_tacocat_

Agree - i haven't gotten it, but someone at my table the first time did. he didn't look thrilled as he was eating it (especially for $45 extra!). it's unseasoned, and the included seasoned short rib is already more than sufficient.

Hahah exactly!!!! We had a bit of a generational divide too and didn’t want to come off as “impolite millennials,” but sheesh it was uncomfortable.

also no stripes anywhere onboard, so it really feels like one team vs. a stodgy hierarchy. all crew wears nametags, so when people said hi and asked if we needed anything, i'd always look to see who they were/what they did. obviously the happenings cast floats around a lot, but you'd see people from IT, event operations, etc. EVERYONE was so helpful and friendly! treating crew right makes them a happy crew, which creates happy guests, which ultimately translates into higher revenue -- whether it be extra onboard spend or booking future voyages.

We were definitely in this scenario a few times! Communication with the crew is key here, and they'll rejigger your courses or expedite things to the best of our ability to get you out on time. I've seen people complaining that courses take too long or they have to wait for a waiter to come for them to order dessert. While that's definitely not okay, I'm willing to bet most of these guests never bothered to flag anyone down or ask about their missing food. Again - communication! It seems that the dining crew is trained to not constantly come to your table to check on you -- I appreciate being able to enjoy my meal without being asked if I need anything 5x during my main course, but it probably wouldn't hurt to have the servers check in a couple times throughout the full meal. The only time we ended up almost having an issue with was Gunbae the first time, and we just skipped dessert. We probably would have been out with a few minutes to spare, but our table conversation got super uncomfortable (when strangers bring politics into dinner conversation!), so that was our main motivating factor for skedaddling early.

most likely, at check in. suites may get them in the mail still, but i haven't heard any regular cabin guests getting them in advance since the early days. guessing it was a pretty big logistics lift to manufacture custom fobs for everyone and stuff & ship them to people in time.

my guess is it's $10 per day - hiltons do this kind of thing in lieu of breakfast credit, and it's use it or lose it per day. i'd be curious to see if it starts day 1 when you board and it's $10 every 24 hours or if it starts on morning one and it's calendar day.

we didn't recall seeing much security when we were on in december, but there was definitely a noticeable presence in june/july. even moreso for richard's bday bash...

I think that's in all ports - in the Caribbean, if you're in port or not yet in int'l waters, you pay tax. Rule of thumb is that if the casino's closed, you're paying tax.

I think part of that is provisioning- they're HQed in FL, and they seem to have better relationships with purveyors there vs. Europe. They definitely need to figure that out though because they're in Europe for the long haul!!

also haven't sailed while pregnant, but will probably end up doing so at some point haha. i'd definitely feel comfortable on virgin, and i've seen a handful of pregnant women onboard across the voyages i've been on so far. they have a non-alcoholic spirit brand called seedlip, and it tasted pretty damn near the real thing to me. as others have said, there are mocktails on menus, but you can also ask bartenders to make you something off-menu. some of the bartenders we had were awesome (like tip at sip and eugene and mambo at the pool bar during the day and manor at night) and would make us something based on spirit and a couple flavor notes, but others weren't super comfortable doing their own thing. if you can find one of the bartenders with the grommet aprons, they're the "mixologists" onboard, and they might be able to point you in the right direction! there are plenty of low/no-impact activities onboard like bingo with the diva (drag queen), singers/bands at on the rocks, arts & crafts classes, etc. i'd pick VV over an all-inclusive, but that's just because i'd feel like i were throwing money away by going to an AI and not drinking.

it seems to have gotten better - i had an issue, called around 11:15am PT and got a call back in about an hour the other day.

I believe the only rooms that connect are the cheeky corner suites + the sea terrace directly next to each cheeky corner.

They’ve had issues getting some wines and keeping others in stock (supply chain issues are still super alive in the alcohol world- try to find green chartreuse anywhere 🤣). I don’t think there have been major updates to the bar menus, so if you find them, there’s no guarantee it’ll be there when you’re on. That said, they had a ton of sparkling at sip and a pretty decent wine selection across the ship. Most wines were <$15/glass, with a lot of them in the ~$9-12 region (tip inclusive)

I think they’ve been sending rockstar bands and luggage tags out ahead of time, but even those are hit or miss. At the port, it’s easiest if you know your cabin number, but the porters also have a big list of names/cabins if you forget or can’t find (it’s in the app)

PSA if you think you should have deep blue perks on your account but don't see them, call VV to look into it! I thought someone on another thread of FB group said they were told that VV was manually going through and adding to eligible sailors, but it looks like it's actually somewhat automated. For some reason, both my husband and I didn't get them automatically, despite the fact that we were (very!) eligible to receive them. Called in this morning, got a return call in about an hour, and took about 30 mins soup to nuts to fix.

