cantgetin

Interesting....on our cruise, ginger ale was available from the dispensers in The Galley. I don't know if they had cans. If you talk to the rockstar agent at the welcome aboard meeting, they can (or used to) swap out things from the rockstar bar.

We got the same story about the charges being manually reversed, but they were all reversed and were correct by embarkation morning.

If you used a travel agent (first mate) they should all show up on the agent's confirmation as well. Mine sent me a copy of her confirmation, "just in case."

If you don't see it under "add ons," call Sailor Services shoreside. Supposedly this is one of the things that cannot be fixed at the terminal. However, just in case, take a screen shot of the confirmation email!

You book it on the app after boarding. If you can't figure that out or the app is misbehaving, Sailor Services can help, but they told us that they couldn't make reservations thru their computers; they could only help us on the app. The alternative was to go to the restaurant. If you go to the restaurant, they can definitely make reservations for the next day...I'm not sure if they can access the entire cruise (and I suspect they wouldn't want to if there are people checking in for dinner). We didn't have any trouble making brunch reservations when the app was working, and were only turned away once when we tried to do a walk up for brunch. The best way to get dinner reservations is to book them before boarding...if the app is not cooperating, call Sailor Services. If the app is not working after you board, turn off all programs. If that didn't help, turn off the phone and restart it, then log onto the app. If that doesn't work, go to Sailor Services to see if they have any other magic or whether it is down all over the ship.

OK, I guess I didn't understand exactly what was happening. Yes, we did have to hand over our passports and agree that we didn't have anything to declare. THe agent used what appeared to be a camera to take a photo of each of our passports and then our face. I thought that was facial recognition. I don't believe I've every had a passport and then a face photo before--I've had to either hand over the passport of put it in some sort of a "reader," and I've been photographed at the various kiosks, not by an agent. Bottom line, we were either the second or third family from the front when we got in line, and it took under 5 minutes to process the two of us with different home addresses.

Hmmm....We had selected a 10:45 disembarkation time on line for our October 30 return. About 10:15 and announcement came that everyone had to be off the ship by 10:30....no explanation of the discrepency. So we hurried to finish breakfast, grabbed carry ons from the cabin and exited. We had the usual elevator wait and after several cycles did the "ride up to go down. There was a brief wait at the gangway. Customs DID have facial recognition; in fact, it was the first time I'd seen that system. If went quite quickly. The wait for an Uber was about 7-8 minutes. I'm guessing that maybe we were some of the last off and therefore missed most of the crowds.

If all you are lacking is Diet Coke/Sprite, you can make a call to Ship Eats (room service) and get as much as you want. In addition, many bars have it in cans if you ask. I know, if you paid for a suite you shouldn't have to jump thru the hoops, but at least this is a way to get what you want and have it in your room.

Everything included on Deep Blue is initially charged and then removed. We had no difficulty with the removal, although I've read of people needing to go to Sailor Services. I went down the first time and they said that if a charge persisted more than 48 hours or a charge in the last day was not removed by embarkation morning, to stop by again. It all worked out fine.

This is another reason to consider private trip insurance rather than thru the cruise line.

Don't know where you got your credit card, but I was in a similar situation--needed international card to book flights, high penalty for paying in USD. The banker at my branch was able to call and get the credit card info for me before I got the card. He also arranged for the card to be "overnighted" to me, but it was really 2 days since the request went in late in the day.

Thanks, I was on the WBTA. I recently read a report from December that said they are serving "European Coke." Like you, we figured they would switch to the US formulation when they started cruising out of Miami, particularly as the stocks were running out by the end of the TA. Just hoping to find out current info prior to my next cruise.

The title says it all--while in Europe, Valiant had only Coke Zero, which is the European version of Diet Coke. What are they stocking now that they are in the US? And, follow up question, if it is Coke Zero, are we allowed to bring some Diet Coke on board?

On our cruise, RD, The Wake, and The Galley were open, but the hours were limited since everyone was supposed to be off the ship by 10:30. We were not in a hurry, so enjoyed a nice restaurant breakfast at RD. IT was really nice to leave carry ons in the cabin rather than taking them to breakfast....and the places were not packed full of people or luggage like they often are on other lines.

I use Travel Insured International , the specific policy is Worldwide Trip Protector.. Many companies offer more than one policy level; I don't choose the lowest one because for a very few dollars more, I can move up to the mid level which provides a lot more medical coverage. This company was recommended by a TA many years ago and I've used them for cruises ever since. Ask yourself why you are buying the insurance. In my case, it is because my health insurance will not cover me outside the US. Another big concern is coverage for medical evacuation if I would have to be hospitalized in another country. Then look for a policy that has good coverage for those areas you are concerned about. Lost luggage, flight delays, and all that stuff is nice to have, but I'm buying for the medical. Through the years, I've made 2 small claims with this company---one a visit to the medical center for my travel companion and the other when the ship couldn't get into port due to fog so we had expenses for that day. In each case, the claim was paid promptly and in full.

