cantgetin

As above, you apply for the status match on line after you have a booking number. You insert the booking number on the application, and within a few days, Deep Blue Extras show up on your booking (look at your on line account to see this.). THe VV rates are the same whether you use a travel agent (first mate in VV talk) or book on line or by calling VV. If you book on line, you are assigned a cabin. If you call or use a TA, you can choose from any open cabin, specify a floor, etc. This allows you to avoid a cabin right under the gym or above a nightclub. There are advantages to using a travel agent, particularly one who has a lot of experience on VV. For instance, if the agent has sponsored an on line session with VV within a certain period, everyone who makes a booking during that time frame gets additions "loot." (onboard credit.). Similarly anyone who cruises can buy future cruise certificates (MNVV) which are transferable, Some agents buy the max allowed each time they cruise and the sell then to their clients, meaning that the client gets the discount and the loot associated. If an agent has 10 or more cabins sold on a given sailing, that constitutes a "circle," and VV gives each member of a circle some "loot." Finally, as with all lines, some agents choose to give a discount or OBC from their commission, as on all other lines. Bottom line, it isn't a matter of just using an agent; it is using an agent who books a lot of VV and knows how to get you the best deal possible. We are not allowed to recommend particular agents on this site.

I did a lot of posts from the April TA. It wasn't a daily review, but more of answering questions about the cruise. The pricing for April 2024 is unbelievable, especially if you can combine it with a MNVV discount/loot, and you'll qualify for a FL resident discount as well. We love TAs and have done a total of at least 10, 2 on VV.

Yikes--no way I'd pay an additional $824 for a bigger bathroom. We'll stick to our Sea Terrace.

I didn't say it wasn't crazy, and I agree. On the other hand, you can go out and enjoy the balcony. It will take some time for the room to heat up to an uncomfortable level. I honestly don't remember needing to LOCK the door on other lines, just to close it completely. However, it has been a while since we've done other lines, so my memory may be failing me.

That's it......so if you stop at a port outside this area, you pay VAT only in territorial waters. If you stop at ports only in Schengen countries, you will pay VAT on your entire trip's drinks and other purchases.

On our previous cruises, the charges for things like coffee and laundry showed up on the account and were then removed. On our most recent cruise (the October TA), the charges were never applied in a way that we could see them on the app. I'm sure for accounting that they were applied and removed, but it happened instantly so we never saw the charges. We remove the wristband immediately after boarding......it is a pain and gets into food if you wear it while trying to eat.

There are a few XLs right at the front that don't have hammocks. At least some of these now have "swinging chairs." The issue had to do with the inability to safely hang the hammocks. I don't understand why the hanging chair is different, but that's not my problem to solve. I'd be highly disappointed if I paid for a balcony and didn't have a hammock. The real difference in the XL is the bathroom.

I had no trouble doing what I wanted to on board, but I did it thru my "first mate." (travel agent.). Yes, I bought the MNVV with their permission, using their credit card. The booking was never in my name. I don't know if they can get your 10% Sea Rover discount if they are not Sea Rovers. They can definitely get the PIF discount. What we did....I used the fact that I was on board to buy it in their name with their credit card info. My/their travel agent was listed. This got them the $300 + $600 Loot, as well as the $600 bar tab since the booking was made at the time of purchase and was on a qualifying cruise. They then worked thru the travel agent to do the PIF on their credit card and get the 10% for that. While I am a Sea Rover, I don't know if they qualified for this discount.

As above--the allergy will be noted on your computer profile after the first time you notify them. We were asked initially at the first check in at a restaurant and by EVERY server on the ship. For complex situations, the chef will come out and speak with her. There are lots of things that they can make for her, but before preparing a special dish, will want to review her needs with her. They will also advise her as to things prepared in the standard fashion. We found VV to be very attentive and willing to do special preparations for allergy needs. To be safe, they will likely want to prepare all of her food as a "special," even when the ingredient list would imply that something is ok. Your one problem might be Test Kitchen. I would suggest not booking with them on the first night, and stopping by the restaurant to make sure she can have a special meal if you do choose to eat there....or to verify that none of their items contain tree nuts.

