CruisingWalter

All cruise lines cancel occasionally. Carnival just announced a cancellation yesterday for a charter. In general the charters are announced at least a year in advance, but not always. When Valiant Lady launched, VV made a very bad move to cancel four cruises so ABC could film the bachelorette onboard. The bad move was because they cancelled literally three weeks before the first cruise. And with only one ship in Europe, there was nowhere for the folks to rebook. That was a horrible deal for those who booked their holidays. And the same does hold true right now if VV were to cancel a cruise, you would have no option to hop on another ship normally. Right now the only time there are two ships together is during the winter season in Miami. So yes, I would expect VV to cancel cruises from time to time due to a charter, the same as every other cruise line out there.

Just saw this on a cruise industry news site. With the release of Icon and the opening of the adults-only Hideaway Beach, Coco Cay capacity will be increased to 13,000 guests per day. I get that people will use Hideaway Beach, but does this have the potential to overwhelm the water park and other areas? We've only visited with one Oasis class ship and it was lovely. How is it for you folks who are there with 2 or 3 ships at a time? https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/02/royal-caribbean-expanding-cococay-for-13000-guests-daily/

Food is the best at sea right now. We love the NCL specialty dining and VV is like eating at a specialty dining restaurant each night. The Waterfront on NCL has a bit of a nicer setup all the way around the ship, it's a bit industrial on VV with the lifeboats mounted above the deck. But the Dock is far superior to anything on NCL's Waterfront with the food, the views and the overall ambiance. The live entertainment is certainly different. NCL has the big shows including Broadway shows. VV is decidedly different and they're actually in a changeover time right now. VV has awesome live music throughout the ship but the bigger live shows can leave some scratching their heads. Our favorites were Duel Reality and the Diva show. Casino is non smoking on VV which is a huge plus for us, though we really don't gamble. It's really nice to be able walk through the casino without feeling like an ashtray. Having all the meals, WiFi, gratuities and soft drinks makes so much sense and it is nice to have no photographers following you around. Pools are weak if you actually want to swim, but for lounging and talking to folks, they're ok. The net is useless, good to take one photo but ridiculously uncomfortable and wasted space. Bathrooms are tiny in the main cabins, lovely in the suites. Overall, VV is our current favorite cruise line of the 8 we have sailed so far. They compare nicely with Celebrity and even Disney which is no surprise given the CEO.

Deck 14 is also directly beneath the gym and pools so you definitely do not want that deck. Decks 10, 11, 12 puts you about halfway between the lower decks and top decks. As for the location front to back, it's a mid sized ship so it really doesn't matter where you set yourself up on the ship. We had a Cheeky Corner Suite the first time on the aft and it was lovely to walk straight up to the Galley, down to the Dock and the Wake. But super convenient to go anywhere. In April we have a Sea Terrace about midship and in November we're going for an Insider midship Deck 10. Honestly, it's a good sized ship with things spread out so no need to really worry about a specific location to take advantage of activities or food. Work through a travel agent so you can choose the specific location or just book online via the website and the system will randomly place you somewhere on the ship.

There are some cabins that sleep three or four. All of the Cheeky Corner Suites have an adjoining Sea Terrace if you wanted to go that route. And of course the Solo Insider and Sea View are an option for your daughter. Reach out to a travel advisor so they can book you into specific cabins so you'll be close together if that what you'd like to do.

Some of the guests are hearing a rumor it is to fix the big screen TV out by the pool. That would incredible if that turns out to be true. Kicking an entire ship load of people off the ship to fix something so trivial. I can't find anything online about what this 'routine maintenance' is that was so important they had to cancel a cruise.

We did notice that about three weeks ago they essentially closed out the ship with 'sold out' on everything except Interiors that were going for $6000 per stateroom for 2 people. 🤣

Not sure what kind of "routine maintenance" suddenly cancels a cruise, but whatever it is, Liberty of the Seas April 21 has been cancelled.

