Any NEWS on VV? Please post it here...

[dancarebear]

27 minutes ago, eroller said:

 

 

I enjoyed each video and they both presented some interesting perspectives from different viewpoints.  I think one was probably overly negative and one overly positive.  The real deal is probably somewhere in between.  Like everything in life, there are things you're going to like and other things you won't.  The boys were very excited and I'm not sure they would say anything too negative.  I get the feeling they have been following VV since the beginning, and are probably heavily invested in the line.  I tend to take most of these inaugural visit videos with a grain of salt.  They are generally travel agents that have been invited free of charge to experience the ship and promote it.  Many will not say anything too negative for fear of not being invited to the next inaugural, or losing some kind of preferred status with the line.  The same can be said for some professional ship reviewers.  They can be bias as they too are invited free of charge, and they go from ship to ship touting all the new vessels.  They too don't want to lose a free ride.   The most realistic reviews will come from paying passengers.     

 

I have yet to find the perfect cruise ship, but some are far more geared towards my personal taste than others.  I'm fairly torn with SCARLET LADY.  There are aspects of the ship and experience I find truly fantastic, and others that leave me puzzled as to what they were thinking.  They hired all designers that never worked on cruise ships before.  I can understand that rationale as of course they wanted to present something completely different.  Out of the box so to speak.  The negative is that they probably missed some pretty obvious stuff that experienced designers on ships never would have.  

 

It's also the way they put it. They said the bathrooms are small, the pool was too small and they clearly didn't like the entertainment. I watched a few of there videos today and they always say a few negatives in everey video.

 

I like how they are positive and it's upto us to make our decision. I don't wanna watch someone be miserable in every video. Just feel like everyone wants negativety these days. 

 

I don't get why bloggers get such a bad rep for "not telling the truth". Most of the joirnelist priasied the ship but don't get flack. I don't think I have ever read a bad review from any of the papers so they are just as bad.

 

I saw more negatives in this "positive" video then the cruise critic articles and I appreciate that video takes A LOT of work. You cant chill out because if you miss filming something you have missed it unlike writing a article. 

 

They are dammed if they do and dammed if they don't. 

 

 

[eroller]

24 minutes ago, dancarebear said:

 

It's also the way they put it. They said the bathrooms are small, the pool was too small and they clearly didn't like the entertainment. I watched a few of there videos today and they always say a few negatives in everey video.

 

I like how they are positive and it's upto us to make our decision. I don't wanna watch someone be miserable in every video. Just feel like everyone wants negativety these days. 

 

I don't get why bloggers get such a bad rep for "not telling the truth". Most of the joirnelist priasied the ship but don't get flack. I don't think I have ever read a bad review from any of the papers so they are just as bad.

 

I saw more negatives in this "positive" video then the cruise critic articles and I appreciate that video takes A LOT of work. You cant chill out because if you miss filming something you have missed it unlike writing a article. 

 

They are dammed if they do and dammed if they don't. 

 

 

 

 

Bottom line, if you're an invited guest of the cruise line and everything is comped, and you're being wined and dined, there is going to be some bias involved when it comes to reviews.  This goes for all cruise lines, certainly not just Virgin.  I think it applies to the glowing reviews as well as those that are totally negative.  For all we know the reviewer with the negative review can have some grudge against the cruise line for whatever reason.  My favorite reviews are those from paying passengers that are balanced, as nothing is all good or all bad.  

 

This doesn't take away from some very informative and well done videos/reviews from the pros.  I just take what I can from them and as I mentioned before, take it all with a grain of salt.  

[garymfreedman]

HOW ABOUT THE SAILOR APP-Anyone heard anything-I keep getting the runaround from them, saying "coming soon". Pretty soon the cruise will be over, and I won't need it.

[hotsauce126]

13 hours ago, dancarebear said:

I just watched another video from another couple of bloggers. It was nice to see more of the ship that the previous video.
 

 

 

The previous video seemed over the top picky. No storage? I see plenty of shelves and that closet is massive. Although i dont like the curtain. No charging points? I see one on each side of the bed and on the desk. Cant find the light switch? As someone mentioned earlier The room has a i-pad that controls everything but they where not set up yet. You can see in this video the lights turn on automatically when they opened the door. I agree that the bathrooms are too small though. 

My biggest concern from the lady's video was her saying the chairs where small and lack of accessibility. I was really worried as I am bigger guy but I can see lots of different chairs form this video.

Feeling a little better now about sailing on her later this year. I am still holding out judgement until i have experience it myself and see what she is actually going to be like on a proper sailing. 


