CruisingWalter

Because they run the risk of catching the edge of the channel if she simply turned right. Much safer to make the 270 spin. If you watch when some of the larger ships spin in the turning basin, you'll notice they don't just spin. They tend to slide their ships away from where Scarlet sits as they make the spin, whether she's docked there or not.

Ditto to above. Leave the Bluetooth on.

That's totally true, after almost 20 years we rarely read anything anymore. 🙂 But that's one rule we've always remembered because it can bite you in the butt with the cruise line who decides to enforce it when you show up.

It's literally the first thing in Royal Caribbean's Travel Documents FAQ. "The passport must be valid for six months after the day your cruise ends...

You have to call. If you use a TA, they can take care of it for you. Another great reason to use a TA, especially those who don't charge you for their services.

You have to consider the source. I get a LOT of great cruise information via TikTok from specific sources. Once you know who the good sources are, you follow them. Some have even built incredibly successful businesses via TT as well. 🙂

My advice is to skip The Key for now, it's pretty easy to get around. On Embarkation go to the Aquadome Market instead of the Windjammer. I particularly liked the Feta Mediterranean and GNGR Asian stations. Or go back to the Surfside Eatery for some really fun comfort food. I didn't have a chance to actually eat there but my friends onboard were raving about the hot dog cheese melt. 🙂

In general most cruise lines are not enforcing check in times. VV is one of the few that still does, so you should be fine showing up early. Maybe check out of your hotel right at 11 and head over to the port.

In the U.S., if you book directly with RCI and you see that the price has gone down, you call RCI and ask them to price adjust. Remember that it has to be your specific category that has gone down. Inside, Ocean View, Balcony and Suites have many categories within them, when the prices drop, it may not affect your specific category. If you book with a travel agent, they can check very quickly if your category is eligible for a price drop and either make the change themselves or call RCI for you. No clue what happens if you book through an online clearinghouse website. As others have noted, the rules outside the U.S. may be different.

In the beginning of the embarkation process, VV lines up all guests in 'corrals' outside the terminal in accordance with your check in time. Those corrals typically start out going to 3:00p. I would not show up much before 2:30 or 3 if you have a 4:30p check in.

It's the same rule for all cruise lines. 6 months after sailing date for all cruises, yes including closed loop cruises. VV can issue an exception, but are not required to.

It was a cluster in January. It didn't automatically connect at all or offer the premium upgrade. Then when I did get the premium upgrade it took 2 days for Sailor Services to get the charge removed.

The CDC declared the national emergency over as of May 11, 2023. There is no legal requirement for social distancing or any other protective measures beyond what the cruise lines already do. You're sailing with a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated passengers along with those who have not kept up with their boosters. You're right back to where cruising was before the pandemic. What you're describing is not shocking or different in any way to our almost 20 years of cruising. If you cruise you accept that there is a risk you may get sick due to crowding or unsanitary practices of any number of guests. It's no different than flying or taking a land based vacation. We took 6 cruises over 3 months to end 2023 into 2024. The only thing we got was a cold on our very last cruise in January. We stay up to date on the boosters, we do the best we can with sanitizers and such on board. But cruising is back to normal and has been for some time.

It's YUGE compared to the pools and vibe at the Bimini Beach Club. It's more of a destination than Bimini with all the food stalls, multiple bars and that massive, massive pool. That dual level bar is 'next level' if you will. If you really enjoy good music and a party vibe, you should like the pool. No floaties like Bimini, but it's a great pool. We were not there long enough to see if the DJ gets any sort of a party vibe going but it would not surprise me. The beach is fully man made with a private lagoon so it's a very protected water area. The cabanas are MUCH better at Hideaway than those twigs at Bimini. 🙂 The standard cabanas are close to the main pool while the swim up cabanas are further away. Two completely different spaces, you're going to like Hideaway more for some things but you'll like Bimini Beach more more for other things. I would definitely give Hideaway a shot and see what you think. Thanks for the kind words!

Independent travel agents should be able to book most any cruise. If you're talking about one of those vacation specialists from the actual cruise line, no they will not be able to book Royal Caribbean cruises.

Whether it's 'lit' or not is up to you. The setting is there, the DJ is there. It's up to you whether you want to be chill or party. When we were there the pool was heated which was great on a very chilly day.

That has been typical of many of my friends and colleagues from the UK. I personally really enjoy following his exploits and he was the reason we booked a VV cruise the very first week they went on sale. I've thought about booking one of the Celebration cruises because some friends were on last year's cruise and said it was an absolute blast.

As noted above, it will be like Miami because you are going through U.S. Customs just like Miami. Your letter in the cabin will tell you where to meet and you'll be escorted off the ship as a group and when the ship is ready, you'll be the first to board the ship. If you have the same cabin, you'll leave everything in your room.

We were disappointed by shore excursions group in the past. We started using venture ashore recently and we book independently. In four cruises with VV so far we have yet to book a Shore Thing because they are rather limited. Anything we have booked on a VV cruise has been independent.

I will say that on our Scarlet Lady cruise in January (our 4th on VV) there was a noticeable difference in the quality of the crew throughout the ship. We spent 8 nights on the Valiant Lady in November and that crew was your normal VV, attentive and outgoing crew. The Scarlet crew was less responsive and less engaging at many of the public facing locations like The Galley and The Grounds Club. Our room attendant was pleasant, but the service throughout the ship was not as 'elevated' as we had received on our first 3 sailings. Maybe because it was a 4 day sailing, but the crew was noticeably on their phones much more, looking up to do the minimum and right back to their phones. Gathering in groups to chat around The Grounds Club, Social Club Diner and food stations in The Galley giving minimal attention to the guests. It was very noticeable and different from our previous experiences on VV. VV used to have some of the best crew in the industry because they were among the highest paid. I don't know if that pay scale has remained, but it used to be well known that VV's crews were among the highest paid in the mainstream cruise industry. At least on that Scarlet 4 nighter, they didn't deliver the usual VV service. I'll be curious to see what it's like on Valiant in June with our very large group for 4 nights.

Nope, no perks. People have been posting "Live From" across every cruise line since I joined CC.

According to VV Rep Tamika on our YouTube live last week, a new loyalty program will be announced soon. I know we've all heard that before, but it seemed from the conversation that the plan is already set, it just needs to be rolled out. We honestly didn't discuss if that included Status Match, but some sort of a permanent loyalty program will be coming soon. I would not be surprised to see the Status Match go away since MSC is the only other mainstream cruise line that does it, if you want to build loyalty in your brand, you want people to sail your own ships. Of course when you raise your cruise fares by 2 - 4x that can a bit a tough. If you already have DBEs you should maintain those through the end of 2024.

Fact from a VV rep.

That depends on the travel insurance policy and when the policy was purchased. For example Allianz Travel recognized the Israel-Hamas Armed Conflict as of October 7, 2023. Polices that became effective after that date do not cover any changes due to that conflict. At the moment, there is nothing on their website regarding the Red Sea tensions so something like this diversion should be covered. But you would have to check with the individual policy and individual insurance carrier to confirm.

Nice job. It's really hard to compare VV with just about everyone else because it's so different, but you did a great job laying out your experience and the contrasts. I love VV, but then I also love cruising. We've been on 10 cruise lines (so far) and have yet to have a bad cruise. We're really excited about our NCL Aqua cruise next springs, looking forward to the AquaCoaster! Glad you enjoyed your sailing on VV and happy cruising! 🙂