_tacocat_

Yep, scarlet night is across the fleet!

Premium economy on VA is great! The first row is neat if you can snag it- instead of the little bicycle footrest thingamajig, they bring out a little foot rest cushion for you after takeoff. I’d take VA premium over domestic first on any US airline any day!!!

The main casino is nonsmoking. The smoking room is mostly chairs and a few slots/video poker machines, but you don’t need to be playing to smoke. the smoking area on 16 has shades but not really a roof

Nope, but there are plugs/usb ports right next to the bed if you want to bring your own

Here to serve, lol

That’s why there are such screaming deals on their European sailings. The flights are absolute insanity! I did a combo of miles and cash to get myself from LA to Athens- first class in emirates LAX>DXB, which was more miles than I wanted to spend but… emirates first class lol- I SHOWERED at 40k feet! Paid cash DXB>ATH on emirates in coach, cash for ATH>LHR in “business,” and miles for VA LHR>LAX in upper class. 2 RT coach tickets in cash would have been more than the cruise fare itself!! Haven’t done a big miles redemption in quite some time, and holding onto them forever is a mistake because their value never goes up. Balancing those insane redemptions out with a redemption sweet spot reservation that I made before United’s big deval - LAX>PPT later this year 😜

Had a similar experience with some feedback on the salad bar of all things. The briefly made it table order only, which was counter productive and frankly just stupid. I let sailor services and an F&B manager know and another manager came over at dinner and let us know they were immediately going back to walk-up orders for custom salads. They listen!

I wouldn’t even bother asking if you have a reservation for peak dinner time (between 6-9). There will likely be a line to check in most of the evening, so they’re not going to hold a 6-top for just 2 people. If you get there and your table sucks, you can excuse yourselves and grab something in the galley or room service or try to get into another restaurant.

So the shallow “shelf” on the opposite end from the entry stairs is about 6-8’ shorter than the other ships. Sad to report that this format of pool now invites wannabe lap swimmers 😢 I have to say, it was SO nice to not have to dodge goggle-less flailing splashers on the other ships, but I’m sure this format of pool will be more welcome for the extra bodies looking to cool off in the hot Caribbean sun.

Hah I was in it yesterday and thought it felt way bigger than the other ships, but thought that it was just because there were like 5 people in it!!

Ah the wake still looks like it’s there! That’s their highest capacity restaurant, so I would have been really surprised if they canned it.

Lol I wish!!! This is one of the coolest voyages I’ve been on! The only thing that’s kind of a bummer is that you don’t spend a ton of time on the ship, which is the main draw in the Caribbean 😢

The club rubix event was AWESOME!! It was last night, and so much more fun than the disco night in the other ships (although I am a child of the 80s so may be a little biased lol)

The wake is in the big windows right below the outside aft deck area (the dock). Looks like thats missing from brilliant rendering!

Hmmmm that would mean no wake restaurant in here! Guess we’ll find out soon enough later this year when she launches!!!

As can’t get in said, you can either go with a server-directed meal, where they essentially bring some of everything on the menu, or you can order what you want. I opt for the latter, as I don’t like squid/octopus. For things that everyone gets, they’ll either pass a plate around (and everyone uses the dedicated tongs for that plate to grab a few bites) or plop a portion directly on your plate from the grill. re: doneness, it’s really thin slices of meat, so they end up almost well done to begin with. I am a rarer-than-medium-rare person, but I thought the beef at Gunbae was still great and tender. Word of advice though- the beef that comes with the “combo” meal option is unseasoned. I’d skip that and only get the marinated short rib!

Lol leisuretraveler had a terrible vacation, if you follow all their comments. While there are certainly some hits and misses onboard food-wise, my guess is nothing would satisfy said traveler.

I thought it had to be cancelled 24 hours before embarkation to get a credit card refund (24 hours before the excursion to get a refund in OBC vs losing the amount totally). I’ve never tried to cancel and get a credit card refund while a voyage was in progress, but that’s what the terms make it sound like at least!

The fares used to be waaaay lower when they were trying to fill the ships, suites used to be included in sales, and there was a promotion late last year that I ended up with over $1k per voyage of onboard credit. since they’ve started filling scarlet up, those promotions have ground to a halt. There are still deals to be had on the Europe voyages, but then you also have the cost and logistics of getting yourself over there!

I’m pretty sure you can transfer them if you have any friends that might be interested in going!

This program ended in February bc so many people were abusing it. If you’ve never used a travel agent before, it might be worth looking into using one for virgin. A lot of them have extra “my next virgin voyages” offers ($300 off the fare/$600 onboard credit) and may have other sailor loot/things they can throw in to sweeten the deal.

There are about 1400 on this week. I’d expect their European voyages to be way undersold (and therefore have great promos!) until the transatlantic airfare situation gets any better.

They didn’t really start checking people in with bands until about 1:40 (I think?), so after 1 is probably a good time. I did see some folks bringing their own bags, but we just opted to keep backpacks and give the porters our roller bags.

We left from c the other day, but there were 2 other ships loading that day. For folks that got there early, they had tents set up (enclosed ones with AC, like you might see at a summer “outdoor” wedding). You checked your bags with a porter, verbally checked in with someone at the desk there, and they directed you to one of the tents. I believe one was for rockstars and other VIPs, and I think deep blue. you sit there for a while and wait for someone to come check you in (that was the most stressful part! They’d come around and you’d think you were next, then someone would sit between you and the checker-inner.) at some point, they called everyone into the actual terminal. If you had your wristband, you just went to security, then immediately to the ship. It boards on 4 with pretty minimal fanfare, so it’s a little less anticlimactic than Miami.

It’s soooooo different than any of the Caribbean voyages I’ve been on! Usually, we’re like ninjas in the app as soon as we board, booking all shows, fitness classes and other activities. There are a couple new shows, but the demand doesn’t seem to be as high as on the Caribbean sailings. We were done rearranging dinners and booking things within like 15 mins of boarding, and we were like “wait what are we missing here?!” because it was so relaxed. You’re in port kind of late, so there’s not much time to enjoy stuff onboard. For example, we were in santorini from 9am-9:30pm yesterday! There is not much in the way of nightlife on this itinerary, given the schedule too. People would be too pooped to enjoy the ports if they were up till 4am in the manor every night!! I think the manor is only open as a nightclub twice this voyage- maybe 3x. The fun vibe still exists, but it’s not a bunch of people drinking by the pool all day and partying all night. All that said, it’s still really great so far! We’re off to Rhodes today, then Bodrum, our one lonely sea day, then Mykonos for about a day and a half.