Unfortunately don't think you can double dip, but whether their system is actually coded to catch this is another story! From the My Next Virgin Voyage promo terms, "If champagne is included, see section 1.2.1, there is a limit of one bottle of champagne among all offers, i.e., anyone already receiving a bottle of champagne from a different offer will not receive a second bottle."

They have separate "cubicles" to change and shower. There's nothing woke about having a private space to change? The locker room part is literally a short hallway-type area with lockers for you to stow your clothes while you are at the spa. Most people just come down in bathing suits already/go back up to the pool when they're done.

Can't get my previous post to post for whatever reason, so apologies if this shows up as a double post eventually... The "lock it in rate" is excluded by the terms that say you need to book a regular Sea Terrace cabin or above. There's a list of meta categories and cabin types on their site, and while the lock it in & ltd view are both part of the sea terrace meta category, the actual cabins you need to book are "The Sea Terrace" and above. ETA: i think my post was "hidden" because of the large table, so updating to say that it's under the “Lock It In” Guaranteed (GTY) Bookings" heading (currently #29) on this site: https://www.virginvoyages.com/promotions-terms-and-conditions

The "lock it in rate" is excluded by the terms that say you need to book a regular Sea Terrace cabin or above. There's a list of meta categories and cabin types on their site, and while the lock it in & ltd view are both part of the sea terrace meta category, the actual cabins you need to book are "The Sea Terrace" and above. ETA: i think my post was "hidden" because of the large table, so updating to say that it's under the “Lock It In” Guaranteed (GTY) Bookings" heading (currently #29) on this site: https://www.virginvoyages.com/promotions-terms-and-conditions

I think there are technically 4 - Standard A, Veg A, Standard B and Veg B! They let you swap in Veg items to the Standard menu if you have any dietary needs or preferences.

Be careful with that and stay proactive... we had the same issue (+ not getting the extra $300 off), and they manually extended our pay in full date by a couple weeks and said that they put a ticket in to fix the pricing. That day came and still nothing. My husband called and the guy gave him a spiel about how "the pricing/promotions that were active when you made the deposit are the pricing/promotions that you need to book under." That is patently false, as the deposits are valid for 2 years, and they don't even have their 2024 schedule out yet... by that logic, 2024 voyages should be free haha! He put us on hold and cancelled our reservation (😲), but he rebooked it and somehow we got an additional $300 off? I know that people have been saying they've been told if they "cancel" a voyage that had promo creds, you lose that + any discount, but we still see $600 OBC for that voyage.

Hahaha I actually think of Snooki & The Situation when I think of Carnival or NCL - basically party people who want to "get their money's worth" out of a drink package. I think the pax on VV are inherently a little classier, just given the $$ fares. VV is ultimately seems to be trying to capture the market of young/young at heart. There was a 70-something year old guy on one of our voyages who was having the time of his life, and we (mid 30s) have hung out with folks from all age groups from 20s-70s on the 4 voyages we've been on so far. If you're going into it with preconceived notions about how it's not for you or how you're not going to like it, then you're probably not going to like it.

also not a non-dairy person, but have a weird thing with creamy sauces and basically every schmear/spread on the face of the planet haha. they're proactive about food allergies, and they ask every time you sit down. as long as you're not ordering something with dairy as a key ingredient (like a grilled cheese or anything with a cream sauce) and it's a finishing drizzle or a separate ingredient/garnish, you should be able to get it sans dairy.

Wow! That’s actually really awesome- people gripe about how “expensive” VV is and how they’d rather a bare bones experience and pay for whatever, but your data point is totally the opposite! Nothing written can justify how awesome the crew is. The “happenings cast” essentially serves as hype people, so being engaging is directly part of their job description, but everyone else (room stewards, servers, even the IT and onboard “corporate” staff) goes out of their way to make sure you’re having a good time. We were on voyages a few weeks apart, and our steward from the first voyage even found us and said hi!

$30 for a giant bag of clothes to be laundered by the next day, +$20 for express same day service. The bag could probably fit at least 10 days worth of clothes for 2 people!!! There is a list of drycleaning prices too, but I don't recall what the prices were.