_tacocat_

the most port intensive VV that i've been on has been resilient lady's greek island glow this summer.  we had a late night port, an overnight port, and i think only 1.5 sea days.  they kind of treated the afternoons/evenings of those longer port days as pseudo sea days- they'd have some onboard activities each day.  we were typically out an about in port so didn't end up doing as many things onboard as we'd done on caribbean voyages.

On 12/15/2023 at 11:05 AM, raphael360 said:

One could hope they don’t get greedy and start to quality to make even more profits. 

i think they've already started down this path.  they've cut down on some onboard offerings (classes/activities, restaurant items, entertainment like phantom folktales and NSA, and my beloved cold brew, off the top of my head).  it was kind of inevitable, given their depressed revenue for 3 solid years + the extremely generous OBC that they've been offering for cancellations and with MNVV. 

i've noticed a marked dilution in the onboard experience this year vs my 2021-2022 voyages, particularly when they started going hard after filling the ship with traditional cruisers expecting traditional cruise things and a ton of hosted casino guests.  i've lost count at this point, but i think i've been on 13 times.  my latest voyage was in early october, and I have nothing else booked going forward with no immediate or medium-term plans to do so 🤷‍♀️

Nope, no outlets in sea terrace bathrooms.

3 hours ago, JanKP said:

I would not risk it. We arrived in Miami at 5 am and no one could leave until almost 10 am as there were not enough customs agents or whoever to process the passengers.We were in line waiting to get off the boat form 730 am til 10ish when they finally let us go.  Or, other cruise ships also disembarking had more clout and we were made to wait.

Sounds like there may have been an actual holdup with the entire disembarkation process vs. just not enough customs agents.  I’ve been on VV from Miami quite a bit, both before the new facial recognition and after it was installed, and the only time we’ve had to “wait” were times when we didn’t start leaving until after 10.

if you were in line for the entirety of 7:30-10, that must have been a delay in clearing the ship or some sort of medical emergency that needed to be dealt with vs just a staffing issue.  Most people stay on until after 9:30, so the lines normally aren’t bad at any point before that.

3 minutes ago, Freelancer3 said:

WOW! So we think everyone has to pay by tomorrow night or.... they aren't offering it to new reservations starting tomorrow night?

Sounds like everyone has to pay by tomorrow night!

they're like airline tags, no need for plastic covers.  tell the porter your cabin number (if you forget, it's right in your app, or if you're fumbling, they can find you on their paper list). 

leave the tags on if you want them to take your bags off at the end of your trip.  i want to say bags need to be out the last night by like 9 or 10, but they do a terrible job of communicating that, so check w/ sailor services.

if you wear them constantly and have nothing to trim the ends with, you WILL end up dragging them through every plate of food you eat haha

i've never had SoR, but i have deep blue and one other, and they immediately come off as soon as i'm settled into my room and only resurface for the few minutes a day where i actually need them.

41 minutes ago, conandrob240 said:

Walking around, having to remember where you wanted a little of this as a little of that, then telling it to a server was a pain

especially when they did this for the salad bar for a *very* brief period of time... why yes, let me think off the top of my head of every tiny vegetable and protein i'd like on my salad this afternoon that may or may not actually exist on the line... 🙄

Just now, ldbeav said:

Is this the same on Valiant Lady?

Yeah it’s across all the ships.  You can either order from a server or order from individual stations. If you have a longer lead time item, they’ll give you a buzzer to bring your your seat, and you go get your food when the buzzer goes off.

It was initially intended to be a food hall concept, then Covid happened and they didn’t want people crowding around stations, so it became tables service.  The flags are a VERY new convention in the galley (like a few months ago), but before that, service could be absolutely hit or miss.  You could be waiting for a server for upwards of 20 minutes, while crew sat around and chatted with each other, or on the other end of that, be constantly bombarded with “need anything else”s throughout your meal.

The other issue I’ve had with the served vs self serve concept is “invisible” queues.  When you order from a server, you have no clue how long things can take from each station, so you frequently had tables where everyone except for one person had received all their food, and that one sad person happened to order tacos or whatever that had a zillion-ticket queue that they had no way to tell would be so long.

I’ll take the food hall self serve concept all day long.  On the last voyage I was on, it was always quicker and easier to do that vs the old seated & served concept.

Sailor services MIGHT be able to help you, but there’s no guarantee.  You can always check in online and get a paper boarding pass at the airport though.

On 11/12/2023 at 9:25 AM, schooner_Drinker said:

We like Italian and a good steak 🥩 

the steak at extra virgin is actually one of my favorites items on the ship!  i prefer that + the steak at pink agave over anything i've had at the wake.

