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As above, onboard shows and activities can only be booked after boarding. Prior to boarding, dining can be booked at 45 days prior to cruise and excursions farther out than that IF there are any spots left. A portion of dinner reservations are held back and cannot be booked until after boarding, You should be able to get them on the app as soon as you can hook to VV wifi as well as at Razzle Dazzle after boarding. For any other reservation issues after boarding, there will be people available at the big red desk on deck 7 (excursions), people on deck 6 and 7 with tablets (spa), and people on deck 5 at Sailor Services (everything else). You can also go to the spa for spa reservations, These things can all be done on the app, but people are there to help if the app is being funky or if you'd just rather deal with a person, As to solo activities, there should be a letter in your cabin when you arrive. The common activities are a meet and greet at 5pm on embarkation day (before Sail Away), a "no reservations needed" dinner the first night at Razzle Dazzle, and an activity about every other day during the cruise. These do not require reservations--just show up at the time and place specified.

The exception to the above logic is the embarkation/disembarkation cities in Europe. Many people spend at least one night in a hotel before embarkation, and many come in several days early to be a more typical tourist--thus generating income from the hotels and food involved as well as whatever sightseeing takes place.

That would be a real bummer....but if their goal is to reduce tourism, it would be accomplished. I really don't want to deal with an airport an hour away from the cruise port.

Interesting. On our October 22 cruise, one member of the Happenings Cast told us about his plans for the 6 weeks or so after the cruise as his contract ended the day we docked. On our next cruise, he was back on board. One never knows with the entertainers,

These rumors were baed on the fact that the previously available discounts expired 2 days ago. People were guessing that when those deals expired, new announcements and deals would be released. This has not always been the case in the past--on one cruise that I was considering, they raised fares by removing the "deals," then a week later, re-instated the previous pricing. The current rumor is that they will make an announcement during the upcoming cruise that Branson and McAlpin will be sailing on--again, jut rumor. TAs keep being told "soon" when they ask. As usual, VV will make an announcement when they are ready,

This is not quite right. The bar tab can be used for beverages--alcoholic or not--such as "non alcoholic cocktails," and cold pressed juices. It can be used for the "bottomless brunch" at The Wake or Razzle Dazzle, as well as the drink parings at Test Kitchen. You can buy drinks for yourself, a cabin mate, or your "new best friends." It cannot be turned into cash, and is a "use it or lose it" proposition. Loot can be used for anything you purchase on board except a future cruise certificate. This means it can be used for spa, shopping, excursions if booked while on board, casino, alcohol, etc. It cannot be used for purchasing things in advance of your cruise. Loot can be converted to cash if you win in the casino (gamble on loot, collect your winnings in cash). It is also "use it or lose it." If you have both a bar tab and loot, any beverage purchases will first go to your bar tab. If you spend all of your bar tab, it will then be taken from your loot, and only when you have spent all of both will drinks be charged to your credit card. What other cruise lines do has nothing to do with what VV does....in many ways,

What needs to be done is to check the temperature of the in room refrigerator and look at the label on the medication to see what temperature is needed for storage. On Valiant, meds that needed to be kept colder than the in room fridge could be stored in the medical center refrigerator, but that is a pain as you had to go to the medical center to access the medication. Most home refrigerators can reach 35 degrees. Insulin must be stored at 46 degrees or below but not frozen. Each cabin fridge would need to be individually checked, and are typically higher than 35. Ours was 39 degrees when we entered the room. One way to further cool the in room refrigerator is to put a glass of ice in it. The ice will last overnight (at least it did on our cruise) before fully melting, and will drop the temp in the fridge by several degrees. Your stateroom host can supply ice or you can get it at The Galley. And no, I haven't heard of a medical refrigerator being brought to a cabin on VV as they do on some other lines. Most lines have done away with this as they have replaced "cooling boxes" with real refrigerators. Do check with VV, but I believe that if you need more cooling than the in room fridge can provide, you'll need to use the medical center option,

