aimee0715

On 12/11/2021 at 1:12 PM, PandaBear62 said:

I am a fan of the thermal spa and really enjoyed it on the Royal Princess. I am now sailing on the Ruby Princess and I can see I can purchase a pass for the thermal spa, but not sure what it includes.

When I look at the deck plans for the Royal, I see the Enclave, but not that it offers a hydrotherapy pool (which I know it does).

However, when I look at the Lotus Spa on the deck plan of the Ruby, it doesn't show the Enclave but does show it has a "Lotus Spa Pool". 

 

Can someone give me information on what the thermal spa has on the Ruby? What is the Lotus Spa pool?

 

Thanks!

My recollection of the thermal suite on Ruby is that it, like the thermal suite on all the older ships, is basically heated tile loungers, the rainforest showers and sauna and steam rooms.  I can't recall if there was also one of those round rooms that is very warm and has a heated tile bench all the way around.  I really love the heated tile loungers so for me, the price is worth it.  The lotus pool and hot tubs outside and they are surrounded by the spa and fitness center.  Like others have said, they're accessible by any adult passengers but I have not ever seen them get used much.  

On 1/5/2024 at 6:04 PM, -The-True-North- said:

Not to sure how, but if I am not mistaken, someone said they were able to get a great deal using a well know website that sells cruise VACATIONS at prices marked TO GO.

 

Every time I looked at this website, their prices matched up exactly to what was on VV.

 

Wonder if they have some hidden options, and if MNVV can be applied to those.

I always book through that certain company.  You can't actually book on the website.  You have to call and speak to an agent to book.  Normally it is the same price as the cruiseline but they throw in some extra OBC.  However, I once called to book a cruise on Celebrity Beyond and it just so happened that they had a group of rooms on that ship.  I saved over $2500 over the price on the Celebrity website and on their own website.  I've been booking with them for years and only lucked into that once.  

We bought a MNVV while onboard Resilient Lady for her 2nd and 3rd voyages.  I have been seeing the rumblings about the price hikes.  This week, I decided to see what looked good for our MNVV.  We like sea days so I was looking at a transatlantic.  Traditionally, transatlantic repositioning cruises are bargains.  I was absolutely astonished at the prices.  We enjoyed VV a lot but I'm not paying over $9,000 for a transatlantic in a sea terrace.  For comparison's sake, I looked at a similar itinerary on Princess and Azamara.  On Princess, we could go for $3,000 less and that was including their "plus" package which includes the gratuities, the wifi, and the drink package.  On Azamara, we could do a similar itinerary in a Club Continent Suite for the same price as a  sea terrace on VV.  On Azamara, gratuities and drinks are included in the price.  Looks like I'll be using the MNVV on a cheap Caribbean cruise and going back to Princess, Azamara, and Celebrity.   I'm really kicking myself for not just booking our next VV cruise back when we were on Resilient Lady.

Wow!  I'm a vegetarian. I've been cruising on Princess since 2005.  I am really excited about this menu!  I've not ever had to struggle to decide what to order as a main dish because I usually have one option.  This is amazing! 

We had Cozumel dropped from a NCL itinerary in January due to "port congestion."  We found out when we were handed a sheet of paper about it at embarkation.  I don't understand how this happens since the schedules for these ports are set so far in advance.  Thankfully, we didn't have an excursion planned for that stop and we weren't all that disappointed since we've been many times but still sucks to get a port cancelled altogether.  We'll be on Sky in January on this same itinerary. No planned excursions as of right now.

I checked my Princess Visa account online today.  When I checked the reward center and selected "statement credit,"  my cruise showed up on the list of eligible purchases.  I decided to check my points to see if the issue of my not getting double points for my Princess Cruise purchase had been rectified.  My points balance had increased and I was able to do the math and confirm that they had added another 1,113 points.  That issue was resolved.  I went back to the rewards center and found that I no longer had any transactions eligible for statement credit. 🤔 I tried logging out and back in several times throughout the day but had no luck.  Finally, on my last attempt, the cruise purchase reappeared on the statement credit screen. I immediately clicked "redeem."  I was able to redeem 60,000 points for a $750 statement credit.  This was quite the experience.  I think I'll redeem my remaining points on a gift card and just be done with Princess Visa.   

