Rogueperson

Wow.  This represents the last of my Bar tab.  

Can’t believe I spent $800 on drinks.

Another show.

So apparently this is not the same show as last night.

I heard it was better music and energy last night.  I chose not to go because we were not quite done with Gumbae at 10.  The trend is if i dont get in line, its hard to get in or get seats so i didn’t bother.

Still, it was a fun show/activity.

I have to admit that this kind of show happened on what I considered the best cruise I’ve ever been on.  It was on a NYE cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the seas 2014/2015.  I had never before seen that on a cruise.  And Virgin did it again.  You have to have a special energy to make this work.

Got lucky and made it to Lolz supper club.

Menu

Roasted Vegetable Salad.  A little salty but good.

Burrata.  Its not really burrata, just fresh mozzarella.

Parmesan Chicken

Wife got Sea Bass

Chocolate Mousse

Only two comedians and the MC.

This dude i saw earlier and it was the same act.  I’m feel a little bit like i wasted my time here.  I probably won’t do this again if i catch comedians previous to this show.

@laurieal Yeah, you’re pulling ahead again…

51 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

This is a favorite bathroom of mine on board, and one of my favorite selfies. 🤣

 

 

 

I saw this on Deck 16?  I think

4 minutes ago, laurieal said:

 

Come on, Captain Ante! She’s beating us out of the port! Fire up another engine!

Folks, Scarlet Lady has been lagging behind for most of this race but what is this?  what is this, she’s pulling ahead.  Scarlet Lady in the lead!!!!!!

6 minutes ago, laurieal said:

It wasn’t really an excursion. It was just a shuttle to and from the city centre, but we had to purchase it from the Shore Excursions people and we got a ticket/number like the excursions do. 

 my bad, you said your tour started at 11:00 so i thought you got it through Royal

59 minutes ago, laurieal said:

 

Now, the same round-trip shuttle costs $25 USD and has to be purchased through RCI at the Shore Excursions desk. You could also get it on the day using your SeaPass card to pay. 
 

There was also a free shuttle you could take to the entrance of the port. From there, you could take a city bus or go on an adventure on your own. I have heard that all those shuttles are wheelchair accessible. 
 

I splurged for the $25 shuttle. Since my tour was at 11:00,

 

Wait a second.  You had a cruise sponsored excursion AND you had to pay for transport?!?!?

On 4/29/2024 at 9:25 AM, Rogueperson said:

 

 

 

 

Okay, I’ve posted more bathroom pictures on this Live thread than any other.

Why?  Because these bathrooms fascinate me!

Look at this picture without the floor.  Even WITH the floor, its hard to tell in real life that the bathroom has a left passage that leads to urinals, sinks and additional bathroom stalls.

Valencia “food” tour.

Valencia is probably the least visually impressive ports of the ones we visited.  But it is a real city vs. a tourist attraction.

So this tour was a little annoying.  It was not the tour guide’s fault, as throughout the tour, he was on his phone practically screaming. The tour part was fine.  The food i have issues with.  I *think* added this last minute as I do not remember seeing this tour available online when i booked.  

At our first stop.  We stopped at a market where he gave us some pastries.

This was not really memorable because i almost forgot about it when writing this.

We had to wait a bit as there was another group in the restaurant for our first stop.

We got this.

a drink was included with this including beer or wine.  This dish was pretty good.

Afterwards, we were told that we would swap the dessert portion with the lunch portion due to same said tour group.  We returned to the beach area and had either ice cream or real horchata as oppose to the stuff i’m used to.

This was ok, but i enjoyed it.  

Now we had to fight through traffic to get back to where we were.  Because of the time crunch, the tour guide would give us the sandwiches to go.  However, we had to wait in a real long line to get our drinks.  What’s worse, when we got our drinks, we had to drink it right there because the drinks came in glass bottles that had to be returned.  I thought we could get around it with plastic cups, which the guide suggested.  Cool, but driver would not let anyone on the bus with an open container.  I somehow got water to my wife who was dehydrated.  But now i have to return the bottle.  Guide just said don’t worry about it.  But then when we got on the bus, the driver said no eating allowed on the bus.  🤬

Worst of all, the sandwich wasn't very good.  

All this was due to the timing snafu.

I feel like the food portion of this tour missed the mark.

5 hours ago, laurieal said:

When are you sailing away?

We depart at 6:00

There you are…

You were behind the sun.  That’s my story and i’m sticking with it.

12 minutes ago, laurieal said:

Good morning, Lady in Red!

 

 

Did you think you could hide among all those containers?

