Just off Scarlet Lady 2/4-2/9 Thoughts

[njboyindc]

Overall, I had a great time and think Virgin offers a great product. I would gladly sail on them again. Happy to answer any questions. Here are the good and bad things that stood out for me.

 

Good:

-Friendly and helpful staff, always responsive. I liked that you could message sailor services in the app instead of going there and they would usually respond within about 15 minutes. 

-Always great to be on a new ship. They were really creative with a lot of spaces. 

-The food was a real standout. Wow. Just about every meal, even including the Galley, was very good. Extra Virgin (pastas) and Razzle Dazzle (cookies and milk) were my favorites. 

-Hammocks on balconies is a great touch. I usually don’t spend a lot of time in the room but loved to lay out there on the hammock. 

-The Dock at the back of Deck 7 has to be one of the nicest, most relaxing spaces I’ve seen on any ship. It felt like you were lounging at the back of a yacht rather than a giant cruise ship.

-Lack of ship wide announcements were nice. However, this also meant that their communication was lacking, for example where the gangway was located to leave the ship at a port. Without offering the daily newsletters or doing ship wide announcements, sometimes it felt like you were on your own. This isn’t necessarily bad but will feel very different to seasoned cruisers.

 

Bad:

-There app is not working well yet. This wouldn’t be so bad except for the fact that they are very dependent on the app for the little messaging that they do. If they’re going to be as reliant on the app as they are, it needs to work. We had our shore excursion get canceled twice by the app even though it wasn’t actually canceled and the app also regularly froze. I’m not sure how a passenger that didn’t have or didn’t want to use a smartphone would be able to know what’s going on or to take advantage of all that the ship offers. I was willing to use my phone but would have preferred to not have to carry it around and be on it all the time while I was trying to disconnect and relax.

-The wifi wasn’t too good. It was nice that it was free and worked well for texting but not much more. There were dead spots around the ship and didn’t seem to be able to support the need to be doing everything on the app all the time. Granted we did not pay for the upgraded streaming wifi but, again, given how reliant they are on using the app, the wifi struggled to keep up. If they can fix the app and upgrade the wifi, it would go a long way. 

-Separated beds should be fully separate, not in this L shape with either heads inches apart or one persons head right next to the other’s feet. That being said, I found the beds very comfortable and slept well

-The seating around the ship looks really cool but rarely comfortable, with the big exception of the hammocks as mentioned above. It’s like they just picked out the best looking seating but without sitting in them. 

[bucfan2]

12 minutes ago, njboyindc said:

Overall, I had a great time and think Virgin offers a great product. I would gladly sail on them again. Happy to answer any questions. Here are the good and bad things that stood out for me.

 

Good:

-Friendly and helpful staff, always responsive. I liked that you could message sailor services in the app instead of going there and they would usually respond within about 15 minutes. 

-Always great to be on a new ship. They were really creative with a lot of spaces. 

-The food was a real standout. Wow. Just about every meal, even including the Galley, was very good. Extra Virgin (pastas) and Razzle Dazzle (cookies and milk) were my favorites. 

-Hammocks on balconies is a great touch. I usually don’t spend a lot of time in the room but loved to lay out there on the hammock. 

-The Dock at the back of Deck 7 has to be one of the nicest, most relaxing spaces I’ve seen on any ship. It felt like you were lounging at the back of a yacht rather than a giant cruise ship.

-Lack of ship wide announcements were nice. However, this also meant that their communication was lacking, for example where the gangway was located to leave the ship at a port. Without offering the daily newsletters or doing ship wide announcements, sometimes it felt like you were on your own. This isn’t necessarily bad but will feel very different to seasoned cruisers.

 

Bad:

-There app is not working well yet. This wouldn’t be so bad except for the fact that they are very dependent on the app for the little messaging that they do. If they’re going to be as reliant on the app as they are, it needs to work. We had our shore excursion get canceled twice by the app even though it wasn’t actually canceled and the app also regularly froze. I’m not sure how a passenger that didn’t have or didn’t want to use a smartphone would be able to know what’s going on or to take advantage of all that the ship offers. I was willing to use my phone but would have preferred to not have to carry it around and be on it all the time while I was trying to disconnect and relax.

-The wifi wasn’t too good. It was nice that it was free and worked well for texting but not much more. There were dead spots around the ship and didn’t seem to be able to support the need to be doing everything on the app all the time. Granted we did not pay for the upgraded streaming wifi but, again, given how reliant they are on using the app, the wifi struggled to keep up. If they can fix the app and upgrade the wifi, it would go a long way. 

-Separated beds should be fully separate, not in this L shape with either heads inches apart or one persons head right next to the other’s feet. That being said, I found the beds very comfortable and slept well

-The seating around the ship looks really cool but rarely comfortable, with the big exception of the hammocks as mentioned above. It’s like they just picked out the best looking seating but without sitting in them. 

Thank you for your review.  Was there any word among staff about upcoming protocol changes (masks in particular)?

Edited February 10, 2022 by bucfan2

[njboyindc]

2 minutes ago, bucfan2 said:

Thank you for your review.  Was there any word among staff about upcoming protocol changes (masks in particular)?

No, though I do see the website says that they may be changing the mask policies Feb 13th. Masks were worn by almost everyone inside. 

[demodawn]

We were on cruise before you. I also didn’t care for using app for everything. Took us awhile to figure out iPad for things in the room. Rain head shower was great but if I didn’t want my hair wet the wand thing in shower was very weird. I like all my stuff stored and had to leave many things on counters and desk. Agree staff is wonderful and food is best we ever had. Though might get mundane if on a long cruise.