Eric&Pam

He was supposedly allowed to disembark without an adult. CCTV footage showed him boarding a train with an unknown male https://www.cruisemapper.com/news/13529-autistic-boy-disappears-caribbean-princess http://crew-center.com/boy-autism-missing-after-disembarking-caribbean-princess-germany https://www.websleuths.com/forums/threads/germany-aydin-brown-14-autistic-from-us-disembarked-caribbean-princess-7am-port-of-warnemunde-4-jul-2024.717651/#post-18988835

Enjoy your cruise

I don't know if I'd pay $300 for a magic show. Virgin has a "secret" magic show held in the bow of the ship for free.

I've won with a "poor" or "fair" bid, can't remember exactly, but there was lots of availability for that particular category. The popularity of the itinerary has a major effect....much easier to get deals on the more common ones than the once or twice a year sailings.

Which sailing will you be on?

We always used to book insides with Princess. They were 1/2 the price, so we sailed twice as often, but we love hammock on the terrace and have sailed with Virgin 6 times, and have yet to sail in an inside.

Newish....we're sailing there on the Resilient as part of our 12 day sailing this fall. https://*****.com/mtpwrfek And to give you an idea of how prices go up....the sea terrace is currently almost as much as we paid for one of the larger Sweet Aft Suites.

For the most part, prices will only go up. As for value, the food, beverages and entertainment are on a whole different level. Nobody will try to sell you any drink packages, no photographers to avoid, no announcements to interrupt your day. It's a much more relaxing experience without all of the nickle & diming. If you really want to settle your curiosity, why not book a 4 or 5 day sailing out of Miami and get your feet wet.

Well, the app is now convinced that we are on the 2nd half of the B2B, and my phone has been dinging a lot today. A call to tech support on a Sunday evening gave me a temporary solution. Because I'm using an Iphone, the rep told me to turn off the notifications option for the app. Let's just hope I remember to turn everything back on by the time we sail again.🤣

Having them change the bed once because you can't sleep is nothing compared to changing it back & forth every day. Don't worry, you're going to have a great cruise!

Sounds like a vocal impressionist I know. These entertainers hop on ship after ship for months on end, traveling with their wardrobe, props, multiple arrangements for the bands because they vary in size on each cruise line, etc. It's not an easy lifestyle at all. There's no way all of those cases could fit in the standard cabin. Most of them probably sat backstage. The biggest road-case I ever saw was for Cher's wigs. It was more than twice the size of the case I saw being used for a full-sized Sesame Street Big Bird Costume, and was probably bigger than some inside cabins. Cher had a quick-change tent backstage, and after every song, a woman walked back to the dressing rooms with a Styrofoam head and the wig from the previous number.

She is very special indeed. Many stars travel with truckloads of comforts to personalize the venue's dressing rooms to their liking, with everything from ping pong tables and pinball machines, to king sized beds and full-blown barista set-ups. Dolly finds it much easier (and cheaper) to stay insider her own RV/bus, with all of the comforts of home. She told me, why should I travel with all of that stuff only to be set-up and taken down each night, when everything I need is right here in my camper.

Enter your cabin # into VVinsider's cabin finder and there should be some feedback from others. https://vvinsider.com/cabins/

Well, after about a dozen notifications for various things like the solo sailor meet-up being relocated due to weather, and zero service fees in celebration of International Piercing Day, the IT folks were finally able to remove this sailing from our apps, and our phones are finally quite once again.

While puttering around Atlanta today, I started getting push notifications on my phone telling me I should go to Razzle Dazzle to make dining reservations, and that my bar-tab and loot would be showing up in my account later today. At one point we did have this sailing booked as the first half of a B2B to celebrate our 25th anniversary, but we cancelled it last September, and booked 12 days on the Resilient for later this fall instead. Up until today, the sailing was not showing up in either of our apps. I called Sailor Services, and the rep for the IT department was quite surprised, and asked me to forward screen shots. It looks like we'll be getting all sorts of notifications for the next 4-5 days. Never a dull moment! 🤣

There will be a team of folks to help book dining reservations at Razzle Dazzle.....head there when you first board.

