warmwinds

We use zero salt at home (plenty of herbs and spices) but for medical reasons we cut out salt years ago, so we truly appreciate that VV "underseasons" their food, but they should include salt and pepper on the table for those that want it. You can always add it but you can't take it away if it's already on.

You get used to the wristband, and don't have to worry about leaving a keycard someplace. Wristband was not what I expected - I thought it would be some thing that you "looked" at but it's like a lanyard that wraps around and has sort of a plastic oval thing that gets scanned, and that you hold up to your door to get in. It's waterproof so we literally never took it off - it's very light and you don't even know it's there.

What a pain. I'm sure whatever port you're leaving from will have the line for those who need assistance. Believe me, there were a lot of us.

Well I'll be...we were only getting the specialty coffees because we thought they were both "free", if I would learn to read I'd have known. Good thing we had way too much bar credit, and will again next time. Honestly, I think those perks should be "per person", since you are 2 in the Cabin.

We both status matched and we both got the $10 specialty coffee each day. We were both invited to the cocktail party. I wrapped my blue band around the other thing and it was fine....we showed it when we got our free coffees - are you saying that they know the coffees are free some other way? (I honestly can't recall if they scanned our wristbands).

Also, in several places around the ship there are Grab & Go boxes - we didn't inspect all of them, but there seemed to be lots of salads, fruit, desserts - there was one outside the galley and one outside the Dockside.

As a newbie myself with one VV cruise under my belt and another booked, I'll try to answer some of your restaurant questions. We found it very helpful to have dinner reservations - we wanted to change one night to something different, our first choice said No, our second choice said Yes. Most of the restaurants are pretty large, and we noticed that in many of them there are communal tables which I (think) you're traveling alone so that might be a good option for you. The Galley is their answer to the buffet, and it's just come whenever, eat whatever, sit whereever. It's more like a food court, with Panini sandwiches in one place, Sushi/bento, tacos, burgers, etc. etc. many other choices. I think it used to be that you had to sit and get waited on, but we didn't find that on Scarlet Lady, everyone just walked up to the counters and ordered what they wanted, often they would bring it to you if they could see where you were sitting. A couple of times we just sat and ordered breakfast and had it brought to us. I've just found out you can have a more upscale breakfast in the Wake and we're looking forward to trying that next time. As far as booking lunch, do book Razzle Dazzle. It was very busy and the food was great. And another wonderful casual lunch was in the Dock and Dockside (indoors or out) - wonderful small middle eastern mezze plates. We weren't crazy about the pizza set-up, whole pies only (not huge, but too much for one). Wish they had slices. I'm having trouble finding afternoon tea - what restaurant is that in? We also status matched and you'll get an additional wristband which entitles you to several perks - additional bar tab, fancy coffees once a day, bag of laundry, some other stuff. I also had troubles with the app so can't help you there. I'm sure others will be along to answer your questions.

If that option was there I never saw it at the time I entered mine. When I went back to add my husband it would not let me do it (same as trippinpara). It seemed it wanted me to enter a different card for both of us, which I did not want to do, so I had it taken care of at the dock.

That sounds very reasonable.

I love Korean ribs and make them at home all the time (I think they're called Galbi or Kalbi) - I've had kimchi and it's ok. Is the food more than/different from these things? Do you choose from a menu or does everyone just get the same stuff? Also, I've heard they start with drinking games. Is this true? That's what sort of turned us off from booking dinner there, that's not our style. So between that and making my own delicious flanken ribs at home (I try to order things out that I don't/can't make) would you still recommend Gunbae?

Being Captain Obvious here, but are you sure you're always dealing with the correct passenger's screen and questions (#1 or #2) ?

We walked off early. We went down just after 7 and there was already a line (we were about 20th in line). Right at 7:30 they let everone off and it went pretty quickly. But no guarantees it will always be like that. HOWEVER, when we got outside we needed a taxi and there were exactly 2, and we got the second one. Since VV prides itself on letting you stay in your cabin until 10, and doesn't start boarding until after 2, there's not a lot of activity outside at 7:30 am. I would make sure you have an Uber waiting.