 

 

Wow that's the best video I've seen so far

[garymfreedman]

That video is Amazing-So positive-And finally USB OUTLETS IN A RESTAURANT.... How come none of the land based places have done that?... Yeah baby..

[britincanada]

Everything I see & read makes me even more excited for our cruise!! Hubby works for Virgin Galactic, so we are part of 'the tribe', and are therefore probably a little biased towards the Virgin brand. We booked this cruise after a totally amazing stay in the Virgin Hotel in San Francisco - if the ship is anything like that experience then we are in for a fabulous 4 nights on Richard's Birthday Bash cruise!!

Thanks for sharing all this fab info folks!

 

 

[AlyssaJames]

Updated COVID notice (Feb 26):

 

https://www.virginvoyages.com/Web-Marketing/itinerary-update.html

 

Man, between this and Cuba, they cannot catch a break.

[eroller]

56 minutes ago, AlyssaJames said:

Updated COVID notice (Feb 26):

 

https://www.virginvoyages.com/Web-Marketing/itinerary-update.html

 

Man, between this and Cuba, they cannot catch a break.

 

It's a bad time to start up for sure, but other lines have it far worse.  Poor Costa, the biggest presence in China (4 ships laid up now) and a huge presence in Italy.  Two hot zones.  They are now restricting passage to those residing in certain towns in Northern Italy.  It's getting more and more complicated and things could get far worse before it gets better.

 

  

 

[CRAustin]

Emma's review was toxic, I think there weren't any bars open and that crappy weather made everything seem miserable.  Ben & David seem to almost be the spokesperson, ambassador for Virgin.  They were very upbeat but gave a lot of info.  Not seeing the actual venues in motion you don't get the true feel.

 

As someone with 24 NCL, many haven and suites and 8 MSC Yacht Club, I am not the target audience but taking my daughter who is and we are looking forward to the Cheeky Suite, the restaurants, the night club and entertainment, and Bimini Beach Club.  Rented a VIP Cabana which also comes with $100 beverage credit.  We are going 4/5/20

[Biker19]

Scarlet Lady left for her TA to NY - due at 6:30 AM on 3/6.

[Tall-Cruiser]

So who is the Captain if it's no longer Captian Wendy?

[WonderMan3]

3 hours ago, eroller said:

 

It's a bad time to start up for sure, but other lines have it far worse.  Poor Costa, the biggest presence in China (4 ships laid up now) and a huge presence in Italy.  Two hot zones.  They are now restricting passage to those residing in certain towns in Northern Italy.  It's getting more and more complicated and things could get far worse before it gets better.

 

  

 

 

It's only a matter of time (weeks?) before it's exploding everywhere else including the U.S. (There are over 300 people self-quarantining and being monitored to see if they have CV here in Massachusetts alone). When that happens then what? Do all cruises shut down?

[AlyssaJames]

3 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

 

It's only a matter of time (weeks?) before it's exploding everywhere else including the U.S. (There are over 300 people self-quarantining and being monitored to see if they have CV here in Massachusetts alone). When that happens then what? Do all cruises shut down?

There are a lot of active threads elsewhere on the boards for this, especially in the Princess and “Ask a question” subforums. 
 

 

 

[eroller]

6 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

 

It's only a matter of time (weeks?) before it's exploding everywhere else including the U.S. (There are over 300 people self-quarantining and being monitored to see if they have CV here in Massachusetts alone). When that happens then what? Do all cruises shut down?

 

 

Cruises could be the least of our worries.  If this thing really takes hold, we could see lockdowns on entire towns like in Italy and China.  Out of fear people not even under lockdown will remain home.  Schools, restaurants, stores, airlines, hotels, government offices, etc etc. could all be shut down.  Some businesses won't survive depending on the longevity of it.  That is a worse case scenario and hopefully it won't get that far, but it's anyone's guess at this point.  I know if I were in a high risk group I wouldn't be taking an chances.  

[WonderMan3]

10 minutes ago, eroller said:

 

 

Cruises could be the least of our worries.  If this thing really takes hold, we could see lockdowns on entire towns like in Italy and China.  Out of fear people not even under lockdown will remain home.  Schools, restaurants, stores, airlines, hotels, government offices, etc etc. could all be shut down.  Some businesses won't survive depending on the longevity of it.  That is a worse case scenario and hopefully it won't get that far, but it's anyone's guess at this point.  I know if I were in a high risk group I wouldn't be taking an chances.  

 

Yes. I am monitoring this closely as I have an MSC cruise in May followed by a few weeks in Central Florida at Disney and other parks. My husband is diabetic which would be a high risk group. If this thing takes hold strongly here we may have to forego our trip.

