CruisingWalter

And as a follow-up to the Vlogs and Blogs, there are multiple that mention the ability to "upgrade to a black sea band as a regular Sailor." I have to deal with those ALL the time. "But this vlogger says I can do it!" They were given the black band as part of the invite to the ship so they could show Richard's Rooftop but regular sailors cannot upgrade. It's not possible even though a vlogger said you could do it. Take all vloggers with a grain of salt. 🙂

What happens on blogs and vlogs, your opinion or my opinion don't matter. What matters is the official policy from VV. Other cruise lines specifically mention "Order from any/select restaurants and have your dinner in your suite." In those cases the guest would be right to be upset if their butler did not bring the food to the room. Virgin Voyages leaves that vague as 'no matter the ask.' Until they make it a specific perk for the suite, it's up to the agent on what they will do.

VV simply says "no matter the ask, you have your agent." They do not list restaurant delivery as a specific perk. It's up to the individual agent to interpret whether they can deliver food from a restaurant to your suite. Until they specifically add it to the list of perks, its going to be up to the agent to decide if they are going to honor the request. https://www.virginvoyages.com/cabins/suites

That's up to the agent, but it's not a defined benefit so there's no requirement for the agent to do so, nor is there a reason to complain if the agent doesn't do it. If VV has it listed as a specific benefit, then the agent will be required to do so. What VV Insider has to say has nothing to do with official policies. Until VV adds "Order in your suite from any restaurant" to the Mega Rockstar Perks, it's not included.

You purchase the Express Pass or Faster Chill pass, they're in with all the packages. Capacity controlled so when they run out, they run out.

That's not offered for any of the suites on VV. You might get that on other lines, but not VV. If you want the restaurant menu, you go to the restaurant. The Mega experience totally depends on your rockstar agent. Our favorite suite on the ship is the Rockstar Cheeky Corner Suite. Our Agent was spot on and if they weren't, no big deal. The suite and the balcony are my favorite at sea so far across 11 cruise lines. Anytime we can book the Cheeky Corner on 11, 12 or 13 that is my happiest of happy places at sea.

Definitely leans American, heavily. That's their core audience. I don't know many European brands that offer a French Toast Burger for breakfast. 🙂 Steak, sandwiches, sweets, pretty much the entire menu leans into the American palette. Afternoon tea is lovely, that's more British but it should be. It's $19/pp but totally worth it.

Both would be far too expensive to add to Royal Caribbean or any cruise ship. Not to mention the license with Disney for Hamilton. Wicked's licensing rates will be skyrocketing with the movie coming out. Wizard of Oz is about as close as you'll come to a new 'broadway' show. While it may never have appeared on Broadway in that form, it does have an incredible 16 piece orchestra that makes the show reminiscent of Broadway. A live full orchestra really enhances that production. It was the license with the Baum family that required the orchestra and I'm so glad it does. Typically shows that make it to any cruise ships are not the top tier shows. Mamma Mia, Cats, Grease, Saturday Night Fever and Hairspray are the current shows. Older and cheaper to license. Hairspray is the best of the bunch for me, they really do a great job with that show. The only 'new show' to appear on a ship recently is Beetlejuice on NCL Prima, but that was only after NCL gutted most of their broadway shows. Fortunately Royal Caribbean does a good job with their original shows, but they tend to lean more heavily into tech than story and song. Princess is probably the best at developing traditional original broadway style shows. But then they work with Broadway producers to create some of them. They're probably the most underrated shows at sea.

If you are calling VV, you're already too late. Need to work with a TA who jumps in there the moment they open up. 🙂

On the App under "Add-Ons." If it's not there, then you may not have it.

I've not heard of this with Rockstars, just the regular sailors at 45 days.

