sfspider

No problem. I hope you have a similarly smooth experience. We had such a a wonderful cruise and saw almost every show. Our cruise was 8 days which also could have impacted how easy it was because they did most shows several times which likely spread the crowds. We skipped untitled dance, which they only performed once. On a 4 or 5 day cruise that is mostly full, I suspect that there will be increased competition for seats.

Just off Valient. The only show that allowed for reservations was the ship show. All other shows were first come, first served, and there were no "virtual queues" even though the app made mention of them for certain events. There was a rockstar line for the ship show (you still needed a reservation), but there were no apparent rockstar perks otherwise. It seemed that they were saving seats for Mega's at the Duel Reality show that we attended, so maybe there still is a priority perk for them -- but nothing for "regular" rockstars. Please take this with a grain of salt, but it actually worked very well. The grain of salt is that our ship only had around 1800 sailors on it (from what we were told). Nothing in the red room was 100% full (Bingo with the Diva was close and that event created the longest line we saw all week - but all Bingos actually had a long line due to card sale delays). We arrived 10-15 min early for pretty much everything, though a few events in the Manor the best seats were mostly gone at the 15 min mark. Other than Bingo and the ship show there were not really lines for the shows we went to, though people could have lined up before the venue opened, we just never saw lines as we always got there later and were able to walk in and still get really good seats -- again, ship was not full. I was pretty angry when I learned that we would be guina pigs for this new format since we had early boarding (i.e. early reservation) privileges, but in the end, it worked just fine with 1800+ people. This was our first voyage with Virgin so I can't compare it to the old way and I have no idea how long the lines were for you to scan in when you had a reservation, but it was nice to just walk in and grab a seat with no waiting in line and a short 10-15 min wait before the show started. VHS was also first come first served, which I was again annoyed about because I was worried that we wouldn't get in on the day it fit into our schedule. I think we got there a little more than 20 min early to make sure we got in and it was not a problem for us or those arriving after us. Other fitness classes (bungee, etc. still required reservations). I guess on a full ship, arriving 30 min early might be necessary, especially for shows in the manor. Time will tell. Hope this helps!

Of course. Not sure what to expect, but I'll share it all.

The valiant cruise that leaves Saturday out of San Juan is listing all evening shows as first come first serve. So I guess they are trying it out here as well. It also lists certain events as virtual queue, not sure how that will work.

Do you Megan, or any other Virgin pros following, have any insight into the hanger steak compared to the filet? Will probably only eat lunch once there and was wondering whether the hanger was worth trying.

Any signal to the ship wifi from there?

If you reserve a paid event immediately upon boarding for later in the cruise (ex. Plate, snap, eat) can you cancel without being charged if your plans change?

Is there ever a cruise VV does not do scarlet night? I've read plenty about how often the schedule changes but was confused by the fact that our event line up is now out and it has We Fancy and Boomvang on the back to back nights that could be scarlet night. Feels like a paranoid question, but I already bought my red cowboy hat!

Is there anyway to find out immediately on boarding which menu Test Kitchen is serving why h days so that dinner reservations can be juggled? Appreciate all the opinions on here, but I am excited to try Test Kitchen and want to make sure I get Menu A as it's labeled on these forums.

Thanks for responding. Wasn't trying to get 6 full beers, just wondering whether to try one of the pairing and if it was "worth it.". If I try the wine pairing and my wife has a sip or two of any good ones, a 2.5 oz pour is gone very quickly, and I was worried mixed drinks would be similar. Just looking for Intel (size, quality, etc) on the beer pairings since nobody had commented and others thought the other types of paired drinks were a little small.

Anyone have any comments (polarizingly good or bad) on beer pairings, including size? Excited to try Test Kitchen for the first time and didn't realize wines would be 1/2 pours.

Thanks for the help on checking bags early - we won't stay. Planning on doing an 11 am walking tour and will come back after that. Hopefully getting back around 1:00 won't be too late to take advantage of our earlier boarding time. Saw someone post that they were in the terminal and booking before 1 pm.

Did anyone on this thread try to drop off bags early in San Juan? I know you can drop off early in Miami and I was hoping to do so around 10 a.m. in San Juan, but after reading some descriptions of mild chaos at the San Juan pier, I was wondering if anyone could speak from experience.

Can anyone who is just on board sailing out of San Juan share what time the sail away party was? With such a late departure, I was wondering when the pool party with drinks was so I could book dinner around it. Thanks.

Thanks, sorry if I misunderstood. Thought I saw someone earlier on the thread say that they had sailed from San Juan with Virgin twice before. I'm not going for a fed months so I can raise the question again later if you are right. Thanks for taking the time to respond.