jon81uk

1 hour ago, Travel-and-See said:

There is no song and dance on other lines - just more options for the guests. Celebrity always brings me water right away and then asks if I would like anything else to drink - at that point I can can order a bottled sparkling water, club soda, or anything else on the menu. 

 

It would be nice if Virgin offered a sparkling mineral water. 

I was comparing to restaurants not other cruise lines. There are plenty of restaurants that have made it feel uncomfortable to have to ask for tap water. But the way you describe it is getting more common with restaurants serving tap water for free without being asked and there are places like VV where they don’t have bottled water available at all.

It’s pretty standard in Europe to be asked “still or sparkling water” when seated at a restaurant. In the UK I’ll usually just then say tap water please as I don’t want to pay for mineral. In Europe that’s not normally an option, can only get mineral.

I like that on VV ships you don’t have to do that song and dance about not wanting to pay for bottled water, you just get the filtered water as standard.

3 hours ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

I've seen this on my last 3 cruises. Can't remember what they call it or where it's listed. Do they only do it once or twice on a 4 or 5 day cruise? Anyone ever do it? Heard you get to take your part home.

It’s called Live Life Colourfully. Talk to the artist hosting it about when they expect it to be completed and cut up, it can be 3-5 sessions I think. Then you can collect a piece when they cut it, but maybe not the bit you coloured.

38 minutes ago, CruisingWalter said:

Starting July 17 you'll have new options for Bar Tabs:

 

• Purchase $200 Bar Tab + $25 Extra for a total of $225 in drinks
• $300 Bar Tab + $50 Extra: $350
• $500 Bar Tab + $100 Extra: $600
• $750 Bar Tab + $175 Extra: $925
• $1000 Bar Tab + $250 Extra: $1250

 

If you think $1250 Bar Tab sounds crazy remember you can share the bar tab and buy anyone a drink. So groups of friends or Sailors can collectively buy one Bar Tab and one have one or two people responsible for buying the drinks. Especially with these longer itineraries, these bar tabs can really be cool among friends.  You'll be able to purchase these yourself or your TA can add them. 

Also on something like a transatlantic cruise for two weeks, we’ve spent around $1100 for two people’s drinks so that amount will work for those longer voyages even for a couple.

But we’ve got the Sea Blazer benefit for life of $125 bonus with $300, so we’d still get more from multiples of $300 ($900 would get $1275 for Sea Rovers).

22 hours ago, kaysha2004 said:

This perk can be useful as long as you show up during their short hours of operation and you can cut the line by going to that desk.  VV is notorious for lack of signage, and they don't display anything to indicate that that desk is for DBE sailors or the hours.  As with lots of quirks about VV, you have to "hear" about it through other sailors.

I’ve had a letter in the cabin stating the benefits of Sailing Club and the hours for the dedicated support. Then the desk had a small Sailing Club sign on it when it was open.

1 hour ago, Essiesmom said:

After breakfast I went looking for a location to wash my hands.  Couldn’t find a bathroom nearby, lots of hand sanitizer stations…surprised there are no sinks

Bathrooms are immediately outside the Galley food court. Ladies is on the right (starboard) side, Gents on the other side.

But on deck 6, it’s the opposite, Gents outside Extra Virgin (right side), Ladies outside Test Kitchen (left/port side). On deck 5 it’s the same as deck 15, Ladies starboard outside Pink Agave, Gents port side by Razzle Dazzle.

1 hour ago, Travel-and-See said:

And yes, I agree - also the elevator hallways and stairways are so sterile - there's a reason the other cruise lines put lots of art to liven up those areas. 

Have you not tried to crack the flag code on Valiant Lady’s artwork?

16 minutes ago, Airportlimbo said:

So no Perrier or San Pellegrino.

There is no bottled water at all on VV. But sparkling water is readily available.

28 minutes ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

The list of DBE perks includes this. Is there any real difference in service, protocol or follow-up between a regular visit to them or a visit when you have DBE? 

The dedicated desk has really short hours, like 12-3pm or similar, I’ve never actually used it.

The best method to contact sailor services is almost always messaging in the app.

14 minutes ago, doconner said:

When looking at the VV website, I am able to link out to this menu for Extra Virgin:  

 

While some of the options sound nice to me, my partner was hoping for some more traditional/simple pasta dishes.   I've seen on other reviews of the restaurant that the menus have included carbonara and a pasta ragu, which I have found on this menu along the left side:



My question is, the first menu is directly linked from the Virgin website, so is it likely to be more accurate than the other menu which was posted on some blog website, or is it just that the Virgin website is not a complete listing, and carbonara and ragu will both be options?

Any recent cruisers have any thoughts?

The menu on the website or app is a sample menu and doesn’t show all dishes. The other one is a photo of the actual menu given in the restaurant so is more accurate. 
 

The menu here is the same as I was given two months ago.

https://vvinsider.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/extra-virgin-follow-vvinsider.pdf
 

VV Insider is pretty accurate for menu updates https://vvinsider.com/restaurant-menus/

2 hours ago, Travel-and-See said:

Something I just remembered to warn you about - the servers on Virgin sometimes do not understand the concept of solo travelers. At almost every seating they ask something along the lines of "it's just you?"  - I don't experience this on other lines. 

 

Have others experienced this? 

Does seem a sensible question to check if anyone is joining you before ordering, they could be in the bathroom or delayed.

They offer them from Miami but they are expensive compared to just using Uber/Lyft. More use if you want one that gives a tour rather than just a transfer I think.

