TripsYouMustDo

I know it's an old post, but it was the first (and best) result in Google search, and answered my question exactly. I needed it for a reservation transfer form to a travel agent. Thank you very much for this information!

If you are more interested in ports than the ship, VV might be a better way to go (I'm not a big fan of either VV or NCL, sailed with NCL 6 times). VV tries to give folks as much time in ports as they can, including overnights when they can. Also in Santorini they even gave everyone lift tickets in advance (for free) for the cable car/tram/whatever they call it. Nice touches. In Mykonos somehow we got to dock rather than tender, the only ship that got to do it (and we stayed there overnight). I guess they paid more than the other lines for that spot. Also had free shuttles running to downtown 24 hours a day. Very well done. I'm not a huge fan boy of VV, but again, if you are going more for the ports than for the ship (and remembering any port can get cancelled) I'd recommend VV if the price is close for you. Unless of course you like NCL itinerary much better. Also you probably know that June is going to be MUCH hotter than Nov/Dec in the Med.

Hey, we may have met! I was the guy running around the ship with the big funny camera. Not the younger cool guys that were working for Virgin PR, but the older fatter one, lol.

Millennials definitely worship VV though, lol 🙂 I wore a VV T-shirt in Orlando last month, and a young guy working at Universal Studios got so excited when he saw it - showed me his VV key chain, etc. They have almost cult following at this point. I personally wasn't impressed by the ships. As their chief (engineer? designer?) said their principle was "ship is not the destination". That's silly for me though, and the reason I prefer RCCL. You can never guarantee the ports, but you can guarantee the ship. At least half of the time I go on a cruise is for the ship rather than for the destination. To me personally VV ships are mind-numbingly boring other than the restaurant variety (there are only so many times I will do the VHS workout, lol).

I love being chill and not having to book things in advance. Leaves you a lot more options and a more relaxing vacation. Booking everything in advance and trying to figure out all the time slots and schedules can be stressful and definitely takes away from vacation. Unfortunately I had a few bad experiences after not booking reservations early enough on Virgin Voyages and Royal Caribbean, so now I'm a lot more proactive. On Virgin Voyages all restaurants are free, but all restaurants are also small (compared to the size of the ship), and all require reservations (other than pizza place and non-buffet buffet), even for breakfast or lunch. On our first cruise we didn't book dinning 45 days in advance, and only a couple of restaurants were available at 9pm on that the last two nights of the cruise. I was stressing out about that. Fortunately we were able to book more reservations once we got on the ship. But we still had to go to a couple of places and "beg" the Maitre D to sit us (some of them were more accommodating than others). Miserable experience. I was much more prepared on the second cruise (and even that didn't go 100% smoothly). Also you have to book other stuff on VV as soon as you are connected to ship WiFi (e.g. exercise classes are gone in seconds, etc.). On RCCL bigger ships you have to book some of the shows (even the free ones) but not others. If you don't book, you have to wait in the stand-by line until 15 minutes before the show (when they release the remaining seats to "stand-bys"). Also a miserable experience. We are short and much prefer front row seats so I always try to have a reservation when possible. If you don't care about your sit it's not as bad (except their comedy shows were in a ridiculously small room for a 6,000 passanger ship, so every single one of those "sold out" and you couldn't get in if you didn't book a reservation or didn't stand in line for 30-45 minutes). Each cruise line has their quirks you have to learn about. Our Celebrity cruise on Eclipse last October was super chill (no reservations required for anything), that was so nice. I hope Princess experience will be smiilar. If you mostly cruise Princess, maybe that's why you don't have to worry about it. Smaller ships/smaller crowds/more chill sailing? Looking forward to that.

I hope sunviking90 replies, but just from my personal experience on other cruise lines, 15 minutes between the shows is very tight to get a good seat. You will need some time to make your way between the show venues, possibly including waiting for an elevator. Coming in 5-10 minutes before the show starts (after making your way to the next show) you might be left with limited number of seats. I think you should be able to get some seats, though I've seen fully "sold out" shows before where they turned away people (e.g. comedy shows are often in smaller venues and may completely fill up to where they turn you away, other shows in bigger showrooms/theaters will typically have some seats available). My wife and I are short and we can't sit anywhere other than front row or else we won't be able to see, so I try to be at the theater at least 5 minutes before the showroom opens (which is 30 or 45 minutes before the show start, depending on the cruise line). I have to get us those front row seats. 🙂

Great to know, thank you very much!

Thank you, I've just done the dining reservations and you basically answered most of my questions 🙂 I noticed private tables are not available until 7pm or later - am I just too late? We like to have dinner early, but all dining rooms only show shared tables 5pm-7pm. Good to know reservations are not needed for the shows, I always stress out about that with RCCL 🙂 I prefer first come first serve (I'm there 45 minutes before the show starts anyway).

