We_like_to_cruise

Honestly not a fan of the lines everywhere. Lines for embarkation, lines for dining reservations, lines for every show (at least 30 minutes for each). Did not go on vacation to wait on line.

We thought embarkation was a disorganized mess. Lines everywhere and even the people in charge didn't seem to know what was going on. Then more lines onboard to get our dining reservations sorted after the app deleted them all. Fortunately once onboard and settled we are having a very good time. Enjoying the food and meeting new friends.

What can I expect on Scarlet Lady ? Thanks!

So, after all of you provided helpful advice, and after a long time on the app and the phone, eventually, as noted above, our new TA was very helpful in getting all of our dinner reservations in place. Today I wake up to numerous messages on the VV app. All of our previous reservations have been cancelled and new ones - different dates, times and restaurants are on my Agenda. WTH ?? Not an auspicious start to our first cruise with VV. 😞

Good morning. Where would an early bird go for a hot cup of coffee on Scarlet Lady? And what is the earliest time it might be available? Thanks @

I have unsuccessfully been searching "My Cunard" to verify that my OBC and shareholder credit have been applied to our voyage. It does not appear to be in the "Booking Summary" or "Before You Sail" as I might expect. Could someone please point me in the right direction? Thank you!

Thank you @alserrod for taking the time to provide all of this useful information !

So, we are not booked in a Rock Star or Mega Rock Star cabin, and according to Sailor Services are not eligible for any VV shuttle to the airport. I am trying to figure out other ways to accomplish this. I did see that a company Moventis provides this service for €16, but don't know which of the 7 terminals the Scarlet Lady will dock. (The Port de Barcelona website provides the error message "No data available in table" when researching ship arrivals.) Can you help? We don't mind taking trains, buses, taxis or Ubers! Thanks !

Thanks again for all of the replies. We had no success with the app and minimal success by calling. Even the reps on the phone were complaining about the "slow computers". And we got disconnected twice while on hold ... However, we happened to meet a nice TA on another cruise and he called his office to make the reservations for us. Now he is our new TA ! 🙂

We just got off the Flora (fantastic!) and full-face snorkel masks were "not recommended". The ship had plenty of snorkeling gear in all sizes as well as wet suits. Enjoy your trip !

Lots of thumbs up for Celebrity on this thread. However, we sailed with them recently and it was not so great. Undoubtedly it depends on which ship you sail on and your cabin category. Looking forward to our first VV cruise coming up soon !

Thanks all for your useful advice !

Hi, Our first VV cruise, 2 weeks long, is in a couple of months. I recall reading on this board that we could sign up for dinner reservations at some point prior. Could someone please remind me of when that becomes available. What restaurants to do you recommend we sign up for first? In addition to dining are there other things/events we should be thinking about? I have read mixed reviews of using the app to sign up. Are there other options? Thanks for any advice !

We spent almost four months on her last year and had a blast !

Actually, you can walk and we did it. Here are the directions. (We pre-purchased tickets for 9 am and had no problem. Good luck !

Agree there. The smoking in the casinos on Princess is definitely a negative for us. And, when that door to Churchill's Lounge opens, the clouds of smelly smoke drift out into the hallway.

We sail on all of the major cruise lines and book by destination not by ship. Our expectation is that food and service in the line should be similar among all of its ships.

Well, we spent almost four months on her and enjoyed it very much. You can read and see more details on the ship and our experiences on my "live from" post linked up above.

I checked our cruise travel history and our last couple of X cruises were not on Solstice class ships. Hence the dismay with the overhead storage.