The double points are not the issue at this point.  They agreed to fix that.  The issue is that the charge to Princess Cruises for $1,113 is not on the list of transactions within the last 180 days for which I could request a statement credit.  They say that I'm not eligible to redeem my points for a statement credit because I did not book directly with Princess, I booked with a TA.  They say it does not matter that the charge to my card is directly to Princess.  I asked them to send me this policy in writing.  She said that would take 30 days.  I researched other posts about troubles with this card and found people had success by getting Princess involved.  I'm going to try that today.  

16 hours ago, Donwoods123 said:

We paid for our princess cruise using the Barclays Princess Visa.  When we received the monthly statement, it didn't double the the points for the Princess Cruise purchase.  I called the customer service number for the Barclays Princess Visa and they corrected the error.  It was very easy.

 

Redeeming points is somewhat confusing.  The value of points increases based upon a single purchase from Princess Cruises within 6 months of redemption.  The most is a 2 times "premium" for a $4000 Princess Cruise charge within 6 months.  Pretty sweet, we got two times the points for the Princess Cruise purchase and then a two times premium for redeeming the points within 6 months of the purchase.  I hope that makes sense.

Donwoods, May I ask if you booked your cruise directly with Princess or through a travel agent?  I use a travel agent.  The Barclays representative is telling me that even though I have a charge from Princess Cruise Lines on my credit card statement, I am not eligible for statement credit because I booked the cruise through a travel agent.  

14 hours ago, KreinKrunker said:

The following is the list of percentages that are available to use as statement credits.  As can be seen using points for Princess purchases over $4000 yield the best results.  You had a purchase of $1113 meaning that you have a 1.25%.  This means that you will get a reduction of $1.25 for every 100 points you spend.  You would need about 90,000 to totally pay for your purchase.

This is very helpful information!  I totally did not understand how the statement credit calculation worked based on what I read on the website.  Now I do.  I have only redeemed points one time before and it was for onboard credit, which was much more straight forward.  

15 hours ago, wallyj said:

Please clarify. When you used your Princess Visa card to pay for your upcoming cruise, have you received and paid that billing statement?

 

Points earned are not usually credited till the billing statement is generated and it should clearly show points earned for each individual transaction. For a $1113 transaction on Princess, you should earn 2226 ‘points’ toward redemptions since you are suppose to earn 2x points. I get the feeling your points earned have not been credited yet since you state you are receiving message no purchases from last 180 days eligible for statement credit.

 

Call your credit card company and hopefully they will be able to clarify what points you have and should earn and how to redeem for statement credit.

Yes, that charge for paying off my Princess cruise is on on my last statement  which i have received and paid.  The Princess Cruises charge was $1,113 and it shows I received 1,113 points.  I will call them about correcting that.

I have the Princess Visa card.  I've had it for several years now but tend to let points accumulate.  I saw that you can get a statement credit if you use the card for purchases with Princess.  Last month I paid for an upcoming cruise with the card.  First of all, I did not get 2x the points for the Princess purchase.  I checked the website to see if that has changed and it has not.  Next I check to see what statement credit would amount to.  If I am reading it correctly, for an $1,113 purchase, I can get a 1.25% statement credit.  So, $13.91.  It is not clear to me how many points I would be redeeming to get the $13.91.  When I click on statement credit on the list of redemptions, it says I have no purchases from the last 180 days that are eligible for statement credit.  I'm clearly going to have to call them but I am just curious what others' experiences have been with getting a statement credit. 

It seems that I definitely should have redeemed earlier for a Princess gift card which I could have applied as a payment on my cruise.  

You just wear your regular clothes to the spa.  When you get into the treatment room, they will tell you to undress completely or leave on your underwear if you're more comfortable with that and get under a sheet that is on the table.  The masseuse will leave the room while you do that. 

23 hours ago, daytona said:

Did you notice lockers at the Macho for this excursion?

 

Thanks

No, I did not see any lockers.  We were told that we could leave our bags at the tables and they would be safe.  I took anything of value that we had with us on the kayak.  

I've been on Caribbean Princess 3 times.  I've never had any complaints about the ship.  I will say, I'm not really a complainer.  I don't go around and look for rust spots or carpet stains or examine the upholstery to see if it needs to be replaced as I see so many on here do.  Since Covid, every ship I have been on with the exception of NCL Breakaway in January of 22 and Resilient Lady in May/June of this year (which were both less than half full on our sailings), service in dining rooms has been slow.  I think this is industry wide as the cruise industry is still struggling with staff levels. 