I find the bar tab much better than the drink packages on other lines, but then, we are light drinkers. Drink packages on other lines run $69-139 + 18% gratuity per person per night, and each person in the room must buy one. VV lets us share a bar tab both in the cabin and with friends. It ends up being far cheaper than a drink package. As to keeping track, if you spend your bar tab and your loot, any excess rolls over to your credit card. The only need to check it occasionally is to be sure that you actually purchased what was charged. There is complimentary bubbly at sail away, bubbly and sangria at the Splash of Romance and Deep Blue Extras cocktail parties, and the "prizes" for games are typically drinks. If you are in anything other than a mega rockstar suite, you are charged for your drinks other than the 1 hour nightly at Richard's rooftop. Richard's Rooftop is relatively restricted....as noted above, there are small numbers of people who are given complimentary access, but the only way to "buy" it is to purchase a suite for your cruise.

Another trick that works is to go to the big red desk on 7 after you board or to Sailor Services later in the cruise. You can cancel your excursion giving more than 24 hours notice, which gets them refunded to the credit card you used to pay for them. Then immediately rebook them using loot. This worked 6 months ago, and the only risk was someone else seeing them available and grabbing it in the few minutes between the time you cancel and the time you rebook. Your bar tab can be used for specialty coffee/teas/not so special hot chocolate, smoothies, and cold pressed juices as well as non-alcoholic "mock tails." And you can buy drinks for your "new best friends" with it.

I think people were just guessing because the previous specials on line ended yesterday.

Do you have $700 in loot or is it somehow specified to the casino? Normally Loot can be used for anything you purchase on the ship except future cruise certificates. You can use it for spa, excursions booked while on board, alcohol, specialty coffee, shopping, etc.

Other than The Wake, we had great service everywhere. The Wake was VERY slow...perhaps in part because there were 3 managers standing around never doing anything while in RD, the managers were clearing tables and doing whatever else was needed to keep things efficient,

Yes...if you arrive at 3, you should have little or no waiting. Check in is very quick provided you have completed the info in the app in advance. The reason you have a later time is that other people did their app check in and grabbed the earlier times. You can complete the check in on the app as soon as you book in the future. Also, if you are cruising in 2023 and have loyalty on any other line, apply for the status match. If you qualify, you'll get priority boarding. Your TA should have told you all of this. If you didn't use one, you are likely leaving onboard credit on the table as well as great service if you have a good TA.

In 2022, the average age on VV was 43. I recently saw a post by a TA saying that the average age was 48, but it didn't say whether that was the first half of 2023, since inception of the line, or whatever. The range is 18-90s. I don't know what you are looking for. If you want lots of activity and party time, any time you see a member of the "Happenings Cast," follow them. THey are leading you to fun. There is plenty of dancing, late night activities, etc., but it isn't a "party ship" in the way Carnival is. We do longer cruises...we never saw any of the drunken rowdiness on VV that Carnival is so well known for. There are few "free" drinks on VV, but overall, you'll pay for them with your bar tab. Food is better than any of the lines you mentioned, most comparable to Celebrity. I would say that the "vibe" on VV is that you can find what you want--you might have to look a little. The musical styles are different all around the ship. The "what is there to do" is up to you. There is plenty to keep you busy. The pools stink--they are as big as postage stamps. If you want to swim, VV is not for you. The average age on VV will always be higher than on "Family" lines because there are NO KIDS. That means no kids screaming while running in the halls, pushing every button on the elevator, trashing the drink stations, etc. The occupancy will look bad by comparison to other lines as there are relatively few cabins with more than 2 people booked, as opposed to many cabins with 3 or 4 on "family lines." So the numbers don't tell the whole story. If you want a line that is basically "you be you," very minimal dress code (you can go anywhere in shorts and a t-shirt), and essentially no one telling you what you have to do, that's VV.

Supposedly the last cruise ship that will be affected will dock on October 2, 2023, despite the closing date of 10/23/2023. Ships with dockings confirmed after that are supposedly not affected, I'll believe it when I hear from VV, but for now, everything I've read says not to worry. I agree that it is so nice to have VV departing from the WTC docks. I've departed from the others. The WTC docks save time and money.

Ditto in terms of Princess status. Yeah, my travel partner commented that "Alaska was great, but Princess was just blah" after our last cruise with them. We took a bit of time off from cruising while dealing with a medical issue, then decided to "take a chance" on VV when we started hearing that it was not the way the early ads made it look; that it was much more OK for middle age people. And, on our first sailing, we booked 3 more. Everything else was canceled....but no, we didn't do it from Bimini.