If you want to see the Afternoon Tea, it's in my Food Review. It's the third to last chapter in the episode. 🙂 https://youtu.be/pBolzKvXjMU

We found the afternoon tea among the best of any cruise line. Most of the time it's pretty weak finger sandwiches or the same pastries you can get at any venue. For our afternoon tea on Scarlet, it was really enjoyable. We'll be doing it again on our two upcoming sailings this year.

Venues in The Galley close at 3 but some reopen for dinner. We sailed all the way back in July of 2022 and The Galley was open for dinner. The food stalls rotated each night so everyone one of them was not open. But the Salads were there each evening, Ramen, Burgers, Tacos and such rotated so at least a few of them were open. The Sweet Side was open each evening. You can have dinner in The Galley easily, just not every venue will be open.

We found the hostess trying way too hard to be provocative. It just was not a good show. We made it through about 10 minutes and left. Now the Diva show we loved, I would have preferred more Diva shows to NSA.

We've cruised 8 cruise lines now. VV is among our favorite and it compares very nicely with Celebrity if you have sailed them. Similar casual luxe environment though even more casual. Biggest weakness is in the pools. Most every other cruise line has larger and better pools. VV went for lounge pools vs deep water large pools. There's a huge shallow area in the main pool that was really designed as a dance floor for Scarlet Night. The oversized whirlpool like round pool at Gym and Tonic is great for mingling. And the net is useless other than to take a selfie. After seeing the NCL Prima Haven pool area, that's what VV could have done with the aft section to make a third pool. But the ship is stunning, the crew is among the highest paid in the industry and it shows and the food is beyond anything in the mainstream cruise industry right now. Only Disney comes close for the overall quality of the food which is not surprising given the Virgin CEO. Going to dinner on a VV ship is a dining experience vs. the cattle call of the MDR on every other cruise line. Each restaurant is truly unique and the service was impeccable on our cruise. Pizza is awesome. The Galley falls apart when it's really busy, such as port day mornings. They insist to run it like a restaurant having you flag down waiters to get food and serve you. That failed badly when we were onboard, but when The Galley is quiet and you can simply walk up to the food stations, it runs so much better and the food is great. I recommend The Wake or Razzle Dazzle for breakfast during port days. But if you want to go nuts, the french toast burger at The Burger Bar is simply ridiculous. 🙂 Interior of the ship does feel like the 'mega-yacht' VV uses in their descriptions because the entire ship is essentially single story. There is no '3 story atrium' or the massive MDR. The ship feels much smaller and more intimate than it really is and that's a good thing. The seating areas throughout the ship are plentiful and thoughtful. The music venues are fantastic as is the music on the ship. Casino is non-smoking so you don't feel like you're walking through an ashtray on the way to the Red Room. And the casino has massive portholes, I can't think of any other ship we've sailed that has windows in the casino. Afternoon tea is one of the few things that is an upcharge and it's well worth it. So much better than any other cruise line we've sailed. The entertainment is decidedly different but we enjoyed everything we saw. NSA is the most talked about and I found it underwhelming. She was trying so hard to be provocative it didn't work for me, so we left. But everything else was fun and the music acts were great. Especially if Slam Adams is onboard, he's an amazing blues guitarist. The weakest part of the overall VV Experience is the app which can be frustrating as heck. For instance I have two upcoming cruises in April and November. Only the November cruise will show up on my App. No matter how many times I enter the booking number and my Sailor information, "Aw Snap, this isn't right" shows up every time. My wife can't use the app on her phone any longer. I'm not sure how the cruise line that is so technologically advanced in so many ways has the weakest app of all the cruise lines. My only advice is don't try to compare the VV experience to anything else. It's truly a unique ship, unique cruise experience. I said it compares to the vibe of Celebrity but that's about it, the rest of the experience is very much VV. One of the Happenings team said "this ship is like adult summer camp" and I think that's a very accurate description of the overall experience.

