jon81uk

Yes I think it’s a change to use Sip instead of the Manor.

Ignore the treat yourself options on menus, they are not needed as the regular options are more than good enough, unless you really need seafood. But overall what we like about VV is the fun entertainment and happy engaging cast and crew, having no kids onboard and a diverse range of guests (sailors), the range of interesting bars and spaces and the fact it is almost all inclusive, you can get soda for free from any bar, there is always food available and can get mezze, hot dogs & wines, scooped ice cream and pizza at no cost, with pizza available to 2am.

The well/house spirits are Absolut vodka, Bacardi rum, Beefeater gin, Buffalo Trace bourbon and Olmeca Altos tequila. For mixed drinks I always ask for Absolut vodka by name as it’s not worth paying the extra $2 for Tito’s as in my opinion it’s worse quality.

not sure if you can get in on a sold out one, but when you board rockstars will be directed to Sip lounge for a glass of sparkling wine and to meet agents. There will be staff from the Shore Things excursions team there so you can speak to them directly before you even see your agent.

Final payment doesn’t matter, check in on the app can be done with just a deposit down.

Arrival times are more based on when you opened the app and selected the time. Plus a little on if you are arriving day of the cruise. But mainly it’s just first come as to who selects the slot first, not cabin type.

You also get the drinks reception with sparking wine and sangria for an hour.

You can definitely male swaps of the bar, when you meet one of the agents in Sip shortly after embarking they will often ask if you will need to. 2-3 swaps is generally fine. We got the gin and tequila removed for more vodka. As someone else said, the availability of half bottles and the brands can vary, we initially had Grey Goose vodka but the extra two bottles supplied were Tito’s. On one cruise we had scotch (Johnnie Walker) but on the other only bourbon (Buffalo Trace).

Brilliant suites can be under the pool area or gym. If you win the bid and get one allocated you can’t change it.

do check with your rockstar agent once onboard though in case things have changed since my trip, also the doors open time might vary.

Regular Rockstar (not mega) is more like concierge, they can make bookings and fetch some stuff, but they won’t wait on you butler style. The bar as default is half bottles of vodka, gin, rum, bourbon, and tequila. Half bottles red, white, rose wine plus Moët champagne. Four beers, two red bull, two premium tonic and two premium ginger beer. You can ask the agent to swap some of the stuff you don’t like, so ask for vodka instead of tequila or similar. biggest perk now of rockstar is queue jumping. Most shows are now first come but they rope off the front of the line for rockstars. Arrive before doors open (15 minutes before at Manor and 30 minute for red room) and you go to the front of the line.

The transatlantics with VV used to be a bargain with prices for the 14 night similar other to seven night cruises of under $3000. But those days are over now and TA pricing is now about what you’ve paid, but the lowest price is often if you book more than a year out.

VV Insider have posted the price has gone up to $59 for the three hours on port days and $79 on sea days. https://vvinsider.com/june-2024-virgin-voyages-rumor-tidbit-roundup/

Others have reported a week pass is available but price depends on length of cruise and other factors. Normally three hour slots are $39-79 (prices have gone up and I’ve lost track but they are different on sea and port days). The pool is terrible quite cold water and no jets, it really should have been either a proper hot tub or a proper jacuzzi like on deck 15. There are also two one person cool tubs and a one person hot tub which is almost constantly occupied. The salt room is great and we liked the mud room too, sauna and steam room are as expected. I find the heated marble quite nice but others would prefer if it was contoured couches instead of flat slab.

having down two transatlantics it’s not that bad. Generally you’d eat at the main six restaurants twice and the menus are extensive enough that you can have a different starter main and dessert each time or in the case of Test Kitchen need to ensure you get the other menu. Then The Galley food court has lunch and dinner specials each day even if the core menu doesn’t change. Plus you’ve got pizza specials. Breakfast is the main one that feels repetitive!

I guess we will find out once Brilliant Lady starts sailing. But so far all the other VV ships in all homeports have been pretty similar, boarding 1.30-4pm and sailing off around 6-7pm.

They’ve said it will be updated by year-end (not sure if financial year or calendar). VV Insider seem confident it will be custom built for iOS and Android separately using native code so that should improve performance. https://vvinsider.com/virgin-voyages-to-launch-version-2-0-of-their-app-by-year-end/

Book it on the app is the best and quickest. Not certain where box office staff would be set up first day to assist but my guess is Chart Room (big red table on deck 7).

Boarding times are 1.30-4.30pm. Generally those in suites (rockstars) will board at 1.30pm, then those with loyalty status priority. Most people will then board 1.45 onwards. At some point you’ll need to select an arrival time in the app (Brilliant Lady isn’t set up yet). Rooms will be ready immediately after boarding and lunch will be available. Muster point check in is about 4.30-5.30 and normally sailaway party 5.30-6.30 (free sparkling wine 5.45-6.15), ship moves off around 5.30-7.30 depending on when it is ready etc. But this also means like a hotel you don’t need to leave until 10.30am on the last day if you don’t want to. Can even have brunch and then go back to your room to collect bags and brush teeth before going.

The Galley food court has touchscreen soda fountains with Coca Cola, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Fanta orange and Seagrams ginger as well as sparkling water. There is also self-service juice from concentrate (orange, apple, fruit punch, still lemonade, unsweetened iced tea). There is also free drip coffee and tea bags All bars and restaurants will serve soda for free and the juice from concentrate. No charge, no tip just ask any bartender for them. They hold back over half the dining reservations to be booked onboard, you’ll be OK. Small group fitness classes (the bungee class only holds six people!) will book up but can try walk up for cancellations. Shows are first come now, just arrive half hour before showtime. Only the dinner show needs booking and paid for activities. In terms of the arrival time, you could probably arrive around 3pm and board earlier as they start running early in general. Then go to Razzle Dazzle or get on the app to make dinner reservations.

Yes I think it would either be musicians from another show doing a pop up or it needs to be one of the guest buskers they already book. Personally I don’t think it would add value being a pop-up, the buskers already have many different time slots in different locations so it’s possible to find them unexpectedly but it’s also nice to know where to head to here them so I appreciate the times being on the schedule.

It works exactly the same for restaurants as it did for the Shore Thing. Once onboard if you book fitness classes or other activities it’s the same for these too, tap the picture of even you are booking for.

Not really no. The hot dogs are fine, they have topped ones Philly cheese style or Reuben style which are a little better than the standard but the actual sausage and bun are pretty average.

That was one of the biggest advantages just of regular rockstar last time too, lots of people didn’t book timeslots to get off the ship and the queue was huge, but once we were found by our rockstar agent we went straight to the gangplank. Other than the agent the other main thing we made use of as regular rockstar was the happy hour each night, again it’s not as good as the drinks all the time as mega, but we got a few drinks in each night at happy hour setting me up for the evening. sounds like mega rockstar is a great experience though, the laundry sounds a great perk and getting coffee delivered each day so easily. I’m looking forward to trying it next year.

How was your sailing as mega? Any thing you loved about it?