7 hours ago, Travel-and-See said:

Oh here's a great example - I was going into the Red Room (main theatre) for the show and stopped by the bar at the theatre - asked for a water - "We don't have water" asked for a Club Soda "we don't have that - this is all we have" and they pointed to the very small drink menu.  I asked where I could get anything else and they said to go to the casino bar.  I went to the casino bar, got a Club Soda, and then as I'm walking into theatre the staff stops me and says "you can't take the glass into the theatre - have the bartender put it in a plastic cup" 

 

Compare that to Celebrity where you sit down inside the theatre and a server takes your order and you can get anything you want, water, sparkling water, sodas, etc - and they bring it right to you.

The Red Room does actually have a full bar in the back, but they generally don’t run it except for the bad weather indoor Scarlet Night. Most of the time they are only serving canned drinks on the way in. I assume someone at VV has run the numbers has found that the effort of running and staffing a full bar isn’t worth it just for shows and that offering cans on the way in is enough. 

24 minutes ago, the_fh_mets said:

Test Kitchen has lots of bar seating facing the open kitchen where they prepare some of the courses and you can request that when you go in for your reservation. As a solo, they may actually prefer to put you there because most of the tables can accommodate 4, and may even place you next to another solo if you have a similar reservation time. 

I would add that although Test Kitchen has a lot of diner style seating, it is no more likely than any other restaurant that people at that seating will want to talk to strangers, so don’t assume people are going to want to be any more social than they would at a table for two.

On the first night there is a solo meetup about 5.30 before the sailaway and then that evening there is a solo dinner in Razzle Dazzle. Other than that it’s only Gunbae that is shard tables. If you want dinners with others then make friends at the solo meet ups. But at most restaurants tables are close so you can end up chatting to couples at other two-top tables nearby.

1 hour ago, nancydow said:

Like the OP, I understand about the peekaboo window. I'm talking about the glass shower. Would be nice to be able to use the bathroom or sink while someone else is showering without seeing them in their birthday suit.

 

Also, I'm still interested in hearing about the comfort of the sleeper couch.

 

Thank you! 

The peekaboo window is the one that looks into the shower. Ask the cabin attendant and they can cover it up. The door into the bathroom is solid and can be locked. Inside the bathroom there is a non-lockable door to the toilet cubicle too, so even if you don’t cover the shower window you can close the door when using the toilet.

18 minutes ago, the_fh_mets said:

It would be nice if Virgin added some premix dispensers of Pina Colada and Strawberry Daiquiri at strategic locations around the ship. That way they can provide the two common warm weather cocktails without firing up a blender or slowing service. 

All the outdoor bars do have slushy machines and at times do keep the frozen cocktails pre-made. Seems to depend on how busy they expect to be and they only have space for two slushy drinks at each bar.

Generally for XL the balconies are pretty much the same but some at the very front can’t have hammocks as there is no attachment point above. Your room will have a hammock.

https://vvinsider.com/cabin/9342z/

25 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

I went to an outdoor bar to get a blended drink for my wife and they couldn't make it. To be honest, it was rather discouraging to have to go bar hunting to find a drink for my wife when on any other cruise ship I've been on it's never been an issue. We ended up walking in the galley one night and bumped into a crew member and asked, who then called the F&B manager to find out where we could go. 

I assumed other lines (I’ve only done VV) wouldn’t have blenders indoors too due to the noise issue.

1 hour ago, misscruiser36 said:

Dinner reservations are a pain. Reservations for my cruise opened up at 12am ET today. I was on the app at 5am and almost everything was full. I have to get up in the middle of the night to make reservations for my vacation? I know they hold bookings for walk-ins but I'd just assume have it all set up beforehand.

They hold most reservations to be booked onboard. It’s estimated to be only a third of times can be booked in advance. They don’t keep back much for walk up so you do need to book once onboard, but there will be times available and you can often get walk up with a short wait as people don’t show up. The Wake and Extra Virgin are hardest to get reservations, Test Kitchen and Razzle Dazzle easiest.

18 minutes ago, Travel-and-See said:

I honestly didn't know it was still an option - has anyone on here asked for the sofa option? 

Yes it can still be done if you want.

4 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

Presuming they have the ingredients, they can do it. But unlike other cruise lines, each bar is specific to their items. My wife enjoys frozen blended drinks. Could only find them at one outside bar. 

I think all the outdoor bars on decks 15 &16 have blenders, but no indoor ones do.

Most bartenders can make off-menu cocktails if they have the ingredients at that bar. Common things like a cosmo will be fine, I often order espresso martini at Sip, On the Rocks and the Manor.
 

For wine I’m not sure as never ordered off-menu myself, but I would not expect them to go searching for a wine not on the list. A lot of the time they are out of stock of wines that are on the list!

48 minutes ago, Travel-and-See said:

Design of Cabins - Lots of wasted space, not ideal for storage and no comfortable place to sit.  When they decided it was too much trouble to convert the rooms from day to night they needed to put comfortable chairs / sofas in the rooms

It’s not too much trouble, they just found a majority of guests preferred having a bed. If you want a sofa tell the room attendant or tap in the app/ tablet for that to tell them.

1 hour ago, Tralfaz1138 said:

 

I wasn't that impressed with the coffee in the sense that it didn't seem like there was a huge difference between buying a coffee they made at the Grounds Club vs just drinking the coffee they have at The Galley.

 

Personally I found the free drip coffee in the Galley more flavourful than an Americano from a barista.