[eroller]

9 minutes ago, WonderMan3 said:

 

Yes. I am monitoring this closely as I have an MSC cruise in May followed by a few weeks in Central Florida at Disney and other parks. My husband is diabetic which would be a high risk group. If this thing takes hold strongly here we may have to forego our trip.

 

 

I hope you get to go but of course do what you need to do.  Cruises and Disney will still be there after this is all over, and your health comes first.

 

Disney is another organization that will be hard hit.  Group settings are to be avoided with Cornavirus and Disney World and Disneyland are about as group setting as you get.  I just read an interesting article on Shanghai Disneyland.  It's a ghost town, having been shut down for weeks now.  Disney losses will be limited as it's a joint venture with the Chinese government, who I think has a 50% stake.  

 

I just received an email from JetBlue, and to promote confidence and stir bookings, they have eliminated all cancelation and change fees for bookings made during the next two weeks.  I thought that was a brilliant concept in this time of uncertainty.   

[eroller]

50 minutes ago, Tall-Cruiser said:

So who is the Captain if it's no longer Captian Wendy?

 

 

No more Captain Wendy?  Did I miss something?  This was a big PR piece by Virgin.  

[AlyssaJames]

1 hour ago, eroller said:

 

 

No more Captain Wendy?  Did I miss something?  This was a big PR piece by Virgin.  

 

 

[eroller]

12 minutes ago, AlyssaJames said:

 

 

 

 

WOW thank you!  Who leaves a Captain position on a brand new ship and cruise line?  I would love to know the back-story.  I wonder if she went back to Celebrity?  And no word from Virgin about the new Captain.  I wonder who it is and where they came from?  I'll ask my friend who is onboard next time I hear from her.    

[Tall-Cruiser]

29 minutes ago, eroller said:

 

 

WOW thank you!  Who leaves a Captain position on a brand new ship and cruise line?  I would love to know the back-story.  I wonder if she went back to Celebrity?  And no word from Virgin about the new Captain.  I wonder who it is and where they came from?  I'll ask my friend who is onboard next time I hear from her.    

 

You are right, it was a big PR thing. And now there is complete silence about it as far as I now. For other cruise lines, there is usually a big press and photo op (with the CEO, other Corp Officers and the Ship Catptain) when a ship is first delivery from theYard but, in the case of VV I don't recall seeing this. It's possible I just missed it.

[AlyssaJames]

26 minutes ago, Tall-Cruiser said:

 

You are right, it was a big PR thing. And now there is complete silence about it as far as I now. For other cruise lines, there is usually a big press and photo op (with the CEO, other Corp Officers and the Ship Catptain) when a ship is first delivery from theYard but, in the case of VV I don't recall seeing this. It's possible I just missed it.

I have a feeling (guess) there was some sort of scheduling mismatch with the new captain, and they will hopefully join before the christening. 

[cde48]

We have friends that just got on the ship today, sailing to NY. From their posts, they said the ship is nice, pools are small, and the decor in Rooms/some common areas is kind of drab. Crew is fantastic. I’ll try to keep updating As they post throughout the week.

Edited February 27, 2020 by cde48

[Janthere]

5 hours ago, CRAustin said:

I am not the target audience but taking my daughter who is and we are looking forward to the Cheeky Suite, the restaurants, the night club and entertainment, and Bimini Beach Club.  Rented a VIP Cabana which also comes with $100 beverage credit.  We are going 4/5/20

One question - I understood that rock star suites such as your Cheeky Corner Suite included a cabana at Bimini - curious as to why you would need to rent one? (we are sailing in a Sweet Aft Suite) 

[eroller]

33 minutes ago, Tall-Cruiser said:

 

You are right, it was a big PR thing. And now there is complete silence about it as far as I now. For other cruise lines, there is usually a big press and photo op (with the CEO, other Corp Officers and the Ship Catptain) when a ship is first delivery from theYard but, in the case of VV I don't recall seeing this. It's possible I just missed it.

 

 

I agree it's all a little odd, but then again this is Virgin and they are going to do things differently.  I haven't heard of a christening or a godmother, which of course is maritime tradition.  As it's also considered good luck for the life of the vessel, I would think even Virgin will go through with it.  

[AlyssaJames]

5 minutes ago, eroller said:

 

 

I agree it's all a little odd, but then again this is Virgin and they are going to do things differently.  I haven't heard of a christening or a godmother, which of course is maritime tradition.  As it's also considered good luck for the life of the vessel, I would think even Virgin will go through with it.  

 
Some google says Branson already christened it, CC official write up says it’ll be christened March 19th. Who knows.