CruisingWalter

Oh yeah it's brilliant. BUT you might miss the turn to drop your bags off with the porter. We did the first time around. If you need to drop off bags, get into the far right lane as you're approaching the terminal, it'll literally be right in front of you at the end of the road. Just before you reach the terminal there's a big "AHOY" sign on the right with a driveway and a small grey sign that says Terminal or Drop off, make that right turn to drive up to the terminal and drop off your bags. As you pull out of that area and back onto the road, get into the left lane and the entrance to the parking garage will be about 100 yards from there. If you miss the terminal turn off, no big deal, you can make the loop circle back to the terminal in about 60 seconds. I speak from experience. 😆

No free calls or text messaging while at sea. You will be connected to the maritime cellular service with fees up to $14 per MB if you don't switch to airplane mode while on the ship. Your best bet is to use WhatsApp or other WiFi enabled calling app. Calls over WiFi did not work on Scarlet Lady for us and I also have TMobile. The only ship where WiFi calling worked for us so far was the NCL Escape. I will say my wife was able to use the internet and stream TikTok all day long with the included internet package. She could not stream YouTube or any other video service. I paid the extra $10/day so I could upload videos and do livestreams from the ship and that was totally worth the extra $10/day.

@krueg2828 VV is one of the most pro-active cruise lines out there for most any dietary needs or requirements. They're an active Vegetarian/Vegan supporter and will handle most any need. Just let your server know when you sit down any requirements you have and they'll make it good for you. Enjoy the cruise, they are an AWESOME food cruise line. I have a full food tour on my YouTube channel, I can't link to it here on CC, but if you search Where's Walter Travel on YouTube, you'll find my Scarlet Lady playlist. 🙂

Looks like Captain Morgan is owned by British alcohol conglomerate Diageo. But I did find an article calling Diageo "the Coca-Cola" of alcohol so maybe that's why they're gone? Guilt by association? 😆

@aml3679 very fair review and you did the absolutely perfect thing going into this cruise, you adjusted your expectations. Too many people go into those reviews with "Well on Celebrity everything is SO MUCH BETTER" without giving the ship they're on a chance. You gave the ship a chance and you had a great time. Especially as Freedom and Celebrity ships are two completely different experiences. We've only sailed the Mardi Gras on Carnival so far, have not tried any of their smaller ships yet. Thanks again for the great feedback!

One other plus for Nieuw Statendam, they have AWESOME private cabanas on the top decks. We rented one for the entire week on Nieuw Amsterdam and it's the best cabana experience we've had across 8 different cruise lines so far. If you want to splurge a little, get one of these cabanas. https://halfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/HAL_2018_Cabanas.pdf

Nieuw Statendam has the most interesting itinerary. We've sailed Nieuw Amsterdam which is a previous generation ship and Celebrity Reflection. We enjoyed both ships but the Statendam does look quite lovely. Turks & Caicos - One of my favorite islands to just chill. The beach is right next to the ship. Not a whole lot to do on this island but chill and I like it. San Juan, Puerto Rico - My favorite destination in the Caribbean. SO MUCH to do on this island. This past March we did a food tour with San Juan Food Tours and it was awesome. St. Thomas U.S Virigin Islands - Beautiful island, lots of snorkeling excursions here, more food tours and a lovely island to visit. Half Moon Cay, Bahamas - Their private island, pretty much a beach resort. I do love St. Maarten, but Reflection is also going to Nassau which is a very boring port for us, we stay on the ship in Nassau. Soon they will have a new pier with new options nearby so we might start getting off the ship. Falmouth is an absolute 'no-go' for us. We won't leave the port area, even on a ship excursion. It's the one of the few ports in the Caribbean where we don't feel safe leaving the port area. So for me, from the choices you gave, it would be Nieuw Statendam.

