aqlollipop

Apparently the emails have been wild. In my case I got a "thanks for reaching out how did we do" customer service survey email instead of any confirmation email. My TA was able to tell me that everyone in our group got moved and I did see the new sailing briefly in the app before it crashed. She also said that lots of weird emails are flying out from Virgin. For the record we submitted our forms around 2pm Thursday and it looks like we got moved around 4:30 today.

Also, the ships are identical in this regard, so photos and videos from sister ships should give you the correct info.

106 cabins have a regular balcony. 102 cabins have the larger angled balcony. I've sailed in both, though not on deck 13. However, even though the deck plans are inconsistent in how they portray the decks on these cabins, the corridor line and abrupt turn that happens between them is consistent across decks. So I believe regardless of deck, 102 has the larger angled balcony, and 106(104 on some decks) is just a regular balcony.

Sea Terrace cabins 102 on any deck either side have a bit extra deck space with an angle that looks back across the length of the ship. On deck plans it often appears that the 106 or 104 cabins have this feature, but it's the 102 cabins.

I would say there's 1.5 vegetarian/vegan menus. Some options are the same whether menu A or B is offered (like the dessert and the gazpacho), some are different (the veggie tart (A) vs the pumpkin risotto(B)).

Also note that BL sailings aren't in the app yet so you won't be able to go in and select your time until they are anyway. Unless I'm missing something for my own BL sailing!

I've done HAL to Alaska twice, I thought it was really well done. For sure glacier Bay is not to be missed. In Alaska in the summer it's a lot of multigenerational families, which is exactly what I was part of both times!

Ok so I'm not really a sports person, but I was on Scarlet the end of May when I guess there were some important Basketball games happening. We saw signs posted about a watch party in the Athletic Club on Scarlet Night and lots of people were heading in that direction. We didn't go so I can't say what they had set up there for viewing as the athletic club doesn't usually have screens as far as I recall. Sorry I can't give you more than that, but I figure with the Super Bowl they're going to do something for sure if they managed something on Scarlet Night for some basketball playoffs I think?

Not sure what you're looking for but the ship doesn't launch until the end of December. Her itineraries launch with her so no one has any experience of either. The ship will be the same as the others with likely minimal cosmetic differences and probably some "unique to Brilliant Lady" shows like they did with Resilient.

I'm booked on the San Juan mermaiden and the app still says the ladyship isn't loaded in yet. At least for me.

This doesn't seem new to me either. It was exactly this way when I cruised with a friend in April. I was the lead sailor, had the tab and loot and had her charges put on my bill. We figured we'd sort it out in the other end as there were other trip related charges we needed to split still. In the end we had zero balance so it was no issue at all.

Look for the "sailing club" banner. There will be a person there you check in with who will give you your DBE wristband (only needed for boarding) and direct you where to go.

I've always been a book it myself gal as well, and I did convert to using a TA with Virgin. The issue with Virgin is their shoreside customer service is... inconsistent, and that would be a very generous way to phrase it. If you book yourself, using their website, they assign you a cabin, you don't get to pick or see what's available. You can always call them and ask to be moved to a different cabin, but why deal with the challenges of getting them on the phone when a TA can book you where you want right off? When I was booking my own, I didn't have many issues, the only thing I regretted was a future voyage certificate I later booked the cruise for online. That could have not been handled by my new TA anyway because I bought during my first VV too long ago to transfer it to her stewardship. It all worked out fine in the end and all our cruises with Virgin have been great, but it's been very freeing and a lot less stressful for me planning things to have someone to go to with questions. The first cruise I booked with her was in early April right after one of their extensions of Deep Blue Extras, which I should have been eligible for. Because the cruise was happening very shortly after the announcement, I let her handle making sure I received those benefits. I didn't have to be on hold or trying to get up at the crack of dawn to be the first morning caller. I think until things are a little smoother with Virgin shoreside, it's just an easier and more relaxing experience to work with a TA.

I'm in the same boat! Except, instead of not getting regular promotional emails, I suddenly started getting the promotional emails they send to travel agents. I have no idea why. I'm not a travel agent, and when I first started sailing Virgin I wasn't even using a travel agent. There is something mysterious about their email system for sure. I admit though, that I haven't even attempted to fix this problem. It's just not worth my time as at least I am kept aware of the promotions through the TA emails I get. 😂

We've only done dinner at the Wake once, and we must've gotten lucky. Service was, while I wouldn't say "quick", I would say it was paced as I expected for the type of meal service it seems to want to be. Nonetheless, we were in and out in probably about an hour or just over.

Do not be wedded to whatever you are seeing online. It WILL be different once you get on board. Probably many of the same things, very likely on different days, different times. Maybe some different things will be added, maybe something you expect will disappear. Use the online schedule as a sort of vague outline but not as a written in stone offering.

