cantgetin

You can tell them that you don't need help--I should have been more forceful with that. They only "help" if you are having the bags delivered to the ship (and ultimately to your cabin door by VV crew). As long as you are "carry on only," you don't need to porters at all. The porters take your luggage from your Uber/car/whatever, put an ID tag showing your room on them, and take them to a luggage cart which is then loaded onto the ship. The VV crew then take them from the luggage cart to your cabin Door. On the reverse, they take your bags from the luggage hold area to your transportation waiting place (Uber pick up area). In Barcelona, we had 2 options at drop off. We could give them to the porter curbside who went thru the process or take them about 10 yards to a VV luggage check in station who did exactly the same thing.

My cruise was one of a few where you got an extra $200 if you booked a specific cruise on board rather than a placeholder..so $800 in total loot. Note to those who look at doing a cancel and rebook to get the "free" bar tab offer...the price of my cruise had increased, as of yesterday, to more than the cost of buying the bar tab. YMMV.

My cruise was one of a few where you got an extra $200 if you booked a specific cruise on board rather than a placeholder..so $800 in total loot. Note to those who look at doing a cancel and rebook to get the "free" bar tab offer...the price of my cruise had increased, as of yesterday, to more than the cost of buying the bar tab. YMMV.

On my sailing, they had trivia, an arcade tournament, and lots of other activities during the day. It might depend on the length of the cruise and how port intensive it is though. Mine was a long sailing with many sea days.

I repriced my booking today. If I were to cancel and rebook in order to get the new promotion, it would cost me more than the price of the drink package! In fairness, I thought I got a very good deal when I booked. It is a better deal for me to keep what I have and consider paying for adding a drink package, either now ($50 bonus) or wait for a higher bonus. I'm not saying this would be the result for everyone, but my "first mate" (travel agent" did warn me several days ago that most people were seeing price increases of anywhere from $100 to more than the cost of purchasing the drink packages.

Lots of parking at terminal V. I've never seen the parking structure anywhere close to filled.

Interesting...our Deep Blue sometimes took 24 hours to be adjusted, but it always was. I did make sure to check the account on the app prior to disembarkation. In every case, the charge showed up and then was adjusted off. Also, likely because it was a 14 night cruise, several outlets in The Galley had special "of the day" dishes on sea days. There was always something special at the burger place, and often at the taco, salad, and noodle places. Occasionally some of the sit down restaurants had additional items as well. THe specials were not on the app; you had to walk around and see the signs on the outlets or ask the server what the specials were. We got into the habit of taking a stroll around The Galley at lunch time before deciding whether to sit there or do a walk in brunch/lunch at one of the restaurants. I believe that the specials happen rarely on shorter cruises, but we were aware of them before our long cruise...so they have happened previously. I totally agree that once you got a server in The galley, things were smooth. Sometimes you waited 30 seconds for a server, and on one occasion 15 minutes (before I got up and found a supervisor). We found the Ship Show food to be pretty bad--beef tartare and chicken that you couldn't cut with the knife provided. We did walk in at a restaurant after the show as we literally didn't eat two bites at the show. With the other food being so good, we couldn't understand how this was so bad....but we joked that "there's always pizza."

Thanks for the info

In Barcelona, there were two options--we could hand off our luggage to porters or take it to a VV luggage check in desk with people wearing VV uniforms. Is there anything similar for embarkation in Miami? Our October cruise disembarked in Miami, and I was seriously unhappy with the aggressiveness of the porters who I had not even asked for help. Yes, I am well aware that they work for the port and that a tip is "expected" despite their union salaries. I won't say that I like a tip for about 2 minutes of work (tag my bag and put it on the cart), but I liked their behavior a lot less. And no, small enough bags to do as carry on will not be on option. So back to original question--does VV have a luggage kiosk/desk/person where we can hand off our luggage?

Thanks for the info! Does the additional loot count if you are booking with a previously made rebooking while on board (and your first mate qualifies) or only if you are a new booking with the appropriate first mate?

That's a good selling point for travel insurance with good medical coverage. MANY insurance policies will not cover anything outside the US. I've heard that "we're young" logic, but I saw a teen fall and have a compound fracture on a DCL ship. Sorry for those injured, but it can happen anywhere...even on a ship that isn't moving!

THe porters at Miami were the most aggressive I've ever encountered. They are union employees of the terminal and make a very good salary, but if you want your bags to get on the ship in good condition, I'd recommend a tip! No one expected tips at BCN, although we did generously tip a very helpful man at the airport. We did not tip at the cruise terminal there. Question--is checking luggage at a VV desk an option at Miami or is the curbside porter the only option? We used the porters in Miami, but both options were available at Barcelona. There was a desk operated by VV employees with a short line for luggage check in. No, it isn't that I'm too cheap to tip; it is that I really didn't like the way they treated us at Miami.

On the disembarkation day, I would strongly recommend a reservation if you want to eat somewhere other than The Galley. Seating at the restaurants ends much earlier than on normal days; you'll be able to see the times on the app. We had a 10:45 disembark time; about 10:15 they started announcing that everyone needed to make their way to the exit and get off. It was a bit interesting, because per the written schedule, everyone needed to be off by 10:30, but the app had a 10:45 which we had selected. In reality, they wanted everyone off at 10:30. That is also the "out of your cabin" time--no need to drag carry ons to breakfast like on other lines. You will encounter the elevator waits like on other lines--we did the "go up to get down" number. Bottom line, if you can't get a breakfast reservation, there is always The Galley...but you can also book that last day reservation as soon as you are on board! I guess it might also depend on how full your sailing is. And all of the above is just my experience. Your situation may differ.

The car park is right across the road from the terminal. You can pull up to the luggage drop and unload luggage, then park....or you can park first and wheel your luggage over. We had a 1:30 time (it is technically a terminal arrival time, not boarding time. We were able to go thru security at about 1:05, maybe 2 cabins ahead of us, and right to check in. No shoes off or anything, just scan carry ons and walk thru metal detector. We told them our room number and they did need to see our passports (yes, they had been scanned into the system). They looked us up in their computer by room number, and presumably verified names and passport photos. Got our wrist bands and our ribbon band for admission to the Deep Blue Extras party (we found this so annoying that we cut it off and carried it to the party...that's all it is used for). Then we had to wait a very short time until boarding opened at 1:30. When the person scanned my bracelet, he said that he needed another security photo of me (guess my selfie didn't cut it), which he took in about 3 seconds. I can't tell you the exact time we got to our cabin, but we were there at 1:40, having dropped carry ons and opened the door to head to lunch...and our luggage was there.. We hauled the bags in and started our cruise.

Supposedly (per recent reports) the ordering and food delivery system in The Galley has become more consistent. During our October cruise, several of the stations in The Galley had hours extending till about 10:30...so not really late, but decent. Not sure what you mean about managing flux in passenger loads. They are trying hard to get all of their sailings booked as much as possible. Their typical sailings are now around 50% or a bit higher, compared to about 35% during the summer. Special cruises tend to book higher, some over 80% capacity.

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.