Essentially the same. On our 14 day TransAtlantic crossing, we had 2 additional entertainers and several stations at The Galley had additional special items that changed each day, but that was a special thing for this longer cruise. If you did 6 or 8 nights from Barcelona, you can expect mostly the same stuff from Miami with possibly a change or two in entertainment.

Since covid testing is no longer required to board, the only way you'll know is if you test yourself or you get sick on board and are tested. There is no testing at the terminal any more unless you fail your health screen and are taken to "medical" to see whether you can cruise or not. This is an area of the terminal prior to boarding. I would strongly suggest travel insurance purchased privately, not thru the cruise line. THe reason I go private is that I can get a lot better coverage for the same or less money. Purchased thru the cruise line will not cover your airfare or anything not purchased thru the line, and generally doesn't include much medical coverage. The reason to get insurance in general is that you, a travel companion, or a family member not cruising could get any sort of injury or illness, while the old VV policy covered only covid. So if you got the flu, you wouldn't be covered under the VV covid policy....and I don't even know if that policy is still in effect.

Things might have changed since October, but I was definitely able to book my disembarkation time 2 days into the cruise. It is in the app under "shore things," and i sort of stumbled across it as I wasn't booking any other shore things. I had to go to the date, and then the ability to select the time opened up. Both The Wake and THe Galley have "decent food" as you noted. Service at The Wake is a little slower/more relaxed than at RD, and the food seemed a little heavier. You won't be on the ship when lunch is served, so you'll have to plan on breakfast on the last day. It is really a matter of what you want. We knew that we liked RD so that was our last morning choice. We had a later flight, so were in no hurry to get up in the morning or rush off the ship. Both RD and The Wake serve lunch on normal days, and the menu at The Wake includes steak starting at noon.

If you book thru an agent, they will be able to see all the discounts and perks associated with your booking.

Embarkation is listed under "shore things," so you can book when those open up for you...but if you already know when you want to get off, that shouldn't interfere with booking breakfast on the last day. We preferred Razzle Dazzle for breakfast, The waffles and bacon were really good, and we quickly had a favorite server. The chocolate scones would have benefitted from being warmed up before serving, but weren't bad. We tried some other things, but these were definitely our favorites. The Wake is good on a sea day when you feel more like relaxing over a long breakfast, but RD felt better on the last day for getting up and on our way. Personal opinion, as always.

OK, i didn't read the luggage tags. I had actually left mine on (a fluke), but my travel companion took hers off. No big deal. We will know for next time.

According to the rep who did my res, it isn't supposed to be. You are supposed to be able to book the whole cruise at 45 days out, but he said they'd had multiple complaints about the app not working for our cruise date and that he had personally sent 2 tickets to IT already. As to what to do on your last night....it likely depends on how full your cruise is. I'm guessing you have one more night than they have restaurants. What I would do is to make a reservation for the last night wherever you can get in and then shuffle around your reservations if you want to. We ended up really liking some of the restaurants that we hadn't expected to, so did some shuffling on our 14 night cruise--no problem. The other thing to remember is that you can only make a specified number of reservations at each restaurant (number depends on length of cruise) IN ADVANCE, but once you are on the ship, you can make as many as you wish wherever you wish. I would also book my last morning breakfast fairly quickly after boarding (you'll already have selected your disembarkation time). That is something that will fill up, but most people won't think about it on the first day!

Loot can be used on anything--excursions, spa, shopping, alcohol, or whatever you buy after you board. Bar tab is limited to beverages (alcoholic or non). If you have leftover bar tab, you can buy a bottle of wine to bring home or treat your new best friends to a round. Same if you have leftover loot, but in that case you can buy anything. We had more loot than we needed on our last cruise, but we came home with some shirts and other goodies, my travel companion got her hair cut at the spa, and we got a few cocktails along the way. We did not have a bar tab. Loot is free money--gettin loot attached to a rebooking on board doesn't change the going rate on the booking.

On my cruise in October, the app only let us book the dinner for the first night, but I called VV and was able to book for the entire cruise. My plan was to only book the first few nights, but the rep on the phone suggested booking all "because they fill up." In reality, we had NO difficulty rescheduling dinner after boarding (when we had access to the entertainment schedule) or when we changed our minds. We also were only denied a walk in once; that was a brunch at The Wake. ALWAYS got dinner walk ins with little or no wait (10 minutes max). We did several dinner walk ins when we wanted to change the restaurant or wanted to eat earlier than we'd booked.

Interesting. On Valiant, we got a physical paper in our room the day before detailing how disembarkation would work, including luggage. But yes, out in the hall by 10 pm or you're taking it off yourself. The one thing that is very different is that they ask you to keep your embarkation tags ON the luggage that you place in the hall; if you've already removed them, the crew will retag them. It would have been better to let us know that when we boarded! The info was also on the app, but much easier to have it all. Essentially all the servers know how many are on the cruise. But, as above, you can look that the ipad that the crew member is using to check you in and read upside down. You can even sometimes get a shoreside crew member to tell you how many are booked if you call in advance to do something else. They are sometimes a little vague--I was told that they were at "about 50% with a goal of 65%" for my cruise. It turned out that we cruised at about 51%.