Great review! I agree that I think they could do a better job balancing out the timing on the evening entertainment so that people don't have to choose between dinner or show. It's possible to do both, but generally requires careful planning and a bit of luck. I was on Scarlet recently myself, and our personal experience with service in the restaurants was polar opposite: I planned that the meals would be long, at least 2 hours each, and in every case (except Test Kitchen, which is a known, very precisely timed meal) we were out in under an hour. I can't explain the inconsistency and I do wish they could smooth it out for people. Strangely, in my case I ended up mostly missing a performance I was interested in seeing but had not marked in my agenda because the timing was too close to our dining reservation. But we ended up done well before it started and I just didn't even remember it was happening until we walked by it later on midway through! 🤦‍♀️

So you bid on anything you are interested in all at the same time. If any of your bids clear only one will, and the rest will be denied. As the previous poster said, there is a minimum bid for each room category, and also the issue of availability for suites. I've only done the bidding once, from a LVT to a Central Sea Terrace, and I think I bid very near the bare minimum for that and got it.

Ship: Scarlet Lady Cabin#: 8338A Deck #: 8 Cabin Category: XL Sea Terrace Sleeps: 3 Cabin Location: Forward Port Terrace/Window/Obstruction: None Noise Issues?: Yep. This room is indeed above the Red Room, and more crucially, directly across the hall from the door the techs use to access the Red Room and most of the noise seems to come from there. Honestly, the Red Room shows wrap up by 11 or a bit after, we didn't really experience any day time rehearsal loudness. But if you are an early to bed person, who is very sensitive to sound, this is not the room for you. It's not super loud, but you can definitely hear it. Like you're sitting at a traffic light and someone pulls up next to you with their music blaring and bass thumping. It's there, but it's not necessarily intrusive, and the further into the room you go (away from the door) the less and less noisy it is. The loudest music we heard turned out to be a fellow passenger with their own speaker on their balcony. We thought it was RR but when we went into the hall it was quiet. Wind Issues?: None Connecting Cabin? Where Does it Connect?: No Hammock: Yes Metal/Glass Terrace: Glass Advantages/Problems: Disadvantages: obviously the noise as described above, also when coming into port, vibrations can be seriously ridiculous. I had experienced vibrations in an aft cabin on deck 11 but nothing like what we had coming into Bimini in this cabin. I thought it was going to shake me right out of bed. Advantages: the advantages of deck 8 are the very close proximity to the active decks 7 & 6. No need to wait for an elevator! Easy to pop back to the room with minimal fuss! Another advantage, is that at least for the XL cabins, the balcony is bigger. It's longer than the regular balconies and sticks out a bit below them and above the public deck. Probably an extra 1-2 ft of deck space. Would You Book Again?: No, I wouldn't choose this cabin Comments: We had a great cruise and the disadvantages of the cabin didn't spoil anything for us, but it's not a cabin I would choose if I had a choice.

You made the right call. 70 minutes to transfer in London is not enough time. The security lines get crazy long and take forever.

Before our first VV this past September (we were celebrating 25 and our empty nest!), we would not have considered ourselves cruisers, having been on collectively 3-4. We walked off the ship with 2 MNVV. I've done 3 now myself (got my BFF to do a girls trip with me), and H and I are off on my 4th and his 3rd this weekend. We've got one booked for a year from now and another in the works for the winter (after we pick up more MNVV this weekend lol). If you asked us, we, and especially he, would probably still not say we are cruisers. But it gets hard after a while of telling people you are off on "another cruise" to deny it! Truthfully, he is worried he will become bored of VV and wanted to try something else, but when we looked around, nothing compared to what he likes about Virgin, which I'm not gonna lie, is mostly the social club with the games, arcade, foosball and air hockey! We did a big family cruise this year on HAL (my mom's line of choice) and he was bored, and hated the smoking in the casino. I think he's still open to trying others, but for me it always comes back to what Virgin includes makes the price very all-inclusive for us. I hate feeling like there are sneaky hidden fees everywhere, and that's the vibe I get from other lines. Even with the "packages", there's always something missing, or a catch. I like to know what I'm paying and not be surprised. The drink thing doesn't bother me because we're casual drinkers so drink packages don't pencil out anyway(might for him but not for me). Bar tab is way better. I don't wear rose colored glasses. VV is not perfect, nor is it right for everyone. But it's been very good for us.

DBE has been extended until the end of the year. Once you submit your match request and are approved, they'll be applied to your room. https://www.virginvoyages.com/sailing-club#deep-blue-extras

I've not done solo but I do know that they have solo meetups (I have seen them on the schedule) and things like Grog Walk are also very conducive to meeting others. You only have to be alone if you want to be! Also Sid's doing a live right now, boarding tomorrow I think, and he is your demographic travelling solo. Follow along and see how it is!

Wow @leisuretraveler223 I'm sorry that happened to you. I would've been uncomfortable with that situation as well. Sounds like you got very unlucky with your sailing, and fellow sailors! I can say, I've been on the 4 night sailing out of Miami twice and not experienced anything remotely like that! Though the 4 night sailings definitely have a stronger party vibe for sure, that's a bit much!

They also do a late night ramen special sometimes. I'm sorry I don't remember what it was, but I think we saw it on our 4 night sailing on Scarlet in December.