On 6/25/2023 at 10:53 AM, FRMinBG said:

Anyone have experience if this excursion is a guided tour or are we on our own in Delos?  The VV description isn’t clear and customer service didn’t know.

We had a guide. She took us around Delos and explained a lot of the sites. Then we had about 30-45 minutes of free time.  I really enjoyed it.  Our guide was very knowledgeable.  We had already been to the museums in Athens and learned a lot about that various sites around Greece.  I think that contributed to our enjoyment of seeing Delos. 

On 7/7/2023 at 9:41 AM, basketballdad said:

Anything non- sexual... no drag queens, no sex themed comedy, etc... just regular stuff you would see on a regular ship?  Again, to each there own... I am looking for some regular shows.

 

OP, this is you right?  This is where you said what I quoted.

1 minute ago, jon81uk said:

The main shows on Resilient Lady (Persephone, Lola’s Library, Miss Behave, Another Rose, Mind Mangler) are completely different to Scarlet Lady (Duel Reality, Ships in the Night, It’s a Ship Show, Untitled Dance Party).

Yes, and OP said "Anything non- sexual... no drag queens, no sex themed comedy, etc"  There is a resident diva on Scarlet Lady, correct?  Maybe you are not aware that some people in America consider drag to be inherently sexual.  Based on what I quoted, OP appears to be one of those people. I live in a state that is trying to ban any and all drag performances.  It's the latest culture war over here.  In my opinion, any one who has a problem with drag is likely to be out of their comfort zone on VV.

We have not been on Scarlet Lady but we spent two weeks on Resilient Lady.  Based on what OP has stated here, I don't think VV is going to be his cup of tea.  But he won't know unless he tries it.  

I just booked a western Caribbean cruise on Sky Princess in January 2024 for my annual girls cruise for my friend and I.  I initially looked at interior cabins but when I selected interior for cabin type, it showed me interior, obstructed balcony and deluxe obstructed balcony.  I did a little research and watched a Youtube about the deluxe obstructed balcony and decided to book it.  I like to pick the cabin and tell my TA what cabin I want.  I got the same message as OP that I could not select my cabin.  My TA told me that deluxe obstructed balconies are always GTY.   She said I would either get the deluxe obstructed balcony or the next category up.  She  put a note on the reservation that I would prefer the deluxe obstructed balcony rather than an upgrade.  My question is, for people who reserved this category and didn't get it, what did you get?

I agree that the lack of map and bridge cam channels on the TV was a let down.  I also found it odd that there was hardly ever a mention of the captain.  We were on Resilient Lady for 2 weeks and I think I heard 3 announcements from the captain the whole trip.  Two were on the sailaway days and one when we had to head to Crete due to a medical emergency.  I never saw any of the officers around the ship or at events either.   I like to see where the ship is on the map and see the progression and get the daily update from the Captain.   I looked at Cruisemapper to see who else would be in port but didn't realize that I could track the ship's progress there.  

There was a ship's tour offered for $200 on both weeks of our cruise.  

6 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

Thanks everyone. I only booked Saturday for a cruise in 3 weeks. I only realized I had "clout" on another cruise line that would equate to a match on Virgin and sent in the paperwork yesterday.

 

My concerns regarding the menus are that my wife and I are what might be called "selective eaters", so when the menus don't look appealing, it becomes a question of whether or not to risk eating there.

There is really not a risk to trying out a restaurant because if you don't like it, you can just go to The Galley afterwards and get something else.  My husband was not impressed with the vegetarian offerings at Pink Agave but we went in and tried it with the plan that we could always find something else to eat later if we didn't like it.  We ordered all the vegetarian things (which was not a lot) and it was enough to fill us up. We did the same thing at brunch in the The Wake.  My husband wanted to leave as soon as he looked at the menu but we ordered what was vegetarian and afterwards we went to The Galley so he could get something else. 

On 5/30/2023 at 9:03 PM, Jamespaton said:

I asked this question on a FB group, and was told on the 7-night voyages from Athens it switches to menu B on night five - so, menu A for the first four nights and menu B for the last three nights…

We were on Resilient for 2 weeks and heard the waiter in Test Kitchen tell someone this as well. He said Menu B starts on Thursday (which would be 5th night as cruise departed on Sunday). 

