Overview of the Virgin Cruise Experience

[CruisingWalter]

Vloggers Ben and David did a really nice overview of the upcoming Virgin Cruise experience on YouTube. I especially found their comments on the beds encouraging as we will be sleeping on one of those convertible beds in August.  They've had a chance to visit the ship and the cabin setups.  Ben and David along with Sean and Stef are our two favorite cruise VLOG channels on YouTube.  

 

 

[nvaldez87]

Great video! Thanks for sharing that. 

[perditax]

Yeah ... most of that was concept art or computer renderings. (It's so hard to tell the difference these days, I'm not sure how many people realize almost none of the footage is from the actual ship). 

 

I say this as someone who would like to see what the ship really looks like. 

[coevan]

I thought they don't set sail until March 2020

[CruisingWalter]

On 1/8/2020 at 2:54 PM, perditax said:

Yeah ... most of that was concept art or computer renderings. (It's so hard to tell the difference these days, I'm not sure how many people realize almost none of the footage is from the actual ship). 

 

I say this as someone who would like to see what the ship really looks like. 

 

Virgin has been posting video of the actual Scarlet Lady sailing on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn for the past month. Most of it was shot during the Sea Trials in November.  They've also been posting #BuildUpdate photos on all of those channels as well of the restaurants, cabins and more.  

[Biker19]

On 1/9/2020 at 7:33 PM, coevan said:

I thought they don't set sail until March 2020

There are some demo sailings next month before the TA. 

[club12b]

The company only give you 7 days to cancel before keeping your deposit. Also, to get a refund they make you fill out several forms. Other cruise line don't make you jump through hoops to get your money back. 

From the company:

Sadly, since we're outside the 7 day window of purchase, you won't be receiving your deposit back. However, you will receive a future voyage credit (and you have a year to sail with it, from the date of your origin

[CruisingWalter]

3 minutes ago, club12b said:

The company only give you 7 days to cancel before keeping your deposit. Also, to get a refund they make you fill out several forms. Other cruise line don't make you jump through hoops to get your money back. 

From the company:

Sadly, since we're outside the 7 day window of purchase, you won't be receiving your deposit back. However, you will receive a future voyage credit (and you have a year to sail with it, from the date of your origin

 

Most cruise lines take a non-refundable deposit for any promotion and that's non-refundable from the time of booking. No 7 day window. If you cancel your cruise before the Final Payment, you'll get all your money back, minus the deposit. 

 

This notice from Carnival is standard: "If you are canceling your booking prior to your final payment, there is no penalty to cancel unless you have booked a specific promotion with a non-refundable deposit and/or fare".

[club12b]

This was not a promotion, I paid a full deposit. I have been cruising for 30 years with over a 100 cruises under my belt. I have canceled cruises in the past and never had a company keep my deposit. I don't do Carnival so I don't know their policy. I just want people to be informed before they book. 

[CruisingWalter]

5 minutes ago, club12b said:

This was not a promotion, I paid a full deposit. I have been cruising for 30 years with over a 100 cruises under my belt. I have canceled cruises in the past and never had a company keep my deposit. I don't do Carnival so I don't know their policy. I just want people to be informed before they book. 

 

The Cancellation Policy is very clear and direct on Virgin's website.: 

DAYS PRIOR TO SAILING DATE & CANCELLATION IMPACT
 

• 121 days or more
  
  All monies refunded, except for potentially your deposit.  
  
  Your deposit will be refunded only if cancellation is within 7 days of the date the deposit was made.  Otherwise, entire deposit amount is non-refundable.

Prior to booking ANY cruise, the Cancellation Policy should be the first thing any cruiser should look at and understand as it does affect what refunds you would be entitled to, if any. I'm surprised someone with as much experience in cruising missed that. No offense to you, just honestly surprised.

 

The information is on Virgin's Terms and Conditions Page for anyone else who has not reviewed it yet.  https://www.virginvoyages.com/addl-terms-and-conditions