scaught

Interested to know what of the perks for you make it 'worth it'? I did the math for my last cruise, and the premium over a normal balcony didn't seem to add up for me.

It's easier to seek forgiveness than ask permission. If someone did ask about it, I imagine you could flash your bracelet and say 'they're with us' and it would be fine. If the resources up there are packed I would say maybe go somewhere else, but otherwise why not.

I guess you've got proper representation for the rooms you're interested in, but I was in 8042Z first week of June and didn't feel too much movement. We had pretty nice weather the whole week though - no rain at all IIRC (maybe some at night one day).

Yes. On a cruise early this month. I want to say it doesn't show up until a day or two before at most. It could vary I guess. I was told people were asking about upgrades while checking in and receiving them - would be worth asking about.

https://help.virginvoyages.com/s/searchresult?userInput=Can I bring alcohol on board#reload Can I bring alcohol on board? As an Adult-by-Design experience, we have an array of carefully selected beer, wine and expert cocktail options shipwide. If you must bring that rare bottle of red you got in the south of France, we get it. Sailors are also welcome to bring two (2) 750mL bottles of wine per cabin in carry-on bags (sorry, no liquor or beer please). Please note, any alcohol in your checked luggage will be collected pre-sailing and returned once your voyage is complete. You are also welcome to bring specialty liquors from a port of call on board. Simply hand them to our security team as you board, and we will hold them until your final night.

I've been on two sails on VV now, and maybe 10 on RCCL. I think VV skews a little younger than RCCL but not too much different. I think VV advertises like it's this millennial influencer dream, but it's basically the same people.

There are some menu options that aren't grilled in front of you: https://eatsleepcruise.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Gunbae-Dinner-Menu.pdf (may not be a current menu)

It's not necessarily 'different' but we made our own reservations at ya ya beach club. $45 per person gets you a chair/umbrella, unlimited drinks (including canned/bottled beers - sometimes these places will only bring you draft), and some food (combo platter of sorts). Beach was well maintained, and they had some sort of system for dealing with the seaweed - walking to the club we saw other areas that were not dealing with it very well. It would have been a pretty perfect day if not for the constant onslaught of vendors hawking their wares. Like literally every 2 minutes for hours. Still a good day all things considered.

There is! It's not the largest casino I've seen on a cruise ship. They have slots, craps, roulette, blackjack, 3 card poker, and some other table games. There was a 1-2 hold em game but I didn't make it there to play. I like to play craps or blackjack. This cruise it was $10 minimum, last cruise I was on it was 25.

There are espresso machines at some of the bars (for sure at Sip) but I'm not sure they make coffee drinks with them. I suspect they're just for espresso martinis and the like but I could be mistaken. It would be a shame because it's a beautiful 3 grouphead lever machine. Only other spot I can think of is in the Galley (there's another Grounds shop). Note: the grounds on 7 serves cold brew and pourover coffee, the one in the galley doesn't. I don't remember seeing coffee anywhere else (besides room service I guess)

