rebeccac

I'm in my 50s, but I have bad knees and I had a problem getting up and down that wall around the pool. I really wish they had some stairs or railings.

We are not allowed to mention specific TAs on CC.

While this is the case for most cruise lines, VV is different. Once in international waters 18+ will be allowed to drink alcohol.

If you use up the bar tab, any additional drinks you buy will be taken out of the sailor loot.

They also have solo sea view cabins.

Technically, they do want you to pay upfront, but travel agents have (at least for the time being) been able to go into your booking and add the 10% discount before the 180 day mark no matter when you first booked your cabin. Of course, VV could close that loophole at any time.

On the app, it should tell you the specific date that you can start booking dining. On the home page, if you scroll down to where it says "Ship just got real", there will be a tab that says "restaruants coming soon" and under that it will have the exact date.

As far as I understand it, you either sleep head to head or foot to foot. From the pictures I've seen there isn't much separation.

Just FYI, while the table is set up for group grilling, the staff are the ones actually doing the grilling. None of the guests touch the grill.

Which does make it a lovely time to enjoy the pools without quite so many people around.

DH is going to miss the butter chicken!

There are other places besides Alaska that they could go to once through the Panama Canal. Bottom line, whatever they end up doing has 1. Not been decided and 2. Isn't going to happen in the near future.

I saw a live stream with a vlogger and a VV rep and while the rep did say "never say never" about Alaska, she seemed fairly skeptical that it was going to happen any time in the near future if at all.

Princess no longer has any set dining times, it is all "anytime". And since VV doesn't do Alaska and isn't likely to anytime in the near future, I think the Princess cruise tours are very nicely done.

I would guess that is the arrival time as they don't actually give you an exact embarkation time.

Yes. Arrival time is simply the approximate time they will let you in the terminal. Boarding shouldn't be too long thereafter, but in your case there are a few other categories that would go before you, such as rockstars, those with deep blue extras or the touch of romance package, etc.

The back stairs/elevators are quieter than the mid-ship ones, I doubt it will be much of an issue. Of course, that does depend somewhat on how sensitive you are to noises, but on other ships, most of the noise from the stairs/elevators seems to come more from the children running up and down the halls and that won't be an issue on VV.

The bar tab can be shared (as explained above) and can be used for any extra pay drinks not just the alcoholic ones, such as mocktails, fresh pressed juices, specialty coffees and teas, etc. Also, if you have gotten to Platinum or Diamond on Carnival, you will be able to be "matched" into the Deep Blue Extras program which will get you some nice perks.

I think this discussion just goes to show that two people can go on the exact same cruise and have two totally different experiences either by choice or by perception. Bottom line, the only way to genuinely know if you will enjoy something is to try it for yourself.

And one of the nice things is that other than generally being too loud for my admittedly sensitive ears (I tend to wear earplugs) the sound is really crisp and clear. Nothing distorted and overdriven.

At this point, nobody knows for sure what will happen January 2024. They have been working on their own loyalty program for some time now and it is really hard to speculate on the specifics of what that program might be. Personally, I wouldn't take a cruise just because it MIGHT help with the new program, but only you can decide if it works for you. That being said, if I was already planning on another cruise, I wouldn't let whatever the new program might be, influence that decision either.

Personally, I would pick option 2, but mainly because I'm a huge fan of the British show "Death in Paradise" and that is shot on Guadeloupe. 🙂

Unfortunately, we are not allowed to mention any TAs by name on Cruise Critic.

With any line, you shouldn't loose "control" if you have a good TA. Sure the payments with other lines (unlike VV) have to go through the TA, but that TA should not do anything without your consent. And more importantly, you gain time back since you are not the one waiting on the phone if you need to make any changes.

Really!!