cantgetin

You should have a terminal arrival time--do not show up more than 30 minutes prior to that time or you will be routed to either a bus to a local shopping center or a line based on scheduled arrival time. You won't get on board until everyone with a time earlier than yours has had the opportunity to board. In Barcelona, you will be routed to a local coffee shop or park like area next to the terminal to wait.

Not missing anything. Just show up at the terminal. Check in will take less than 5 minutes.

If there is any doubt, they are going to remove the ill passenger before embarkation. They'd rather disembark someone who MIGHT end up being well enough to cruise than decide while at sea that they need an evacuation.

I'm that person who looks at the new offers as they come out to determine whether it is worth a cancel and rebook. So far, I haven't found anything that varied more than $135, no matter how they are doing the actual dollar calculations. What I have seen is a bit of difference in the perks--some have more Loot, some bar tab. But yes, their calculations can be difficult. In any event, I'll check on Tuesday and see what the new deal will be and whether it is worth changing.

Supposedly, it isn't 60% off, but 30% off first sailor and 30% off second sailor. It will open to everyone on Tuesday, Dec. 12. My "First Mate" said there has been a very slight price increase on some bookings but more than offset with the bar tab. In any event, I'll get a quote to see whether it is worth canceling and rebooking.

Note--it isn't $10 per day for coffee, it is $10 per cabin per day at The Grounds Club--can be used for any beverage there (coffee, tea, those with alcohol).THey charge your cabin and then delete the charge about 24 hours later...at least that's the way it was in October.

Glad it worked for you. We've been able to grab the 1:30 slot each time....usually about 5 months in advance (first time I looked for it). I honestly don't know if it becomes available as soon as you pay in full or ??? I do pay in full before the 6 month point to get the discount, and shortly after that put my info into the app and get the terminal arrival slot. Last cruise, we boarded at 1:30; we were allowed into the terminal to check in at 1:00 and then had to wait just a short time till they started boarding at 1:30. We got to our cabin, dropped our carryons and were just about to leave for lunch when our luggage arrived at the door. VERY efficient.

Be sure to sign up for a terminal arrival time in the app. The sooner you do this, the more choice of times you will have.

We had 1400 on board and never had trouble getting in at RD for brunch, usually around noon. We were turned away once at The Wake, but they made us a reservation for the next day. Another time I got in without a reservation.

VV is just slightly beyond a year from their first cruise with paying passengers. Covid really messed up the launch of the line, so it isn't like "old friends" who can't wait to get back on their favorite ship. It's a lot more people trying them out for the first time. Our October cruise was a little more than half full; the best they've had is about 2200 passengers (ship holds 2700). They are showing an amazing number of repeat sailors. My TA says that 90% of his clients who sailed once did either a repeat sailing or a repeat booking within the first year. The stats that VV released based on their first 6 months were somewhat lower than that, but still good. I haven't seen any VV released numbers covering their first 12 months. As to no closet door--a blessing in disguise. No door to make noise when the ship moves. It was one on the quietest cabins I've ever been in for exactly that reason. And we had plenty of storage for 2 people, 14 nights.

Sorry for the wrong info then....it worked when we were there. It did not work in Barcelona in October, but a lot was different about BCN, and VV doesn't have a terminal reserved for them there--you use a generic terminal.

I haven't tried recently. If you can see VVMiami as an available service, you can get it from within the terminal (or used to be able to). It did not work in Barcelona in October--had to wait until on board. But then, VV didn't own that terminal. If you show up at the terminal early, they won't let you in. They will let you drop luggage, but then were shuttling people to a local mall in Miami. If you stay, there are lines by your scheduled arrival time. The lines generally don't start check in until about 15 minutes before the scheduled arrival time, but I guess that could vary based on number of passengers etc. They request that you not show up more than 30 minutes early, and that system worked pretty well for us. We had almost no waiting. We actually had to wait a short while between checking in and boarding because we had 1:30 port arrival and were able to check in about 1:05...boarding didn't start till 1:30.

Most cruise lines follow the regulations of the US government and whatever ports they are planning to visit. VV had eliminated a lot of hassle in an emergency by requiring a passport.