NSA is the one show everyone talks about as being 'weird' or 'not for me' but it's not representative of all the entertainment on that ship. That's what surprised my wife and I when we cruised Scarlet Lady. I expected many more sexual innuendo shows or overt sexual things throughout the ship and it wasn't there. Just that one show and the other one she has, with both shows being very easily avoidable by just not going to The Manor on those evenings. For us NSA was a bad show as well and we left after 10 minutes, but it's just one of many shows and performers throughout the ship. I'll agree, there's no "traditional big stage show" and you don't have the 'traditional comedy shows' but that is the whole point of that cruise line, it's not the same old entertainment as everyone else. but we really enjoyed Duel Reality in The Red Room and the various singers and performers at On The Rocks and throughout the ship. And we LOVED the drag queen show in The Manor, that was so over the top funny. Have never seen anything like that in any cruise. We've done 8 cruise lines so far, soon to be 9 and 10, and we do agree Virgin is the most unique of any of the lines we've sailed. But the quality of the food and the incredible crew really makes us excited to get back on Scarlet and try her sister Valiant soon as well. 🙂

Have you checked out The Dock on 7, Social Club Diner on 7 and The Pizza Place on 7? And as someone else mentioned, the Sun Club up on top front is a great little Poke place IF it's open (very weird hours). And of course there is room service that I believe can be delivered elsewhere on the ship besides your cabin.

First off as others have mentioned, we cannot discuss travel agents on this site because cruise critic is owned by a major online travel company. But yes you should absolutely book through a travel agent or independent travel advisor. We have been cruising since 2006 and still use a TA for every cruise. In the beginning we leaned on their knowledge to help us pick the right ships and right cabins for each cruise. depending on the type of cruise you're taking, the type of ship and cruise line that makes the most sense will vary. Now that we're veterans of cruising, we still use TAs primarily to deal with changes and alterations. They have to deal with the cruise lines, airlines, etc..., we don't. We just tell them what the changes are and get on with our day. Word of mouth is honestly the best way to find one since we cannot give out any names here on CC. I will say we did Princess to Alaska a few years ago doing a full Land/Sea Tour and it was the most incredible vacation ever. We spent the first 7 days in Fairbanks, Denali and Copper River staying at Princess lodges and doing all sort of land based adventures. Then we met the ship in Whittier and did 7 days on the ship visiting Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, Glacier Bay and ending up in Vancouver BC. We tacked on 3 additional days in Vancouver. I took over 3300 photos. 🙂 I think I took over 500 on the train ride from Fairbanks to Denali alone. Princess and Holland America have been doing Alaska longer than most everyone else out there and have really nice sized ships for seeing that area of the world. I personally recommend folks look at smaller ships because Alaska is all about "Alaska." It's insanely beautiful and it's a port heavy itinerary. So booking on a large Royal or NCL ship with ropes courses, waterparks and everything else is a bit of a waste for me. You won't really take advantage of any those activities on the upper decks because you'll be off the ship and Alaska tends to be rainy. We cruised on the Sapphire Princess and it was absolutely perfect. She holds about 2600 guests, 13 decks and just the perfect size for an Alaska tour. Princess has great entertainment and we've always enjoyed the food and service on board. Holland America also has some really great ships headed up that way. As for excursions, you probably already know that if you book yourself you are responsible for getting back to the ship on time if you do that. That being said, we booked ALL of our excursions independently in Alaska and we can share some info on that. Harv and Marv for whale watching in Juneau. Small boats of 6 to 16, local guides who are really good, they have flexibility to move around much more than the ship based excursions. https://www.harvandmarvs-juneau-whale-watching.com/ Temsco Helicopters in Skagway for helicopter tours, real dogsled excursions, walking tours on a glacier, etc... Don't be fooled by the local 'dogsled tours' near the port. You will probably be on a sled on wheels because there won't be snow in the area. In order to do a dogsled run on snow, you need to take a helicopter into the mountains. Note that the flights to the dogsled camp are often canceled due to low hanging clouds that prevent the helicopters from flying through the mountains. If that happens (it happened to us) you can either take a refund or an alternative flight to a glacier. We opted to take the flight to the glacier. Some photos attached below. https://temscoair.com/ We had enough time in Skagway to do both the helicopter tour and the White Pass railroad ride to Canada and back. That's a great photography opportunity, but it's just basically a train ride to the Canadian border and back. In Ketchikan expect rain as they get rain around 300 days per year. We had a floatplane booked to take us to an island tour for lunch, but it was raining too much and the cloud deck was really low so the pilot cancelled for safety. We were very glad too because we heard from others who did get to fly with other companies and they said they couldn't see anything, the clouds were so low it obscured the view. So we did a really fun day walking around the local town. I hope that's helpful, happy to answer any other questions you may have. :)