We loved everything about it! Our MRS Agent, Ruchelle took amazing care of us. She made sure we were well taken care of no matter where we were on board, and she always seemed to know how things went for us....she's obviously very connected to everyone working on the ship. We jokingly said that we were changing our names for the next 5 days to Mega-Eric, and Mega-Pam, with our black wristbands giving us super-powers, and she had a lot of fun addressing us that way. Ruchelle quickly earned the title Mega-Ruchelle as she was truly a super hero, and I used an AI art program to create a Filipina Super Hero for her young daughter back home. It's very tough to be separated from your loved ones for so long, and she told me her daughter really enjoyed seeing her mom as a super hero. We didn't have many special requests, but she made sure that there was ice-cold milk and some cookies waiting for us old farts every night when we returned to the cabin, and each morning she'd bring Pam her favorite latte before we headed out to breakfast. We appreciated her attention to detail, and her genuine desire to make sure we were having a great time. She even reminded us about things like putting on sunscreen if we were going ashore. Ruchelle also hooked us up with tix to a few "secret shows", and I don't think that it was a coincidence that if there was audience participation, we were chosen. I think they are aware of who the MRS or VIPs are on board for each sailing. The cast and crew were all wonderful. It was nice to have so many familiar faces from past sailings stop by to say hello. Being able to enjoy 2 bottles of wine each day was a nice perk. One night in the Wake as we were waiting for our dessert and after dinner drinks, a party of two were just getting seated at the table next to us, and I overheard one of them mention that they were celebrating a birthday, and that they liked a particular style of wine that unfortunately wasn't offered by the glass, so I asked our waiter to bring her a bottle. It was nice to play "Santa" to a complete stranger. At disembarkation, Ruchelle did a great impersonation of Charlton Heston as Moses parting the Red Sea as she whisked us past the long lines of folks waiting to scan off the ship. Added perks such as daily same-day laundry, daily in-room bar refresh, and the pre/post cruise private transfers were all great perks. There were two stewards who serviced our suite twice a day, and my only complaint is that our luggage wasn't in our suite when we arrived. The stewards wanted to introduce themselves first, and check on any special requests before delivering our bags, and we just wanted to unpack and visit a crew members before they got too busy as the ship filled up. We're sailing as normal Rock Stars on the Resilient this fall for 12 days, so it will be interesting to compare the two experiences, but Ruchelle has already told us that she was going to put in a good word with her colleagues, and make sure they take good care of us.

Pop-up yes, classical music no. I love me some Brahms and Shubert, but I can't see how it would fit in with Virgin...doubt the Virgin Record label ever had a classical release.

I've not stayed in the suites on 14, but I'd be more concerned about the noise from people dining in the Galley's outdoor seating area right above you on deck 15.

OP here with new account: We received our upgrade notice on May 1 for a May 10th sailing. We also received notices on that day for the other bids of ours that were rejected.

Level Airlines (somehow related to Iberia) has had direct flights for LAX and BCN for a few years. Their premium economy is better than domestic first class. https://www.flylevel.com/

VA also flies to Tampa, and Orlando, where it's easy to get flights to San Juan. The cheapest flights to SJU are usually out of Miami, so check your options out of the UK to MIA.

This is why we have always loved cruising. We book 1-2 years ahead, pay a little bit every few months, and before you know it, it's all paid for,

You pay the the extra $40 at the time of booking.

Sadly, some agents don't earn a real commission, and may only make $25 per booking. Especially those with big box agencies or those who are entirely focused on offering the lowest price. Post booking services in these cases will be minimal if anything at all. Then there are the lazy agents, who although they may be earning the standard commission, are only interested in booking your reservations, and not properly servicing it. There are plenty of good agents out there, but CC rules prohibit sharing such information.