Resilient has been sailing completely different areas than Valiant, especially of late. Resilient has primarily been in Europe and for a while in Australia while Valiant has been in Miami for over a year now. While the ships are basically the same, the experiences will be completely different due to the different areas of the world, different clientele onboard and different vendors who supply the ships. Not to mention the the dining team will be completely different. So it's a bit of an 'apples and oranges' comparison with the two ships operating in completely different environments. Choose the ship that best meets your needs and book it. You'll have a good time on either ship. We've sailed Scarlet and Valiant so far. We're on a 2 night preview with Resilient in November. We've had a great time on all the Ladyships.

We've not experienced that double registration thing. Usually we just say "We're DBE" and they point us to the priority line. Perhaps they are double checking everyone vs. just looking at the app screen now?

You can board early if you have the Express Pass or Faster Chill pass.

Brunch absolutely can be booked in advance, just not on disembarkation day. We do that all the time.

@cantgetin shared my video and I hope that food tour is helpful. I don't now what time the dining comes online in Europe, but here in the U.S. it opens at about midnight eastern time 45 days prior to sailing date. The app notoriously crashes and gets 'stuck' due to the amount of people trying to book at the same time. That's the single best reason to work with a TA. They can go into the booking engine and get your reservations booked quickly for you. The bids are wholly up to you. We only bid one time on VV when we opted for an interior and we bid for a Sea Terrace. Minimum bid and we got it. Cantgetin gave you the bulk of it, their advice is on point as always.

The interesting thing about Azamara's 4 ships is that they have 3 of the newest ones. When Rennaisance cruises folded and the ships were sold to Oceania and Azamara, Azamara ended up with 3 of the newest ones. I'm not overly concerned about the age of a ship. So long as they are maintained, older ships have a charm about them that you just can't get from the modern vessels. It amuses me when people get fixated solely on the age of a ship and not the service and experience that's provided within. Yes shiny new toys are fun, but I'm always down for classic.

Not for me when they're maintained as well as these are. I love the Oceania R-Class ships and from what I've seen, I'm going to enjoy the Azamara Journey as well. And they are operating with only R-Class ships for now.

1: I love R Class Ships. 2: For now.

Oh it's happening alright. 🙂 They're billing it as a music weekend. https://www.virginvoyages.com/ahoy/stories/weekend-cruise-music-event

To transfer your booking to a new TA, you first have to select one, then call Sailor Services to have the booking transferred to that TA. A TA cannot call or work with Sailor Services to have an MNVV transferred, the request much come from the Sailor. If you're not sure who the MNVV is currently assigned to, simply call Sailor Services and they will be able to tell you.

I met Dondra, the Azamara CEO at an event last month. She's incredible down to earth and the vision she has laid out for that cruise line is awesome. Good things are coming from A. 🙂

The 'full excursions' is something we've heard from many friends. I'm sure that was a big part of it and of course, it saves them money if they're not 'giving away shore excursions.' Nothing about these changes has me rushing off to other cruise lines. Even with all the changes, Oceania is still a great value compared to many out there. Every time there's a change with any cruise line we see the chorus "well it's time for me to look at other cruise options because X cruise line is no longer for me." Fortunately for you there are a lot of cruise line options out there, though very few in the same price point as O with those small ships. Azamara comes out of this looking like an even better option for those who want to stay on the smaller ships but have your basic alcohol included. And the grats have been included all along. We're sailing the Azamara Journey for 16 nights this holiday so it'll be neat to compare the two lines. I don't need or care about a casino and I'm actually glad they utilized that space as more public area vs. the casino.

It's a minor fee, I think $50, and they also offer OBC on almost every cruise that can cover the cost of those meals. But they also offer a selection of cocktails, beer and wine all day long included with the cruise fare which counters Oceania's removal of the included alcohol package. And Gratuities have been a part of their cruise fare long before Oceania did. I guess Oceania has to make up the money lost from covid by dropping the included alcohol.

We had a few glitches getting started with the Shore Excursion process but eventually got it figured out by going through it a few times. Our TA assisted as well as they have access to all of the shore excursions as well. They were able to point out a few things and even showed us a few excursions we completely missed. That 25% discount is great when it you finally get it applied correctly. Have an amazing time on your cruise!