Great question! First off, Tampa will be very limited in your options, generally smaller ships that may not be as interesting to the teens (or you) because they won't have as much 'stuff' that appeals to them. Plus they tend to be older ships in Tampa. Port Canaveral, Port Everglades and Port Miami will all have much better ship options for the teens. The ships that are most interesting to me out of Tampa are the Celebrity Millennium class, but your teens probably won't like it, they're more adult-centric. Three cruise lines right off the bat are Royal Caribbean, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Carnival, plus you might look at MSC. MSC is surprisingly affordable given that they appear much more upscale than the others. They all have teen clubs, but in addition, there is a lot to do throughout the ship for them. On Royal Caribbean I'd be looking at Voyager class and up. Some ship names are Mariner of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas, Odyssey of the Seas and Symphony of the Seas, each of those gets bigger with each name. My favorite class right now is the Quantum Class (Odyssey) because it has the huge sports plex that becomes many things including roller skating and bumper cars, plus they have the iFly sky diving along with the usual flow riders and ice skating. Of course the big Oasis class (Symphony) has zip lining and other features as well. The teens would not be bored on these ships and there is plenty for the adults whether you want an active or chill vacation. With NCL I'd be looking at the Breakaway Class or higher. These have extensive ropes courses, mini golf, sports courts, virtual reality games, some laser tag and more. A few of them have electric go kart tracks up on top. Not virtual track, actual racetracks on the top of the top of the ship with actual go karts. This class of ship also has the awesome Waterfront around Deck 8 that is a huge outdoor promenade to relax, you can eat out there and NCL has really good entertainment. The main dining room is 'ok' but their speciality dining is really good. Some ship names including NCL Getaway, Escape, Joy (go karts) and the NCL Prima is headed over to Miami right now which is the newest and most incredible of the NCL ships. With Carnival the Mardi Gras sailing out of Port Canaveral is their newest (until Celebration gets to Miami in November) and is a really fantastic ship to sail. Lots of included food options, fun entertainment, lots of pools and a huge water park/activities area on the upper deck including the Bolt roller coaster. I would definitely recommend Mardi Gras or Celebration for a cruise with teens and you could also look at the Vista or Horizon. But the Vista seems to be having a lot of issues of late with propulsion and more recently water issues. Lack of running water or hot water to cabins. I have a full playlist on the Mardi Gras on my YouTube channel. I'm not permitted to link to it here, but if you search Where's Walter Travel or whereswaltertv you'll find it easily enough. 🙂 MSC has the Divina in Port Canaveral and Seashore in Miami, soon to be joined by the Seascape. Most folks here don't talk about these ships because they seem very 'adult' and very expensive when you look at their videos. But oftentimes the pricing is very similar to Carnival and Royal Caribbean. This is an Italian-based cruise line that has a famous Svaworski crystal staircase in the atrium of every ship, but they also have a lot that your teens will enjoy. Full water park and ropes courses, zip line through the middle of the ship and some really amazing pools, especially the Seashore/Seascape. Some amazing looking arcades and other things as well. Obviously a travel agent or travel advisor would be a huge help to you guys to pick out the right ship and itinerary. They're 100% free to you, so it just makes sense to have one help you guys pick the right ship, cabins, itinerary and various options both onboard and at the destinations. We're not allowed to recommend TA's here on CC because they are owned by a travel company. Happy to answer any additional questions you may have. Sounds like y'all are planning a really fun vacation!!