The way it works is that the $600 is an amount applied to your bar tab by VV. The drinks are not "free," technically the cost is applied against the bar tab that you have been given. I do realize that the distinction is more of a legal than a real one. As to Med cruises.....any time the ship is not in international waters, you will be charged tax. Beyond that, on any cruise that does not port somewhere other than an EU country (there is a name for this, starts with S), you will be charged VAT for the entire cruise. It is theorized that some cruises will stop in Turkey specifically to avoid this regulation. If the ship ports somewhere not included in the specified region, then tax is only charged while in territorial waters of the various countries (no tax in international waters). On the TA, we ported in Miami and Bimini, which meant that VAT was only charged when in a country's territorial waters. On Med cruises, it depends totally on which ports are part of the cruise.

Yes, if you want the AC, you must lock the door. I was well aware that the door needed to be closed, but didn't realize initially that it needed to be locked.

Whether the limited view is right for you is your call....you'll have the same cabin, same balcony but will likely be looking at lifeboats. If that bothers you, either bid on an upgrade or try to upgrade at port. And I totally agree with buying a future cruise certificate at the Sea Terrace level to get the benefits.

If you put wine in your checked luggage and it is picked up by the screener, the luggage will b sent to the "naughty room." You'll have to come down while they inspect it, and if they find it to be permissible, it will be returned to you. My suggestion--put it in your checked luggage in a tote bag of some sort which you can easily remove at baggage claim at the destination airport or before checking the bags at the terminal.It doesn't have to be in a piece of carry on luggage, only in something that you carry onto the ship with you. We used a cloth tote from the wine store. My friend had a couple bottles of hot sauce in her checked luggage (she was bringing it for a friend) and was "caught." No problem at all except that she got to visit the "naughty room."

No, that's not what I'm booked on. I'm departing from Miami on April 21 to Barcelona.

There is a desk at the terminal where you can ask about upgrades. You will also get an email about bidding on upgrades prior to sailing IF there are openings in cabin types above what you have booked. If you bid on an upgrade, you may not hear results until anywhere from a week to a couple days before embarkation. Similar to the way it works on DCL, the person at the upgrade desk will have information on what cabin type you paid for and how much it would cost to upgrade to whatever might be available at the port. Bidding example.....on our recent cruise, all suites, central and XL Sea Terrace cabins were sold. SO, if you had one of those booked, you didn't get an email about bidding for upgrades. If you had an oceanview, limited view sea terrace, or others that would allow upgrades, you did get the email.....and many people who had limited view cabins or gty bookings did get upgrades, either free in the event of gty bookings or at a charge based on their bidding.