 

(It took me a while to spot you 😂)

So it wasn’t just me being blind.  You’re taller than us.  I did a quick scan and saw no other ships near us.  I knew in the back of my mind that MSC Fantasia would be here too.  Then I saw a friend of mine on another page who also happens to be onboard Oasis with the caption “ready for my 8am ride” with a photo so you did beat us here.

The theme of this cruise is:  Maybe i got too much.

Good Morning from Valencia.  

I’m just sitting in the Galley waiting for both wife and tour to start.

This is today’s planned tour.

You know what i don’t see here?  Oasis.  We beat you here @laurieal!!  Go team Scarlet Lady

edit:  my bad, you’re here somewhere

8 hours ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

Ever partake in the French Toast Hamburger?

It was ok.  Not bad for what it is.  Got it earlier this cruise.

Dinner was back in Gumbae.  No repeat pictures.  It definite depends on your tablemates.  Last night, we were in fire.  Tonight, not so much.  Not bad, but last time was way better.

At least I was able to finally catch a sunset.

Hmm, didn’t notice the fingerprints on the window until just now.

I think we’re running out of steam.  The first time Pop Rebel was in the Manor, it was packed and energetic.  Tonight, not so much.

3 hours ago, soccersharon said:

According to the new loyalty scheme, anyone who applied for a status match after the change should receive Deep Blue, regardless of when you booked.

 

But in true VV fashion, some folks were awarded DBE, my husband was one of them.  An error, to be sure, and I’m half expecting to take it back!  Another friend of mine was correctly awarded Deep Blue.  Go figure.

Someone on board told me that prior to April, the DBE was cabin effective and my wife should have been included.  Maybe that’s why she was eligible.

49 minutes ago, soccersharon said:

According to the new loyalty scheme, anyone who applied for a status match after the change should receive Deep Blue, regardless of when you booked.

 

But in true VV fashion, some folks were awarded DBE, my husband was one of them.  An error, to be sure, and I’m half expecting to take it back!  Another friend of mine was correctly awarded Deep Blue.  Go figure.

I think in my case, I applied in time and because it was a spouse, they gave it to her.  They did not intend to do so at first, but they changed their mind later.  🤷‍♂️

8 minutes ago, laurieal said:

Valencia tomorrow will be our fourth port day in a row (we had Cádiz, Málaga, and then Alicante today). 
 

I’m feeling rough for sure tonight. Hopefully I’ll be so exhausted by the time I get to the airport in Barcelona that I’ll sleep the whole way back home. 

yeah, we had a day at sea between Funchal which was a day before your call to Cadiz and Malaga.  Today at sea and tomorrow Valencia

Best picture of Resilient Lady as she raced past us.

I’m on Scarlet Lady right now.  This is my first one.  My primary cruise line *was* Royal Caribbean 😂

This is anecdotal to my point of view.  Virgin is definitely a party ship.  It is close to Carnival in energy but its not exactly the same kind of energy.

The music and energy on Carnival I feel leans towards hip hop.  Not exactly my kind of energy.

The music on Virgin leans more towards house music.  It IS my kind of energy.

Here’s another example of my perception.

On other cruise lines i’ve been on (Carnival, Princess, Celebrity, NCL and Royal Caribbean), the longer the cruise, the more sedate and older the population.  On my longer Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruises, there really wasnt much of a party scene outside the 70s night.  Parties were lukewarm at best.

Virgin.  The first night was the PJ party and it was slamming.  I was like “is this normal?”. Next night was the 70s party and again, same thing.  The energy has been consistently high to a point I have not seen in almost 10 years since my Carnival cruise in 2015.  And even then, it wasn’t THIS high since that was a 7 night.  I’m told by Virgin Veterans that this IS sedate for Virgin.  I’m a little afraid how the shorter cruises are.  

I’m on Scarlet Lady right now.  There’s a recent change.  I’m not sure when the deadline passed, but status match only gives you Blue Extras, not Deep Blue Extras.

Also, each person must submit an application.  I submitted mine last year but did not know i needed to do it for my wife.  I submitted the monday before boarding and when I boarded 6 days later, it had not come through.  When it did, they gave her only Blue Extras because the deadline passed, but later amended it to say my wife was indeed eligible for Deep Blue Extras so I am thinking its when you booked the cruise is when that deadline applies.  I booked this cruise over a year ago.

We are Diamond Plus on Royal Caribbean.

Resilient Lady is coming at us behind the sun.  Thats why there’s a shadow

Are you in Valencia tomorrow?  I didn’t know you had a port today.  Seems like a lot if you have 3 port days in a row before disembarking in Barcelona.  I feel like its gonna be rough doing Valencia before Barcelona.