_tacocat_

3 minutes ago, albee said:

Do the other ships have Scarlet night or something similar?

Yep, scarlet night is across the fleet!

10 hours ago, carpeperdiem said:

My friend convinced me "Premium Economy" on AF or Virgin are NOT USA domestic premium economy... it's a very different product, so it's booked!

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!!!

2 hours ago, nimbex1970 said:

Yes, we are those dang smokers.  Any pictures of the small smoking area on the open deck (I think it's 15 or 16). Is it covered if there is rain? How is the smoking area in the casino?  I understand that you need to be an active player to smoke in it, We generally only play craps and table etiquette is not to smoke at the craps table.  Is there a craps table in the smoking section, I just cannot see smoking while playing. Or are we required to do slots? Thanks in advance for not smoke shaming me and my bad habit, I know, I know. Appreciate any info.

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

1 hour ago, AdoraBelle said:

I think Tacocat has ended up answering questions for me ahead of every single one.

Here to serve, lol

2 hours ago, carpeperdiem said:

Screaming deal is back for JUNE-JULY and now AUGUST Med sailings!
https://www.virgin.com/en-us/virgin-red/spend-virgin-points/seven-nights-in-the-med-between-june-and-july-16042

Getting to BCN or ATH in July or August is limited, but some flights are reasonably priced (points)
But -- finding a flight FROM BCN or ATH back to North America in July or August is insanity.
I consider myself a points/miles expert, and I've never seen anything like this, ever.

 

When a redemption is not a value, then you just pay the fare.
But this is beyond stupid.
350k points one-way BCN-NYC in July in ECONOMY
No. Thank. You.

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  😜 

2 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

I had this with the daily / post-event survey as well ...   got the pop-up survey in the app,  provided some constructive feedback wrt obtaining service at On the Rocks trying to get drinks pre-dinner ...  was very cordial and framed it as a 'we want Virgin to be successful, please take our money'.

 

A couple of night later we were dining at Pink Agave, and the beverage manager came to find us tableside.  We had a lovely chat, talked about our observations, he comped our evening bar bill, and brought over to Espresso martinis two conclude dinner.    Scott. 

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!

21 minutes ago, NicolaQuinnTF said:

Thanks, Jon! I'll give that a go.

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.

3 hours ago, _tacocat_ said:

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!!

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.

2 hours ago, neverendingcruising said:

 

They listened, the pool on Resilient is larger. They reduced the shallow area on the forward side so the overall foot print is the same on deck but the pool itself is probably close to 50% larger. It's still not big enough, but so glad they did something! 

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!!

36 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

Here's another shot of the back of the ship

 

 

 

https://www.shipspotting.com/photos/3486734?

 

 

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.

20 minutes ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Can’t wait. Are you staying onboard and sailing with me?! 

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 😢 

1 hour ago, MeganGC1983 said:

Some thing bought specifically for this cruise. Also, had to add some kind of air tags DH grabbed after I hounded him relentlessly reading about @TxTeach79 and B’s Barcelona bag issues. They may not make the ship… but we will know where they are. 

Anti-theft crossbody because the beginning of Europe season always has horror stories of pickpockets. 
80’s things for the new Club Rubix event. 
Euro adapter for all the charging things. 

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)

3 minutes ago, notme2012 said:

There still seems to be tables in the graphic. The overhang is how that back deck sticks out on the sides. The lifeboats also do not stick out at all.

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

2 minutes ago, notme2012 said:

See that deck that sticks out?!   That is the overhang!  The first is a pic from the VV website of the Brilliant Lady!  I am guessing that VV web bozos picked the wrong pic, because the 2nd pic is the Scarlet Lady. The ships look the same. The 3rd pic is supposedly the Brilliant Lady. Do you see the difference?

 

The new locks in the Panama Canal, do not use electric mules to pull the ships thru the locks. Instead they use tug boats to push and pull the ships into and out of the locks.

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

2 hours ago, nimbex1970 said:

Ok, so now I'm confused.  Your table orders their protein, it's cooked and passed around on a plate for everyone to take the amount they wish and you can ask for more. So this is family style? I may sound weird, but 5 other folks handling said plate and taking food from them may not be for me.  How are the sides handled?  In hibachi, the cook puts your food on your plate, no one else touches it. I also like my beef fairly rare, so if I ask for it medium rare, do I get it that way? Thanks in advance.

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!

2 hours ago, nimbex1970 said:

Ouch!  for reference, can you share which cruise line has food that you prefer? Food is quite subjective and that was quite scathing! 

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.

4 hours ago, cantgetin said:

THen, when you board, go to the big red desk and cancel it (they will refund it to your credit card as long as you are more than 24 hours before the excursion) and rebook the excursion on board. 

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!

4 hours ago, -The-True-North- said:

How do you find the deals to do so many cruises?

 

We really want to book Greek Island Glow for end of August... but it's over $5.5k CAD for 2 people.

 

Yes, it's Balcony, but only because Oceanview is soldout, and insider is still $4.2k.

 

Do you all book inside, then bid for an upgrade?

 

Or buy these buy $300 get $300 future credit.

 

I get... and am happy to pay, for a premium product, but this just seem extremely costly compared to others.

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!

1 minute ago, Lustate said:

 

We might have the reverse of this issue. We bought a MNVV voucher which expires in 2024, but dont think we will be using it, Or at least not before it expires. Not the end of the world as the current offers have equaled it and cost us nothing, but would have been good to have used it. 

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

1 hour ago, -The-True-North- said:

For sailor loot referrals... Do we need to be on the same ship? Or just one fellow sailor to another?

 

We are Looking to book a cruise for Aug 27, and an additional $50 is always welcome.😜

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.

13 minutes ago, singleflyer said:

 

I'm very interested in this, and can't find any info on here about embarkation at Piraeus.  I have Deep Blue Extras.  But clearly this is a very different port than Terminal V in Miami.  

 

I think I read somewhere that it uses Terminal A in Piraeus. 

 

@alpencoolcruiser @MeganGC1983 @_tacocat_ Hopefully will report back!

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.