space is nice and if you want to pop outside, the door to the aft outdoor area is just a few doors down from your cabin on decks 5 or 6.  

The ship is small and entertainment is limited.  For an expedition cruise you need to come prepared with your own entertainment (book, games, etc) and be willing to be a social butterfly and interact with fellow guests and crew.  The crew on Atlas are friendly and really enjoy interacting with guests.  I had many fascinating discussions with the guest lecturer and scientists on board.  The food on board is very good and most recent reviews seem to indicate that they are focussing on making dining a highlight of the brand. 

Internet is a pain point for Atlas, but they are listening to feedback and rumors on board are that new WiFi packages are coming soon.  Fingers crossed that Atlas catches up with other similar lines and will provide unlimited plans with upgrade options for those who want better speeds.  

Thank you for posting.  I know someone up there on the Swan Diana and she said the weather has been fantastic and there are more whales that she ever imagined in the area.  Have a wonderful time.  Bon Voyage! 

On 3/25/2024 at 5:46 AM, chengkp75 said:

You are looking for a "full size" pool, by which I assume you mean a 25 yard pool (most common public pool in US).  Think about where the pools are located on cruise ships, up on the highest decks so they are out in the open.

 

A 25 yard pool holds about 250 metric tons of water, and placing that much weight that high on a ship would adversely affect the stability (the ability of the ship to stay upright) of the ship.  Additionally, the "free surface effect" (the change in center of gravity as the water sloshes from one side or end to another as the ship moves) further degrades the ship's stability.  Finally, the longer the pool, the more likely it is to have water sloshing out of the ends as the ship moves, flooding the open decks and requiring constant make up of tons of fresh water that requires energy to produce from sea water.

 

No cruise ship in operation today has a "full size" pool.  Even Titanic's pool was only 30 feet long (about 5-6 body lengths) by 14 feet wide.

 

And, even if the pool was "full size", think about having it used by 2000 people at the same time.  Would there be room to swim laps?

The Celebrity Edge Class ships have a 25 yard pool on the main deck.  I've seen people swim laps in the morning before the crowds or in the evening after the crowds.  

This short video from Cruise Critic gives you an idea of the size 

A bit of caution if you bid on XL. Oftentimes the only XL cabins available at the last minute are the ones on deck 8 above the red room so that’s where your “upgrade” will be. These have noise factors of 4 or 5 out of 5.  If you want to know the noise factor of your cabin you can ask your TA. Every cabin on the ship has a number between 0 and 5. 

If you've booked a Med sailing this year, check your prices.  Huge price drops overnight.  Yes, you lose the Bar Tab, but the savings MORE than make up for it.  Some prices dropped as much as $1,000 on some of the more pricey sailings and cabins.  Suites are not included in the sale so no savings there. 

On 3/25/2024 at 9:52 AM, cantgetin said:

I was in a social media group for our sailing; my guess was that people from the group added me....again, just remove them.  It didn't bother me until I saw that a dinner reservation had disappeared.  Fortunately I was able to add it back.  The problem is that if people are linked, they can "accidentally" mess with your non-pay reservations.

This has been changed.  You can now go in and look at your "Friends" in the app and choose for them not to be able to see your agenda. (Just click "profile" and then uncheck the "see agenda" slider).  That way you can still get the "celebration" bottle of sparkling wine without them being part of your agenda.  Your TA can also just choose "celebration" and not dining when creating the "travel with" link.  

1 hour ago, bdever said:

I did, a sea terrace on the May TA out of MIA is still $2,538 more than the April TA from PR 😳😳😳

Sorry about that.  I was looking at the November Scarlet crossing that just dropped by about $1,000 in the last week.  They are starting to pull back a bit from the high prices as I assume bookings are not as rosy as they hoped.  Maybe we will see some more price adjustments.  I anticipate the popular San Juan itineraries will go up a bit from their introductory pricing, but some of the 2025 will come down from their high starting point. 

