hotsauce126

4 or 5 day cruises from miami will skew younger than 7 days out of san juan or things like that. The only people of any age I've seen not having a good time are the older people who are so used to cruising on the more traditional lines that they hate anything that's different about Virgin. Seems some just see "no kids" and think its going to be a red themed Holland America

On 3/25/2024 at 3:52 PM, cantgetin said:

Be aware the Civita...is NOT anywhere near Rome.  It is about an hour away by train, about 90 minutes or more by bus.  So, if you do that as a one day stop, you will have very little time to see the city.  THere is easily enough to do there to spend a week....so I like that better as a start or end port rather than a port of call (same with Florence, but that isn't on any of your lists)

Naples is good for either the city or to do Vesuvius/Pompeii  or Herculaneum.  However...when we did Pompeii, we were told that "all the good stuff is at the museum."  The people who did the museum were told it was all at the excavation site.  Seems that many of the treasures were raided by various governments (per a couple of documentaries.). Don't get me wrong--it was worth doing and they are doing more excavation all the time.
Cannes is great.  You are near many little places that you can choose to visit,  There is a train that will take you to Nice, you can visit Eze, etc.  or stay in Cannes (or choose different places each time you visit). Funniest photo ever--a total junker VW Beatle at a stop light next to a spotless, new looking Ferrari.

So....I would not do 2 because Rome would just not be enough time there.  Any of the others have good ports.  One thought--there IS such a thing as visiting too many ruins.  On one cruise (not VV) we did Ephesus, some of the Greek islands, and Pompeii.  Should have skipped the ruins at the islands.  And remember that ports in Turkey may sometimes be canceled for political unrest (can happen anywhere, but that is the most likely on your list)

If I was concerned about the starting and ending cities, I'd go with number 1.  Both Rome and Barcelona are good for as many days as you wish to spend and well worth your time.....for ports, I sort of like 3, but seriously, you can't go wrong.

on mine were in citavecchia for 15 hours. I’d say that leaves plenty of time to actually spend in Rome 

On 3/27/2024 at 9:07 PM, CineGraphic said:

 

We are staying at the Praktik Vino this fall

I stayed at praktik essens a couple years ago and really enjoyed it

20 hours ago, pc_load_letter said:

 

He was GREAT. Try dealing with the dregs of society on a daily basis. He offered her multiple chances but kept stating..." i dindu nufin". He was as professional as he needed to be.

He was a dick to the virgin employees and acted like a key west policeman has bigger fish to fry

1 hour ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

There is no audacity on anyone's part. Itinerary changes are normal in cruising. It's in the contract. Those of us who have been cruising for 20 years know exactly how all of this works. Anyone who books through a travel agent knows that your itinerary is NEVER guaranteed on a cruise ship. If Toulon is the most important thing in the world to you, fly there. Don't take a cruise.

 

That holds true of any cruise destination on any cruise line from the cheapest to the most expensive luxury cruise. If your vacation is going to be RUINED because the ship won't stop at XYZ port, don't take a cruise. Fly there. 

 

It's not audacious to understand itinerary changes. It's understanding the cruise contract and understanding that itineraries can and will be changed. 

 
How you don’t get the difference between allowed to and should is beyond me. Luckily virgin gets it even if you don’t 

53 minutes ago, capecodmommy said:

It is amazing how many people are complaining about a cancelled port. I understand if you are not a seasoned traveler to be disappointed but in all reality, if a port is cancelled all the way into the future (I am booked for August and also got the notice of change) then something happened and I would rather be a little disgruntled, safely on the ship, with what I am sure will be a fun filled sea day than having an issue in the port. I am sure it wasn't a snap decision. 

 

I was in Africa last month on tour and our days in Johannesburg got so scary and sketchy that our tour director called to tell the tour company what had happened and it was immediately removed from any of the future tours effecting even the people who were coming right behind us. The travel industry does not tell you everything but a company that puts the travelers safety first is the type of company I will always choose.

 

what a condescending comment lol. I’m very well traveled but nobody books a european cruise to spend a bunch of time on the ship, you can do that for a lot cheaper in the Caribbean. Virgin’s email cited nothing about safety, it cited “recent sailor feedback”

9 minutes ago, -The-True-North- said:

If there's no Marseilles... WE WANT ST. TROPES!!!✊

They canceled Toulon on mine as well so good luck with that

2 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

Hardly.