7 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

It does? I don't remember seeing cartons anywhere in that store when we've gone in there to buy spirits. Are they hidden from sight? 

i've seen them a few times - they're in the back cabinets of the shop, kind of tucked away.

35 minutes ago, tbmrt said:

Do you get to see the stars as neverendingcruising mentioned or just reading?  (We'll be on VL from San Juan in Feb.)

the light pollution from the ship is pretty bad - they do turn the lights down at the dock for this event so you can see some stars, but the focus is more on the storytelling aspect vs. a more scientific event with telescopes and astronomy experts.

1 hour ago, qq830821 said:

yeah called them yesterday and they confirmed that it wont be shown in the app as its meant to be a surprise so it will show up in the room when we arrive. 🙂 do you have that in your app? 

yeah it's supposed to show up in your app... it might be under your other sailor?  check on the website, go to manage voyage, check the add ons, and you can select the other sailor.

there are two different things - the store has some demos (like a smokey eye tutorial) where the first person there is the "model" for free.

they also have something similar to on-land MAC stores - i've only ever gotten my makeup done at a MAC store when i 100% for sure am buying products (i thought that's how it worked).  you pay $100, get your makeup done, then get a $100 credit to spend at the store. so you basically buy $100 of product and get your makeup done for free.

5 hours ago, cruisencrazy said:

I see that expires in December.  We don’t sail til January.

they've extended DBE like 85 times already (or that's what it feels like at least).  i think they're just going to continue doing that at this point vs. actually building a loyalty program!

2 hours ago, billco said:

that our cabin was too warm even with the thermostat turned all the way down. This morning the steward called to see if had been fixed.

make sure your balcony door is closed and locked.  we had an issue where our door somehow got slightly off the track, so it wasn't hitting the sensors when closed & locked.  maintenance had to come fix it and it was fine after.

two other tips - close your curtains during the day when you're not in the room, and use the light above the bed sparingly.  those bulbs burn HOT!

i wouldn't - one of the perks of RS suites is that you get a jump start on booking restaurants, and you also get a small heads up on booking onboard activities, as you're the first group of people that is able to connect to ship wifi onboard.

if there are any classes that are "must dos," you're better off jumping on the app and booking ASAP when you get onboard vs. waiting for your agent to make their way over to you.

the other thing that we usually used our agent for was to book spa appointments, but on my last miami voyage in october, they had a couple spa people roving in the RS area of the terminal that were able to book our appointments before we even got on the ship!!

yep they do, not sure what the pricing was though

4 hours ago, raphael360 said:

These trams lack any kind of suspension springs and are back breakers for us aged folk.

i'd like to include my 35-year-old self in the "aged folk" group haha those trams are BRUTAL!!!!

2 hours ago, babalooo said:

I am actually surprised since Virgin was originally a record label, that they don't have a TV channel in the room of all the Virgin musical artists we can stream. Unless they don't have the rights to the music anymore? 

They sold to someone (EMI?) a while back, so I’d guess right are the case here

2 minutes ago, TheDarkestBlue said:

At that point, the events line-up also became live, I was able to add Bingo with the Diva and various dance parties to my agenda. There were several other events (like Dual Reality) laid out on the timeline there so you could see what days/hours they occurred on. You are unable to book these ahead, must be done on board - same with the spa services.

don't get too attached to this agenda/schedule, as it 100% will change over the weeks leading up to your departure, then a ton of stuff will get revamped in the 24 hours before you board (you can't view things at that point, so you have to check it all out once you connect to ship wifi)

8 hours ago, qq830821 said:

very informative thanks! can someone pls tell me how many reservations i can make for one restaurant for a 6n cruise? Do they count brunch/lunch/bf? many thanks!

i believe you can make 3 dinner reservations at a restaurant for 6n+ cruise.  you for sure can do that on a 7 night, and you can only do 1 per restaurant on 4 and 5 nighters, but i think the 6 night falls under the "longer voyage" rules.

it's very recent (september?), but yes, you generally go to the counter and order now.  if it's a longer lead-time item, you get a buzzer.

you can still order from a server if you want, but i prefer this method.  i can't tell you the number of times i ordered something from a (not known to me) very backed up station and was still waiting on my food after the rest of my party finished eating.  this gives you a little more transparency into how long you might have to wait.

i'm kind of miffed though because there's no more ramen at breakfast with this model.  they've changed that station to "express breakfast" in the morning 😞