CruisingWalter

Yes, that has been the standard offering and $300 was the top level you could purchase. Now you can purchase up to $1000 in one Bar Tab.

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.

The XL balconies are the same size, it's the room that is slightly bigger and the bathroom that is significantly larger than the standard rooms. The only thing to be aware of is that the XLs in the very front of the ship don't have hammocks due to the curve of the ship and lack of attachment points. And you may have the steel railing instead of the glass balcony wall.

You can totally do that. Or if you work with a TA, just send the list to them, they can get into the booking engine and book all of your dinners in about 5 or 10 minutes. 🙂

They probably will, but everything VV in terms of ground transportation and flights is more expensive than getting something yourself.

With Gunbae as others have mentioned, it'll be communal. In some of the restaurants like Extra Virgin you can sit up at the bar for a 'group experience.' Or just get chatty with some of your fellow Sailors and join them for dinner. The daily activities are a great place to meet folks. You should have a really fun time on VV.

The menu online is a sample menu. The menu you receive in the restaurant has the basic options you are looking for. You can definitely get pasta with the same sauce served with the braised meatballs.

To my knowledge the pools never close except for rough seas. Other than the posted hours on the ship each day, but in general, the pools are open year round.

GTY Insider means you will be assigned to any of the Insider categories as chosen by VV. It would be rare for VV to assign the social insider for 2 guests, but it could happen if all of the Insiders are already assigned.

A lovely ship! We did a Panama Canal cruise with her. Easy to navigate being such a small ship, lovely pools and well appointed throughout. Bring large binder clips to hold down the shower curtain in your shower. She doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the newest ships, but she does have a lovely crew and more personalized attention because there are fewer passengers. I would not hesitate to book this ship or her sister Coral Princess.

One you make final payment you are now into the cancellation schedule. So if you attempt to cancel and rebook, you will be subject to those rules and that schedule, meaning the fully refundable cruise fare up until final payment is now over. You can call to refare your cabin if you think there is a better price or your TA can do that, but understand that re-faring an already booked cabin works under different rules than someone booking the cabin for the first time. If you really want to take this cruise, make the final payment.

You can, but they are so small you may not need to. They are waterproof so you can keep them on in the shower, the pool and at the beach.

Good TAs stay up till midnight ET to book the dining times. Ours does. There has only been one time our TA could not make the bookings because their booking engine crashed. But otherwise we wake up in the morning and our reservations are already completed and in the app.

Also know that VV is strict about boarding times. They will line up everyone in 'corrals' outside the terminal based on your check in time. So if you show up an hour or more before your check in time, you will be waiting outside the terminal until your check in group is called in.

You call MAS or your TA can do it for you.

Luggage Tags will be emailed to you or your TA can send them. There is a Beta App called Cruise Control on their website where you can set up your account. A Check In time will be assigned to you and be emailed to you a few weeks before the cruise. I HIGHLY recommend adding the $42 Express Pass to any booking that is not a suite. Islander is the largest ship to homeport in Tampa working out of the smallest terminal. There will be stops and delays getting into the terminal due to fire marshal regulations. Nothing MAS can do about that at the moment. Express Pass gets you towards the front of the line so you least you should have fewer stops outside. You can call MAS to pre-pay the gratuities or your TA can call for you. Muster drill is old school out on Deck 3. Took 10 minutes on our cruise. No biggie whatsoever and made us laugh at the throwback. Many of the vloggers who I've seen complaining about this are the same people I saw sitting out at the pool deck for hours on end. Standing outside for 10 - 15 minutes for a muster drill is 'horrible' and hot, but sitting in the sun for hours on the sundeck is fine? 😅

Most of our stuff is on TikTok, but we are slowly migrating content over to YouTube. Interview with CD Zee Jay is a really fun one.

Thank you!

Ship 3 is already in the works. 🙂

A third ship is already in the works. I don't think I'm permitted to say publicly how many ships were mentioned by the executives in a few conversations we had, but there is a fleet of ships planned for the future. This could be really interesting for the Caribbean, and beyond, cruise market. These ships can go through the Panama Canal so that opens up some really interesting future possibilities. 🙂

There should not be any confusion. In the online description for the Suites, Margaritaville At Sea uses the word "Complimentary" for multiple amenities. Mini Bar is not one of them. It's simply listed as being available. So without the word "Complimentary" in front of it, I would expect to pay for the items I use in the Mini Bar. A Mini Bar is not supplied in standard staterooms so the fact that they list it there would be normal as a differentiator from the standard cabins.

Correct and those elevators don't service the 'suite level' enclave. If the front elevators went all the way to Richard's Rooftop there would be a huge mechanical box somewhere in that retreat generating a lot of noise and rumble. Hence why the elevator doesn't go all the way into Richard's Rooftop.

If you book using a First Mate's link, the booking goes to that First Mate. It's the same with any cruise line that uses affiliate links.

Princess, Holland America, Celebrity, Disney, Royal Caribbean, MSC all have pools that we've had the pleasure of swimming in. Some are quite long and there are often people swimming laps in the morning or evenings. Celebrity does that fabulous Officers vs the Guest water volleyball game on most cruises. VV's main pool, the part that's actually deep, is literally about the same size as the one we had on the Oceania Sirena, a ship designed for 650 passengers. The best pools out there, in terms of depth and length are on the MSC Seaside class, Celebrity and Princess.

Can't do anything about that and you'll find that on every ship when the winds are such that the smoke is swirling down onto the ship. We've had balconies that have to be hosed down almost daily when the smoke is hanging low. The scrubbers used on today's ships minimize the soot but there is still a certain amount that gets out there.