 

You’re right in one scenario the ship is moving and the other the ship is not moving 🙄

Just now, CineGraphic said:

 

Being docked at a port, is not at sea.

Right but functionally it’s the same thing

12 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

 

The feedback was that sailors wanted more time at sea, not another port.

They can make more time at sea by not getting off the ship

2 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

 

The terms of your booking state that they can change itineraries for any reason.

Every cruise line has this in their terms.

Don't let this keep you from enjoying your cruise!

I mean mine is in 4 months but this is gonna take enjoyment from it. I’m on this cruise to see European ports not spend time on a ship that has an identical one sailing 4 hours from me

59 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

They clearly stated that the change was based on past-passenger feedback/preference.

Anything is else pure conjecture by someone who clearly hates the brand for reasons unknown.

They said that but that reasoning wouldn’t make any sense unless it was replaced with a different port

On 1/16/2024 at 1:36 AM, benjaminnicholas said:

It's trivia that's not as bland and boring as other ship's trivia

but do you win an awesome plastic ship on a stick or a cool royal caribbean pencil? 😆

3 hours ago, cantgetin said:

I would not expect "a ton" of kids on other lines--the first half of Feb was one of our chosen cruise times on other lines for that reason.  But there are always kids in all age groups. You'll get homeschoolers and parents who decide to take the week for the better prices.  These are also prime weeks for infants and toddlers, but they are rarely a problem.   The third week in Feb is AWFUL--that's now being called "President's Week" and many private schools take the whole week off as "winter break" (because you know, they didn't just get back from Christmas).  

Yeah my last RCCL cruise this past February had way, way more kids than I expected and I wasn't alone. Somebody else commented about it in the facebook group for the cruise and some lady was going off on everybody saying they should know that kids in New England have a break in February as if that's common knowledge to the rest of the country and those without kids

8 hours ago, Moochi said:

VV should adopt Celebrity’s silent disco idea for Scarlet Night. Then I will have a really good time doing people watching 🤣

Silent discos are all over the place but it would make scarlet night so boring

Interested to hear more about the embarkation process in San Juan. I'm going on VL in a few weeks but I've only departed from Florida ports

On 1/8/2024 at 9:56 PM, Moochi said:

 

 

I ordered a Yellow-Bellied which is made of tequila, scotch, yellow chartreuse, and light larger. Sounds like an Old Fashioned twist right? Nope. It was served in a Collin’s glass, with a good amount of lime juice and whatever sugar syrup. It tastes like an experimental but terribly failed margarita. And why does the color look like a margarita? The scotch and larger should give a golden hue to the drink!

 

Not a single one of those ingredients is in an old fashioned

The reality is that there are so many people on these ships that most don't have any idea what the true demographics are, only their anecdotal experiences

Travel agents are crawling all over these travel sites and will tell you that a TA is a must, but the one time I added a travel agent to my booking for a little bit of bar tab I severely regretted it. Cruises are probably the easiest type of trip to book without a TA

On 10/17/2023 at 6:41 PM, Swells1 said:

Is there anything to do around the port area? Hotel checkout is noon (and the crazy discount I got means no late checkout), so we’re going to have about an hour and a half to kill before our 1:45pm checkin time. 

Viejo San Juan is one of the best places for things to do walking distance from a cruise port. 

Tons of bars/restaurants/shops plus two forts run by the national parks service

I'm on this itinerary also and like another person said I don't think Virgin has hit these ports before, but I've noticed from googling some of the excursion names that some of them are also available on other lines so that can be helpful

On 8/11/2023 at 10:12 AM, kittyboomboom1 said:

Have you heard of the new Jimmy Buffet song "Curry in Paradise"?  Didnt think so... hey not to be snippy, I am glad you liked the food.  Food is very subjective.  For me, like the OP, I want a cheeseburger in paradise and you are right, they have very good ones on the ship.  Just wished it was offered at the Beach Club.

Jimmy Buffet is from Alabama lol not the Caribbean

I just got off Symphony and found it to be middle of the road in terms of elevator speed but I also frequently took the stairs out of impatience

“Let’s not comment” 😂😂😂

3 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

How wrong you are. When auto grats are removed the waitstaff and room stewards turn that amount you give them into the ships tip pool. Curious as how you get your cash to all the behind the scenes works who share in the tip pool. 

I always just leave the automatic tips but the real question is why do cruise lines think employees who don’t directly interact with guests are tipped positions