CruisingWalter

Of course Windjammer food is basic, it's a buffet. Buffet food is basic. If you want a better buffet, since it's the only thing you mention in your original post with awful food, sail Celebrity, Holland America or Virgin Voyages. Must better buffet experiences and VV has the Food Hall styled Galley. If you want better food on RCCL go to the Specialty Dining. We had great meals for an entire week on Symphony, mostly at the restaurants.

Witnessed multiple guests doing the hand grab thing in the Windjammer and putting things back in December. You can have a bias towards Carnival and that's fine but bad passengers exist on every cruise line. We've sailed NCL, Disney, RCCL, Carnival, Princess, Celebrity, Virgin, HAL and the hand grabbers are everywhere at the buffets and anywhere self serve exists. This is why I wish all buffets were served by the staff as they were when we first started re-sailing.

Avoid the El Loco Fresh. I would rate it below Taco Bell if I'm being honest, at least the one on Symphony last month. BlueIguana on Carnival Mardi Gras was so much better.

We had folks thrown out of the AquaTheater on our December Symphony OTS cruise. They were vaping before the show and couldn't seem to stop even after being warned. The rules are for everyone and honestly you and your friend should have been warned and if the friend could not stop vaping, you two should have been removed from the ship at the next port. Vaping is honestly worse than smoking in some regards when you look at the micro plastics in the materials that can be trapped in your lungs. Vape in the smoking sections of the ship or just don't bother cruising.

This is why we can't have nice things. People who cannot be bothered to complete the e-muster drill have been holding up cruise departures, in a few cases up to 2 hours, due to the crew having to chase people down. The cruise cannot start until everyone has completed the drill. On every cruise we have taken since the restart the ships have been at least one hour late sailing away with the continual "Would these people please report to guest services immediately" announcements about every 10 minutes. Disney, NCL, Regent and Oceania all say this is 'due to the safety of the passengers' but in reality it's due to 5% or less of passengers who can't be bothered. I don't think it'll be long until RCCL and Carnival are back to the 'old way of doing things.' Especially given the massive size and capacity of their ships. Chasing passengers down can be a daunting task.

Port Canaveral has been getting ridiculously busy of late with the Wonder, Mardi Gras and Wish all there now. We don't show up more than 30 minutes ahead of our scheduled arrival time no matter the port. I know when we went on NCL and Mardi Gras in PC last year they absolutely checked the time on our boarding pass and waved us through. In Miami for Symphony OTS last month they checked our time before letting us through. If you are there with a large mass of people they will probably check your arrival time. If it's slower and the terminal is not full, they will probably let you though. 30 minutes early seems fine. I'm not sure how they're working with folks who show up earlier than that these days.

Bar Tab is a 'use it or lose it' proposition and only for drinks. You CAN purchase bottles of alcohol from the bars on the last night if you have a bunch left over if you're driving or otherwise able to take the liquor home.

My only red shirt is one that says "I Pooted" on the front. It's a shirt that references "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" from the Cartoon Network. The crew LOVED it and I gave bonus points to three of the retail crew who knew exactly what the shirt referenced. 🙂 VV is 'come as you are.' I'll second the person who said to not continually compare VV to other cruise lines. We've sailed 8 cruise lines now. They're all similar, they're all different. The biggest difference with VV is you're not constantly paying for stuff since so much is included. One crew member called the ship a Summer Camp for Adults and honestly that's a great description. If they had put more effort into the pools and skipped that stupid net, it would be an even better cruise line for us, but that doesn't deter us from loving the overall experience and booking more cruises with VV. I'm really interested to see how their itineraries will expand in 2024 and 2025 once they all four ships in operation at the end of this year. I'll remind everyone that the current "Best Sale Ever" is ending Jan 31. In addition to the $300-$600 Bar Tab many TAs are offering $100 extra Sailor Loot or higher for certain cabin levels. Very good reasons for getting back on VV in 2023. 🙂