Food is so subjective, yes, look at a review and see what exactly they are complaining about and see if you can 'read between the lines.' 🙂 In our experience so far, we've found NCL, Holland America, Carnival and Royal Caribbean MDRs to be 'meh.' Not horrible by any means, just 'meh' you'll get something decent to eat but you won't rave about it. Celebrity, Princess and Disney have the best MDRs and of course Virgin doesn't have an MDR but does have some of the best food at sea in every venue. 🙂 NCL has some of the best specialty dining across all their ships as well with Food Republic being one of the most fun and flavorful venues at sea. On Princess, Sabatini's is my go-to specialty meal, just show up hungry. 🙂

Not a dumb question at all, and first of all, welcome to cruising! Our first three cruises were all on Princess with Caribbean being our very first ship. We had a great time on all four of our Princes cruises so far. First off, keep in mind that food is so subjective. What I consider amazing others will find terrible. So you have to take all the food reviews (even mine) with a grain of salt. In our experience across 8 cruise lines so far, Princess has had one of the better MDR experiences. If you can upgrade to a Club Level cabin, then the MDR experience is elevated, I'll explain in a moment. MDRs are, by design, assembly line processes because they are feeding so many people each night. Because of that, items have to be prepared en masse so the food is often not necessarily prepared to order. That's not a bad thing, it's how catering is done worldwide, it just means sometimes your food may not have as much flavor as you'd expect it to have. One trick we've found to get dishes that are prepared fresh to order and sometimes more flavorful is to order the vegetarian options. Not nearly as many of those are ordered so they are most often made fresh to order. Plus any item that you have to pay extra for will be made fresh to order. Almost all MDR menus now have items that are an extra charge such as a larger steak, lobster dish or possibly some special of the night. If you order those, they will be made fresh to order. To your question, yes you can leave if you don't like your food, as a courtesy, just let your servers know you're leaving so they can have the table bussed and cleaned. But you are also not limited to single menu items in the main dining room. If you don't like your appetizer, entree or dessert, you can ask for something else. Alternatively, if you can't choose between multiple items appetizers, entrees or desserts, on the menu you can order multiple items. For the entrees, you can ask the server to bring you appetizer sized portion so you can try them all. I do that quite often actually when I can't choose between 2 or 3 entrees. Certainly if something is wrong with the dish, but you really want to enjoy whatever it is you ordered, tell your server (or any server who is nearby) right away so they can take it back and have another dish prepared for you. The MDR is actually a great place to try things you're not so sure you like because there's no added cost to you. So if you see something you've never tried before, you're not sure you're doing to like it, order that plus a 'safe dish' you know you'll like. Again, you could ask for the appetizer portion sizes of both. I am very food adventurous so whenever I see something on an MDR menu I've never had, I usually order at least a small portion of it to taste. The Club Level cabins give you a special area in the MDR that has a slightly different menu plus the dining captain prepares something fresh right in the dining room. Most nights it is an entree, but on a few nights it was a dessert. Because it's a smaller section of the MDR, you get more personalized attention from the servers because they are responsible for fewer tables. Plus that fresh entree prepared to order is amazing. That was my go-to meal every night we were in the MDR, whatever he was making, that was my entree. 🙂 Yes you can totally leave the MDR and go eat elsewhere. The cruise line is not 'keeping track of where you eat' and you're permitted to eat in as many locations on any day as you'd like. My 22 year old nephew called it 'second dinner' when we cruised in March, he was so excited about all the included food on his first cruise. Every night he had at least two dinners in two different venues. 🙂 I do have a "Foodie's Guide To Cruise Food" on my YouTube channel that might be helpful. CC doesn't permit me to provide direct links to that channel, but if you search Where's Walter Travel on YT you'll find the channel and the episode easily enough. It might help better understand the food options on various cruise ships. I have not been on a Princess ship in a few years so I don't have a food tour of one of their ships yet, just the Mardi Gras and Scarlet Lady. Next time I get onboard I will make one. Caribbean Princess is an older, more classic ship that has the amazing aft terrace pool that we really enjoyed. She's a lovely ship, we had a great time. Majestic Princess is one of the newer Royal Class ships with more bells and whistles on her including that amazing Hollywood Pool Club and I believe she has a few more dining options as well. If you're interested in that new Love Boat reality series on CBS, they are filmed onboard one of the Royal Class ships I honestly don't think you can go wrong with either. Again, welcome to cruising, I really hope you enjoy your first vacation! Last piece of advice, work with a good travel agent to plan and book your cruise. They are 100% free to you and are invaluable if you have to or want to make any changes to your cruise after its booked. Instead of you trying to get through to the cruise lines, you simply tell your TA what you need and then it's their job to get through to the cruise lines and get the changes made. We are not permitted to recommend TAs on cruise critic because they are owned by a travel company, but you can do some research on your own to find a reputable cruise travel agent. Again, welcome and enjoy!