We had the Rockstar quarters and found the lunch at Bimini the worst food of the entire trip. Fish was rubbery and overcooked, the rest of it was just meh. But the fact that Bimini is one of the loveliest 'private cruise line resorts' made up for the weak food. I just know next time to have a larger breakfast and skip the lunch at Bimini. 🙂

It'll be on every available big screen on the ship. Especially that big one out by the pool. I have not sailed on a Quantum Class ship yet, but obviously the Playmakers in that sportsplex will also have it. On the Symphony of the Seas they were showing the World Cup Finals on the big screens in the AquaTheater. THAT was wild and raucous. 🙂

Pre-cruise we only saw Voom + Stream and I'm not even sure if they're offering the lower tier anymore since Starlink is being installed across the fleet. Login to your Royal account via the website. You'll be able to see the pricing right there.

Good to know about Quantum class, I had no idea. Icon is designed for maximum capacity, it's one of the first I believe that's been designed from the get-go to hold absolutely full capacity. Most ships have that 'maximum capacity' number but can't reach it due to limitations with the lifeboats. I don't think that's the case with Icon. This ship is certainly going to put a major strain on the food and beverage department on a scale that exceeds Oasis Class. It's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out in real life. I would not want to sail Icon for at least 4 or 5 months after launch. Let everyone else be the guinea pigs while RCCL figures out how things need to work. THEN I'll come on board. 🙂

1000% with this. US Laws don't apply on cruise ships, a cursory search of cruise lawyers will tell you that.

The BOGO 60% or 75% is for two guests in the same cabin and applied to the second guest. Not 60% or 75% off your cabin. Many people get that confused. If the cruise fare is $2000 per person you will get 60% off the second $2000, not 60% off $4000. $2000 First Guest $800 Second Guest (60% off second guest) $2800 Cruise fare for the cabin which you pay as the solo traveler plus all the taxes and fees that will add anywhere from $250 - $500. And keep in mind some terms and conditions limit these specials to double occupancy only.

BOGOs are true buy one get one free, but always remember that the cruise lines adjust the base fare when they do this. So while it truly is buy one get one free (you'll see $4000 - $2000 in the fare description) that base fare was raised at the same time as the sale. So the net result to you is not earth shattering and in some cases more than it was before the sale. Just like the RCCL Drink Packages sales where the prices go up the higher the percentage sale. We see that one constantly. 🙂

There's no supplements on true solo cabins. But charging solo travelers the full or almost full price of double occupancy cabins has been standard since we started cruising almost 20 years ago.

It's "Wave Season" right now, the prices are among the best they will be for 2023 until the end of the year. Wave Season is generally end of December to March when the most cruises are booked for the year. Most cruise lines will offer their best deals of the year outside of the Holiday/Black Friday timeframe. Get yourself a good travel agent and they will take care of price matching for you if your cruise fare drops before final payment. They'll also help you to pick out the best ship and cabin location for your vacation needs. Have fun!

Fortunately more solo supplements have been showing up of late. Not so much for RCCL, but MSC, NCL, Princess, Virgin and a few others have been leaning into solo supplements of late. Especially before the New Year there were a lot of them. Princess rarely advertises them, you just find them when you click through and you find your solo cabin is only a bit more than the single sailor price on select sailings. To my knowledge, Celebrity is the only mainstream cruise line with solo balcony cabins on the Edge class ships. We have a friend who booked one on Beyond in a few weeks. I'm really surprised more cruise lines have not leaned into the solo traveler as it seems to be a growing trend in the travel industry. With the capacity on the ships, they could offer a percentage of cabins with a solo supplement and still come out way ahead.

You change the number of passengers when you select a cabin category for a specific cruise, unfortunately Royal's site does not allow you to set the number of passengers to 1 when you're browsing. Virgin Voyages does this but most websites just automatically display the double occupancy pricing.

You don't have to but having a paper backup of everything is not a bad idea just in case. We've had times where our phones don't want to connect at the terminals for whatever reason. Having a paper backup in our backpacks removes the stress when that happens.