If you really like good food, Virgin is the way to go. W'e've sailed 8 cruise lines so far and nobody comes close to the quality across the board for the food. It's like fine dining every evening but it's all included in the meals. The various restaurants would easily be a $25 - $100+ upcharge for dinner on any other cruise ship. But they're all included on VV as is the WiFi, Gratuities, Soft Drinks and Group Exercise. And if you take advantage of their current special, you'll get a $300 Bar Tab added for your 5 night cruise. That special ends on Jan 31. I have a food review on my YouTube channel if you want to see what the meals are all about. https://youtu.be/pBolzKvXjMU Entertainment can be a bit 'out there' and it's certainly different than your traditional cruise lines when it comes to the Red Room or the main theater. We enjoyed Duel Reality which is the acrobatics show with a Romeo and Juliet theme. The Ships In The Night show was cancelled on our cruise. We loved the Diva show, so much fun. NSA was trying very hard to be provocative and failed for us, we left after 10 minutes. But the live music throughout the ship was awesome. And there is truly nothing on any other cruise line quite like Scarlet Night. That is the one night the ship really turns into a party. The rest of the voyage the ship is very much like a Celebrity vibe, it's pretty chill and laid back. Dress code is come as you are. But I did notice folks tended to dress up a bit more for dinner just because you're going to a restaurant each evening vs. a massive MDR. If you are a big pool person, that's the one area you could be disappointed or you may love it. The pool is more of a lounge pool with a very small deep area. The Gym and Tonic pool is an oversized round jetted pool that is like a huge hot tub but with regular temperature water, not heated. The biggest difference with VV and so many other cruise lines is that they really lean into and encourage the use of travel agents. You'll notice that if you try to book on their website you cannot select a cabin, they will select one for you from the category. To select a specific cabin you either have to call VV or work through a travel agent who can select specific cabins. And as you're new to VV it would probably be good to speak to a TA who has experience with various cruise lines to walk you through the pros and cons of VV against the others. We love Royal Caribbean and recently went on Carnival Mardi Gras. VV is a completely different vibe than either of those two ships. It is much more 'adult' in the sense that it's not flashy or loud. You are pretty much free to make the voyage what you want it to be. As I mentioned earlier, I find VV very much like Celebrity Cruises in terms of the vibe. Adult, casual luxury. Here's my Review of Scarlet Lady where I do contrast the VV voyage with other cruise lines. You'll also find my Cheeky Corner Suite cabin tour and other episodes in the playlist. https://youtu.be/-R0imB73ajg

This is true of every single cruise line. All of them have 'events' or 'presentations' but they're all sales pitches. They are stores. They make pitches to sell stuff. I avoid them on every single cruise line and we've sailed 8 of them so far, 9 or 10 after this year. 🙂

Be sure to create a Circle with VV to get extra perks like Sailor Loot. If you put together 10 cabins minimum, you have a Circle. A good travel agent can help set that up for you.

It can also have to do with changing the capacity of the muster station. Possibly more higher capacity cabins elsewhere so this one is being cut back to 3. The muster station always comes into play with higher capacity cabins. As for the OP, the contract you agree to when you purchase the cruise is that the cruise line can basically do anything they want. They are under contract to provide what they consider an equal or great category cabin. When a ship goes into drydock, cabin categories are almost always reassigned. If there are other cabins available on the ship, they will most likely move you but if there are no cabins you want, you could always ask for an FCC and choose another cruise.

Cucina del Capitano has a fun pasta lunch menu on sea days. Shaq's Chicken is awesome for lunch BlueIguana also awesome for lunch Serenity Adult pool area has a really good salad bar for lunch ChiBang Mexican menu is really weak. Asian menu is better. Pizza is really good and makes a great lunch too.