Was that the Bachelorette reality series? That's what aired here in the US. Totally trashy reality series and that's the reason so many people had their cruises abruptly cancelled last spring. Some with only two weeks notice. That was a terrible PR move for Virgin to charter the ship for a terrible reality series at the last minute. That being said, Virgin Scarlet Lady was an AMAZING experience, not at all what we expected. I thought we would be 'one and done' but now looking to book more Scarlet and Valiant cruises in the future. If you want to see what the ships are really like, not the sensationalized reality show or the click bait vlogs, you can visit my YouTube channel where I have a ship review, food review, cabin tour and more. CC doesn't allow me to post links to my own channel, but if you search Where's Walter Travel on YouTube, you'll find it. 🙂

The luggage tag thing was in the app and also in the instructions we got with the luggage tags. Just an FYI. It is different for sure, but as far as the Miami debarkation at Terminal V, it was one of the easiest we've ever had with all the luggage arranged by deck number when we exited the ship. Super easy peasy vs. trying to remember the 'luggage zone' for our luggage. 🙂 We have not sailed Edge class yet, that'll be next. Already looking at a 30th Anniversary vow renewal cruise with Captain Kate and Bug. 🙂

I will agree with you the itineraries are not the most interesting right now on VV, but then with only 2 ships, that will happen. Once they have the full four ships running by the end of 2023 things should get a little more interesting. Honestly Princess and Holland America have the most interesting itineraries out there right now short of the smaller Explorer ships. One thing you could consider is a side to side cruise to combine two itineraries into something more interesting for you. Do one itinerary on another cruise line like Celebrity, then hop over to Valiant Lady for another itinerary or vice versa.

The biggest difference right now is how badly understaffed F&B is across the fleet. We sailed Mardi Gras back in March and it was plainly obvious how understaffed they were, and from recent reports it has not gotten any better. Their attitude and smiles were still the same you would expect, eager to assist with every need, but when you see the same person working the same coffee or pizza stand at all hours of day and night, you know they're tired and overworked. There have been multiple videos on YouTube and TikTok direct from crew members describing the current conditions. I thought things were supposed to start getting better after some rule changes in August that was going to open up more countries to allowing the crews to come back, but so far that's not the case. One news report I read on a cruise news site said up to 30% of former crew members pre-pandemic have opted not to return to cruise ships and remain at their land based jobs. This is across the entire cruise industry, not just Carnival. So the struggle to crew these ships is real and now Carnival has Celebration about to launch which will stretch things even further. "Formal Night" has really made a major change since the restart and on our cruise with 5500+ for 7 nights, maybe 10% of the guests made any effort to really dress up. Maybe 50% were business casual and the rest were all 'cruise casual.' On a 4 night cruise you would probably only have one formal night but don't expect all that many people to really go all out. I would stick to business casual so you're comfortable but still feeling like you're on a night out. As for food, MDR was meh and the buffet was meh for us on Mardi Gras. Specialty restaurants were mostly good, pizza was awesome and Shaq's Big Chicken was awesome. Of course the quality of the food is wholly dependent on the Executive Chef for the Liberty and culinary staff onboard. Hopefully they're working on all cylinders and can provide you with a great vacation. The Muster Drill is now different with you doing it electronically. You'll watch the safety video either via your phone or stateroom TV, then visit your Muster Station to check in. Get that over with as soon as you can because the ship literally cannot leave until everyone has done so. You will hear multiple announcements at the scheduled sail away time for "So and So to please report to your Muster Station so we can get underway." Mardi Gras was an hour late departing due to chasing down the stragglers. Update the Carnival app on your mobile devices. It's actually one of the best and most useful of all the cruise lines now. For an extra $5/pp for the week you can activate the chat feature which was very helpful for us on a ship the size of Mardi Gras. All the menus, shows and daily schedule will be on the app, you can set reminders and also check in to your restaurant seatings via the app. No more queuing in long lines at the MDR or other restaurants, check in via the app and go enjoy a show or cocktail while you wait for a notification via the app that your table is ready. You'll have 10 minutes to get to the restaurant once you're notified. We've been on three cruises since the restart on NCL, Carnival and Virgin Voyages and so far, all three have been awesome and fun. Welcome back to cruising!

