fubarbloke

It's not entirely clear to me that the bar tab is being accounted for separately. On the first leg of my B2B the app showed everything together -- drinks and other extras, like a massage, were all listed together, along with the bar tab credit.

OTOH, I haven't yet received a final invoice for the first leg, when I had extras,  but I did get a final invoice for the second leg couple of hours after I got off the ship today -- no extras, so the invoice just showed the bar tab and the drinks applied to it. So it could be just another symptom of the effed up IT system.

I was on this cruise too, and am still on board as a B2B. The app is still messed up. During the captain's sail away announcement in Miami (only PA announcements are on embarking and debarking, and during crew safety drills - wonderful) he apologised for the problems with the IT system, which at the time was in semi-meltdown. I agree that the cruise otherwise was, and continues to be, flawless. I don't agree about the Test Kitchen, it's been my favorite restaurant. It's a matter of taste, and I think it's good that Virgin isn't playing to the lowest common denominator. I wasn't so impressed with Extra Virgin or Gunbae, but I'm okay with that. Everyone's definition of excellence is different.

They moved me too, changed my solo sea view cabin to a regular sea view on one leg of a back to back. When I called to try to get the same cabin - any cabin - for both legs, they upgraded me to a balcony cabin for free. A couple months ago, a phone rep gave me bad information about the bar tab - said I could carry it over from one leg to the next. Turned out they can't handle that, so their solution was to comp me a $425 bar tab for the second leg. They are certainly in learning mode, but they are paying for their own education 😄.

Currently onboard too. Some NFL games are available on cabin TVs. Games and times are listed on the daily schedule. There's no place to watch outside your cabin with others, though.

I'm in a standard balcony cabin (aka Sea View). Breakfast arrived this morning maybe 20 minutes after I ordered it on the app. Excellent.

The experiment was a failure: I was unable to prove or disprove the hypothesis that luggage can be shipped to the Scarlet Lady. Luggage Forward lost my bag, and it never made it to Miami (they think), let alone the ship.

It started out well. Luggage Forward sent me a big bag tag with the UPS shipping info on it about a week ahead of the scheduled pickup, which was nine days before sailing. The day before pickup, they sent me an email saying the window had changed from 1pm to 5pm, to noon to 5pm. That was a bit of a problem, but they also offered the option of dropping it off at a UPS store. Which was a lot better than maybe sitting around for 4 or 5 hours. The good folks at my local UPS store took care of it, and gave me a UPS tracking number.

I flew out the day after, heading to New York to do the New York City Marathon (qualified for Boston!) and then spend a couple of days on the beach in the Florida panhandle. On Tuesday morning, I saw that my bag had arrived in Jacksonville, which was comforting since it's only a five hour drive to Miami from there.

But that was the last anyone ever saw of it. There was no indication of movement on Wednesday or Thursday, despite the happy-happy-joy-joy stuff on both the Luggage Forward and UPS tracking sites. Same thing on Friday morning, so I called Luggage Forward. The rep fed me the standard B.S. about how they're "working it", and that they'll drive it down from Jacksonville themselves. He said that he had confirmed it was in Jacksonville, but when I pressed him he waffled - it was clear to me that he was just looking at the arrival scan from Tuesday. We went through a couple of cycles of "I'll call you back in an hour"/no call/I call him, with no better results.

About 12:30, he admitted that no one had eyes-on the bag since Tuesday and asked for a detailed description of it. The window was closing. If in fact it was in Jacksonville, it had to be moving no later than 2pm if it was going to have even a theoretical chance of making the 7pm sailing. But no one actually knew where it was.

I was staying in Little Havana, so I went on a nice walk and found a Walgreens, a Family Dollar Store and a Footlocker, and bought a few things to pad out my cold weather running wardrobe, which is pretty much all I have with me. If nothing else, it was a good way to experience Little Havana.

About 2:30, as I was standing in line at the port, he called me back and said they couldn't find my bag, and unless it was somehow already in or near Miami, it wouldn't be there before sail away. He said he was opening a case, but then started telling me that they would give me double my money back, which would be $248. I told him no, Luggage Forward promises a flat $500 payment if the bag doesn't reach the ship and I expected that, plus a refund of the $124 I paid for the service I didn't receive. We'll see.