As usual, Walter nailed it. Our largest "end of cruise" credit card bill was $8, and that was because we decided to "max out" our onboard credit. That feels a lot better than hundreds on other lines. We've seen the food quality on DCL go up and down over 25 years; I was just a little worried as the food quality on our most recent VV did not seem as good as previously. I don't know if it was different chefs or ??? In general, the longer the cruise, the more we have liked it. The crew is amazing, possibly because they have more generous perks than on other lines and are paid well (according to them) rather than being dependent on tips. The prices for VV "extras" have increased slightly, but are very much in line with other cruises. I'm talking about spa and drink prices. And remember that on VV, you tip is included. I totally agree with Walter on the restaurants. DO NOT pre-judge them. We didn't expect to like Razzle Dazzle (all that plant stuff) and it ended up as our favorite. I thought The Wake would be my fav--no way. The food is "just ok" and the service is SLOW. The view is lovely if you have the good tables. Essentially, they have eliminated a lot of the thing we didn't like on other ships and have done a decent job with the new creativity.

There are definitely more of them...but only 8 were introduced by "name" at our Sail Away.

They don't have a single "cruise director." They have a "Happenings Cast" where each of this group has specific responsibilities and hosts specific events. For instance, "The Foodie" hosts a pre-dinner cocktail and munchies party at the Pink Agave bar prior to dinner on some evenings. "The Diva" hosts "Bingo with THe Diva" as well as other entertainment. So instead of 1 CD, you have a team of 8 or so responsible for the entertainment. You'll be introduced to them at the Sailaway Party.

OK, very rare announcements, and if they happen, they ARE important.

I would suggest you watch several YouTube videos about VV. In my opinion, the best are by Walter, who goes by "Where's Walter Travel" on YouTube. Go to the search bar and enter that name with Virgin Voyages. He has excellent reviews on food, entertainment, etc. which I find to be accurate without a lot of hype or "LOOK AT ME" stuff. I could spend hours typing about VV. Suffice it to say that it is our "new favorite" cruise line after 49 cruises on 6 other line.

On our most recent VV cruise, help with reservation changes was at Razzle Dazzle. The newly available reservations will also appear on the app, so you might be able to grab them yourself by seeing the newly available times. Entertainment--on the app as soon as you are able to access VV's internet. It will say "mermaid something." Spa--There were spa reps near the big red desk on deck 7 who could make reservations on their tablets. You could also go to the spa. There will be people at the big red desk dealing with excursions. Since you have DBE, when you arrive at the terminal, find the "Sailor's Club" station outside. THey will give you a ribbon bracelet showing your status. You can remove this after boarding as it is a pain. This bracelet will allow you into the terminal. You will check in and then board immediately after rockstars and people who purchased splash of romance. In every case, we have been IN our cabin within 15 minutes of our scheduled arrival time. What we do...go to lunch either at THe Dock or The Galley. We both get on our apps and "divide and conquer." One of us makes entertainment reservations while the other makes any needed alterations to dining. I don't remember if we did spa before or after lunch, but know we did that one in person last time.

On cruises of 6 nights or longer, sailors are permitted to make 3 advance dinner reservations per restaurant. For cruises of 5 or fewer nights, it is one reservation per restaurant. We have been able to make additional reservations by going to the restaurant the night before and asking if they could get us in. We couldn't do it on the app if that exceeded our allowable number, but the crew at the restaurant are not confined by the app limits.

Other than Scarlet Night, most people do not go "all out" for dinner on VV. However, anything from shorts and t-shirts to cocktail dresses will be seen in the various dining rooms. As above, wear what you want. No one else will care. And if you will be bothered by what the people at the next table are wearing, that's your problem.

You are not a sea blazer unless you sailed in 2021, regardless of the badges that show up. Those are another quirk of the IT system. You won't get the $125 or the other blazer perks because it is right in the booking system....and don't believe your TA if they try to tell you otherwise. The badges are often wrong; not a clue why they are still up there. But good luck trying.