Scarlet Lady April 19-23 Random Observations

[leisuretraveler223]

Just did a four day cruise on Scarlet Lady. Was a fairly late booking (about three weeks out) and got a good rate on a Mega Rockstar Suite.  Thought I'd share my observations.

 

Arrival:  As a Mega Rockstar, it was great. Private suite entrance.  Easy check in process (show passport, get band).  And first ones on the ship, escorted directly to room on 15.

 

Room 15275A very nice. Plenty spacious, comfortable bed and great balcony.  Loved the bar and they were happy to restock, adjust inventory.  Agent was great for this and anything we wanted.  Was a little concerned about noise from the pool deck, but really never noticed. We weren't in our room the night of the pool party, so I can't say about that.  Loved the proximity to the pool deck itself.

 

Richard's Rooftop was great, particularly on our sea day when the rest of the pool deck was understandably busy.

 

Overall impression of the ship:  Interesting layout. I get the focus on smaller more intimate spaces making the ship feel less busy. And on this completely full voyage, it worked. Never felt too crowded.  But it also doesn't really have any of those "wow" spaces.  Nothing bad, just an observation.

 

As for the decor of the ship, it kind of runs hot and cold.  There are areas that are very nice, but much of it feels a little sterile.  The elevator lobbies look like an office building out of the 1960s.  I don't care for an over-the-top theming of a ship or space, but this just kind of struck me as kind of uninspired.

 

Pool deck:  Main pool deck was kind of odd.  The corrugated metal walls and vertical railings on the upper deck made the main pool deck feel like it was nowhere remarkable. No real view of the ocean and just felt a little more closed in.  The pool design with the elevated surround is one of the oddest things I've ever seen. In order to get to the pool you must take a BIG (probably 18-20 inch) step up, then five feet later take the same step down into several inches of water. I can honestly imagine only minor mobility issues make this pool almost completely inaccessible to most people.  There are stairs all across one end, but once in, the entire pool is 5'11" deep, which means many people cannot stand in the pool because of the depth.  So, the edges and stairs are always crowded, the middle of the pool is often empty.  But honestly, the big step up and down is a puzzler. I know someone must've absolutely bought it on that by not.  Just doesn't make sense.

 

Service:  Overall good. Bars, especially the pool bars could be very slow. Bartenders were nice and made good drinks. But there was never any sense of urgency, that's for sure.

 

Bar stock was VERY frustrating. It seems they were always out of something.  Never the whole ship mind you, but certain bars.  Frustrating because if they have it on board, it shouldn't take a day or more to restock a bar.  Case in point: On day three, asked for a vodka seltzer drink at the pool bar around 2 pm. Bartender said, "we still haven't restocked those form yesterday, everyone was drinking them!". So they ran out the afternoon of day two and a day later they still hadn't restocked them.  So he spent all afternoon disappointing people.  Again, the ship hadn't run out, they just hadn't restocked.

 

Another bar oddity: Sip bar(the champagne bar) lists Dom Perignon on their menu, both by the bottle and by the glass.  They simply would NOT sell it by the glass.  The bartender said he needed to get approval from the supervisor to do so.  They had bottles, but he wouldn't open it to sell a glass.  He said it wasn't offered that way.  Every printed menu in the place lists it both ways. I showed him and he said "hmm, I'll have to check on that".  Three straight days, no luck.  Just weird.

 

Food:  I had high expectations based on what I've heard.  It didn't exactly live up to them.  The Wake was excellent.  Test Kitchen was okay, but really more style than substance. It makes it look like an elaborate concept but it's not. It's just cranking out six courses hundreds of times a night and talking about them like they are somehow more unique than they are.  Extra Virgin was a train wreck with an over 50 minute lag from appetizer to entree for everyone seated near us.  In the end, it was highly unremarkable mass produced pasta dishes and mediocre proteins.  Gumbae is a pale reflection of actual Korean barbecue.  If we're not going to cook it ourselves, then the whole tabletop thing is just a show. The end result being that most of it is wildly overcooked as the waiter is trying to cook while also serving, getting drinks etc...