On 3/14/2024 at 12:53 PM, bdever said:

I think it’s crazy by the way that Virgin hasn’t repriced that Scarlet May 2025 TA in light of the Resilient TA pricing?!?! Do you think the majority of people booked on Scarlet will lift and shift to resilient because of the pricing and 1 less port?

recheck your booking. Prices have dropped quite a bit on this sailing. Some categories up to $1000 less now than a month ago. 

2 minutes ago, c-boy said:

are you currently onboard ?

no, just trying to get reservations for the April Transatlantic that opened up this morning.

32 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

I have Pink Agave as the first night on our next cruise....because it was one of only 2 reservations I could get before app crash and because it is my cruise partner's favorite.

Dining reservations are a mess this morning.  Even supervisors at VV can't get it to work without crashing. 

Also highly recommend the lunch with the locals at her home.  It was so much fun and the food was delicious.  If you decide to go to Delos on a private non Virgin excursion, do it on the first day.  The ship won't be leaving without you unless you camp out on Delos and stay too long on the second day!   

If you are converting old Placeholders, you can pay in full if the placeholder was purchased before pay in full ended.  Pay In Full is not available to any booking created after PIF ended around the beginning of December. 

The Loyalty 10% discount ended quite a while ago.  It was a promo last summer. 

3 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

It sold out quickly but there is a lot on the schedule. They do take walk ins if people don’t show up. We only had 3 of the 8 reservations show up. 

Thank you!  Love following your "Live From".  Enjoy the rest of your cruise...I mean Voyage! 

On 2/11/2024 at 8:59 AM, MeganGC1983 said:

Let’s bungee

Do you know if this class sold out quickly on board and if they had any walk ins.  If someone isn't SoR or Deep Blue, do they even have a chance to book this class?  Thanks!

The cabins that are designed for 3 have the bed by the window to accommodate the Pullman bed in the middle of the room. If you look on a deck map you will see that those 3 person cabins are every other cabin since the cabins alternate between having the bed by the window or closer to the bathroom. 

Pure speculation, but this would be a Brilliant way to start the Brilliant Lady's career. Launch her from Miami to Australia via the Panama Canal, Hawaii, and the South Pacific.  Then have Brilliant sail the Aussie 2024-2025 season.  The Resilient can finish up her Med Season and sail back to San Juan and base out of there for 2024-2025 Winter.  Those sailings seem to be very popular and getting nice reviews. Maybe mix in some longer sailings that include Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, etc. 

There's just not enough time to get from Singapore to Athens for the start of the Med season.  3 cruises will have to be cancelled.  It's just a matter of which 3 they choose.  I'm guessing they will cancel the 3 from Australia to Athens and keep the Med Season in tact.  There are a lot of people who book all 3 sailings from Oz to Athens, so just cancelling 1 is still going to disrupt a large number of passengers.  They might as well cancel all 3 and start the Med on time.  That's my 2c

Should see an announcement in the next few days.   Carnival corp cancelled a bunch of cruises yesterday.  I'm hoping they keep the cruise to Singapore.  I think they might be able to sail from Singapore to Athens in 28 days going around Africa.  They would just need to make a few technical stops for fuel and supplies. It would be nice if they could get away with just cancelling 2 out of the 3 transit cruises from Oz to Athens, but probably more likely will be cancelling all 3. Probably any way you slice it, 3 voyages will be affected one way or another by this reroute.  

On 1/30/2024 at 2:57 PM, chefchick said:

I am booked on a sold out sailing and was “forced” to take the last available cabin 8294A which is in line with the elevator, right above The Groupie and dangerously close to the Manor 😱.   This is also a limited view sea terrace so not ideal to say the least.   A few cabins have opened up recently (very few) but they are THOUSANDS of dollars more expensive.  We are committed to going and are excited about it, but has anyone had experience with cabins above the karaoke space?  How far does the Manor noise travel?  I’ve tried scouring the internets for info but have found very little.  