The prices are probably fair if you would've paid for all the extras they include. I priced a Royal Caribbean 5-day inside cabin sailing vs Virgin 5-day sailing (cheapest available), both out of Miami. Initially Royal Caribbean was twice as cheap (cheapest was $2,000 for 2 passengers on VV vs $1,000 for 2 passengers on RCCL, Western Caribbean out of Miami, not same dates). Then I took RCCL rate and added gratuities, internet for 3 devices, Unlimited Dining package, and price of exercise classes. VV price looked very fair after that (since all of that is included). I personally still prefer RCCL for reasons other than price (I prefer shows, activities, etc. on RCCL). I also never pay for the extras I listed above (the only thing I buy above the basic cruise rate is internet for 1 device). So for me VV rates will never be a good deal compared to RCCL. But if you were to do all of the add-ons I mentioned, the rates are comparable. RCCL has gotten considerably more expensive than last year as well. FWIW I sailed on VV twice on credit card points (very very ridiculously cheap) and it was too good to be true (equivalent of $600 for 2 people for a week in Central Veranda on Valiant out of Athens, Greek Islands cruise). I don't think that will ever happen again. VV has many hardcore followers (I'm not one of them) that will likely not patronize any other cruise line (for reasons I'm not going to into, not necessarily cruise fare inclusions). I'm not one of them. Also the supply is very limited with only three ships. There will be four, but that's it. I was on a "behind the scene" tour on my last sailing, and they said they don't have any ships on order (don't know if it's true, but that's what one their top-level design executives said, it was the President's Cruise with Charles Branson and all the big wigs). So high prices are probably here to stay. Good for VV I guess, sorry for those that want to go but getting priced out.

OK, I think I found the answer to my question about "final checkin" and boarding time slot - sounds like there aren't any anymore?

Hi all, We are fairly experienced cruisers (about 30 cruises total), but it's going to be our first time on Princess (Crown Princes in February, 2024). Different cruise lines have different things you can and should pre-book before the cruise (or book as soon as you get on the ship), e.g. Royal Caribbean allows you to pre-book some of the shows (ice skating, Aqua Show, comedy, etc.), and on Virgin Voyages it's absolutely critical to check-in 45 days before the cruise and immediately pre-book all of your complementary dining. What's critical to pre-book on Princess? And when can I do the "final" check-in to get my embarkation slot? Again, on Royal Caribbean and Virgin you pre-book 45 days in advance (opens at midnight I believe). I already entered our passports, security photos, etc. in the app - when do we do the final "check in" and get our emaciation time assigned? We are not buying specialty dining or shore excursions, so that's not a concern. I guess I should say "what should I pre-book that's included into the basic fair"? We didn't do Plus or Premium. Thank you!

Glad you enjoyed it. Funnily enough, my wife and I had the opposite reaction (we are around 50 and 70 yo). We sailed on Scarlett (5nt) and Resilient (7nt Greek Isles) and while it was OK for the Amex points we spent (used reward points, not cash), I would never book a VV cruise paying cash. Love the food, but that was it. It's interesting you said the ships were beautiful coming from Celebrity. I found them utilitarian and minimalistic, not beautiful. On the other hand we just came back from a 6nt on Celebrity Eclipse, which is their older ship and due for refurbishment, and we were blown away by how beautiful and elegant the ship was. The tree suspended in the atrium , the library, even the concierge lounge open to the atrium - gorgeous. Compared to that VV ships are like Holiday Inn vs Waldorf Astoria (with VV being Holiday Inn and Waldorf Astoria being Celebrity). We were lowest class on Celebrity and enjoyed basic dining room just fine (Moonlight Sonata). I thought the food was just fine even compared to VV food (though I won't argue that VV has the edge there). Enjoyed the simplicity of not worrying about what I need to book when, and trying to be on-time on Celebrity. On VV Resilient we missed our dining at Extra Virgin and were told by condescending Matre'd "too bad, so sad, be on time next time". Tried to come in early another day (again at Extra Virgin) and was told the same thing "we are busy, go away and come back whenever it is your rservation says" without any effort or attempt to accommodate us. That Matre'd was the worst though, the rest of the restaurant staff was much more accommodating. Anyway, again, glad you enjoyed your cruise enough to book another one and actually pay cash for it. The best deal is not getting onboard credit though. The best deal is the award cruises on points if you know how to do that. Our Resilient Lady cruise cost us 63,000 Amex Membership Reward points (transferred to Virgin), or about $600 - for the Central Veranda cabin, 7-night Greek Isle cruise, this August (8/28 to be exact). To make it better it turned out to be their first "President's" cruise, with Richard Branson gracing us with his presence for a few minutes after the Champaign toast. Search the threads in this forum, plenty of info on the points deals. I've seen it three times so far. Our sailing out Miami on Scarlet was also on points but a much worse deal. Paid about 90,000 points for 5nt Western Caribbean cruise (Cozumel and Bimini). Better than $2500 it would've cost us, but not as good as 63,000 points for $5,000 Greek Isles cruise out of Athens. FWIW, we paid $350/each for the Sunset Veranda on Celebrity Eclipse (yes, there was extra charge for port fees &taxes, and tips, and internet, still not anywhere close to what VV would've cost us). Glad you found the cruise line you enjoyed, have fun! Hope you continue to enjoy them as much. And again, thank you for sharing!

