Wedgeh

I really liked the IV, wasn't the biggest fan of edge. It really comes down to how you use the balcony usually I think.

I really liked the JR breakfast, though it's very hearty which with all the rest of the food on a cruise may or may not be a good thing. Park cafe was our other go-to.

As someone in the apparent 'younger' target demographic, I really like the Medallion technology when it works. In my experience Celebrity and Princess have made the same mistake in widely expanding the number of people onboard with WiFi access without significantly increasing the available bandwidth. It seems like the apps require external resources to work and so end up grinding to a halt.

I'm ruby, not fully paid and was able to book specialty dining for next February. For once the app inconsistency was in my favour!

On 8/22/2022 at 7:47 AM, polk01 said:

no dessert wine.

That is a serious issue! I pray for your sake that they at least have port.

10 hours ago, C4HCG said:

Anyone know if I can invite guests to my inside room if I buy the drinks? Just wondered 😂

Count me in!

You're fine - you'll probably just need to call to upgrade the drinks package.

Another thank you from someone sailing on Regal later in the year!

15 hours ago, Minnie29 said:

we did three British Isles cruises last summer on Viking Venus, Celebrity Silhouette and Queen Elizabeth. All were for fully vaccinated adults with all testing and safety protocols in place. We feel very safe onboard and thoroughly enjoyed the cruises. 

....

We also did a number of last summer's UK cruises, and I can tell you that our two so far this year have been very different. We are not in a position where we need to worry about catching something onboard being overly dangerous to us, but in your position I think you're doing the right thing to cancel. On the upside I'm pretty sure the ability to cancel for FCC extends to the end of September for UK cruisers, so you should be covered for the deposit.

I'm sorry to hear that happened to you, adds to an increasing pool of people who caught it on longer / B2B cruises despite taking considerable precautions. Have a B2B starting in just over a week's time and very concerned about the mid-cruise test.

31 minutes ago, MONKEY20 said:

Rang customer services and they said they cant honour new price as my cruise is in 2023 and the best price guarantee is only for 2022

Booking terms from the UK suck don't they? One thing that might work for you is if there's an upgrade that's marginally cheaper now that what you originally paid, ask for that instead. They're usually more flexible if you're increasing the cost of your cruise, even if it's only by a little.

On 4/23/2022 at 9:22 PM, Poconolady said:

My best advise  is to be aware and use common sense. If someone is coughing, move away.

This is extremely sound advice - for vaccinated people symptoms usually develop before a high viral load does. If you see/hear someone with cold-like symptoms removing yourself from their vicinity is a smart move, alongside a quality mask.

2 minutes ago, sgmn said:

 Or indeed how many get home and test positive (so have potentially been infectious for last few days and didn't even know).

There's definitely been a number of reports of this on the princess boards - most of the people who are testing positive onboard are either on a longer cruise or B2B.

Won a bid for a JS 3 weeks out (presumably I overbid?), is it one and done or does RoyalUp reset to my new room and allow further bidding? There is availability in suites which weren't showing as options when I was in a lower category.

45 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Thanks to the great folks over in the Britain Port of Call Board, below is the link to a covid testing site in Southampton, conveniently located in the West Quay Shopping Mall.  They will do a rapid antigen test for 39 GBP (results emailed within 4 hours) or a much more expensive PCR test.

 

https://www.theregenerativeclinic.co.uk/southampton-covid-19-rapid-antigen-test-appointment-booking/

I did several tests at that place last summer for celebrity / RCI cruises and it worked well.

17 minutes ago, di T said:

That would be awful! Wonder if you would have to find accommodation in the port you disembark and wait until you were fit to fly, we are from the UK and our cruise is from Barcelona to Barcelona. Hope this doesn’t happen😢

I'm in the same situation - planning to be pretty careful week 1, but there's plenty of people on the princess boards who were more careful than I am likely to be but still came down with it.

12 hours ago, xpcdoojk said:

Who flies into London only to go directly to Southampton without visiting one of the great cites of the world. 

 

From a Southampton native I think you're already visiting one of the great cities (OK London might be a little more exciting 🤣)

 

6 minutes ago, rockmom said:

@xpcdoojkIs there a particular station to leave from in London?

Waterloo is the station for trains to Southampton.

12 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Isn't that specifically for one way cruises though? That April 15th itinerary is a repo that goes from Barcelona to Copenhagen, so it's quite unusual. 

The cruises that @Billy Baltic and I were referring to are the first closed loop cruises from those particular ports and as far as I know the protocols have not yet been announced for those.

I think those are very likely to be the same protocols for roundtrip cruises from Barcelona, at least for a few months.

On 3/22/2022 at 8:08 PM, DCPIV said:

If you find you need more, then you can always upgrade.  However, what we've found (by my very unscientific survey) is that the premium internet isn't much better than the basic isn't working well.

The evidence from my two sailings on Silhouette is that there is little difference other than some services being blocked on the basic WiFi.

When the RoyalUp email came around I checked the minimum bid vs what the cost to straight upgrade was and discovered I'd be (a fair bit) better off just upgrading outright from inside to balcony. I am still interested in RUp because there's availability in categories up from where I am now, however it's still showing my room as the interior which I had originally booked. Has anyone had a similar experience? Does it synch eventually, or will I be unable to make a bid from where I am now.

12 minutes ago, little britain said:

It isn’t a video: you upload a pic of the result on the cartridge  ( along with your booking ref # so they know it was the pack you ordered) and they send you official email confirming your results. 
 

Are we sure that type will be accepted? It was the type I used for a recent Virgin cruise out of the UK, but I think only the video supervised type are allowed for departures from the USA.

13 hours ago, steamboats said:

France does not have a form at all.

It does for entry for UK citizens:
https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/covid-19-deplacements-internationaux

28 minutes ago, Billy Baltic said:

Are there that many variations at the moment? As someone in the EU, I didn’t think there was any difference in going to Spain, France or Italy. 

From the UK I think I require a EU PLF and then another form for France, but not sure if I need one or three EU PLF forms.

Is it possible to use sailor loot for table games at the casino? I'm guessing it would work with the slots, but as a virgin voyages & casino newbie it seems a good opportunity to give it a try and the table games look more fun to me. Their FAQ has a rather cryptic:
Sailor Loot can be used in the casino for gameplay, but cannot be cashed out.

Does this mean any winnings would be returned as further loot (which I don't especially need)?

14 hours ago, amurray88 said:

Ok folks - I'm heading on Symphony in 4 weeks time. I've only ever gone interior and Royal Up starts at £15pp for neighborhood view interior and £75 for balcony.

 

For some reason I don't feel I can justify this. Can someone prove me wrong? 😂

As someone who mostly cruises insides, I'd recommend a bid for the inside with view - we had it on IOTS and really liked it, at that price differential I think you'd be happy you did it.