You should put in for an upgrade bid.  Usually the minimum bids from Limited to standard or Central are not too bad.  There are always no shows and cancellations that might allow your upgrade to go through. 

15 hours ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

I would actually book two when traveling, as my wife can't sleep well through my snoring and a vacation should not mean sleep deprivation. LOL!

I'll step off the soap box now 😝

this was one of the things they mentioned when they discussed the 2023 solo sale.  Since there was no solo supplement, many couples booked 2 cabins for the extra bar tab and just left 1 cabin empty.  So when they came up with this year's solo sale, they didn't want to make it too good so people do that again.  But instead of being too generous, they went the opposite direction and made it insultingly bad.  I was hoping for something like a 125 - 150% fares for solos so that couples couldn't abuse the sale and solos get a decent offering.  Instead we have 195% and told it's a great "Sale" for our solo passengers.  

The thing is, solo passengers came to Virgin's rescue and helped fill up cabins in the 2023 Med season (albeit with almost too good to be true fares).  They bought up MNVVs thinking that they would be able to keep booking Virgin.  Now they are faced with these staggering solo fares and almost worthless MNVVs.  It's not a good way to treat those who were there to fill the ships and spread the word about Virgin. Now they rightfully feel ignored. 

6 hours ago, Shrewsbury on Tour said:

Good morning.

Will be gutted if that is the case?? Ibiza was probably the main reason why we booked our first Virgin Cruise. Still shows Ibiza on Virgin website. But why would the port show that info. Looks like the website will be updated soon?? 
 

Cheers.

I would think most booked this 12 night sailing for the overnight in Lisbon along with the late night in Casablanca.  If Ibiza was the main reason for you, then you might want to look at changing to one of the Barcelona sailings that include the overnight in Ibiza. 

Solo specials are a bit underwhelming especially for the Med.  Looks like the sale takes the Central Sea Terrace down about $250 - $300 (less than 10% discount) over 2 passengers. They advertised up to 40% savings, but haven't found that sailing yet. 

These cabins would be a good opportunity to accommodate solo sailors. Make these cabins have no or very little single supplement. Not all solos like to be in insiders or sea views. 

I was a little shocked yesterday at the prices but started digging a little deeper and comparing to Celebrity 2025 prices which seems to be probably the closest mainline competitor to VV.  I found the fares to be pretty close

For example, the 7 night Greek Island Glow itineraries are about $5,000 for a Sea Terrace with included WiFi, Gratuities and $300 Bar Tab

Picked a random Celebrity Ascent 7 night Barcelona to Athens cruise on Aug 2

A Standard E2 Infinite Balcony is $4,600 without any perks.  Gratuities will run about $250 for the cabin and Wifi another $150+ depending on the deal. Throw in a couple specialty restaurants, and you are well over the Virgin Fare of $5000. 

The Ascent is shiny and new and will command higher fares but even if you book a 7 night on the 20+ Year Old Infinity out of Athens on August 2, A balcony is still going to run you $3,500 before adding in WiFi, Grats, & dining.  So even on the older ships you will be paying $4,000+ for a 7 night Greek cruise and probably closer to $5,000 with a drink & WiFi package. 

So, it just looks like Virgin is going to test these fares for now.  People planning 2025 cruises will be comparing against other 2025 cruises and not current or past VV Prices.  The good news is that Virgin is still allowing no fee changes up until 45 days before the sailing so you can reprice if the prices drop due to market conditions. 

5 hours ago, Lustate said:

 

A lot of confusion over this extra. In short, you still turn up at the slot you booked on the app, BUT you join a different line and pass others who have the same slot unless they are also in a DBE or package that gives them the perk. 

For some reason people think that the DBE expedited means they can book an entry slot and rock up when they want lol That's the VIP or Rockstar perk. 

That's not been my experience in Miami or Athens.  If you have DBE or Romance Pkg, you can ignore the check in time on your app and show up at the earliest time. You will be sent to the 1:30 line and you will board right after Rock Stars