But the 80's was the best music..... 🙂

@Wildcatllamas you're going on the 80's Princess Cruise? Oh my that sounds like SO MUCH FUN! We LOVED the Love Boat 80's Night on Crown Princess a few years ago. Just a hilarious pool party. We are headed out on Sky Princess next month for our birthdays. 🙂

Again, technically 'not true.' Good TAs take the time to go through the training that all cruise lines offer so they can provide insight and helpful information. Those are the people we look for and they are worth their weight in gold. But in terms of actually booking a cruise on Virgin or any other cruise line for that matter, you just need to access their booking engine.

It's so fun trying new ships and new experiences. 9 cruise lines sailed so far, hopefully 2 more this year (MSC for sure and maybe P&O if we can get across the pond) and one of these days the expedition cruise lines. Nothing beats being at sea and the relaxing nature of VV is certainly hard to beat. 🙂

Why thank you! I'm glad you found the video useful. The VV marketing is continuing to show the ship as somewhat a party place and that you need to be an extrovert to really enjoy the experience. I mean I LOVE the Karma Chameleon video but it does look like if you don't get up and dance with everyone you're missing out. When in reality the overall vibe of the ship is more akin to Celebrity. Casual Luxe is really the best way to describe it. But showing that in marketing is not near as interesting as a bunch of folks dancing around the pool and in restaurants. 🙂 Your friend is going to find trivia, arts and crafts (yes it's a great place to meet folks and laugh), quiet bars, friendly crew, friendly sailors all over the ship. The Dock on the back of Deck 7 and the two side 'porches' as I call them on Deck 7 are completely quiet as there is no music, no anything other than the ocean going by. One of the very unique things about VV is they allow the crew to eat in every single venue, just the same as you and I. And I've been told you can even invite crew members to join you at the table. So your friend will have the chance to mingle with the crew as well. Keep an eye on the Sean and Stef channel on YouTube. Our very dear friend Stef recently went on Scarlet and she was very concerned about the vibe on VV. Even though we told her she was going to love and she's adventurous having sailed on a dozen or so cruise lines. After the first night VV became her favorite cruise line. She's still working her way through her NCL Bliss vlog right now and I believe the Scarlet Lady vlog is next up. Again, thank you so much for sharing our vlog, I tried to give folks and honest look at the food and the overall vibe of the ship. Have an amazing day! 🙂

Technically not true. They can book cruises without having completed any training.

TAs are able to select your cabins too which makes the process that much nicer because you can choose your own cabin from the deck plan, not 'we've selected the best one for you.' 🙂

I found VV one of the best in terms of listening to the guest and doing their best to meet the needs of the Sailor. Dairy allergies are somewhat common for cruise lines to work with so you really should not have an issue with that and the VV team. As an aside, other very cruise lines who work well with dietary restrictions include Disney, Celebrity, Holland America and Royal Caribbean.

Check out the website TeePublic and search "Cruise" or "Cruising." They have lots of cruising shirts that will give you some inspiration. 🙂

Cheeky Corner Suite is the first to go on most sailings. I've heard some TA's make a habit of holding them (they can do that for 30 days and repeat the process) as soon as bookings open so they can try selling them to their clients.

This site has been quite accurate for me for years. There are always going to be changes due to itinerary changes and unforeseen circumstances, but this site has been really useful to us for years.

Unfortunately this is not unusual to have bad experiences with the insurance plans sold through the cruise lines. It's not just Princess, the insurance policies are not that great and the customer service is often poor. We always purchase, and always recommend friends purchase insurance independent of the cruise line. The coverage is always better for you than what the cruise line is offering. In general the cruise line insurance is more heavily weighted on trip cancellation and trip interruption. We choose insurance that's more heavily weighted on medical coverage and emergency evacuation. Our trip insurance typically covers $50-$100k pp medical coverage and $250k-$1M pp emergency evacuation along with trip cancellation and interruption. When it comes time for the claim, it's a clean line to the claims department. We learned that lesson on our very first cruise thanks to our travel agent who explained why 3rd party insurance was better than going through the cruise line. Cruise line insurance favors the cruise line, independent insurance favors the passenger. I really hope you get a favorable resolution and consider independent insurance for future travels, land and sea.