10 hours ago, jon81uk said:

The food was great, kinda an Indian inspired menu, sweet potato chaat, then a tuna dish, spiced beef short rib main and a small cheesecake desert. 
 

it includes alcoholic drinks. Welcome cocktails and then several pours of sparkling rose during the meal. Also two more themed cocktails at times during the show. Do make sure to grab a second or third cocktail during the welcome drinks!

 

the show has a romance, sleeping beauty type theme but features good circus and dance and a lot of excellent live singing. 
 

we went for the middle tier of seating (floor) and it was perfect at the rear of the manor floor. The front row was too close I think. 
 

Overall you definitely get your $50 back in drinks and it’s a great show and meal.

We booked the tier that was the balcony for two reasons:  one there was so much audience participation in the other shows that I started sitting as far away as possible and two I like looking down rather than looking through people seated in front of me.  But, I guess there was a lot of space not booked and they asked if we would move to middle tier.  Once I saw the seating layout, I was fine with it.  But with regard to the front row, you have to move at some point in the show because they reconfigure everything.  I was glad we were not sitting there.  

3 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

I just booked a last minute cruise on the Scarlet Lady. (Well, last minute for me, cruising in 3 weeks).

Hoping you experts can answer the following questions:

1. What is the average price of a drink? I had been planning on buying a bar tab, but apparently $300 was included in my fare (I didn't notice when I booked, but it's in my confirmation and shows in my account). I'm not a heavy drinker, trying to figure out if this will be sufficient.

2. Are the menus for the restaurants that are in the app accurate? Or are they different onboard?

3. How important is it to make reservations for dinner? One of my concerns is that with the menus shown in the app, a couple of the restaurants have no appeal to us, so with not being able to make multiple reservations for the restaurants I'm concerned about not getting to eat.

4. Does the spa sell a cruise length pass to the thermal rooms? There is a very good chance we won't be getting off the ship and plan to enjoy the ship's amenities.

5. I did a status match to MSC (was originally looking to book a MSC cruise, but ended up with Virgin instead), and was matched to Gold. I see Virgin will "match" that, so I put in for it. Assuming they do it, what exactly do I get? I'm finding the website a little confusing.

6. How strict are the check-in times? I know they don't start until 2:00, but if I get there earlier than my 3:30 time, will I be turned away?

 

Thanks for any help you guys can give.

I just got off two weeks on Resilient Lady.  I wanted to chime in about the thermal suite.  I always get a thermal suite pass.  I pick cruises based on the thermal suite.  It is my favorite place/thing to do on a ship.  My friend and I take a girl's cruise once a year and literally hang out in the thermal suite all day every day.  The thermal suite on VV is terrible.  After touring it, I would not have paid for even 3 hours.  However, we had paid for the romance package so my husband and I each got a 3 hour pass.  If the Scarlet Lady and Resilient Lady have the same set up,  the thermal suite has a small pool with barely lukewarm water and no jets, a small hot tub, two cold plunge pools (but very small like the hot tub), sauna, steam room, salt room, a warm moist room (not as hot as a steam room) where you put mud on your body and then shower off after 15 or 20 minutes, and heated marble benches.  The marble bench is not comfortable to hang out on and barely warm.  If VV had a thermal suite like NCL Breakaway or NCL Bliss with heated tile loungers and a thalassotherapy pool, it would be a damn near perfect cruise line.

Also, I had no idea that they do a status match. We're platinum on Princess.  It would have been great to get some of those benefits. We paid for premium internet and paid for laundry.

As for the restaurants, our favorite restaurant was Test Kitchen.  I'm amazed that people don't like it.  We're vegetarians so I had low expectations of everything but Razzle Dazzle.  We liked everything except we didn't eat at Gunbae and we only ate brunch at The Wake once.  I really thought Test Kitchen would be terrible for us, but we both loved it.  We went 3 times in the two weeks we were on the ship.

Is there a way to tell on the website or on the app if your stop is going to be a tender port or docked?  We will be on Resilient Lady from May 21-June 4 for a back to back.  I know that Santorini is a tender port just from my research.  I'm not sure about the others (which are Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Corfu, Rhodes, and Mykonos.)  Other cruise lines usually indicate on the itinerary if it will require tendering but it appears Virgin does not.  I'm just trying to figure out for purposes of booking private excursions.