We spent eight days on the Equinox last month and were underwhelmed. As long time (Elite) Princess cruisers we decided to try Celebrity again after an absence of a few years. Our most recent cruise was on the Island Princess, fairly similar in age and size to the Equinox. We were pleased with our previous Celebrity cruises, especially the food and service. But this cruise – not so much. First, our balcony cabin – storage was a disaster. Seriously - we had to climb onto the bed to store clothing in the only cabinet. Whose bright idea was that??? Our cabin had no night tables but instead a couple of dingy damaged wooden triangular shelves on wheels. We had to leave some items in the suitcase under the bed as there was nowhere to store them. Gosh, we spent four months on the IP and had an accessible place for all of our belongings! On the bright side our bathroom was refurbished and modern but storage was again at a premium. Plenty of tiny little drawers that were not too useful. We did enjoy the space capsule shower – no curtain! – with plenty of hot water although the water pressure could have been better. The cabin had exactly two US plugs at the desk and none at all behind the bed. Our wonderful cabin steward Michael ran a very long extension cord all the way around the room to provide bedside electric access (CPAP). The duct tape did not add to the room decor. 🙄 The bed was very comfy and our cabin was quiet. Food of course is subjective but I think all would agree that if you wait over two hours for your dinner and it arrives cold then this is a problem. The ice cream for dessert was half melted – obviously sitting around for some time. We spoke with the head waiter and were eventually assigned to a new location with better service, but still had issues. The menu was very repetitive. DW loves escargot. But this is the only cruise we have been on where it was a choice every single night. The other starters were also basically the same every night and it did not take long to get bored with the lack of variety on even this shorter cruise. The mains were ok, but nothing spectacular. Certainly not worthy of the impression we had that Celebrity would wow us again with their meals. We did have dinner at Le Petit Chef one evening and yes, it was gimmicky – but fun. The food was not the main attraction, but it was better than the standard MDR fare. Not impressed with the OVC food. Yes, the area was large and there was plenty of seating. But the stations were repetitive and gave the appearance there was more on offer than there actually was. And we were spoiled at Princess by the constant appearance of the roving coffee servers happy to provide a refill. Here it was every man for himself as we waited on line at the coffee urns. (Don’t get me started on the morning one of the urns was not working when the OVC opened!) Once, at breakfast, I attempted to add some walnuts to a bowl of oatmeal. The walnut offering (in two locations) was literally dust with a sprinkling of tiny walnut pieces. Seriously, it was the walnut dust you get at the very bottom of the container when you are at home and you would probably just discard it. I asked a server if I could get some real walnuts and a visit to the kitchen provided me with a nice helping of walnut halves. So, why would you even serve your customers that walnut “dust”??? Truly pitiful. Our only attempt at the sit down breakfast was not good. We were seated and served coffee and offered pastries and then…nothing. No waiter ever came to take our order. Another couple later sat right next to us and within minutes a waiter took their order and then started to walk away. I called out to him and politely informed him we had been sitting and waiting to order. He said he was not our waiter - but would take the order anyway. Our assigned waiter appeared after our food was served! Our best meal was a four course luncheon on the last sea day. Our booking was a special “warehouse club” discounted offering. The featured Chef Sam Hazen luncheon was very very good and by far the best meal the entire week. Pricing for this “Buyer’s Choice Cruise” was a great value and also included the classic drink package, internet, gratuities a welcome reception and a couple of chef run food demos. We compared booking directly with X but the equivalent package was considerably more money. One evening we stopped at a bar before dinner to get a drink. I ordered a Jameson neat (Irish whiskey) and was curtly told by the bartender “We don’t serve that” as he walked away. Turns out we were at the World Class Bar and being unfamiliar with the ship did not realize they specialized in exotic cocktails. He could have educated me and offered a suggestion for a different bar that met my needs instead of being dismissive. Or even offered a cocktail I might consider instead. He was just plain rude. Service by the bar staff was in general lackluster. We sat for about 15 minutes in one bar area while three bartenders were at work. No one ever came to take an order from us. We sure missed the Princess medallions that worked flawlessly for us on our last voyages. Ship layout seemed to concentrate on getting pax to sit around bars and drink. No lounges with a small stage for activities. We like to participate in fun activities before and after dinner but they were held in “Celebrity Central.” This area had exactly 15 total chairs and there could be a hundred people participating – but standing around and blocking the walkway to the theater. Very odd. The “Grand Foyer” was humdrum and not a focal point for gathering. Our healthy morning walks around the jogging path on Deck 14 were marred by the groups of smokers we had to walk by at the Mast Bar. Is no one at Celebrity thinking when they put these ideas in place??? A smoking area adjacent to the jogging track? At least the inside casino was no smoking. The theater was lovely and we never had a problem getting a good seat. We enjoyed the shows and the onboard talent was very good. The ship seemed to be in a good shape and any minor maintenance issues did not affect us in the least. Any interaction we had with guest services was prompt and courteous. Occasionally we had pre-dinner cocktails at the Ensemble Lounge after we made contact with a friendly bartender. However this venue was dark, gloomy and claustrophobic. As a matter of fact just about all of the lounges were interior with no outside view of the ocean and sky. Puzzling design. An exception was the Sky Lounge – a very large but underutilized space which infrequently held trivia contests. Pre-cruise we were inundated with “sale” offers for internet, upgraded bev packages, specialty dining, excursions, etc. We are not ones to generally take ship sponsored excursions (prefer our own semi-private ones) but some of the offers were remarkably inexpensive. Especially when we compared them with third party similar excursions. As a result we did book a few. Although we had been to most of the Caribbean ports numerous times, we did particularly enjoy our first visit to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. The tour company did a wonderful job transporting us to the Virgin Gorda Baths and we had a lovely day there. Highly recommended. In conclusion, we give our voyage a grade B- to C+. It was not the upscale experience we anticipated and just enough aggravations to make us reconsider future bookings with Celebrity. We cancelled a 2024 Celebrity cruise on a sister Solstice class ship upon our return home. The majority of the thoughts in this review were forwarded to Celebrity in our post-cruise survey last month. No reply from them yet, not sure if there will ever be one. If you have any interest in reading about our 111 days on the Island Princess, click here:

I might say that DW brought too many pairs of shoes. But she insists she wore them all!

Yes it certainly is a challenge to prepare for such a long voyage. Did you happen to read the first few pages of this blog? We packed as posted. The only thing we later purchased and did not bring with us was a collapsible laundry bag/carrier for use when we brought our clothes to the Laundromat.

Great, thank you everyone.

Ah yes, I should have said Terminal 2. Thanks for your info. But, if the Palm Garage does not connect to Terminal 25 what are the next steps? Drop off luggage, park the car, take the elevator to the ground floor and then walk to the ship? Is this correct. If so, how far is the walk? Thanks.

We have parked at Terminal 4 for Princess cruises in the past. After exiting the parking area you just take an elevator down and the ship is right there. Is this also true when using the Palm Garage at Terminal 25? We are thinking of first driving over to the luggage drop off area, unloading our big bags, then parking and taking the elevator and walking to the ship with a carry-on. Doable? Also, the Palm Garage is huge. Anywhere we should start looking for an empty space to make this process more efficient? Thank you.