CruisingWalter

We've had quite a few talks with the VV team over the past few months about dining and the limited options at night if you don't have a reservation. "How is Ramen not open into the early morning?" is something I've brought up multiple times. Hopefully the Ramen station, and maybe the taco station, will open up at night sooner than later.

On our very first VV cruise we were talking about this with another couple. It would have been nice to have one or two 'fun big kid things' to do on the top decks. Especially if they had built something killer that the kids would have totally envious of when they are docked next to us. 😅

We've seen them rented on all four of our VV cruises. Not sure why people rent them because they are a waste of money for what you get, but we have seen people in them each time. Only a few.

LOVE the See-Saw and the boxing ring is in use every single time we're onboard. It's part of the outdoor workout area. The pools were stupid for a ship that was predominately designed for the Caribbean, but they did not expect their clientele to actually want to swim in a pool, just get wet and then lounge in the sun. We've had a LOT of talks with the VV team about those pools and the ideas behind them being so small. I really wish they had designed the aft like the NCL Haven on the new Prima Class with the pool where the Net is. Another design feature that sounded good on paper but is a complete waste of space.

It's totally legit and it's a service offered by Virgin Voyages. You're on an affiliate link of the travel agent. It's called the "Let's Go Book" link that any travel agent can share with their clients. If you clicked a link from a vlog, blog or social page, then you may have come to that link without realizing you clicked an affiliate link. Anything booked through that link will automatically be assigned to that travel agent. Many cruise lines are offering travel agents the same service because it's been very successful for VV.

The pop up entertainment was there when Scarlet first started sailing. They had some really fun and silly stuff back then, but most of it was comedy related. I've seen the house band do some acoustic sets using a 5 gallon paint bucket for a drum and some other items in The Dock House on the small stage. We loved the string quartet that popped up daily on the Oceania Sirena. And that same quartet played an incredible pop / jazz / broadway set with the house band for one show in the theater. Yes, I could easily see a classical trio pop up on a Ladyship because they celebrate all music, but those same musicians would have to be part of other shows to make it feasible for VV to bring them onboard. I would never say never to classical appearing on the ships. Entertainment is undergoing a major overhaul so you never know what will appear in the coming year. Scarlet should hopefully see some new entertainment when she comes out of drydock.

It works the same, but know that the app can be slow and oftentimes crash when trying to book dinner reservations when they open up. If you're working with a TA, get your list of restaurants to them a few days before dinner reservations open and they can make the reservations for you.

Generally want to stay on Deck 13 or below. the Galley above can be noisy at times.

Hey we'll take an 83 any day. We sailed MSC Seashore about 1 month after the lowest score ever issued by the CDC. What me worry? 🤣

I don't see a "Formal Night" ever catching on. Though we did see quite a few folks getting into the Boots and Bubbles. Cowboy hats, boots and the like were quite prevalent on Boots and Bubbles night. Moreso than I expected.

All depends on the weather and relative position of the ship to the satellites. On the Preview cruise the WiFi went completely out. During the Inaugural Sailing I had mixes of outstanding speeds to hiccups. But then we ran into a TON of really bad weather during that sailing, especially around Cozumel. It's about the same as any other ship I've sailed with Starlink.

$18/day pp for standard rooms. $22/day pp for suites. You can pre-pay them, we usually like to do that to get them out of the way.

Ladders to step down into them that I recall. It's possible the Tiki Pool might have had steps but I think they were all ladders.

I'd love to see your take on that. We were hanging out with This Cruise Life for most of the second cruise and they were just awestruck by the Islander. They have sailed almost every Carnival ship now with the Spirit Class being their favorite. They loved the public spaces onboard the Islander, they're so vibrant and fun.

We had some nearby our Extended Balcony and were able to get a quick peek into the cabins. They look pretty much spot on to the renderings. That's what was really impressive about all the cabins, they translated from the renderings beautifully. The Suite Perks are in the Cabin Description. They're pretty basic, much like Carnival.

6 and 7 nighters are available in 2025. Just check the website. We are on the Valentine's Sailing February 11 for 6 nights in Group cruise. 🙂

Thanks so much for the kind words, I'm glad you were intrigued. But Silversea and Islander? Um... no comparison I'm afraid. 🙂 That would be like me comparing Oceania to the Islander. They're not even remotely the same. The new Silversea Nova is just a gem of a ship. Islander is awesome for what it is. A lower cost, fun escape to the Western Caribbean that unabashedly there for enjoyment. And with a fleet of ships on the way, it's going to be exciting to see how this cruise line impacts the Florida landscape.