Quick review of our second sail on Scarlet Lady. First was the NYE cruise ~6 months ago. The new terminal is freaking gorgeous. I honestly didn't feel like we got to experience it that much because we BLEW through there super fast. Vastly different experience to 6 months ago in that rundown terminal they were using. We had our covid tests done ahead of time, and the technology/systems seemed to be working much better. No issues at all - there was some headscratching during check in 6 months ago, nothing egregious for a brand new cruise line that had only done ~10 cruises by that point. After boarding, we immediately headed to the room to drop our carry on stuff off. Bags showed up as we were leaving the room - again, super fast. Our cruise only had ~650 passengers, so this is probably a factor for these speedy comments. Specific to our stateroom: we chose the 'Lock It In Rate Ltd View Sea Terrace' while booking because it saved us almost $800. I figured if we received a bad room I could just request a change/upgrade. We ended up being on deck 8 towards the back of the boat - we didn't get our stateroom assigned until a day or two before. We were directly above the interior portion of the dock, and could hear some trivia happening below us one night while we were getting ready for dinner, but otherwise it was fine/quiet. We had a very nice view of a lifeboat, but otherwise still enjoyed the balcony/natural light. We took the money we saved and turned ourselves into champagne filters for 5 days. We went to extra virgin for the first time this cruise (didn't make it on the first cruise). It was a very nice meal, and certainly one of the better restaurants on the ship. Everything was delicious, and our server was amazing. Seafood pasta was a highlight for sure. We went to Pink Agave twice this cruise, and ate like it was our last meal on earth both times. I'm going to have dreams about that roasted duck with mole. Smoked pork was incredible too. The aguachile and shrimp with mole sauce....ok we liked everything. It's easily our fav restaurant on the ship Another first on this cruise was Razzle Dazzle for dinner. We'd only done breakfast at this spot previously. The 'secret steak' is said to be the best steak on the ship, and I'll vouch for it. There was a hollandaise type sauce with kimchi (i love kimchi), and the cook on the steak was very good. The mushroom tartare appetizer may have been the best thing I had on the ship. So much rich mushroom flavor, but also lots of bright acid notes. We also saw a whole roasted cauliflower in the mains section and ordered it to share. It was literally as big as a (cut in half) basketball or bigger - HUGE. It was a little underseasoned for me, but not too bad. We got an invite to the 'secret' magic show. Very small group of people in a very unique location so it felt kinda special. You can get an invite by hanging around the director staff (we came across someone in the loose cannon bar) or just send a DM to ryankanemagic on insta. I've only been following him since the cruise, but for a secret show he talks about it a lot lol. We did a mezcal/tequila tasting that was very informative and delicious. 3 shots of tequila, 2 of mezcal, small group of 8-10 people. Some snacky items were also served. Def worth it if you're into those spirits. Just a general comment to mention the service we received. Again maybe the limited passenger count was a factor but everyone was so nice/accommodating. Romina at Pink Agave was super nice and personable. Manny (bartender, i think he's kind of a lead bartender as he wandered around a lot) was super nice too. He did the mezcal tasting, and made us some special cocktails based on spirits we're into (campari, amaro, mezcal, cynar, etc). In the things we missed/what would we do next time section: We tried to go to the poke bowl place (sun club cafe), but it was closed. Also kinda hard to find... We never made it to the ice cream place. We're not super big on sweets (we drink our carbs), but I do like trying new things We met a few couples, and had dinner with a couple one night. We didn't go to gunbae this cruise because the group we sat with at gunbae on the first cruise was kinda weird, and didn't want a repeat. Next cruise we'd spend a few days recruiting people and invite that group who we think is OK. Specific to the stateroom, we were told by another couple they asked about an upgrade while checking in, and received one. Definitely worth asking about next time. Try and get a room near the midship elevators. It seems like everything we wanted to do was near midship, so we spent a lot of time walking to those lifts from our room (first world problems). We did our first shows on board this cruise (magic show mentioned above, and duel reality which was incredible), but would try to do more next time. Overall, it lived up to our expectations or was better. We love the service, food, and 'no kid' factor. We're not super picky but we didn't really have anything to complain about. I wish there were more bathrooms on the pool deck? The canned wine we had at the pizza place was awful? Most of our previous cruises were on RCCL - I can't see us going back but who knows. I like routine and knowing what I'm getting into so I could see myself going back on this ship again knowing nothing much about the experience would change, but can also see how this would be a downer for others. I think Resilient Lady is supposed to have some new/different restaurants? Ok this wasn't quick at all. I hope it was somewhat entertaining/informative.

I know I read in another review that they didn't like a particular bottle in the room, and the agent person swapped it for another they preferred.

we asked about this on our cruise we were just on (we were talking to our favorite bartender, there's no established service that does this for non-rockstar sailors). I think they just calculate the price based on what a shot would cost x16. So yes a convenience to have it in your room if you're into that, but no deals

The one we went to was this one: https://www.pubbellyglobal.com/location/brickell-city-centre-pubbelly-sushi/ but they have a few florida locations...

If you end up near that big ass mall, we had some good rolls, drinks, and service at Pubbelly Sushi.

I've had that lobster roll at that same spot before, and can co-confirm it is delicious and worth the $$$.

We board on Sunday. Perfect! :(

lower tier rockstar suite?

I do remember a sea day where it was all untz untz house music by the 'main' pool and the bass was aggravating my headache. We moved to the + pool, and it was a bit quieter (the mezcal negroni helped my headache too - hair of the dog). Not long after the soundtrack changed to classic rock/bob marley stuff like you're describing so I think they just change up the playlist every once in a while

We went and laid on it one night on our last cruise. It is not built for comfort...

interested to hear if you think these things work...

Excited to read about the B2B experience since that may be the only way to get a longer cruise than 5 days in the states...

Kind of a general question about Mediterranean cruises. We are considering one in September, the 'Spanish obsession' itinerary. We want to do a cruise because it seems like a good way to experience a few different European cities (we live in the US). We know from the dozen or so Caribbean cruises that you basically see the cruise economy in port and not much else (t shirt shops, senor frogs, etc). My assumption is the European cruises are different and you can probably see the actual city/culture/etc? Am i wrong?

When we were at gunbae in December, we wanted more food so we just asked our food DJ to bring us some more. Agree the portions are kinda small.

Looks great. We're back on VV in a couple weeks. Going to try and get off the boat for bimini early like you did so we get our choice of seats/shade. FYI the menu at the beach food place changes halfway through the day.