_tacocat_

Same. I did mega twice and rockstar a bunch, but I get as much satisfaction from an XL and can save a ton of money in the process!

For reference, this is the view from 11330a. If you poke your head over/are close to the edge, you can wave to whoever is on the bridge or if someone’s on the massive deck, but otherwise fine!

They should. Or not let them back haha. I was seething! Fortunately/unfortunately the first half hour delay worked for me because I was on a thrilling legal call for work, but after that I was just getting plain old hangry and irritated that I was missing prime turnover day pool time!!!

I don’t think they’ll do that anytime soon. They were initially selling themselves as the “un-cruise,” which was obviously hampered by Covid, and then they’ve struggled to find their demographic. I’m not sure how they keep the intimate feel of their programming/onboard experience if they go bigger.

If you want a laugh, dive into his “theory.” First he was saying he knew someone at NCL that was in the know 😂 which would be a super big problem for both NCL and VV- MNPI, anyone? then he’s saying that blackrock coming in as a lender was a plea for help/red flag. I work in private equity, and blackrock is invested in many many maaaany ventures at all stages of the companies’ lifecycles. then after he had a “bad voyage” because he didn’t get catered to hand and foot personally on valiant in December, he made yet another laughable financial analysis. Because NCL’s stock was up, they were obbbbviously in the market for an M&A deal. Yep, that’s definitely how M&A works 🤣 he then encourages his followers to buy NCL one share at a time because that’s dollar cost averaging. I could not stop laughing at his idiocy

I’m on a back to back from that one. Seemed most of the ship waited till 10:15/10:30 to start thinking about getting off. B2Bers had to meet at sip at 10:30, and the line to disembark went all the way to the foreword elevators. I think they finally got all but 2 passengers off by 11:15, then we had to wait another 45 mins for those idiots to get off the ship. Seems like the wait generally gets worse after 9/9:30 every one ive been on!

i LOVED test kitchens original old fashioned - it had some banana. sounds gross, but was really freaking good! the amaretto one's good too, but i'll always remember the OG 🙂

same! and on the past few voyages, they've run out of st louis brut and prosecco, so they've used the st louis rose in whatever sparkling cocktails. i was kind of skeptical about having rose in an aperol spritz, but it was actually really good! same with the entertainer drink at on the rocks - supposed to have prosecco but has been the rose for a while.

my very scientific measurement - it's about 2 iphone 13 pro's of distance between the floor and the bed. the iphone is 5" and change tall, so a bit over 10"? we currently have 1 big checked suitcase and a bigger carry-on under the bed and another carryon in the closet (but it could also fit under the bed. i just stuck it in the closet day one and that's where it stayed haha) as lustate stated, the bed has a pivoting part, so if you're going to constantly switch between bed and couch config or have the beds set up in the L shape, you lose half the bed as understorage.

i think they do this to avoid overcrowding of any one thing (or the pool deck) during the day on sea days. i would love to do everything they offer, but everything always conflicts haha.

it is crazy how many different answers you get to this question depending on how many people you ask - onboard and shoreside. i've confirmed several times on board for someone else who was going to be 19 on their sailing that their policy is 18 and up once they hit international waters or are at port in a country with 18 drinking age. when it comes down to it, the ticket contract/terms are what govern your voyage. if a bartender/server gives an 18-21er trouble, escalate.

i'm on now - confirming that liquors aren't on the room service menu (full bottles and half bottles of wine are, as are the premixed canned cocktails - waaayyy too sweet for my palate!).

agree 10000000%. at first, VV made it near impossible to tip extra - we never tried, but we heard nearly all reports that people who tried to tip were refused. as time's gone on, the reaction has ranged from some crew still flat out refusing to accepting wads of cash with no resistance. i wish VV would go back to the tips prohibited model.

if Z, i think it's the squishy, if A, its the not (and also an ambulatory cabin so may be oriented a bit differently). you can check your reservation on the website/app to see what room you've been assigned. you can also have your TA change your cabin to a different one on 11 or another deck if you want the roomy 3 person version.

i believe it does hit your bar tab. you can definitely take your unfinished bottle with you, and i was sitting next to a guy at extra virgin's bar who had the bartender hold his bottle there until the next day, but i haven't observed anyone getting it taken/stored/transferred between restaurants.

jeez that is ridiculous!!!

yep i do this all the time haha - glad the seats are not cloth!!

that orientation makes it squishy, and you can't see on the PDF floor plan on their site (but you can see it on the fire/safety floorplan on the back of the doors) that there's an itty bitty slant in one of the walls of all the cabins - that means every other XL cabin has a scootch more elbow room than its "non squishy" neighboring cabin. last year, VV added the wood elements behind the TV because people complained that the rooms were too cold-looking/plain, and that bumped the TV out a couple inches. if you need to get from the bathroom or door to the table/desk thing, you have to dodge the TV a little or you'll nail your shoulder on it every time. additionally, if you get your room made up with the couch during the day, the "non squishy" layout provides WAY more floorspace to move around than the "squishy" layout because it opens towards the room not the balcony.

hmm i thought they were all the same orientation for the 3 person ones. i've been in a few different XLs and the 3 person ones all had the same layout, and the 2 person one had the squishy layout. they're offset on each side of the ship every other one, and they're generally the same rooms on decks 10-12. will have to investigate in the middle of my B2B next week!

virgin's premium wifi doesn't actually give you any additional speed, it just unlocks streaming ports on the connection, so virgin's basic wifi is probably comparable to other lines' top tier wifi to begin with. i also believe virgin uses a different vendor/technology for their wifi than most lines. they were apparently piloting starlink in the med last year, but starlink has a land-based component, so it doesn't work in the middle of the atlantic. i wasn't on the transatlantic, but i've read others' reports. the wifi was a little dicey when there was weather, but was okay the rest of the time. if having perfect connectivity is a priority for work or other critical things, the transatlantic is probably not the place to test that out haha

yeah - premium wifi is currently only available on itineraries in the caribbean from miami.

it's more of a lounge feel when it's just a solo acoustic act in the dock house - people typically grab a comfy seat and a cocktail and chill. sometimes they have a DJ at the dock outside during the afternoon/early evenings - still people mostly sitting and chilling with drinks vs. dancing.

fwiw, the premium wifi has only been available on voyages ex-miami.

did you end up only having 2 sea days on this voyage, or did you miss a different port? grand turk looks gorgeous!

we thought the 7% fee for room charges was for all non-suite guests doing any sort of transaction to their folio or against their sailor loot, but the last time we were on, the cashier said sailor loot transactions don't incur a fee.