We had brunch at R-D (with a reservation) and it was great. I didn't know about the Wake breakfast, that sounds like a great option, too. So much to learn for my second VV cruise!

We met a couple who were taking their first trip away from their 3 year old - between sisters and grandparents babysitting they were so grateful to have this treat.

Is the Wake breakfast "fancier" than the Galley? Do you need a reservation?

I felt exactly the same way. Wanted something "different" from X, figured what could be more different than VV, thought it would make us love Celebrity more and want to come back, had the exact opposite effect - loved it, back home 3 days and booked another VV.

I thought they were very comfortable. A little low to the ground, but very comfortable.

I guess you would have had to be recently on both NCL and Silver Seas/Crystal to be able to make the comparison. Very few people would have that range of experience. Several years ago when in Blu, who at the time we loved, there was a couple who were refugees from a cancelled Crystal Cruise, their first choice. We happened to sit next to them a couple of times in Blu and they were very nice. On the last night, I asked them what they thought of Celebrity compared to Crystal....WELL, I have never been dressed down so severely in my life. She went on and on about how Celebrity was a JOKE, do they call this gourmet? (this was when Blu was in its prime)...she said the food is not even what they throw away on Crystal...at that moment I knew I would NEVER be happy on Crystal with people who had their noses so far up in the air. Couple that with someone my husband worked with who was also a Crystal fan and who was also one of the biggest snobs I've ever met. NCL? Although it was my first cruise back in 1976 I know very little about them. And on my recent, first, VV cruise, we really enjoyed the food, from the most upscale dinner to the most basic breakfast or lunch. It just resonated with us.

From your mouth to God's ears. I HATE "apps" - just a tiny place where my fat fingers can't do anything. I don't know why you just can't do everything on a PC. But the obvious answer is that who they "think" their target demographic is, do everything on their phones. But really with a month left I would not even be concerned. The day before, maybe. 😅 But even then you could show up at the dock and say you lost your phone and they would take care of it.

That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about that "lip", that 2 foot high elevation around the entire pool that you have to step up from the main pool deck to get up to where the big beds are. There is a railing on each side, but it's still a hefty step up for some people.

Totally agree. I was surprised how much we liked VV. It sounds stupid to say I was expecting to dislike something, but we went in expecting that since we purposely chose something we felt would be the "anti-X", didn't want another mainstream clone. Thought we would think, this was awful, let's stick with Celebrity. Wow were we wrong. I really think their commercials do the line a disservice - as evidenced by some of the comments here, some are expecting a hedonistic drunk fest with all young people, and nothing could have been further from reality.

I believe Virgin America was purchased by Alaska Airlines several years ago.

I don't want to watch for 45 minutes - can anyone who does tell me if they address the problem of accessing the main pool from the pool deck - difficult to scramble up that 2 foot wall.

I think if you only have one thing left you're doing better than many of us! And it's not an error message on your part, they're telling you to try later, that it's their problem.

Just about 2 weeks off of our first VV cruise we still have a lot to learn, but I want to mention a few things that I have found out...did you know that one of the (split twin) beds can be made into a sofa during the day? You just have to let your steward know. We actually found the lack of a sofa and especially the huge glass table of X to make the cabin very spacious. I agree with you about those silver deck chairs - until we put the throw pillow and a towel on them, made them more comfortable. I think the food on VV was not only higher quality but quite tasty. Didn't find it as simple as you seem to have. There didn't seem to be that one very upscale, dark, quiet, romantic restaurant that X always had, but we loved all the choices. The ones that surprised us most were Test Kitchen and Razzle Dazzle. But I have to agree with you about the midget (half) lobster tail on the Petit Plateau...but that's ok, plain boiled lobster I can get at home. One thing, being older, that I did miss about X was the music - we love the easy listening dance music, the string quartets, the a capella groups, the acoustic guitar guy on the back deck....quite frankly, the music on VV was really not to our liking a all. But you have to decide what is most important to you, and I think we made our choice. After this next VV cruise I do want to try some others, for example MSC, Oceania...just to compare. I think it's good to mix it up. But I really think we're done with Celebrity.