Aloha shirts cost $145 onboard the Scarlet Lady, so I'm going shopping in Costa Maya tomorrow.🙂

Virgin made good - better than good - on a goof again. I noticed on the app this morning that Virgin changed my cabin assignment for the first leg of the back to back that starts on Friday. In theory, it was an upgrade from a solo Sea View to a regular Sea View, but it would have meant packing up and changing cabins in the middle of the trip. It was also a mystery as to why it was changed. I called and eventually got through to a rep who understood instantly: a larger cabin for half of a B2B might not be such a huge benefit. He put me on hold for about 10 minutes and came back and said 1. he doesn't know why it happened, 2. the upgraded Sea View cabin isn't available for the second leg and 3. so they're upgrading me to a balcony - regular Sea Terrace - for both legs.

They went above and beyond again, and this time it's even arguable they didn't make a mistake.

I went with Luggage Forward. Scheduled a pickup between 1 and 5pm for today, and they sent me a shipping tag that wrapped around the handle of my bag. Yesterday they emailed me saying that they were expanding the window to 12 to 5pm, but also offered the option of dropping it off at a UPS store. I had to go there anyway, so it worked well. It's en route now to Jet Service International in Miami, where it'll be transferred to the Scarlet Lady and delivered to my cabin. Or so they say:

We'll find out soon enough if Virgin can deal with it.

I emailed Luggage Forward and got the following reply:

"My system shows that we can send luggage to the Port of Miami for a Virgin Voyage cruise. You can find out more about our cruise ship luggage transportation services here! Otherwise, I'd be happy to assist you with a quote with a bit more information including, amount and size of luggage, embark and debark dates and ports, as well as the location we'd be picking up your luggage from."

Obviously, they can't say yet whether or not they've actually done it. I'll check back with them in a week or so to see if the story changes. They also said that they "request" cruise delivery bookings be done a month in advance. Cost to ship looks like somewhere around $130 one way, including pickup in California.

2 hours ago, garymfreedman said:

You can ship most anything to a UPS store...

Yep, but not all UPS stores offer that service. Waiting to hear back from the Bricknell store.

In theory, Fedex locations do, too. Tried it once with a bike, turned into a nightmare.

3 hours ago, sid_9169 said:

I don't have any experience doing this, but you could probably just have it shipped to whatever hotel you're staying in...

I've done that in the past, with mixed results. It works perfectly maybe 3 times out of 4. The fourth time can be a nightmare. But this trip won't involve anything mission-critical, like a trade show display or a bicycle for a race. If I'm understanding VV correctly, I won't get thrown off the ship for wearing the same two T-shirts for nine days straight. So long as I wash them 😄.

1 hour ago, CroozFanatic said:

Maybe...go to the Roll Call and see if someone will receive it and bring it to the boat.

That's a good idea, but one I'd save for a real emergency. I think Plan B is to find a hotel that's near a Walmart.

I'm on back to back Mayan Sol and Fire & Sunset Soirées cruises in November, after three weeks of other travel. I'd like to ship some cruise-only stuff ahead. Sailor Services says Virgin doesn't have a luggage shipping service and doesn't work with any luggage shipping companies. Which might or might not be correct 😁. I searched the Cruise Critics forums and found three companies that get good mentions – Luggage Forward, Luggage Free and Luggage Concierge. Luggage Forward's website says they do ship to Virgin in Miami. You have to call the other two to find out about their cruise services.

Anyone have any experience with shipping luggage to a Miami cruise? Is the process fool proof enough to risk firing luggage off blindly to Scarlet Lady?

TIA.

MIA's website says that covid tests with fast results are available at the airport:

https://news.miami-airport.com/covid-19-testing-available-daily-at-mia-starting-may-21/

It took a bit of a push, but Virgin made good – and then some – on their original promise to me.

I received a boiler plate email this morning, which was a simple statement of the Bar Tab policy: no carry overs from one sailing to the next. Which was non-responsive. The question was whether they were going to honor what the customer service rep who sold me the Bar Tab told me.

So I called customer service and reached another rep. After reiterating the policy, she told me that there was nothing customer service could do about it and I would have to talk to sailor services once I was onboard. But she didn't know whether sailor services could or would do anything about it. I said that wasn't satisfactory because it wasn't in line with what the previous two reps told me – the first saying that it would be done, the second saying that what the first said would be honored.

The rep then said she would check further and put me on hold for about an hour (she checked in with me from time to time to tell me they were still working on it). I'm guessing someone finally listened to the recordings of the calls – there was no note in my account that indicated someone had done so previously.

The final answer was that sailor services cannot carry accounts over either – the rep said they called the ship to confirm. But as a "one time exception" because I was "wrongly advised", they would add a second, complimentary $425 Bar Tab to my second sailing.