It was interesting meeting so many Carnival folks onboard the ship who wanted to see how MAS renovated the Spirit Class ship. Most of those actually preferred what MAS did with the colors and overall renovation. But if you're really set on Celebrity and Royal, you may not like this ship, she's not as well oiled a machine as Celebrity and Royal. Especially Celebrity, those ships are amazing!

Alright, alright, alright! Margaritaville At Sea Islander! 6 Nights spent onboard over 2 cruises. Key takeaway from the experience, Fun! First off, if you need a shiny new ship, everything has to work perfectly, this is not the ship for you. Islander is a 24 year old ship that has been beautifully renovated by MAS. However she's got warts and things that may not always work correctly, like automatic doors. But she has a lot of charm including original Teak decks both on Deck 4 and the cabin balconies. I LOVED having teak on our balcony, it's so rare anymore. This ship will definitely draw from Carnival along with NCL and Royal Caribbean folks who want a cheaper alternative. This is probably not an "every cruise" cruise line, but a nice alternative to add to the mix. I highly recommend getting the priority boarding upgrade. Islander is the largest ship to homeport in Tampa using the smallest terminal. The Fire Marshal kept stopping the line due to maximum folks being inside. Nothing Islander can do about that, though I did send some suggestions to the team, suggesting they incorporate the Virgin Voyages corrals to alleviate the congestion. The Cabins are lovely, we had both a Breezy Balcony and an Extended Balcony. On the deck plans they look identical, but the Extended Balcony is about twice as deep as the Breezy. We were told they took them down to bare bones and it shows. The bathrooms are original, but were fully restored. Did I mention, there is TEAK on the balconies.It's so great to see teak being kept and restored on these ships. You may have seen posts about toilets that would stop working. That's becuase they descaled the entire system during the crossing and it turned out to be a mistake. As the team explained to us, when you do that, you must continually flush the system to move all the deposits out of the pipes. Nobody was on the ship during the crossing or really until we all got on board June 12. They expect the system to fully work itself out shortlly if it has not already. Muster Drill was hilarious on the Inaugural, we had not been part of an 'old school' muster since about 2016. It was very quick, only about 15 minutes, and the crew made it fun. Yes you're in the heat for 15 minutes, but the same people complaining about that are also going to be spending hours on the outdoor decks upstairs, so what's the difference? Food started out mostly cold and room temperature but improved over the course of the 6 nights to the point where the last night dinner was perfect in Fins Dining Room. VP of F&B Eric told me they were working through some issues that did not come up until the systems were stressed with actual guests. Frank and Lola's Pizza is awesome. Cheeseburger in Paradise might be better than Guy's though Guy's has more choices. Far Side Sushi was good and Mexican Cutie Cantina was good. Overall the flavors were good with most of the dishes, it was the temperature that needed correcting and it looks like they are on their way to getting that corrected. The buffet is not very inspiring but you won't go hungry. There are 13 lounges and bars. Each has their own take on a Margarita so try your own Margarita Crawl. Hemisphere Dancer Craft Bar was my favorite. I didn't expect a high quality craft bar on this ship, but it was great. Smoky Old Fashioned is delicious! Pools and top deck areas were lovely, really fun Jimmy Buffet Vibe. Music was over the top loud at times, but I guess that's expected these days. Really fun mini golf course and a cool corn hole 8 part course. Of course Pickelball is on the top deck too. Conky Tonkin was a fabulous live show and I was really impressed with everything they could do with the stage. Multiple lifts and rotation were unexpected from that ship. Caribbean Remix you may or may not enjoy. It was a miss for us, but it was obvious folks in the audience enjoy it. Music throughout the ship was lovely, they have a lot of live performers in a variety of styles. Zee Jay was an AWESOME cruise director! Overall a very fun and cost effective cruise that you can book for 4, 5, 6, or 7 nights. We'll be back in Sept / Oct and we have a Grand Terrace Corner Suite booked for February. Again, she's not a perfect ship and they have issues with Embarkation / Debarkation due to big ship, small terminal. But they will get it figured out. I'm really looking forward to where MAS goes next!

As others have noted, TAs have access to the full inventory on all ships and can easily book you into a specific cabin. Or you can call VV to ask them to assign you to a cabin.