@pirate4me2 I was completely floored by the New Moon at the Fortune Teller. I honestly thought that bar was going to be a gimmick, but I was completely wrong. The bartenders are awesome craftsmen and women. You have to be a fan of Mezcal (smoky tequila) but if you are, this is an amazing drink. I'll also second @lazydayz on the Rudi's Sangria. That was lovely. I never found that Kentucky Mule at Bar Della Rosa, but next time for sure! If you're a coffee fan, skip Java Blue and get all your coffee drinks at Bar Della Rosa. Shorter line and better coffee. Better yet, go to the Havana Bar and get some Cuban coffee. THAT is the best coffee I've had on any of the 8 cruise lines I've sailed so far, simply amazing. If you're looking for more info on the ship, I do have a full 5 or 6 episode playlist on our YouTube channel including a Food Tour (where we eat almost everything), Cabin Tour (extended balcony cabin) and an overall Ship Review. CC doesn't allow me to post links to my own channel, but if you search Where's Walter Travel on YouTube, you'll find it. 🙂 I also have about 35 TikToks I posted while I was on the ship that you'll find @whereswaltertravel on that app. In fact I did a TikTok of the bartender making the New Moon, posted it immediately and the next day he told me the head of Carnival F&B complimented him on the video. That was pretty cool and I had a friend for the rest of the cruise. 🙂 Welcome back to cruising, you picked a fine ship for your return! Have an AMAZING cruise!!!!

Just pace yourself with the tapas. I didn't on the first day... oooof! 🙂 One of the coolest things I didn't know about until we sailed is that the wake is lit up all night. I've never seen that on a ship and in fact its one of the Cruise Relaxation videos on my YouTube channel. The video doesn't do it justice, it's so cool that they light it up in purple. So even at night, The Dock is uber cool! 🙂 And I get it with the aft cabins on VV. They're all pricey suites. We got a Cheeky Corner because of a 200% FCC when our pandemic cruises got cancelled.