1. VV app is pretty bad, so I doubt it. I couldn't even change my credit card in the app, had to go to guest services. I could be wrong though. FWIW, Scarlet Lady deck plans are here, including cabins https://www.virginvoyages.com/dam/jcr:057dce8f-801a-40b6-96db-aafd987bce65/Scarlet-Lady-Deck-Plans.pdf there is a symbol for connecting cabins - || If your cabins are connecting, you should see that symbol. Deck plans for other VV ships are identical. If you don't see that symbol for your two cabins, I'd call VV. 2. I doubt it. The restaurants get pretty full, and they typically book up a full table of 6 at Gunbae and wait for everyone to show up before serving you. The chef cooks for the entire table so I would be surprised if they allowed just 4 at a table. But you can ask, it doesn't hurt. Maybe if you show up at 6pm sharp? 3. I haven't tried it but know other people were able to do it. I saw several groups that showed up all together, or people that showed up and said they were on someone's reservation. I'd say if you book two separate reservations for two people each and then just tell Maitre' d that you want to seat together, that would be safest. Hopefully someone else will chime in here. 4. Not sure, sorry. 5. I know it's possible for just one cabin, not sure it's possible for all 4 people in 2 cabins. Maybe talk to the guest services once you are onboard. If you don't mind giving your credit card number to the other two people they can just use it when checking in. 6. I believe it was 30 minutes. Safest to check in the daily program though. 7. You can request disembarkation time. It's kinda tricky. You have to go to "Shore Excursions" in the app for the debarkation day, and there you will be able to book your debarkation time. I don't think it's available right away, but will become available at some point during the cruise. You can also just stay in your cabin until whenever you are ready to debark. The app kept crashing for us so by the time we got to the debarkation time booking only 9am was available. We wanted to get off the ship as late as possible. We called guest services/operator and they told us we can just stay in the cabin until 10:30am, no problem. Our cabin attendant knocked on the door at 10:15am. Mostly people seem to want to stay on the ship till as late as possible. 8. Not sure, sorry.

My recommendation is to get "early dining" as opposed to "flexible" if you can, because "flexible" seating starts fairly late (e.g. 6:30pm on my last sailing). If you cannot get fixed time early dining (5pm on my last sailing), you may be able to head to the dining room around 5:20pm (about 15-20 minutes after the early dining time), and at that time you know who's "no-show" and can seat you. I had success with that every day on my last Allure of the Seas sailing. I wanted to be able to catch two shows each night (7:30pm and 9:30pm on that sailing) and the only way of doing that (and getting good seats) was to go to the early dining. Also, tell your waiter that you are going to a show, and don't tell them a show time but tell them at what time you want to leave the restaurant. On most Royal ships I'd recommend getting to the theater before the doors open (45 minutes before showtime) to get a choice of seats (though pinnacles/suites often reserve front row, at least the did on my last sailing, nothing you can do). If your waiter is slow brining your meals, ask for a different server next time. The exception is first night of the cruise, seems like every single person cause to MDR and service is very slow. Oh yeah, if you are doing specialty dining none of that advice applies of course, just try to get a reservation as early as you can.

That's correct, I don't drink two drinks a day every day, and certainly don't need unlimited bottles of wine. As I said, we don't always drink the two bottles we are allowed to bring onto RCCL. If I need to drink to have fun, I booked the wrong cruise. I do drink, I just don't need to drink on a cruise. If anything, I'll have a couple of local beers in funky/famous/interesting bars in ports of call. I believe most NCL ships have multiple restaurants requiring formal attire, e.g. pants for gents (e.g. the french restaurant, "Le Bistro", the steakhouse (whatever it's called), etc.). NLC is "kind of" casual, but having cruised on all four budget/mainstream cruise lines, i.e. Carnival, MSC, RCCL and NCL I find that NCL is the most stuck up and snobby out of all four.