Well first off I'll say we sail many cruise lines and enjoy each for what they offer. It'll be 11 cruise lines for us in June and hopefully at least 12 before the end of this year. All cruise lines bring different things to the table and no cruise line is perfect. They're all awesome at many things and they're all terrible at some things, I personally can't sail one cruise over and over because I get bored of the repetition. As awesome as VV is, it would get old pretty quickly for me if it was the only cruise line I sailed. There are way too many cruise ships and experiences out there for me to limit myself, but that's just me. Celebrity Cruises has over 20 departures in Summer 2025 in the Med from 9-12 nights, including multiple Edge Class sailings, so they are definitely not limited themselves to 6 nights or less. Looks like at least four ships are doing the longer sailings including 2 new Edge Class ships. As for VV, you should enjoy how they do things so differently. The biggest positive for me is the lack of photographers and lack of 'package barkers' trying to get you to purchase the wine package, drinks package, dining package, etc... when you board the ship. The food can be among the best at sea for the mainstream cruise lines. What makes it so enjoyable is the fact that you're not paying anything extra for what would be specialty dining experiences on any other ship. The downside is the restaurants are too small for the amount of passengers so as their popularity has grown, it's become a bit of a challenge to book the restaurants you want on the day and time you want to go. That's where it's a huge advantage to work with a TA because they can go into the booking engine when the reservations open up and secure your reservations quickly. The VV app crashes and burns many Sailors due to the system getting jammed up when reservations open. VV knows they need to address these issues and are working on some pop up dining ideas to help spread people out. The 'structured dining' is one complaint we hear from sailors who have become accustomed to 'anytime dining'. On most sailings you can't simply walk up to a restaurant at any time like you would with a Main Dining Room on many cruise lines now. You pretty much have to have all of your dinners planned out for a VV cruise. Razzle Dazzle, Pink Agave and Extra Virgin are the standouts for me along with the Pizza Place, Sun Cafe and Opa Hour at The Dock. The pools are incredibly weak if you're coming from Celebrity. The Solarium on any Celebrity ship is our jam for any cruise. It's our favorite pool experience so far of any cruise line we've sailed. VV has the tiny lounge pool that's more of a plunge pool with a very small sun deck around it. Plus the oversized 'hot tub pool' that looks like a massive hot tub, but it's cool water. We love nice big pools that we can actually have a swim in the morning, but you won't find that on VV. We give the pools a pass because the overall experience is fun on VV. Some of the best entertainment on the ship for us is at On The Rocks. VV finds a great selection of artists to play there and many evenings may be spent enjoying the vibe there. Of the Red Room shows, Duel Reality is still my favorite. Anything with a Diva is usually fun. The beds in the standard cabins are not particularly comfortable, they are convertible sofas that are more like IKEA furniture than the super comfortable beds you may be used to on Celebrity. The Rockstar Suites have fabulous real beds, but the Sea Terraces on down have the "Ikea furniture." Again, we give the beds a pass because we do enjoy the overall experience and of course, the hammock is amazing in the Sea Terraces. For me the very best cabins on any Ladyship are the Cheeky Corner Suites. Those massive wraparound balconies are sublime. We had one for our very first Scarlet Lady sailing and it was amazing. What's really fun about VV is that it truly is a 'come as you are' vibe with no pressure, no rules (other than the dinner reservations) and because so much is included, you're not constantly paying for things. It's a great social atmosphere to meet others because there is so much seating everywhere on the ship, you naturally join conversations and meet new people. As one crew member said on our first sailing, "It's like Summer Camp for Adults." That pretty much sums up a VV experience. When you sail VV you should have an amazing time.

Call Sailor Services to find out if you truly do have until July 18 or you need to make the payment within 24 hours.

If you are young at heart, love to cruise, enjoy good food and a 'come as you are' attitude, then yes, Virgin Voyages should be on your list of cruise lines to enjoy. 🙂

While we wait for someone from the Sun to answer, here's the original Cruise Critic article from March. They do point out that the actual Magic Castle in LA enforces formal attire for the dinners. The one thing that's interesting is that originally Spellbound was supposed to have 3 seatings at 5, 7 and 9. But when we booked our reservations for October there are only 2 seatings offered. https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/magic-castle-spellbound-sun-princess

Our October 19 sailing had Spellbound come online this past week. A bunch of our Group was able to book the same day and seating. Looking forward to this experience!