Lack of staff- Ventura

[Laurenish]

Hi all,

Hoping to find out what the situation is onboard Ventura right now.

Apparently the Glass House and Epicurian are closed due to staff being moved to another ship?

Any info helpful! Thanks

 

[Son of Anarchy]

We've never used either Epicurean or Glass House to dine in.  But it does seem a poor show that they don't appear to be able to open these venues.

[Harry Peterson]

If there's any truth in this, I'd imagine the suite passengers will be pretty unhappy about it - given that one of the key reasons quite a few (including us) book suites is the breakfast experience in Epicurean.  Goodness knows there are precious few other benefits! 

[Megabear2]

Currently on a Celebrity Edge cruise  which is also short staffed with crew contracts being extended to keep service levels.  Talking to an officer last night he told us all the cruise lines are losing out on staff to Virgin as Richard Branson is offering much higher pay rates out of line with the market. He says the "cartel" are not happy with the new boy!

[Harry Peterson]

22 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

Currently on a Celebrity Edge cruise  which is also short staffed with crew contracts being extended to keep service levels.  Talking to an officer last night he told us all the cruise lines are losing out on staff to Virgin as Richard Branson is offering much higher pay rates out of line with the market. He says the "cartel" are not happy with the new boy!

That's interesting - and if it means fairer pay for those the cartel operate against, good luck to them!  Even if it means slightly higher prices.  The argument has always been that Carnival et al are paying the market rate, so if the market rate's increased that's good news in my book.  Well done Virgin (though I suspect it's probably going to be a temporary phenomenon)!

[molecrochip]

Undoubtedly, Virgin are trying to move the market on staff pay, but not that excessively. What they have done is rescope job roles which means potentially a little less working hours a day.

 

You also have the guarantee of working on a new ship, with solo crew cabins etc.

 

There is movement of staff across the fleet as Arcadia starts up again, but not all from one area on a ship. Likely that it’s closed for a couple of days whilst new staff get up to speed.

[david63]

4 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

Talking to an officer last night he told us all the cruise lines are losing out on staff to Virgin

But surely Virgin only need a limited number of crew and once they are fully crewed other crew will be available as before.

[CruiseCabbage]

I logged in today with hope of booking some dining in advance and it just says "PLEASE ENQUIRE ON BOARD"

[Ginb56]

We’re on Iona this weekend and none of the select dining can now be pre-booked due to IT issues, so they say. Luckily we managed to book Limelight before the system bombed you out if you want to book for the first two nights’ artiste. So if like us you have a late boarding time, the early embarks will have had first dibs at booking the select restaurants and Limelight. Just hating all the added stress…. 

[gsmt47471015]

Most people said that cruising would be one of the last things to return to normal, and from what we are seeing and hearing it appears they were correct, but staff shortages do seem to be problem across a lot of business's 

[jeanlyon]

although I have some sympathy, you do have to remember that they get board and all their food, so you can't compare it to our minimum wage.

[Bazrat]

Reading the original post the OP isn't actually on the Ventura but relaying second hand information, as there's been anyone on that ship recently to give a more accurate account 

Edited June 21, 2022 by Bazrat

[emam]

The impression I got from what I saw of the Virgin cruise program on Sunday night, the "sailors" (passengers) aren't very nice and are very demanding.

Edited June 21, 2022 by emam
Wording

[gsmt47471015]

9 hours ago, emam said:

The impression I got from what I saw of the Virgin cruise program on Sunday night, the "sailors" (passengers) aren't very nice and are very demanding.

I thought the same , why would anyone trash a bathroom just for the sake of it, different ship ,different type of passenger, oops,  sorry sailor

[mrsgoggins]

10 hours ago, emam said:

The impression I got from what I saw of the Virgin cruise program on Sunday night, the "sailors" (passengers) aren't very nice and are very demanding.

 

The passengers are most likely very similar to any other set of passengers; just that some people and situations make good TV.  We sailed out of Fort Lauderdale in January on Celebrity but spoke with many folk (mostly Florida residents) who had taken 'bargain' cruises last year on the new Virgin ship.  What surprised me is that many of them would not see 60, or even 70 again.  I doubt that will be typical of the ship's demographic in the future but probably was when the series was filmed.

[mrsgoggins]

21 hours ago, Bazrat said:

Reading the original post the OP isn't actually on the Ventura but relaying second hand information, as there's been anyone on that ship recently to give a more accurate account 

 

I'm joining Ventura on Saturday.  I will report back if anything strikes me as noteworthy staff-wise.  However, I think I'm pretty easy going and undemanding so I may not notice things others would. We sailed on Sky Princess in March and was relieved to be told there would be no turn down service unless requested, for instance!

 

 

[Danamis]

On a social media site people are talking about this situation on Azura. I haven't seen anything about Ventura having the same problem. We were on there in March and April/May and everything was running. Obviously things may have changed...

[Bazrat]

We watched that virgin cruise program, alas not really our type of cruise.

[Son of Anarchy]

12 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

We watched that virgin cruise program, alas not really our type of cruise.

Same here.

[AchileLauro]

18 minutes ago, Bazrat said:

We watched that virgin cruise program, alas not really our type of cruise.

Not ours either.

In my opinion the program was not a good advertisement for Virgin. 

[daiB]

On 6/20/2022 at 12:35 PM, Harry Peterson said:

If there's any truth in this, I'd imagine the suite passengers will be pretty unhappy about it - given that one of the key reasons quite a few (including us) book suites is the breakfast experience in Epicurean.  Goodness knows there are precious few other benefits! 

I understand that the suite passengers are still getting breakfast in the Epicurean. This came from a passenger on the ship. 

[daiB]

Staffing problems seem to be very widespread in Europe and America. Shortage of shuttle busses in Spain and France and reports from the US of speciality restaurants not being available on certain cruises.

[emam]

4 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

What surprised me is that many of them would not see 60, or even 70 again.  I doubt that will be typical of the ship's demographic in the future but probably was when the series was filmed.

 

Yes, i was surprised at the age of some of the "sailors"

[emam]

2 hours ago, Bazrat said:

We watched that virgin cruise program, alas not really our type of cruise.

 

Nor ours.

[emam]

2 hours ago, AchileLauro said:

Not ours either.

In my opinion the program was not a good advertisement for Virgin. 

 

I agree, but I will still watch the next one.