Got it....obviously any canceled "shore things" are fully refunded to the same source used for payment (If you paid on your credit card, it goes back to your credit card. If you paid with Loot after boarding, it goes back to Loot). VV's ships are at our preferred size range, and the ship seemed to handle the roughness about the same as other medium sized ships we've been on. While there were people very upset at the roughness, we didn't have any issues beyond making good use of railings which are located around the ship. I did apologize to one of the crew working in the shop for placing my hand on a display table, likely leaving fingerprints that would need to be cleaned. She was very gracious and reminded me that the captain's announcement had asked everyone to be cautious and use railings, walls, etc. for supports as needed and that she'd rather wipe off fingerprints than have to call medical for a fall. Bottom line--I've been in rough seas before and this was the same as other medium sized ships.

Dinner reservations and brunch reservations are separate things. You can make dinner reservations in advance, limited to one per restaurant on short cruises, 3 per restaurant on longer cruises. You can change these reservations and book more at any restaurant after boarding (space available, obviously). Brunch reservations can only be made after arrival at the terminal (they say after boarding, but you can actually access the VV wifi from the terminal), and do not have anything to do with dinner reservations.

Our cruise was in October, so our goodies and extras might have been due to the crossing. However, the popsicle stand is a regular thing.

Drag Bingo was a hoot. Ours was even funnier as they were training the new Queen so we had both of them doing our show, playing off each other.

Can't say for sure whether they have them on board, but I never saw them on the menu board over the 14 days.

Can't say for sure whether they have them on board, but I never saw them on the menu board over the 14 days.

Rough seas has nothing to do with the cruise line--we've had isolated rough days on many different lines/ships/locations. Most recently, we had one rough day while on Valiant Lady while going thru the Strait of Gibraltar. It was one fairly rough day on one not quite smooth next day....so 12 out of our 14 days were smooth. This was my 7th (I think) TransAtlantic crossing, and the only one where we had any roughness. Yes, they do cancel Dual Reality (gymnastics show) if the seas are too rough to do it safely.

Did not happen on our 14 night crossing.

I don't know if the options expanded based on number of passengers, but they definitely were increased on our 14 night WBTA. The popsicle stand is small and easy to miss in The Galley. I haven't noticed any places that were not in common YouTube videos. What I saw was the addition of an "of the day" special in several of The Galley outlets. This definitely happened in Noodle Around, the burger place, the salad place, the taco place, and the sandwich place. These items did not appear on the menu--there was either a sign up on the location (like instead of 3 taco choices, there were 4 listed with a "Special of the day" notice) or there was a sample of the dish sitting on the top of the protective barrier with a "special of the day" sign. This was usually in the burger place with big bright arrows pointing to it. You had to walk around to the various venues to see those specials--they were not on the app and the servers weren't telling people about them. We had a group on board and started posting group notices about what the specials were. Some days they were really great (chateaubriand one day!), other days didn't interest me. But we did start checking them out before we decided where to eat. There were about 1400 passengers at the beginning of our cruise, and we were told that about 100 requested to disembark at our last European port. We had a rather rough sea day going thru the Strait of Gibraltar, and many new cruisers worried that the entire crossing would be like that. It was not--it was smooth and wonderful as my previous crossing have been...although that one rough day was unusual compared to previous crossings. I've had worse in the Caribbean!

Comment to the above post--you also had an 18 or 20% autogratuity added on Princess, but the price on VV includes the tip. Our spa person turned down an additional tip saying it wasn't allowed...and no product sales..at least to us.

Maybe....but the could put such things on the web site as well. True, not every cruise has the same activities available, but we shouldn't really have to go elsewhere to learn what's happening.

No. A massage appointment give you access to a massage room for 60-90 minutes. The thermal suite (what most people call "the spa") must be booked separately. It is booked in sessions of about 4 hours--some a little longer if booked across dinner/show times and gives you access for just that time period; you can come and go during that time if you choose. Current cost is $59 on sea days. I met the spa manager on our last cruise. She said that they determine whether or not to offer port day specials based on how bookings are going. Port days in the thermal suite used to cost $39 per session, but I don't know if that rate is still happening. It is worth noting that the spa costs on VV, whether for a procedure or thermal suite, include the tip. We offered a tip to the person who did our procedure and she politely explained that the tip was included and she could not accept "extra." That makes VV costs lower than other lines that add 18-20% automatic gratuities plus any extra you give. I believe that unlimited thermal suite comes with a mega rockstar cabin, I don't think it is included with a rockstar suite.