cantgetin

I'm in my late 60s, recently completed cancer treatment and certainly not a huge exercise person although I'm trying to become more active. I tell you that because of the free fitness classes--there are a few that I enjoy and a lot that are far beyond me. I am not a party person. Our first VV cruise was to celebrate the end of my treatment. We got off the ship with 3 more booked. I now have a total of 57 nights on board VV. Great food, great wifi, and we have been on cruises with great FB groups that arranged some of our own activities in addition to what the ship offered. We generally avoid the "big party" events. In 2022, the average age on the cruises was 43. That's the only official number I've seen from VV. On our last cruise, a 14 night TA, the average age on board was 53 according to Sailor Services. It was also the most full ship I'd been on with 2148 sailors on board. My suggestion--the longer the cruise and the less full the ship, the better. That said, my sister was on a totally full cruise and got off with more booked. VV is definitely not getting the clientele that they originally thought they would, and there more recent ads have reflected that. Are they perfect? No. Are they different and are most of the differences good? Absolutely. THe only issue now is that prices have significantly increased; they are trying to make up for their "start up" deficit. It is impossible to compare apples to apples with any two lines, but VV costs are in line with other cruises. THe starting package may appear to be more, but that's because more is included.

The Galley stations close at various times throughout the evening. We went up to the salad place several times to get a custom "to go" salad before they closed at 10:30. Pizza Place till 2am has pre-made salads "to go" in the refrigerator on the left side as you enter, in addition to Pizza. In my experience, The Galley clears out their "To Go " items between 11 and 12 if they aren't all gone before then. Social Club seems to sort of clean up when stuff runs out as midnight approaches and they reach a point where they don't cook more. I'm not sure if that is official or just personal experience. We've been told that they "don't have" any more pretzels, but the next day, more have appeared.

On our most recent cruise, RD had brunch menu in the morning and dinner menu at night. The At noon, THe Wake adds a couple items to the usual brunch menu

This is definitely NOT there the day before.

Recent answers have been "no" and "yes but spotty." For me, it was "no in Miami and Barcelona" but we moved thru the terminal quickly. Easier to wait till on board, and I didn't play with locations within the terminal.

I can't speak to San Juan, but at each of the other ports we've used we could drop our bags as early as 10am. As noted, normally check in doesn't start until 1:30 and the earliest allowed terminal arrival is 1pm. (other than for dropping bags and leaving). We have had one cruise with a later terminal arrival time and later departing from port time, but we were notified of this by email from VV. I can tell you what NOT to believe--shoreside sailor services. Nice people, but usually unaware of any change from the normal.

And there is the World Trade Center Hotel right by the port. Pricey but very nice and convenient.

Yeah, I was trying to not say that we get a very reasonable hotel for half the cost of these! But OP may be looking for luxury rather than the clean, neat, safe, good wifi that we want.

My experience with hotels in Europe booked thru the cruise line is that they cost MORE with that type of booking than I can get by booking them independently, while in the US it is the opposite--that booking thru the cruise line gets you a discount. On both sides of the pond, they tend to be very nice and quite expensive. I've never really been able to understand what booking thru the cruise line gets me unless the line arranges transportation from that hotel to the terminal. The only thing I know is that the Sir Victor is a Mariott,

I think they have changed the way the wifi works. On our first sailing out of Miami, we were able to get the wifi in the terminal as regular cruisers (not rockstars). Since then, it did not work until we were on board. That said, we've never spent much time in the terminal. We've always had priority boarding and processing started almost as soon as we entered.

It is quite simple. Download the app onto your phone, then using the app, link the reservations. When you have done the on line check in, you will be able to see the head shots of each person. Then, when you make the dining reservations, you just click on each face to indicate who will be attending. Another hint might be to have one person start making reservations for day 1 of the cruise and work toward the end while another person starts with the last dinner and works toward the beginning. If you have any difficulty linking, your TA or shoreside sailor services can do it for you. If you haven't already done so, after downloading the app, do your on line check in and select a terminal arrival time. You can accomplish these steps at any time; no need to wait for 45 days.

Ditto--always have flown in the day before so no idea of Virgin booth. Taxi is fixed rate, train to city center is cheaper but more difficult. Many hotels have complimentary shuttle.

That is my understanding.....you will be charged only the taxes and government fees for the second person.

My slight overcook was The Wake in 2024. I just started ordering med rare there rather than my usual medum. Pink Agave and Extra Virgin were perfect ordered as mediu.