I was on the October 22 and the April 23 TA cruises. On cruises of 6 nights or less, you can only make one ADVANCE DINNER reservation in each restaurant. For cruises of 7 nights or more, you can make 3 advance reservations in each restaurant. Brunch reservations, which can only be made after boarding, do not count. After you board, you can go to the restaurants and make as many as you want, provided they have openings. You could eat at the same restaurant each night if you wanted to. The October 22 cruise had 1400 sailors; April 23 had 1813. We had no trouble doing walk ups on either cruise and the wait was never more than 5 minutes. We also moved reservations several times when we realized that they were earlier than we liked; again, no problem. We made reservations in advance for each night, but then discovered that they often didn't fit with our plans. VV definitely added more lunch specials in April. In addition, there was a dinner special (listed on the daily program) each night in The Galley, and several of the restaurants had occasional entree and/or desert specials. For example, one evening Razzle Dazzle had an Indian chicken curry, another night they had a shrimp dish available as an appetizer or an entree. Special deserts included chocolate pecan pie, key lime pie, carrot cake, etc. On port days, the specials in The Galley at lunch often reflected traditional recipes of the place we were ported. OK, deep dark truth.....overall, the food was better in October than in April. We were less than thrilled with things in several restaurants in April. For instance, in The Wake, we sat for 45 minutes before anyone showed up to take our order. The meal was fine, but it took 2 1/2 hours because the service was SO slow. There seemed to be many servers just standing around. We canceled all future bookings there because we find 90 minutes about right for dinner and there was better food available elsewhere! The clam chowder and the warm bread were great. The marinated beef in Gumbae was very fatty; our server noticed it and without anyone saying a word, got a better batch from somewhere. The best steak on the ship was not served at The Wake in our opinion. We were served cold pasta twice in Pink Agave. I don't mean "not hot," I mean cold like it had been sitting on a refrigerated surface. It also was not seasoned as well as it had been in October, I was disappointed as this had been one of our favorites in October. The Galley was much improved with better service as well as many special options. We really liked RD (which prior to my first sailing, I hadn't expected). The food was good and the service was excellent. This was also one of the places with frequent specials. So......there was some room for improvement in dining, but we never went hungry. Make note that most of The Galley locations close at 10:30. This was a good place to get a salad or a desert to take to the room for "midnight munchies." Of course, room service "Ship Eats" are also an option as is late night pizza. To learn more of what to expect, I would strongly recommend the You Tube videos by Walter. He is "Cruising Walter" on these boards and something slightly different on You Tube. His videos are accurate and factual, well done, and educational.

Besides the fact that there are some amazing ports in Turkey......

Much as above....yes, you can bring on board 2 bottles of wine per cabin. They aren't very picky; you can probably get away with 2 bottles per person. We spent $9-13 for cocktails; I saw some on the menu as high as $17. Remember that the gratuity is already included. However, if the ship is in port or not in international waters, you will be charged any local taxes, On one drink we bought, this as $1.50 added on. I've read that if a ship departs and returns to a Med port and stops only at EU ports during the trip, it must charge VAT for the entire cruise. This will be added whether you are paying with bar tab, loot, or applied to your folio.

The current promotion is listed as available thru May 24, 2023. On May 25, we'll see what the new promotion is. VV seems to come out with one every month or two--the "reason" for the discounts changes, but the total price we pay for two in a cabin remains relatively stable most of the time. We were able to cancel and rebook for April 2024 at a substantially lower price and better "deal" than we had.

If you have loyalty on another line, be sure to sign up for the status match which should apply for your December embarkation. While Jon was able to add 24 hours before, I wouldn't push it to that limit, especially if a weekend is involved. Shoreside messes up enough stuff without giving them an excuse! 2-3 days is not a problem at all.

I have not received a code, but my "First Mate" is on top of it.If I qualify, she'll get it for me.

Exactly! I took it in my pocket for the cocktail party.....

I believe that what the TAs can see is the number of available cabins. That can give a rough guess about occupancy, but can also be deceptive if VV is offering the "no single supplement" deal as that leads to a lot of singles booking cabins that could hold 2. Most cruises I've heard of or sailed on recently have been in the 1800-2000 range; definitely up from 6 months ago. I was really pleased that there was not a huge difference between 1800 on my last cruise vs 1400 on the one before. I think that VV is doing a better job of spreading out sailors, partially by increasing activities on board. At 1800, we were able to make dinner reservations for each night prior to boarding and to change our times during the cruise when desired.

One of my favorite things on VV is the ability to dress the way you want. Beyond safety regs (footwear for some activities) and not wearing swimsuits in restaurants, and having private parts sort of covered in public, there are essentially no rules. I said "sort of" because I've seen some with almost no cover at all. But what I like is that if I want to dress up for dinner, I can.....if I want to go in shorts and a t-shirt, I can. This applies to every restaurant on the ship. And I won't be out of place in any of those choices.