The mid-afternoon food option blackout

[AdoraBelle]

I’ve seen this mentioned before (and observed it on a previous sailing), but closing down absolutely everything in the galley except the breakfast place at 3pm is a weird choice. 
 

This is my second sailing, and the ship seems much fuller than last time. This makes the problem a little more apparent (I’m not the only person wandering around the galley looking hungry and confused.) Also, the grab and go areas are pretty ransacked. (No charcuterie boxes this time, or they are disappearing so fast I never saw them.) 

 

I don’t want breakfast, a hot dog, or a whole pizza this time of day, just something light to snack on (sweet or savory). I would have settled for an order of fries, but even the burger bar is closed. 
 

(Yes, I will also send this as feedback to Virgin.)

[sid_9169]

I believe they serve at The Dock in the afternoon... Small menu but good stuff.

[cantgetin]

Thanks for sending the concern to VV.  As the ships are sailing significantly more full than 6 months ago, perhaps they do ned to increase the hours for food options, and certainly place more goodies in the "to go" boxes.  I'll let you know what it is like next week.

[neverendingcruising]

I believe Sun Club is open. It's a little out of the way but also very tasty. 

[_tacocat_]

Yep that’s one of my very few complaints! Sometimes you just want a damn taco or salad at 3:30!!!

[CruisingWalter]

Have you checked out The Dock on 7, Social Club Diner on 7 and The Pizza Place on 7? And as someone else mentioned, the Sun Club up on top front is a great little Poke place IF it's open (very weird hours). And of course there is room service that I believe can be delivered elsewhere on the ship besides your cabin. 

[cantgetin]

The current sailing of Valiant Lady has about 2200 "Sailors" on board, and I'm seeing complaints on multiple boards about slow service, closed venues, etc.  This number of passengers is about what the Scarlet Lady had for Richard's Birthday Bash.  It seems that the ship has become very comfortable at 50% occupancy, but isn't ready for anything that approaches capacity!  No, capacity won't change the venue hours, but it may become obvious to the line that these hours need to be expanded, particularly if service in The Galley is not improved. Waiting 30 minutes for food is not a good thing!

[_tacocat_]

19 hours ago, WheresWalter said:

there is room service that I believe can be delivered elsewhere on the ship besides your cabin. 

i was never able to get that to work.  it seemed to have a few preselected locations, but they were either "not available" when i went to order or could only order alcohol.

 

i ended up running to my room to get into its geofence, ordering, running back to wherever i was, tracking it on the app and running back to my room to grab it.

[tompeter]

57 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

i was never able to get that to work.  it seemed to have a few preselected locations, but they were either "not available" when i went to order or could only order alcohol.

 

i ended up running to my room to get into its geofence, ordering, running back to wherever i was, tracking it on the app and running back to my room to grab it.

That sounds relaxing.....LOL

[scubagal44]

On 10/11/2022 at 10:26 AM, cantgetin said:

It seems that the ship has become very comfortable at 50% occupancy, but isn't ready for anything that approaches capacity!  

 

I would agree with this. On board right now and it seems they don't know how to handle this many people. Things are slow, Grab and Go options are rarely available, and it just feels crowded everywhere. And the lines trying to get into restaurants for dinner are LONG.

[CruisingWalter]

2 hours ago, scubagal44 said:

 

I would agree with this. On board right now and it seems they don't know how to handle this many people. Things are slow, Grab and Go options are rarely available, and it just feels crowded everywhere. And the lines trying to get into restaurants for dinner are LONG.

 

I was wondering how the ship would work at capacity. I think we had 1100 ish when we sailed. 

[AdoraBelle]

Original poster here. I was grouchy when I made that post (I think I hadn't had lunch so I really wanted a snack at that time). 

Later in the cruise, the grab n go was filled more regularly, so that solved the problem for me. 

I've heard anywhere from 1400-1600 pax were on this sailing. Which leads to another problem ...

With the restricted (and sometimes completely unavailable) restaurant reservation thing, we tried lining up at both Extra Virgin and Pink Agave at opening time (6pm) on the last night of sailing. (There we two of us; we each waited in one line.) We were told to come back after 9pm at both places. Yikes. I assume all other venues were similar, but having said that I know those two are very popular. 

(IIRC there isn't much open for dinner at the Galley besides the burger bar and diner? We ended up getting pizza.)

To me the solution is 'more stations open for dinner at the galley at night', but I don't know if the signature restaurant problem is due to space or staffing.

Other than all this--FANTASTIC cruise even with the higher pax load than my last trip (900 in August). Food was even better than I remembered. I never thought I'd be impressed by a NY strip again (I've just eaten a lot of good steaks in my life and strip isn't my favorite), but the one at EV was fabulous.

Bought two more deposits for future voyages. Already ready to go back. Higher pax load be damned.

(I also have managed to avoid getting sick on both, even though the entire MIA delta lounge seemed to be full of people coughing and sneezing without covering their mouths. Classy!)

Edited October 17, 2022 by AdoraBelle

[gkbiiii]

Has anyone tried the "Dinner & Show?"

[cantgetin]

5 hours ago, gkbiiii said:

Has anyone tried the "Dinner & Show?"

We have it scheduled for next week.  It is called "Ship Show."  Will follow up.

 

B menu in Test Kitchen tonight.  THe seat at the bar type area was terribly uncomfortable....and we went to deck 15 immediately afterward.  That probably says it all.  While there, the couples seated on either side of us showed up.  So....6 of 6 ended up in The Galley after Test Kitchen.  The main course was "shrimp pasta."  It consisted of 3 noodles rolled up with 3 pieces of shrimp in the middle..  At every other restaurant, I felt the servings were too big for me.  At this one, it was more like "where is the food?"  The corn course was good, as was the white stuff that came with the asparagus sorbet.  We're going back next week to try the A menu (main course choice of venison or beef).  I wouldn't do the B menu again--first time a restaurant has disappointed.  

Edited October 21, 2022 by cantgetin

[cantgetin]

On the food blackout.....today is the first of our 8 consecutive sea days on the TA crossing.  Closing time for all The Galley outlets which normally close at 2 has been extended to 3pm. This was planned in advance as it is in the printed daily schedule as well as in the app.  I have no idea whether this time change will continue, but at 2 today, it was quite full.

[Kooper4411]

23 hours ago, gkbiiii said:

Has anyone tried the "Dinner & Show?"

I did back in July, the food was OK, some really tasty bits but I didn't like not having a choice of menu as it means your experience of dinner may be great or terrible depending on what kind of food you like! The show was great though, the guy hosting was really excellent at keeping the energy up despite not having the most enthusiastic crowd. It was just a lot of fun. Really looking forward to going again in November, probably my favourite entertainment on VV besides Mr Thing from the English channel sailings.

[britincanada]

The Social Club also has some good snacks! As well as The Dock.

[HolsAddict]

Don't bother eating at the Ship Show! 

It was the only food on board that was low standard and we were disappointed with. The show was great but either eat before or after it.

[cantgetin]

Totally agree--the food at Ship Show was not fit to eat.

[CruzinMermaid]

I've heard the charcuterie boxes go pretty fast in the morning. I picked one up after breakfast one day and popped it in the fridge for later that day.

 

I found myself in the app a lot to see what was open at the time, got me to explore places I'd never been.

[cantgetin]

The available boxes were few and far between on the TA other than those at the Bento place.  It wasn't an issue of "going fast," it was an issue of nothing there at all!