I agree that they tend to overcook the steaks....and order one step less cooked than normal.

IMHO, the suite benefits on VV are a lot less than on other lines. But part of that is that the benefits that everyone on VV gets are better than other lines. I'm not saying that the suite experience isn't good, just that there don't seem to be as many extras as other lines offer.

I've only had one situation on VV that I didn't anticipate. I went to a fitness class called "Roll and Relax" and surprise! They did the footprint thing and tried to tell us that we needed shoe inserts. We actually did a class, but nowhere did it imply any selling.

Right--on VV, no papers in your room each night advertising junk. Things work differently on other lines. Most of that 18% autograt goes to the company that runs the spa, not to the person who served you. In contrast, most of any extra tip and commission on any products they sell you goes to that individual. I once saw the paycheck documentation of a spa employee on another line. It suddenly made total sense why the hard sell and the "additional tip" as they were paid very little on the basic service. On VV, they are paid by the line/company without any add on for tips, etc. In fact, at our first spa experience I attempted to tip the woman and she explained that it was already included in the price and was not appropriate on VV! A server on VV told me that she earns three times as much on VV as she did on a previous line where she was tipped (and she was good; I can't imagine her not earning good tips). The only people I've heard of being unhappy with the VV system is are some of the bar tenders. It seems that in addition to getting the included tips on other lines, they are very used to getting an extra dollar or two on each drink. VV pays them more, but perhaps not enough to make up for those "extra" tips they were getting.

Based simply on numbers, if you are in an inside cabin, there are a lot more cabins for you to potentially upgrade into than if you are in an XL And the ultimate goal is to get as many people as possible to enjoy a cabin higher than what they initially bought because statistically most will not want to go back to their more basic initial purchase next time. That's where the cascade of moving as many people up as possible comes in, as well as generating the most money for te line. If you are in an inside cabin, and there are oceanview (window) cabins open after all the computer bids were finished, you may well find yourself with a free upgrade--we have always booked a Sea Terrace, but I was surprised on our first VV sailing how many people received complimentary upgrades. Same idea--book more costly room next time. VV is a little different than some lines in that most of their cabins are balconies of some description. There are relatively few XLs, so the only likely way or that upgrade to happen is if the person in the XL was upgraded to a suite. It costs a fair amount in advertising, etc. to get a first time customer; much less to get an existing customer to move up next time....and for the vast majority, there is a "next time."

Married does't matter, sharing expenses does. You can use your bracelet for all bar charges for both of you or you can tick the box that says you are paying for everything. You can also keep separate accounts, then go to sailor services to have their bar charges moved to your account.

Spa sales are more gentle than on other lines...just tell them you are not interested and you are done. Cruise selling only if you go to the future cruise desk

NO, so do not bid unless you would be OK with any cabin in the new category. However, at least on some cruises, they do sell upgrades at the terminal. In that case, you do know exactly which cabin you are purchasing. You will not bid at this time; they have a table where they will look up the price based on what category you currently have and what you are considering moving to. THey quote you a price and you take it or leave it. There can be a huge range of how much it takes to win a bid. People who bid amounts listed as "poor" bids have won upgrades while others with "good" have not. It depends on how full the ship is, how many cabins are available for upgrade, how much you paid for your booking, etc. as well as your bid.

As long as you check the box to give him charging, you will be "sharing" the bar tab. If you are "sharing" with someone in another room, you can go to guest services and request that the drinks charged to their room be transferred to your bar tab. I learned that on my last cruise-not sure how long it may continue as it is some effort for the sailor services people. The easiest way to buy a drink for someone not in your cabin when they are with you is to let them order and then charge it to your bracelet. You can buy a round for a dinner table, treat a crew member, or anything else this way.

I understand the purpose of trying to attract younger cruisers--the type who were in their early ads. But this is enough to make me avoid these sailings. True, they aren't the tweens that I avoid on Disney. but they are not my demographic either. I think VV has had a nice blend of ages on most of the sailings I've been on...but if they attract the 20 year olds, they may be customers for the next 50 years, whereas my age group won't be around that long. Sorry, I view these cruises as more drinking, more partying.

There is a refrigerator on the left as you walk in the door. It will normally have caesar and one or two additional salads along with squirt bottles of dressing. Open your salad, apply dressing of choice, close the container and you are good to go. Similar to the "Grab and go" in The Galley, slightly different set up and only salads, not the other items that are sometimes in The Galley.