We've cruised Celebrity 4 times, all Solstice class ships including the Silhouette. We cruise Scarlet Lady in July. In total we've cruised 8 different cruise lines. Overall the vibe onboard Scarlet really reminded me of Celebrity, that casual luxury feel. But the ship itself feels much smaller than it really is because almost all interior spaces are single story vs. the big 3 or four story atriums and oversized MDRs. Crew on Scarlet Lady was incredibly friendly, helpful and seemed genuinely happy. They are among the highest paid crew in the industry and they get free WiFi and free toiletries. Small things, but other cruise lines (like Celebrity) can charge crew members $100 or more per month for WiFi and they have to pay for their own toiletries (hence why so many guests gift them to crew members). Food, hands down Scarlet Lady wins over everything on Celebrity. We've had every restaurant on Celebrity ships except Luminae and VV brings a serious food game. Gunbae, The Wake, Pink Agave, Razzle Dazzle, Extra Virgin, Test Kitchen, all awesome food. Of those, Extra Virgin was the weakest for us, but it's equal or better than Tuscan Grille on Celebrity. The Galley is a bit of a cluster when it's busy and they want you to flag down a server, but when it's not busy, it's awesome. The French Toast Burger for breakfast is absolutely ridiculous. 🙂 Also the tapas out on The Dock on deck 7 are so freaking good with an amazing few of the wake behind the ship along with a really good Dock Side bar. Pools are stupid on VV, no way around that. Too small and too few for a ship with that many people, so Celebrity wins there, especially with the indoor Solarium. But we did discover that if you go to the pools prior to 10:30am on sea days or just stay on board during a port day, the main pool area in the center is quite lovely. We spent a good three hours in the pool during our Puerta Plata stop and it was absolutely fantastic. Hopefully VV will get rid of the net in the back of the ship and replace that with a third pool, maybe an infinity pool like NCL Prima, when the ships go in for their first drydock service. Cocktails were outstanding throughout the Scarlet Lady. On Celebrity I park myself at the World Class Bar because that's easily the best bar in the Celebrity fleet. On VV I found all the bars were at the same level as World Class Bar. Entertainment was actually much better than I expected. We saw Duel Reality in the Red Room and that was a cool take on Romeo and Juliet. Untitled Dance Party was a bit weird, but then it's all experimental dance so it will be weird. I watched about 10 minutes. We watched about 10 minutes of Never Sleep Alone (NSA) one the of the 'sex therapy' shows. It wasn't at all what we expected, it's a cabaret style show and honestly not that great for us, she was trying too hard to be provocative. My favorite entertainment was the live music at On the Rocks, we had blues guitarist Slam Adams and some really good singers performing there nightly. I have a full Scarlet Lady playlist on my YouTube channel with a Food Tour, Cabin Tour (cheeky corner suite) and full Ship Review. CC doesn't like us linking directly to our own channels, so I'll tell you it's Where's Walter Travel and you can find it easy enough on YouTube. 🙂 Prior to going on VV I would have said Celebrity all the way. Now, I would lean towards VV because the food game was so freakin good and the staff was among the best we've had on the 8 cruise lines so far. That outweighs the loss of the Solarium pool in my opinion. Honestly you can't go wrong with either cruise line, but if you're asking for the choice, right now I'd take VV. 🙂

Oh man, the Dock is just FANTASTIC. The tapas are soooooooo good! And they did a stargazing event on the last night of the cruise that was kind of neat. And those grab N go items right there as you walk out to the Dock are so good as well, I really loved the little chartuterie (i misspelled that I know) is so freakin awesome. As @cantgetin says it doesn't hurt to ask if there's any way you can keep the cabin. We have to assume they've sold your cabin for the second leg but if you don't ask, you won't know. 🙂 Have an amazing time on your cruise. Can't wait to hear more once you're onboard!

Yep, we have taken 18 cruises or so across 8 different cruise lines. We always use a TA. They're 100% free so why wouldn't you use one?!? 😄

The official website for Grand Turk says October 4th was supposed to be the first call, but it still says "closed and under repair" as of today Oct. 5th. https://www.visittci.com/grand-turk-cruise-center

As others have said, it might be possible in the sports court, you would have to check with VV to see if they set up a net. The court is definitely big enough for it. When we were in Grand Turk, the Holland America ship next to us had their sports court set up with 2 or 3 pickleball courts on the top deck. That's probably the line with the most courts that I would know of, maybe Princess as well? I can totally understand wanting to have a specific thing to do because you don't get much vacation time. Enjoy whatever cruse you end up booking! 🙂

According to all the information we received prior to the cruise, "Yes." In reality, it didn't work all that well. When you login to your VV account and open the booking, there should be a "Content your Rockstar Agent" form somewhere. I honestly can't remember exactly where, but I reached out to the agent twice before the cruise. That was about 2 months before the cruise. I heard back about a week before we sailed. So the theory is you can reach your Rockstar Agent before the cruise, but it's hit or miss. Your Agent should be there to meet you in the Terminal on embarkation day so you can also go over any birthday plans that day too. But reach out in advance because it does appear they at least get the messages. Your Travel Agent can also reach out to their contacts at VV to help arrange something.