I'm happy with the result. I wish it hadn't taken as much persistence as it did, but their solution is above and beyond their obligation to me.

November sailings are still showing a stop in Key West. Maybe they're looking for a better alternative than Nassau?

On 8/17/2021 at 6:28 AM, Wildcatllamas said:

I called this morning to discuss the Bar Tab and the B2B that I have booked and was told no it won't carry over even if I were to go to the guest services.

Thank you for pursuing that. I called this morning to double check, and the customer service rep (a different one) told me the same thing you were told: the bar tab can't be carried over. She put me on hold while she "triple checked" and confirmed that the policy is no carry over.

However, she also said that if the previous rep promised me something, they would honor it. So she said a manager would listen to the recording of the call and would get back to me next week. The previous rep was very clear – when I questioned her, she repeated it and emphasised that the call was being recorded. There shouldn't be any dispute. I'll let you know what they say.

2 hours ago, CanaryWharfCruiser said:

 

I don't know if this works for bookings etc, but in my app I can view future voyages, albeit in a rather hidden place - if I click on the "Me" icon at the bottom, then the settings icon in the top right corner then scroll down there is a button showing "Switch Voyage". When I click on this I get taken to my other voyage and all its details (but mine is a long way in the future so nothing much loaded yet!)

Cool! That worked. Thanks for the tip.

Good news: a customer service rep told me that the $425 bar tab ($300 cash + $125 seablazer spiff) can be carried over to the second sailing of a back to back. I'll have to talk to guest services once I'm onboard, but she assured me it can and will be done. We'll see.

I also asked about the app. It only shows your next sailing, so it's not possible to use it to book restaurants or shore excursions for the the second sailing. The rep said "it's being worked on" – I think that's safe to say about the app, full stop :-). For now, if I want to book restaurants or shore activities for the second sailing, I have to call customer service and do it over the phone.

No problem upgrading my cabin for both sailings from a solo inside to a solo sea view which just became available on the website. I won't have to change cabins between sailings, either. But the website is still very basic – can't do upgrades online, or pretty much anything except an initial booking.
 

There's some kind of drama going on right now. I called customer service to upgrade my cabin for a November back to back, and I was on hold for more than half an hour. The recording references recent cancellations, but I'm not assuming that's something new.

BTW, I'm seeing the Oct/Nov 2022 westbound transatlantics, but it looks like the eastbound is gone.

11 minutes ago, ChipLondon said:

Cards on the table, no relationship. However I was lucky enough to join the ship last year for the TA sailing,  mainly because I am a very regular cruiser, and basically they want my custom, so I do know the different spaces well. Where does anyone apply for a paid influencer Job ?? I am on this sailing as a full fare paying guest. Yesterday lunch in Razzle Dazzle, Dinner in Pink Agave, and Breakfast this morning in The Wake.   

The generic term is social media influencer. Value in exchange for value. Might be cash payments, might be product or services, might be recognition or perks. Like an invitation to a TA sailing.

1 hour ago, ChipLondon said:

So I am lucky enough to be one of the first to sail on the new Scarlet Lady, and as an experienced cruiser I have to say it is different...

What's your relationship to Virgin Voyages? Staff? Consultant? Paid influencer? TA? Brother-in-law? Less than 24 hours into the (first public) trip and you're raving about every room, every eatery, every show. No problem with that, so long as the cards are on the table.

4 hours ago, teabear said:

I offered to go get at test prior to arriving at the port,  at my own cost, he stated that there was no protocol for this at this time - read into this as you will.   

That's interesting. I just flew Virgin Atlantic. They have what seemed to be a well oiled system for verifying private, pre-departure tests, which are required. When I flew, they, along with BA, also piloted a system for checking vaccination status of people, like me, who weren't vaccinated in the the UK. Worked fine.

Thank you for the pics!

Does Virgin expects guests to be vertical or horizontal when they're bouncing on the trampolines? 

Thanks, yes I found the 2022 restriction in VV's blog post. For now, VV is disembarking B2B passengers in Miami, and running everyone through customs/immigration and covid checks. That seems like something that will sort out over time.

I don't have a problem with closing out the account for the first sailing. As you say, that's common accounting practice. But not transferring a balance over – even just the actual cash paid in – and keeping the money seems greedy to me. It should be no more difficult to transfer the balance into my account for the second sailing than it is to transfer it into a revenue account.