 

The Galley was okay and the service worked well, other than no one gets their food at the same time, so my breakfast burrito came in two minutes but my wife had to wait about fifteen for her eggs.   

 

Overall I really didn't find the food to be a lot better than what I've had in the MDR or buffet on Royal, Celebrity or Norwegian.  And the major drawback is lack of variety. At least on those cruise lines, the menus change every day.   On Virgin, sure there are more venues, but they all have fewer choices and generally don't change.

 

The crowd was..... interesting.  We joked about the fact that the later it got, the more progressive the mood became. Go to the club with my wife and two other couples and it became a running joke of how many times we would get propositioned in virtually every way.  We were propositioned as a couple by other couples, by individual women, individual men.  We were propositioned is individuals by men, women, couples... Nothing wrong with it, and I think the energy of the more open crown definitely translated in a positive way at the parties and club.  Just definitely a different vibe!

 

Overall:  I like some of their ideas, don't really care for others.  I think it was a fun four day diversion, but don't know if I really have any interest in more than four days on board.  Would I do it again?  Maybe if the timing, price and circumstances were right.  I would likely travel with more than just my wife, maybe two or three couples.  But it was a good time.

 

Feel free to fire your questions at me.

 

[jon81uk]

22 minutes ago, leisuretraveler223 said:

proteins.  Gumbae is a pale reflection of actual Korean barbecue.  If we're not going to cook it ourselves, then the whole tabletop thing is just a show. The end result being that most of it is wildly overcooked as the waiter is trying to cook while also serving, getting drinks etc

On our first Virgin voyage from the UK back in 2021 they did give everyone tongs, but I felt I didn’t really know what I was doing. Subsequent voyages the server did the cooking and they listened to requests and we got nice crispy pork. But the assistant server did all the drink orders and the main one concentrated on food.
They really should go to a hybrid of handing out enough tongs so you can remove the meat if you wish while the server gives support to those who need/want it.

[_tacocat_]

56 minutes ago, leisuretraveler223 said:

the entire pool is 5'11" deep

it's actually 5'.11" deep.  if you look close, there's a decimal point on the sign.  it's dumb and i have no idea why they didn't just make it 5' even.  

 

ETA: other people have claimed this is incorrect, but i'm 5'8" and i was able to stand with the water basically just above my shoulders.  seems like those people just don't know how tall they are haha.

Edited April 24, 2023 by _tacocat_
clarification

[singleflyer]

9 hours ago, _tacocat_ said:

it's actually 5'.11" deep.  if you look close, there's a decimal point on the sign.  it's dumb and i have no idea why they didn't just make it 5' even.  

 

ETA: other people have claimed this is incorrect, but i'm 5'8" and i was able to stand with the water basically just above my shoulders.  seems like those people just don't know how tall they are haha.

 

Yeah, it is definitely not 5'11" deep!  

[leisuretraveler223]

22 hours ago, _tacocat_ said:

it's actually 5'.11" deep. 

 

My bad. I meant to say 5' 1".  I guess if it's 5' .11" then it's actually 5' 1.76"- so even deeper! LOL!

Regardless, it's kind of odd to have the whole thing that deep.  Basically anyone under about 5' 9" is not going to be able to comfortably stand.

[cantgetin]

That's probably the max, if it is filled to the absolute brim...which is isn't.  The water in the pool gets splashed out, evaporated, etc. so is typically an inch or two less than the max.

[leisuretraveler223]

40 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

That's probably the max, if it is filled to the absolute brim...which is isn't.  The water in the pool gets splashed out, evaporated, etc. so is typically an inch or two less than the max.

Well, the water actually rises above the level of the pool and fills the surrounding area, so who knows where they're actually measuring to.  All I know is I'm 5' 10" and I could stand, but not by much.  I had to get way up on my toes to take a sip of my drink!😆